First thanksgiving

It was our first thanksgiving with Melat, and I think she gets the program. Eat a lot, play a lot, and visit with everyone. She seems ok with that so long as someone passes her the meat in a hurry. (Boy this kid can eat!).

Destiny LOVES thanskgiving. I remember her first thanskgiving with us three years ago, she woke me up at 3:00 AM saying "mom--i can't smell the turkey--do you think it is here?" I shouted "NO! It's stuck in the chimney with the easter bunny!! Now go back to bed!!!!" Grandma was cooking the turkey that year...at her house.

Thanksgiving is nice for Destiny because it's relatively the same for all American families (though I've since remembered that we forgot to have collard greens for Destiny, which she always looks forward to).

I think with Melat the honeymoon is over. She's let out her full three-year old fussy, tantrumy self. It's not too awful, but it's really wearing on Destiny hard, and Destiny is also expressing her full, tantrummy self. (Which in turn, is really wearing on mommy). We know from experience that This too shall pass.

You'll recall that in our attempt to teach Melat her new name (Melat Elizabeth) Destiny somehow managed to teach her that her name is "Melat Garbage." which she still seems to believe (I thought it was cured, but she introduced herself to everyone at thanksgiving as Melat garbage.

I've since decided that since Destiny so likes garbage, taking out the trash shall be her chore until Melat learns her new name.... and despite Destiny's very best efforts at re-teaching, she's not getting anywhere. Melat idolizes Destiny. She's so cool that poor Destiny can't even pee with peace. If Melat hasn't snuck into the bathroom somehow, she haunts outside the door and provides the play-by-play. Poor Destiny! She doesnt' really want to be separated (she turns downs offers for a weekend vacation at grandma's or an evening out with mom) but she is obviously a little chafed by her barnacle of a little sister, and it doesn't help that the house is small, so we're all a little underfoot of each other now.

Needless to say, there's the constant "she hit me" or "she told me to stop it" (even when no crime has been committed by either party). It truly is constant.

By the way, mom, I'm sorry for every stupid fight I ever picked with Sarah--I know I deserve this, but this is SO not fun.

We're planning to put the condo on the market after January, we're cramped and markets be damned, I need to be able to tell these noisy kids to go outside and play every now and then, and I'm willing to pay the price. We've got to find a house with a yard big enough for two or three bickering kids.

Melat's English is coming along great. There's still some words I can't quite figure out, and she always talks about herself in first person (kind of cute, but I hope she grows out of it before too long). She's being stubborn and onry, but even Destiny is intervening and saying "trust me on this kid--you don't want to mess with them like that."

We put up our holiday decorations this weekend, and Melat seems to think that the Nativity is a dollhouse. I routinely find all of the characters lined up in the "house" or all out, or re-arranged. She thinks that the wise men are carrying coffee cups, which cracks us up. She LOVES the Christmas tree, especially the annual ornaments that have Destiny's school photos.

Melat carries the school photo ornamants around the house, and Arthur (our cat) carries the fuzzy ornaments around the house. Destiny is the only one with the good sense to leave the tree alone.

I apologize for having no photos or video to share. The new computer I bought in July just recently quit working entirely--and had to be returned for waranty repairs... it had all of my photo and video downloads on it. I'm totally bummed. I'm crossing my fingers hoping the problem is waranty work and not that somebody in this house has fed my new computer a peanut butter sandwich.

Well, that's the update for now. we're planning a few holiday outings--I'm thinking of taking Destiny to a play this Friday--we've got Nutcracker tickets with friends next week, and maybe Zoolights (the kids both LOVE the zoo and it's best to do that before it gets butt-cold) and spending time with friends and family.