Christmas activities...the boys each got a Lego Advent/Christmas countdown calendar this year...Matthew has been looking for an excuse to get one of these for years! His boys are finally into Legos and that's all the green light he needed! The boys enjoyed opening a box and building a new object each day - Drew was much more enthusiastic about it, racing to the box first thing in the morning. Noah had to be reminded most of the time, usually by Drew! Drew's was Star Wars themed (because nothing says Jesus is the Reason for the Season more than Star Wars Legos) and Noah's was more city themed. They both were looking forward to some special pieces...Drew wanted some of the characters, Noah wanted the robber! Oh Noah! We enjoyed seeing the Benbrook Christmas Fireworks again from the Middle School field (to avoid the crowd, noise and chaos!) with some of our friends. Noah was the brunt of some big boy bullying by Drew and friend Seth, but he handled it pretty well all things considered...one day he's going to be big enough to put a stop to it himself!
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| This is Noah being mesmerized by the changing colors of the TV while we listened to Christmas music when decorating... |
Christmas decorating took several days to get it all complete, but we all loved the end result...lots of festive decorations! The boys loved turning as many of the singing animals on at once of course. And we've had a "My First Christmas" toy set since Drew was born with 6 small krinkly toys in them - Santa, tree, candy cane, gingerbread, reindeer and snowman. So what I loved this year is the boys really like the Disney Prep and Landing shows (really cute!) and it's about the elves that help Santa get all the toys delivered...they have all these cool spy-like toys they use to check that everyone is sleeping, etc. Well, they are all shaped like Christmas objects and so Drew used the baby toys as his Elf/spy toys - it was awesome and cute and hilarious!
We enjoyed the Christmas Cantata at church...well, the boys did. Kate was incredibly upset that morning and was un-soothed by eating and just wanted to sleep...all morning! It was a very off day for her, so Mommy and Kate didn't hear the Cantata this year! The boys had their Christmas programs this month too of course, and sadly, were on the same night at the exact same time! So Daddy went with Drew, and Mommy and Kate went with Noah. Both boys did great! We each recorded the programs so we could share them with the other later that night. Drew was all smiles and sang every word proudly! Noah did great, dressed as a sheep with his classmates, waved as soon as he got on stage and sang along with most of the song, but was also very distracted by his costume that had gotten catty-wompus (of course!) and was a bit distracted! But we were proud parents - such cute boys!
Another big day involved picking Drew up early from school and taking all 3 kids to see Santa. The boys did a good job, no hesitation at all. Drew asked for Legos and Noah asked for letters...! Santa looked up at me with that one, I just shrugged my shoulders, and Santa told him he couldn't make any promises, but would do his best! HA! We later figured out Noah wanted the art easel with the magnetic letters back from the closet that had been put away to make room for all the Christmas decorations! Hilarious! He just wanted his magnet letters back that he already had! :) The boys played on the mall playground until it was time to go meet Daddy at ToysRUs for the boys to pick out toys for each other for Christmas. This is always so much of a better idea in my head than it turns out...they just want to pick things out for themselves - the opposite concept we are trying to impart. So, it was a hectic afternoon and was forever long, but we all survived another year of that! Whew!
Drew woke up early one morning before school and turned the light on in the boys' room right away, which really made Noah mad that morning. So without hesitation, he ran, pulled out a light saber and started attacking Drew! We won't tell them until they are older, but both Mommy and Daddy thought it was hilarious! In general, the boys had a hard time playing well together this month...maybe the excitement and selfishness of Christmas presents, Mommy and Daddy being pre-occupied, or maybe just being boys and brothers, but it was a rough month!
Both boys had dentist appointments this month and both did great. However, Noah had 2 cavities so we had to go back for fillings. Well, he did pretty good, but when it came down to it, he wasn't having it, so he just got some temporary fillings put in, but apparently that's pretty good for his age to tolerate. So now we get to floss more...sigh! Another task at bedtime!
Noah is starting to show a little more interest in potty training this month, though still a very parent led activity for the most part...he just won't own it as his responsibility. If we take him enough, he could stay dry (and does at school!), but at home, there's no initiation from him at all, and to be honest, we are just too occupied with everything else we are juggling, we are too tired to remember all the time!
One Sunday this month Mommy was in the back of the church rocking Kate to sleep. And not too surprisingly, Noah wanted to be where Mommy was. So he joined us in the back, Kate fell asleep, but she's pretty picky about not letting me stop bouncing or sit and still stay asleep, so we stayed in the back. Noah did ok initially and then realized the freedom he had and the limited range Mommy had while holding a sleeping Kate. So he was hiding and running around, and then it came time for communion and all Mommy had was a whisper to get him to come, and ended up wrangling him with her feet, 'nudging' him in the right direction. Mommy got lots of grins and looks as well as comments after the service...hey, you do what you gotta do, right?!
A house in our neighborhood had an inflatable dinosaur that had a present in his mouth and it was Noah's absolute favorite this year. He talked about the dinosaur almost every day and wanted to know if it was awake (blown up and lit) or asleep (deflated). Whenever it got dark, he would remember and ask if the dinosaur was awake and once or twice begged to see it so much that Daddy took him in the car to drive down 3 blocks to see it before going to bed!
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| Noah being unsupervised momentarily with a stamper apparently leads to stamp attacks on himself! |
Drew had a special treat this month, invited to a sleepover at cousin Taron and Kirby's house with cousin Luke! Man, were they excited! They had such a fun time watching movies, playing games (including Just Dance on the Wii - awesome!) and just hanging out together. They apparently got next to no sleep and were zonked by the time they got home, but had so much fun! Noah was sad he didn't get to go, but was easily distracted by a movie night/sleepover with Mommy - which just means we get to watch a movie together in Mommy's bed before going to sleep in our own beds!
New things she is learning this month...she's really starting to figure out and enjoy pushing through her legs. One evening she was happy to do 'squats' in Daddy's lap while Mommy spent a good amount of time in the kitchen! She is starting to squirm and move around a bit more in bed, always turning clockwise! She is making more and more noises and sounds, and we just love it! She keeps sticking out her tongue all the time, and it seems like it's getting longer, LOL! Our neighbors say it's because she just has too much tongue! Hehehe! She is starting to bring things to her mouth and explore in that way, so we are really driving home with the boys the importance of what is around her! She is starting to grab at and track toys close to her now, so she's definitely liking her play gym more, which is fun for us as well. She also has what I call her "Titanic pose"...when I'm walking around the house while holding her, lots of times she'll arch her back just a little bit, both arms out wide and just look out - it's so silly, but mostly because it reminds me of that ridiculous movie. :) Oh, and she's started being able to grab at hair - mostly hers at this point. It's funny watch because she'll pull her own hair and not be real happy about it, mostly looks concerned, but she keeps doing it because, well, she's a baby. But kind of funny too.
She still likes anything related to taking clothes off it seems...changing clothes, changing a diaper and LOVES her baths! She kicks so much in her baths that we've had to change locations for those. She was kicking and arching alot in the baby tub, so we know take baths on a small baby bath frame that sits in Mommy's BIG tub filled with just enough water for her to splash. She loves it, and it's much better, except on Mommy's back, but that's ok. A silly thing a Mommy notices...mostly because it's during bedtime hours...she loves getting her PJs zipped up! For whatever reason, the sound of that always catches her attention and makes her smile so big! Sometimes when she gets on her changing table, she shakes her head side to side real fast too, like she's excited, it's so cute! It's these little things that make me love being the Mommy - sharing these moments that no one else get to see! :)
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