Christmastime Is Here

Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours!

As a young family, we are still in the process of creating our own traditions. 

First, we celebrated on Christmas Eve with the Wrye side of the family. Everyone came to my parent's house for lunch. The boys looked so handsome.

After, we went to the Candlelight Service at CBC, and headed to Mt Carmel for Christmas with the Dicus side of the family. By the time we got home it was very late and Santa was due to arrive any minute, so we set out cookies and sprinkled reindeer food on the front porch, and went to bed.

6:30 came very quickly, but the excitement (on my part...I had to wake the boys up) hurtled me out of bed and down the stairs where the proof was in the full stockings and stacks of presents. Santa came!

After I woke the boys up, we discovered that Santa had left a present under the small tree in each of their rooms. They both were so excited to open their first present of the day.

I let the boys open their gifts throughout the course of the day. Both of them prefer to play with each gift as it is opened. This allowed them the space and freedom to express gratitude for each gift received. Also, as it happens every 7 years, Christmas fell on a Sunday, and as I am a church musician, I had to be at church. The rest of my family stayed home to play with already opened gifts.

Jackson did great opening his gifts. He got the hang of tearing off the wrapping paper (in the style Aunt Holly prefers...fast and chaotic).

Samuel crawled around and played with everything. He even tried to steal Santa's leftover cookie.

The boys made off with some great gifts. Santa didn't let Jackson down in the puzzle department. In total, he got 14 puzzles. That should keep him busy. For a couple of days, at least...

Some of the other popular gifts include:

A 3-2-1 Trike for Samuel

And Art Board for Jackson (from Mio and Grandmommy)

A LeapPad for Jackson

A Sports Center for Samuel

Samuel is VERY good at putting the ball in the basket. 

A Piano for Jackson

Though Samuel enjoys it, too.

A Thomas the Train Tent for the boys

And plenty of books

I didn't do too badly, either. I got a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, a Cake Ball Maker, some cake decorating supplies, gift cards, and a really awesome bear hat.

Much to my dismay, the most popular stocking stuffer this year was a voice changer.

The first gift was opened at 8:00am and the last was opened around 6:30pm. I think Jackson sang Jingle Bells and said "Happy Christmas" all day long. It was a long, full day full of happiness and magic and family.

But most important, it was filled with love.

Only 364 days till next Christmas!

Natural

I brought home a small cello from work with a sneaking suspicion Jackson would love it.

He did.

Big Heart

This is Jackson's 31 AND 32 month update. We have been a busy bunch the past couple of months!

Weight: 26.6 lbs

Height: about 36"

He is wearing 24 Month/2T size clothes and size 6 shoes.

Favorite activities:

Working puzzles. And he is very good at it. He can work up to a 48 piece puzzle by himself.

Watching movies (and working puzzles) on "the Pad" (Dad's iPad). He is seriously addicted to the iPad. I'm not kidding.

His favorite shows now are Wonder Pets, Backyardigans, Blue's Clues and Dora. My Dad tried to get him interested in "sailor man" aka Popeye. It lasted 2 episodes. But at least now he knows the theme song.

Jackson still has Daddy Fish. He even picked out some cool things to go in Daddy's Fishes home...a pink tree and a soccer ball.

Speaking of soccer, Jackson had his last soccer class about a month ago. In the 24 weeks he has been there, I have noticed an improvement in his listening skills as well as his physical capabilities. He really enjoyed playing soccer, but I thought we'd give it a break for a while. Hopefully in the new year, I will be able to enroll him in tumbling!

Jackson is so interested in anything musical. I took him to the dress rehearsal for a timpani concerto that the EPO was doing on their Classics 2 concert. I expected Jackson to like the drums! As we walked in, they were rehearsing the overture for the concert. Jackson's eyes just got really big as he sat and watched. He sat still for a good 30 minutes...almost twice through the concerto!

And when I asked him what his favorite instrument was...the TUBA! I thought maybe he had just heard it somewhere, so asked him where the tuba was and sure enough...he pointed right to it (it...yes only one tuba in a nearly 60 piece orchestra). 

We also went to see my parents' church choir's Christmas program. Jackson loved all the music.

We were able to have a special date on December 4th when I took Jackson to see the Peppermint Pops.

We only stayed for the first half as I could sense he was getting restless (it was during his naptime). Santa made an appearance at the end of the first half and Jackson chased him out to the lobby. He needed to tell him he wanted puzzles for Christmas! 

Jackson is still a great sleeper. He sleeps roughly from 8:30pm - 7:45am, and still takes a 3 hour nap. He plays quietly in his crib (yes, I will keep him in that crib as long as humanly possible) until I come and get him. He has a library of books in there that he loves to read.

Before bed, we snuggle, watch one episode of his choice, and read a book. I love this snuggle time with him.

After bath time, Jackson likes to hide underneath the towel and say "where is me?". I then have to guess and then he pulls off the towel, I scream and he laughs. Rinse and repeat. It's a current favorite of his.

I am constantly amazed at Jackson's clearness of speech and vocabulary. I love carrying on conversations with him. Sometime he comes out with the most random things...like "I want 40 dollars". Huh? He is also getting into the make believe stage. He'll say "Look Mommy a dragon!" And then we describe the dragon or pretend to run or whatever he wants to do next. It is fun seeing his imagination at work. He is so funny, too! This is his silly face.

Aunt Holly taught him how to stick out his tongue while taking pictures. One night, I was going through the pictures on my phone that I had taken that day. I noticed some interesting pictures of Jackson. Apparently he had stolen my phone and took some self portraits...with his tongue sticking out!

Jackson is a good eater. He'll eat ALMOST anything. Though there are somethings that he insists he doesn't "yike" (like)...pickles, for one. And pepperoni. If you ask him what he ate for lunch at daycare, he'll almost always tell you pizza and peaches. I think that is what he wishes he could eat every day. He LOVES the IHOP. Pancakes rank up there on his favorite food list. Mac&Cheese, pizza, oranges, applesauce, and yogurt also rank high on the list.

For the most part, he is well behaved. He has the typical moments of not sharing and being two, but mostly he is good-natured and easy going. I like to think it is because I work WITH him instead of struggling against him. I pick my battles and I try to make sure he receives enough one-on-one time with me in a positive setting. I find that if I let him make a decision instead of telling him what to do, life is a lot easier. I try to model good behavior for him at all times, too. He is like a little monkey...saying and doing whatever he sees. He is very polite saying "yes, please", "no, thank you", "thank you", "please"... Of course, I can't take all the credit. He has a wonderful daycare provider in Brandy.

Jackson goes to Ms Brandy's Monday through Thursday. On Friday's the boys stay home with me. I try and do fun things on Fridays. Over the past few months we have built forts

And tall towers

But most of all, Jackson is so so sweet. He is kind and loving and conscientious. He doesn't like to see people upset, and is quick to give a kiss to make it feel better. He tells me "I love you" freely and has even said "you make me happy, Mommy". His heart is so big.

I love you, Sweet Pea!

Who's My Pretty Baby

Samuel's 1 year stats and milestone list:

Height: 29 inches (18th %)

Weight: 20 lbs 14 oz (42nd %)

He is wearing 12 month clothes and size 2 shoes.

He's leaning up. Where'd all that baby fat go?

He is a very picky eater. He likes anything that even looks like a carb (pasta, potatoes, muffins, waffles, puffs, corn grain snacks, crackers...). But give him a fruit or vegetable and he cries. I'm working on him (or shall I say Brandy, the Baby Whisperer, is working on him). He still nurses 5 times a day.

Samuel moves around quickly. He crawls, pulls up, climbs, and is starting to cruise a little.

He appears to enjoy most music. He loves to pull up on the piano and play it.

And he really stopped and listened to the handbells at my parents' Christmas program.

But his favorite toy in all the world is trucks. He likes to make them drive all around. From big trucks all the way down to little matchbox cars, the child loves vehicles.

 Samuel loves bathtime. If you say "splash", he splashes with both hands and a big smile. He also loves to have his teeth brushed (all 5 of them - yes, we got a 5th tooth on the 14th).

As far as speaking goes, the boy is a chatterbox. But only he can understand what he is saying. He typically says "nananananana" when he is upset, and "dadadadadadadada" when he is happy. He does say "Jackson" consistently, "mama" sometimes, and I swear I heard him say "All Done" once.

Sleep habits are FINALLY good. He takes two (sometimes one) naps a day totaling 3-4 hours, and sleeps through the night (generally 7:45pm - 7:30am). He does not like to be held while sleeping; he would much rather go to sleep on his own. He finally gets to use a blanket of his own, and I put him to sleep with a pacifier though he uses it as a teething tool rather than something to suck on.

Samuel is such a sweet little guy. He smiles with his whole face, and giggles a lot. He is a Mama's Boy though, and doesn't like it when I get too far out of sight. He points his little finger and gives me big opened mouth slobbery kisses. I cannot imagine my life without this beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed boy.