December 19, 2001

Halloween: Brittany the little bunny

As we have mentioned in the previous edition, this year's Halloween we have dressed up Brittany as a bunny. She was going through a phase where she liked to hop everywhere, so we figured she would make an great bunny for Halloween. Christine had spent a lot of time making Brittany's costume, sewing fuzzy fur onto the sleeves and ankles of a plain white sweatsuit, and of course a ball of furry tail on the seat of the pants. With some bunny ears and makeup, Brittany was cuter than ever.

In the grocery store at which Christine works, Festival, they held a little trick-or-treating session for little kids inside the store. They had set up goodies stands throughout the store for kids to stop, and Brittany picked up all kinds of yummies like candies, Oreo cookies and even some small toys.

On Halloween night, we went around our neighborhood going door-to-door trick-or-treating. Everyone adored Brittany's costume, as she held a little candy bucket knocking on doors. Right now she's still too young to coherently say "Trick or Treat" aloud, but it wasn't due to the lack of trying. We had especially stopped by Brittany's daycare provider Kim Fenske's house, and were given lots and lots of candies. Brittany definitely loves seeing Kim, for she gave Kim a great big kissie that night.

Of course Brittany indulged in some of those candies that night, which made her regular dinner not too appealing. Although any decent parent could tell you that having too much sugar isn't generally healthy for children, we figured that once a year of loading up in goodies isn't far too out of line. Kids deserve to get spoiled once in a while.

Thanksgiving with Christine's family

It's a yearly tradition on Christine's side of the family that we spend the Thanksgiving days (always Thurdsay and Friday) with her mother's side of the family and then the weekend at dad's side of the family at Mike and Judy's (Christine's uncle and aunt). This year was no exception.

We gathered at Gramma and Grandpa Parker's house on Thanksgiving day, and the house was packed with family. Though as the size of the family expands, this year wasn't as crowded as previous years, because some of the family spent Thanksgiving with other sides of their family. Uncle Jeff had prepared a large Thanksgiving feast, with turkey, stuffing, gravy, and all kinds of other side dishes and dessert. By the end of the night everyone was stuffed beyond belief, as we sat together and caught up with each other. That's what the holiday is all about.

The weekend came and we all hauled up to Christine's paternal uncle and aunt Mike and Judy's house, just north of Milwaukee. The yearly gathering at their house is always relaxing and enjoyable. Hosts Mike and Judy prepared a wonderful and non-traditional Thanksgiving meal for us, and after such delicious treats we all played board games together until late (of course in between we would have to put the kids to bed). The next morning, Mike and Judy again made us all a great big breakfast, and everyone had a good time yapping with each other. We always look forward to seeing these guys. It was a lot of fun.

Brittany keeps learning new things

These days, Brittany is beginning to show some serious progress in her learning. Gone are the days of simple "Mama" and "Dada"s, because she has mastered those basic words already. Nowadays she has shown that she knows some of the colors, such as red, blue, green, pink, yellow, and purple. She can even use them to clearly describe objects like "Red Ball", although she says it like "Hrat Ball". Also, she has pretty much mastered the letters in the alphabet, with her favorite letter being the "Y", for some reason. "Da Y?" she would say, but not as a question. It's just the way she sometimes talks. More than just words, she also recognizes shapes. Square, circle, triangle, diamond, rectangle, she knows it all.

We contribute most of her recent spurt of learning to the computer game that she has been playing for a while, the Jump Start Toddler. It teaches her so many things in an interactive system so that it's fun and educational at the same time. It's truly amazing watching her play the game. "Brittany, can you click on the red circle?" we would ask her. CLICK, one try and it's right. A cartoon firetruck would come on the screen, "Firetruck starts with an F. Can you find the F?" CLICK. In fact, sometimes she's too fast for the machine to respond and you can tell she does get a bit impatient about it. We're so sure that she is going to excel in school when it comes time, because she really is very sharp.

Finishing the semester

School is finally out for now, and Christine has successfully finished her very first semester of higher education at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. She has worked very hard this first semester, although taking only three classes, but remember that she also works some nights and takes care of a "terrible-two" in her "spare time". So the fact that she has virtually ACED all of her classes is indeed a very proud achievement. She deserves all the praises, especially when you see her staying up late at night studying, after taking care of Brittany all day (of course I help all that I can, what kind of husband do you think I am?), and again struggling to get up at 6:00am the next morning to go to school. Oh no, Brittany does NOT allow anyone to sleep in, for she herself is a morning person. 

Great job, Chris! I'm a very proud husband and Brittany is happy for you too (I'm sure she is.).

Our Christmas plans

Just like the previous years, we will be making the trip down to Darien this Christmas. We will again be spending Christmas with Chris' side of the family, and then head back home the day after Christmas. Since this year's Christmas falls on a weekend, some of us may have to work the rest of the week, so we regret that we won't be spending some extra days there.

We believe that Brittany will enjoy this Christmas much more than previous years, when she was only 10-days-old the first year and barely 1-year-old last year. This year she can understand so much more about special occasions (especially her birthday), and all the shining shimmering Christmas lights and decorations really excite her. She is already growing up faster than we would like. But we sure enjoy it while it lasts.