What do you think Mimi Puff’s first words will be? Do you know what your first words were? I don’t know mine. Do you have favourite stories from when you are little that you look forward to reading to Mimi Puff?

Claudia, Happy New Year!

Oh no! I totally forgot about the Cheap Toy Roundup! No, I don’t think they did it this year, at least I didn’t see it anywhere. I’m going to go look as soon as I finish typing!

I spent my movie nights this week with the last two of Eric Rohmer’s moral tales. I have nothing to say about them beyond how much I am looking forward now to my movie nights! With these last two extraordinary stories, I can say that Rohmer has joined the very small group of filmmakers who can actually stimulate me!…

I’m glad to hear you will be spending Christmas Day with EB before he flies away. Will his family be waiting until the day after for Christmas dinner? Oh wait, I forgot you are a day ahead! EB is going to have TWO Christmases! I wonder if they’ll do anything special on the plane? Is he a good flyer? Will he get bored…

That’s too bad you still have a test to dread. They should let you do it now if you want! Will your tutor be someone you know? Will they come to your home? I don’t think ANYONE could teach me Math. I can put all the numbers in order which I figure should be good enough. Personally, I’d have ordered the numbers…

So you are halfway through cram school? Is the cramming all leading to one big test at the end? I’m glad to hear you are doing so well! After its all over I hope you have the biggest treat lined up. Well, not having to think about Math again for months and months is a pretty big treat in itself.

Have you ever tried one of those exercise things that let you hang upside down? I’ve always wanted one of those. I don’t know how its exercise just to hang upside down, but it looks kind of relaxing. Maybe for Christmas this year if there’s a sale. Oh, that just reminded me of an exercise thing we had in the house…

What sort of exercises are you doing? You’re probably getting too much exercise already with Mimi Puff!

I’m very proud of you for taking on so many challenges all at once. I know you can do it, but it sounds like those ten days are going to really test your limits! I wish you could do the school from home with Skype or something. So much of your energy is going to be spent just travelling! You aren’t going to have to…

Four hours of Math! Are there even enough numbers to fill up four hours? Poor Claudia, that is going to be awful. There are some classes that can be made fun with the right teacher but Math, I don’t know. I’ve never found a fun way to do Math. Well, except for geometry because of the little box with triangles and a…

Do you know what your first word was? I don’t know mine. It will be so exciting when Mimi Puff can start to talk and when she can understand when you tell her stories. Of course I can think of at least one series of books that you are probably looking forward to telling her the most!

That’s sad EB won’t be there for Christmas. But you will have your cousin and the girls as well as Mimi Puff, right? Do EBs parents know he won’t be bringing Mimi Puff along? It would be awful if he arrived and his parents looked disappointed for it to just be him! I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to care for…

I’m glad to hear you won’t be travelling for Christmas. That trip must have totally worn you out when it was just you and EB, I can’t imagine looking after Mimi Puff the whole way. Yes, it would be much better if everyone would come to see you instead, maybe just one or two at a time. I hope Kristy isn’t scheming…

Don’t tell anyone, but I secretly opened one of our boxes of Halloween candy today. I just opened it a teeny little bit and sneaked out a couple KitKats. You know how it is when you suddenly get really hungry and its easy enough to have a protein bar or apple or something when that’s all you have in the house but when…

To tell the truth, when I was little I never liked Trick or Treating much. Because where I grew up it was so cold by Halloween I always had to have a big jacket over my costume! A ghost costume just does not look very scary when you have a parka over it and big fuzzy mittens, haha! So I thought of Trick or Treating as…

I hope your weather improves soon so you can take Mimi Puff around outside a bit before winter arrives. Have your neighbours met her yet?

Do the girls want to hold Mimi Puff and carry her? That can be kind of scary! I’ll bet they can hardly wait until she is big enough that they can play with her! You are so right about how families living together is a good idea when there are children. A single parent never gets a moment’s rest. Did your cousin hold…

Oh I am definitely hungry for more mystery! But I suspect the historical society here doesn’t know what our house used to be.  And I wonder if they might be a bit embarrassed to admit this part of the town’s history! But I will tell the historical people what I’ve discovered once I’ve stripped the wallpaper off all of…

I’m relieved to hear school is as far away as April. Although that is still too soon because its school and school can never be too far away. Mimi Puff is a Halloween baby! OH! Have you watched the Great Pumpkin or Grinch Night or Garfield Halloween with her yet? So many traditions to share with Mimi Puff! Is…