Caga tiò

Last night we went to my friend David's house, where he and his parents -Bonnie and Joaquim- were celebrating the caga tiò, a Catalan Christmas tradition that involves a log pooping presents. (Click here for more information on this fascinating event!)
Lots of my friends were there, including Max and Chloe (along with some grown up friends of Mami and Daddy's too.)
This is the tiò:

The first part is to feed the tiò. It likes to eat fruit so it can poop a lot! Then you cover it up so it stays warm.

After that we made lots of noise and jumped around,

and sang the caga tiò song:


(While we were back in David's room singing and dancing, I corrupted the poor boy and convinced him to jump on his bed. Sorry about that...)

And somehow, amazingly, while we were off dancing and singing, the tiò pooped!
We came back and uncovered it -

and it had pooped all kinds of fun toys and presents!

What a great tradition, and we had so much fun.
Now I know about Christmas, Chanukah, and the caga tiò. I'm very worldly wise when it comes to our winter holidays!

Twirling candy canes

I wore my pretty red and white 'candy cane' dress to the last day of school before vacation. This is the dress that my Mami wore for Christmas when she was 2 years old. It's, as I say, "such a beautiful dress" that I can't help but dance and twirl all around in it.





Woa, I made myself dizzy that time!

A little leisurely reading

There's nothing better than unwinding after a long day at preschool with a little relaxing reading.

And of course I take off my clothes (but not my princess slippers) to relax, don't you?

Happy Gator

I got a great girly gator shirt the other day, and Mami cut my hair so it's not in my eyes anymore.

I'm a happy gal!

"Frosty the snowman..."

I just love Christmas carols! I know all the words to Rudolph, and Frosty and Jingle Bells. I'm working on Deck The Halls, but there are a lot of hard words in there. (Mami taught me that "jolly" means happy, and that "don we now our gay apparel" means we put on pretty dresses - I like that part!)
Here's a video of me singing (albeit a little half-heartedly) Frosty the snowman. The videographer was a little slow getting the camera going and caught me after I'd already sung the first few lines. We come in here at the corn-cob pipe part...

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(You just know they love hearing me sing these songs at the top of my lungs at the conservative Jewish daycare center I go to!)

This year's school picture

Can you believe a whole year has passed since I had my school picture taken last year?
Here's this year's picture, I look quite different, don't I?

(My teachers apparently did my hair like this for the photo... not what Mami and Daddy would have done I'm sure...)

The finishing touches

Our Christmas tree is very pretty but sometimes I just can't resist a little redecorating.

There are one or two ornaments that never seem to be quite right, and believe me, I will take every opportunity to move them!

Trimming the tree

Yesterday we finally decided to put the ornaments on the tree (after a week of looking at it just sitting there in our living room, totally bare...). I was very excited to help out!

Please don't ask why I'm wearing my bikini and Mami's shoes to trim the tree. I'm almost 3 years old, so this is pretty much par for the course in our house these days.

We had all our favorite Christmas carols playing on the radio, and Daddy and I couldn't help but dance around a little. When I hear Frosty, there's just no sitting down!

And then just to mix things up a little, I stood on my head for a while.

But through it all, we ended up with the prettiest Christmas tree ever.
Now will someone please just tell me when Santa will finally come??!?

Lights, camera, action... That's CHRISTMAS lights!

Tonight we went to a big outdoor party at the hospital where Lela and I were born and where Mami's and my (and Lela's) doctors work. Each year they put up lots of Christmas decorations around the duckpond outside the hospital and they have a big celebration the first night they turn on the lights.
I saw all my favorite Christmas-time characters there, like Rudolph...

(OK, minus the red nose)
...and Frosty and Santa!

Daddy and I hung out and waited for the lights to go on.

But dont' worry, Mami was there too. And Lela of course, inside Mami's sling.

Yea, it's hard to see Lela, but she really is in there, see?

And then the highlight of the night (except perhaps for the cookie I was allowed to have after dinner) was when the lights went on:

It was very exciting because everyone there counted down from 10, which I'm learning how to do. (Although I usually get stuck at 6 or 7 and start going back up...) I just can't wait until Christmas, how much longer is it?

Searching for the perfect tree

Today we went on a quest for the perfect Christmas tree. (Yes, it's early, but here in Florida it never gets to be winter anyway, so the whole holiday feeling is a little arbitrary...)
We went to a great store where they had tons of trees to choose from. Daddy and Mami and Lela and I spent a long time looking at all the options.

And then I found it... the best Christmas tree ever!

We're going to decorate it tomorrow. I'm so proud of myself for picking out the perfect tree!

Me and my little sister

It's been a month now that I've been a big sister, and I still love it!
My favorite thing is getting to hold Lela, and I give her great big (and not so gentle!) hugs.

And kisses!

Playing dress-up

One of my favorite things to do these days is to play dress-up with other peoples' clothes.
Like these fancy shoes of Mami's. (She says they're impossible to walk in, but I do ok!)

I also went rifling through Lela's closet the other day and found this dress, which is the dress I wore when I was baptized when I was three months old. Mami said it wouldn't fit me but I insisted on putting it on. It does so fit, see?

Sure, it's a little airy in the back, but it's such a pretty dress that I don't mind.

And here I'm wearing a shirt of Mami's - it makes a perfect pink ball gown for me.
As an added bonus, I'll sing you a song about the months of the year, since we're getting ready to wind down 2007 and start all over with 2008:

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(As always, I get a little goofy in front of the camera!)

Thanksgiving at B'nai Israel Community Day School

Today was the Thanksgiving celebration at my school. Lots of us got dressed up and performed songs about fall, pilgrims, turkeys and Thanksgiving. In my class, we got to dress up as trees and turkeys. I was a tree, see?

Here I am with my teacher, Miss Adriana, waiting for the singing to start. You can see my other teacher, Miss Bridgette, having fun with the other kids in my class.

And here's our stellar performance. We sang two songs, one about a turkey and one about leaves on a tree. (Do you sense a theme here?) I was one of the loudest singers (they say I always am)! [And I'm all about audience participation - at one point you can hear me say "sing it, Mami", because I could see Mami standing there with the camera.]

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It was great fun, I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed singing!
Happy Thanksgiving!

The Shabbat Box

I had two excellent days at school this week, according to reports from Miss Bridgette, my teacher. See?



And because of that, I was chosen in my class to take the Shabbat Box home this past weekend!
This is the Shabbat Box, and inside it are all the things we needed to celebrate Shabbat at home.

There's a Shabbat Pal, who visited our table.

There were candles to light, and a sheet with all the prayers to say, too. Mami and Daddy don't know anything about that, they had to read the instructions, but I knew to cover my eyes when they read the first one.

There was "wine" (ok, grape juice) to drink out of the Kiddush cup. (Yum, I liked that part!)

And there was challah. I really liked that part!

Shabbat shalom to all!

The perks of having a baby sister

Well, there are lots of great things about having a baby sister, of course.
But on the top of that list are the cool toys Dora and I can play with! Like this car seat.

I just buckle her in...

... and off we go!
Ugh, this is heavy, how do Mami and Daddy carry this with Lela all the time?

There's also this way cool playgym that Dora loves and I think is perfect for relaxing.

I can't wait to see what Lela plays with next!

Daddy's hat

Daddy had to wear this hat to the meeting he went to the other night. But I think it looks just great on me, don't you?

Getting my work done

Mami and Daddy got a new chair for the office computer, which I just love to sit in.

Of course, it's hard to reach the keyboard, but I still manage to get my things done.

The Ward Sisters step out

Yesterday we had absolutely gorgeous weather here in Florida. So Lela and I convinced Mami and Daddy that it was perfect weather for a trip to the park, and we headed out. This was our first outing in the car together, and Daddy's big truck suddenly looked and felt very small...

But Lela and I (and Dora, of course) need our room, don't we? Mami squeezed in next to us, the smallest seat of the three - poor Mami!
(And in case anyone is wondering, no, I can't reach Lela from my seat!)

#1 Gator fan

Last weekend was homecoming here at UF. So, of course, we all got gussied up in our finest Gator gear. And the Gators won (finally!) their game against Vandy. It must be the hair bow, don't you think?

Someone to have tea parties with... at last!

Anyone who has been to my house knows that I am quite the tea party hostess. (I get that from Gaga and Nana...) I will coerce just about anyone in to sitting down at the Dora table for a tea party with me, whether they want to or not.
Frankly, I've gotten a little tired of having to talk everyone into joining me for my delicious tea. So it's so nice to have a new and willing guest at my table: Lela just loves my tea parties.

And I'll be we'll be having tea parties together for years to come!