Christmastime is here

We are getting ready for Christmas here at the Speier household. The girls are trying their hardest to be good, and for the most part succeeding. Gaudete Sunday always seems to bring the recurrent argument of who gets to blow out the pink candle in our Advent wreath, and Audrey got her feelings hurt when Lili was unable to stifle her giggles during Audreys uber-falsetto rendition of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" tonight, but they are doing pretty well all in all.

They girls set out their shoes for St. Nicholas to fill on his feast day.

We also got our tree. As per tradition, after the tree is trimmed, the youngest gets to crown it with the angel.

Kateri was thrilled with her task, and we thought she was able to grasp the concept of what she was supposed to do...

...maybe she just wanted to give her Daddy's arms a workout...

...but once she got up there she just kept putting the angel on and pulling it off again while we all begged her to leave it on top of the tree.

She just couldn't let go.

So finally Daddy had to give his arms a break...

... and Audrey had to do the honors.

Middle Child Syndrome?

Something nice has been happening over the past few months. I guess it is the silver lining to Lili's ever-increasing commitments to school, soccer, and other big-kid pursuits. As much as we miss Lili during the school day, her absence has allowed a tight friendship to blossom between her two little sisters. Part of it must be the fact that Kateri is now undeniably a toddler, and can play and be bossed around. When Lili is home and done with homework, she and Audrey are usually engaged in a nonstop round of make-believe that usually involves at least four costume changes and several re-arranging of the furniture to facilitate a scenario that has usually been dreamed up by Lili. When Lili leaves, however, Audrey turns to Kateri for a playmate and becomes helpful, patient, and downright nurturing! As a result, she has become Kateri's hero. Kateri wakes up every morning and the first words out of her mouth are "Au-jah, Au-jah." I usually try to finagle a few more minutes of sleep by offering to nurse her, but she pushes me away, backs down off the bed and staggers into the girls' room to see what her idol is up to. (Lili is not too crazy about this preference, but you get what you pay for, and Audrey has put in the time.) I am sure everyone has heard of "middle child syndrome," where children sandwiched in between the celebrated firstborn and coddled baby feel under appreciated, less loved. Just ask my brother Joe about it...I'm sure he has some anecdotes he's been holding on to for the last quarter-century. (By the way, I am also a middle child, but I am the only girl, which apparently cancels out any negative effects of birth order.) The point is, middle children are supposed to get the short end of the stick in some ways, but I think Audrey is lucky. She gets to be a little sister and ask Lili how to spell things and she gets to be a big sister and show Kateri the best way to construct a stable tower out of blocks. Maybe I am wrong, and in the years to come she will curse fate for saddling her with such a lousy slot in the line-up.

But when a finicky 15 month old prefers you to everyone else in the world...how can you not feel loved?

P.S. I am sorry about the runny-nosed Kateri picture. I have looked at other people's pictures of their kids with runny noses and thought..why don't they just wipe their kid's nose before they snap the picture? But if I had done that, Kateri would have protested violently and their charming little moment coloring together would have been over. If I knew how to photoshop a runny nose away I would. Obviously it didn't bother Audrey. She planted a loud smacking kiss on those slobbery lips anyway.