Bad Bloggers Anonymous

Hello, my name is Toblerone, and I am a slacker blogger.  (pause while you respond with dutiful “Hi, Toblerone.”)

Really, people.  This is the slowest I’ve blogged since the inception of my cyberspace corner, almost two years ago.  And I know most of you haven’t noticed, or at least don’t mind, but it bothers me.  It’s always been my outlet, my nook to practice writing, to, at minimum, inflict myself with my inner Grammar Nazi.  At its basest form, it’s my place to share cute Chickpea stories and photos.  And it hasn’t even been that lately.

So my apologies.  Chickpea is still cute, and has been growing like a weed on our fall journey.  I have more photos to upload, and since several of you have “hinted” that I need to get on the ball with that, I promise to get more up in the next few days.  Her vocab has taken off like a rocket, and while she’s still behind most kids her age in that arena (which has never bothered me in the slightest), it really amazes me how much she understands.  As of late, the cutest thing has been hearing her call out to Oreo, the cat.  It sounds something like “Roreroreroro.”  She’s also learned the delightful English concept known as ‘articles,’ so she’s naming everything with an article in front, regardless of whether it needs it.  So she’ll point and say, “a flower,” “a moon,” “a banana,” “a daddy.”  We respond by pointing back and saying, “a Chickpea.”

I’ve been reading some good books, about four at a time, as usual.  Two are about the country we’re moving to (if you want the titles, let me know, because they’re good).  I’m also enjoying The Mommy Manual, and Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood.  Good stuff.  Thumbs up.

I iTuned (can that be a verb, Grammar Nazi?) myself a Christmas album.  It has a few classics - Dean Martin, Ray Charles, and the like, but the good new stuff is Sufjan Stevens, Sara Groves, Sarah MacLachlan, Chris Botti, Michael Buble, and Third Day.  My unwritten rule for Christmas music is “new musicians, old classics.”  I’ve never liked newly-composed Christmas songs - call me Clark Griswold, but I really only like the classics like “Joy to the World” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel.”  But get modern voices to do them well, and I’m sold.  So my compilation -also a thumbs up.

So Christmas…  It’s been on my mind, for obvious reasons.  But it’s surreal to think that this might be our last one in the States for awhile.  I’m okay with that, really, but it is a bit emotional for me, to be honest.  We’re here and all, and are enjoying the best parts about it (family, freedom to worship, etc.), but I miss having a home for the holidays.  I miss having a tree of our own, having my own kitchen with the right spices, seeing our stockings on the mantel.  My mind often drifts to our three boxes in storage of Christmas decor, because I know I won’t get to see the ornaments from Martha’s Vineyard until next year (if they survive the Giant Move).  I like making chocolate-covered pretzels and pumpkin bread, and I miss not doing that.  I don’t even remember if I kept my loaf pans.  This in-between time…  It makes the holidays weird.  But I guess it forces us remember why we celebrate.

Okay, Jakers is almost over, and then we’re off to the park.  It’s sunny outside, so I take the vitamin D whenever it’s offered.