Holidays Holidays

After the end-of-the-year holidays are over, another round of first-of-the-year holidays start for us. We get a few weeks off in January, though we did attend the MLK Day parade this year in St. Petersburg and danced to some awesome bands, but then it's back to celebrating. February 14th this year saw the confluence of three major holidays in our house: Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, and Joe Cain Day.

So we made valentines and had strawberry pancakes for breakfast, then we went to a Chinese buffet for lunch and on to a Lion Dance to feed him some money and get our good luck. Then we came home and ate, well, I can't remember what we ate for dinner, but I'm sure it was something Mardi-Grasish to honor the memory of Joe Cain, who is credited with reviving Mardi Gras in Mobile after the Civil War.

On Mardi Gras Day, we made jambalaya and had a potluck at the park with the other mommies at kids. Then Jeff's parents arrived that night and we celebrated with gumbo and king cake. Matthew got the baby, so I think he's going to host the party next year.

William is really developing fast these days. Two weeks ago, he figured out how to crawl. Last week, he learned to pull up. And this week, I'm teaching him to do the laundry, which is important for him because when he finishes a meal, he's just covered with food. Matthew was such a clean eater by comparison. William insists on feeding himself for much of the meal, so there's no way I can keep things clean.

Our favorite new toy is the bike trailer, which allows Jeff and I to ride bikes (together!) for the first time in years. The boys like it, too, and often Matthew can be heard reading his brother a story during the ride. Matthew is the best big brother a baby could ask for. Though he has a bad habit of removing toys from William's reach, he also makes sure that William has something to play with and he is the first to say, "What's wrong, Baby Buzz?" when William frets.