The beginning of December

Since Thanksgiving, we have been going non-stop. David took several days off of work around the holiday, which allowed him to go to some of Avonlea Jane's daily activities like story time at the PEM and at the library this Monday.

Below are some photos that somehow missed being included in the Thanksgiving post.

Avonlea Jane finger painting for her birthday thank you cards

While painting naked in the bathtub might not be the most comfortable way to channel the creative muses, it makes clean-up much easier.

Sometimes her artistry simply cannot be contained on paper.

When we start painting our hair, it's time to stop.

On Tuesday, I needed to take the car to have two of the tires fixed, and I was not looking forward to entertaining Avonlea Jane at the auto-shop. So, to pass the time, we walked to the mall--an equally frightening prospect during the holiday season. Shopping with Avonlea Jane has become increasingly difficult, because she wants so much of what she sees. The only place where shopping is easy is the grocery store, because we have her make a list of what she wants to get before we go.

However, this trip to the mall was a quite a surprise. She was perfectly content to go through the different stores without asking for anything, because we made a game of looking for all the animals we could find. Every store we went by or into, we would look for different animals (whether on clothing or on ornaments or in the form of toys), and she was happy to move to the next store, because it meant finding more animals.

The only thing she really wanted during the couple of hours we were there was the hat she's wearing in this photo. Clearly, it was too cute to pass up.

After getting the car fixed, we went to get Avonlea Jane's hair cut. She wasn't interested in having before and after photos taken.

Before

During

After

You can see that she had about two inches taken off of the back.

After getting her hair cut, we went to a concert in Rockport. The Rockport Chamber Music Festival recently renovated their concert hall, and it is now a truly inspired place. We've been eager to go see it in person but haven't had the opportunity or the means to attend a concert.


The concert that we went to this week was a free concert by the Rockport Madrigals. It was listed on the Rockport holiday happenings calendar, so I assumed they would singing carols and that it would be family-friendly. On the drive up, I kept telling Avonlea Jane potential "Nissmass" songs she might hear, but when we got there and saw the program, they were only doing traditional madrigals. With not a holiday song in sight, I was a little worried about how entertained Avonlea Jane would be.

Prior to the show, Avonlea Jane entertained herself by reading a magazine. She also explained concert etiquette to her teddy bear and pig: "Teddy Bear, Pig, lights go out happens: Mommy quiet, Avonlea Jane quiet, Nammas and Babbas quiet, Mommies and Daddies quiet, kids quiet."

When the lights went down, she was quiet--quiet for a two year old. Quiet to her means that she can talk quietly, but a whisper in a room with great acoustics isn't much of a whisper. So, after the second song, we moved to the balcony door to watch for a bit before heading to the lobby to watch through a window. When we got to the lobby, we were soon joined by the audience's only other child under ten.

She was interested in the concert for the first half and then asked if we could go look at "Merry Nissmass" lights. Before coming, I wasn't sure if we would make it halfway through, so I was more than happy to leave.
When we left, we walked through downtown Rockport enjoying all of the holiday windows. Then, Avonlea Jane decided she wanted to hear the ocean, so we walked down to a pier before heading home.

On Wednesday, this week's story time at the PEM was replaced by a Music Together sample class. Avonlea Jane had a blast playing with different instruments and dancing with scarves.

She was having a great time, but it would have been easier to take a picture of the Loch Ness Monster's face than Avonlea Jane's. She was having too much fun to look at the camera.

After the museum, we went to an open house for Henny Penny preschool. They are starting their fall enrollment, and while we think this fall is too early for her to go, there was no harm in exploring our options for the year after that.

As soon as we got in the building, Avonlea Jane was immediately interested in everything. She wasn't sure if she should play with a sand table first or make a painting. So, she made a painting, played with a sand table, and then made another painting.

When she was done painting, she came to check out the play kitchen before discovering a doll house. Getting her to leave took a bit of coaxing, but with the promise of lunch, we left happily.

The next morning we went to Hamilton to see Brian Doser, the Music Man, in Hamilton. He puts on a weekly song and dance event for toddlers, and this was Avonlea Jane's first time attending. She absolutely loved it!

Above: Dancing with Caedmon
Below: Today, Avonlea Jane went to a holiday party play date at her friend Abby's.

Our suburban child doesn't understand waiting to be buzzed in a door.

After playing for a while, we all headed to Salem Common for the arrival of Santa Claus on the rooftop of the Hawthorne Hotel, where he annually climbs down a firetruck ladder. In years past, he's been twenty to thirty minutes late. However, this year, we arrived exactly at the start time and he was nearly to the bottom of the ladder. By the time Avonlea Jane was close enough to see him, he was climbing off of the truck. She doesn't understand who Santa is (and our feelings about him are mixed anyway), so it was not a problem for her.

Though she doesn't know who Santa Claus is, she does have a basic grasp of what Christmas is. We went to a Catholic gift shop and looked at nativity sets. She understands that when we say "Merry Christmas" it is because it is a baby's birthday, and that baby's name is Jesus. This is as complex as it can be for a while. She was confused as to why the Baby Jesus wasn't dressed in any of the nativity sets (he was in swaddling clothes), and she kept asking: "Baby Jesus diaper change time?"

After the arrival of Santa Claus on the Common, we went home to walk our neighborhood with our neighbors. This weekend is the Salem historic home holiday tour, and it happens to be in North Salem this year. Every year, our neighborhood does an Illuminaria of over 3,000 candles the weekend before Christmas, to coincide with the neighborhood Christmas party. However, this year, they scheduled it to happen during the opening night of the home tours.

David was sadly unable to make it, but Avonlea Jane loved walking the streets and seeing all of the decorated houses as well as listening to caroling groups.


Our photos didn't turn out, so I hope there will be coverage in tomorrow's paper. The majesty of all of the lights cannot be expressed. It was quite the sight to see for blocks.