22 questions for the kids as 2010 draws to a close

This was hilarious. I asked the kids 21 questions (plus a bonus one!) last night, similar to other questions I asked them a couple years ago. Here are their answers, transcribed verbatim:

1. What makes you happy?
THEA: Seeing everybody else happy. [It's true, she's my little empath!]
LIAM: You. [Aaaawwwwwwwww!]

2. What makes you sad?
THEA: When people are sad.
LIAM: When some people are killed, like when hunters kill deers and stuff.

3. What makes you laugh?
THEA: Seeing Liam laugh.
LIAM: Funny faces and Thea makes me laugh.

4. What is your favorite thing to do?
THEA: Doing science.
LIAM: Watching movies and eating popcorn in the theater.

5. What are you really good at?
THEA: Dancing, singing, and drawing
LIAM: Singing [and being silly, Thea says]

6. What are you not very good at?
THEA: Keeping my room clean. [She needed some help from me to think of something.]
LIAM: Coloring. [Thea and I immediately protested that he is indeed a good colorer, but he was steadfast with his answer.]

7. What is your favorite food and drink?
THEA: Mike's mac and cheese and water
LIAM: Chicken tenders and chocolate milk

8. What’s your favorite color?
THEA: Red!
LIAM: Green!

9. Where is your favorite place to go?
THEA: Home.
LIAM: Mike's house.

10. Who are your best friends?
THEA: Wendy and Jackie
LIAM: Kayleigh and Naeem. ["He's a very sweet boy," said Liam. "You sounded just like a grown-up when you said that!" said Thea.]

11. What are your favorite movies or TV shows?
THEA: Harry Potter and SpongeBob
LIAM: Same as Thea.

12. What are your favorite books?
THEA: Dr. Seuss is my favorite author.
LIAM: Arthur [By Marc Brown. I didn't know they were his favorite!]

13. If you were a cartoon character, who would you be? They decided, instead, to say which fictional character they'd be.
THEA: Hermione.
LIAM: Harry Potter and Nanny McPhee. But Ron is my favorite.

14. What does Mommy do when you're not around?
THEA: Cry
LIAM: Cry

15. What do you do when Mommy isn't around?
THEA: Mess up the house.
LIAM: You be good [says Liam, scowling at Thea.]

16. What is something Mommy always says to you? They answered immediately and in tandem.
THEA: I love you.
LIAM: I love you.

17. What do you and Mommy do together?
THEA: Have fun with art. [Thea says she could teach me art. And she could! She's very skilled.]
LIAM: Play.

18. How are you and Mommy the same?
THEA: We both have brown hair, the same eyes, and we're pretty. [Well, thank you, Thea!]
LIAM: We both poop. [... Yeah, I guess that's what makes us all human. Very essentialist, son.]

19. How are you and Mommy different?
THEA: Mommy wears earrings.
LIAM: By being sad. [It took a long time for him to think of something. I think he just pulled this out of the air. At this point Thea throws up her hands and says, "Really? Liam, you could have said ANYTHING, that she's taller or a grown-up or goes to work! What are you talking about?!" So Liam changed his answer.] She goes to work.

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?
THEA: 'Cause I'm her kid. Kid-kid, not a goat.
LIAM: Yes, because we're not goats.

21. Who are your favorite people? The kids made me ask this question.
THEA: My family and friends. Mommy, Daddy, Liam, Mike, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt, other Aunt, Uncle, Cousin.
LIAM: My family.

BONUS! I asked, as if this were the end of a job interview, "What should I have asked you?"
22. What is your favorite toy?
THEA: The two teddy bears made from you [here and here] and the lion and my new tiger.
LIAM: The one Mike's bringing me!!! [Mike had brought Thea a toy on Liam's birthday but had forgotten to bring the one he got for Liam on Thea's birthday. So Liam had to wait, anxiously, for Mike to deliver it last night. It was a penguin, which was accepted with much relief and then discarded in the Christmas pile.]

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on Why We Have So Few Women Leaders

I love the Ted Talks. This one was particularly interesting to me. I think it's relevant to a lot of us. Her main points:

• Sit at the table.
• Make your partner a real partner.
• Don’t leave before you leave.

You can read the transcripts on Ted.com.

Thea turns seven!

What a big girl! Her special birthday dinner was Mike's mac and cheese, because he makes his with velveeta and I mix cheddar into a béchamel sauce, and his hamburgers, because he lights them on fire and it thrills the kids. Honestly, who can compete with that?

This has been a much better year than the last one, when Thea had just started kindergarten and was going to aftercare across from her school at the community center. It wasn't the best fit for her, for a number of reasons, and so this year I made the decision to work from 6:30am to 3pm so I could pick her up from school. It works out very well, although being at work so early is indeed as hard as it sounds.

Thea has flourished in school. She easily reads at a second grade level, and though she's still a fantastic artist, she's also interested in science. Her best friends are Wendy and Jackee, and of course Liam. She and her brother have a great relationship.

One thing that has remained steady about Thea is that she's a very sensitive, empathetic girl. The other day I had a migraine headache and lay in bed with my arm covering my eyes. She sat next to me, blocking the light, and put her cool hands on my forehead. My girl, she's something special.

Happy birthday, sweetheart!

See also:

• Thea is six years old today!
• Thea is 5 years old!
• Thea is 4 years old!
• Thea is three years old today!
• Thea turns two!
• Thea turns one!

Christmas 2010

This was a lovely Christmas. Mike brought over his big screen TV to go with the wii I bought for the kids, and Todd, Mike, and I stayed up until 1 a.m. putting it all together so the kids would be surprised on Christmas morning. I made my usual cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and the grownups drank lots and lots of coffee.

Thea made everyone very cool things out of cardboard. 

I got a laptop computer! 

(CUUUUTE!!!!!!!)

I can't remember what's going on here. I think the video is from a few days ago, and Liam was laughing with way too much food in his mouth. Thea was horrified. Let's watch!

Between party

Since Liam's birthday is right before Thanksgiving and Thea's birthday is right between Christmas and New Year's, I thought I'd try to have joint birthday parties for them every year between their birthdays.

The first one was a huge success. The second one was called on account of my extreme exhaustion last year. Man, 2009 was so tough that I'm still resentful of it. But this year was a bit better, so the party was back on.

However, I took almost no pictures at all. All I can say was that it was a lot of fun, though a bit of a blur, and the house was full of friends and loved ones.

Liam's poem at his daycare's winter recital today

This was the last winter recital I'll be going to at Liam and Thea's daycare. Next year Liam will be in kindergarten, and they don't seem to do as many recitals. *sigh*

A friend took pictures. They're adorable.

He also was in a lengthy skit about eating healthy foods:

Here he has a tummy ache from eating unhealthy food:

He's really selling it! Such a cutie.

I'm learning how to knit!

Knitting class

I've always wanted to learn how to knit. My grandmother and her mother were both incredibly skilled in textile arts, and I always thought it would be cool to continue the tradition, though I know I'll probably never be as good as they were. So when Mike sent me a Groupon for a knitting class AND said he'd watch the kids while I went, I jumped at the chance (especially since BFFs Nylonthread and Abigail agreed to take it with me).

Despite Liam's dubious expression, I'm finding that knitting isn't as hard as it looks!

I won an award!

Well, not just me. I was part of a team of people who won an award for our social media efforts at work. Very cool.

Smithsonian's Xmas tree

Photo by Floogee. Gorgeous.