Scary Clause

So, I thought that maybe Avery was old enough this year to really be excited to see Santa Clause and to sit on his lap. We have been talking about Santa Clause a lot lately and I think that she somewhat understands the concept (the concept being that he brings her presents). But, as it turns out? Not so much. We went to a Santa brunch at Josh’s parents’ club this last weekend. Avery was eating her meal when Santa walked into the room. I swear, you would have thought that it was the devil walking into the room by the look on her face. Avery took one look at him and started crying begging me – “Mommy, I want to walk around!!!” So, we left and took a short break from brunch. I explained to her that Santa is very friendly, but that he wouldn’t even come near her. I finally convinced her to go back to the table (considering, at this point, I hadn’t eaten yet and was STARVING) just in time to see Alex being placed on Santa’s lap. I would have thought that would have gotten her to do it, but nope. She stayed just where she was and kept an eye on Santa all morning to make sure he didn’t come near us. Clearly, Alex was totally comfortable on Santa's lap...

And, clearly, Avery was much more comfortable in Mommy's arms....

The rest of the weekend was spent getting the house ready for Christmas. We got our tree on Saturday, which was quite the experience. We went to a new place this year, which was great (yes, that is Alex in the picture doing his typical "pose" in the stroller). Avery had such a good time that, for the first time ever, she fell asleep in the car (which, mind you, was a 5 min. drive) and then stayed asleep while we took her out of the car.

But, when we got the tree home, the trunk was too big for our stand, which meant we needed a saw to cut it down. Of course, being new home owners, we don’t have things like saws (note to self for anyone looking for Xmas gifts for Josh), so we had to call Josh’s dad. As Josh was on his way to his parents house to get the saw, they both showed up at our house with the saw in hand. However, it didn’t really matter, as the chain saw wouldn’t work. So, we made a call to good ol’ Handy Man Earl. Who is Earl, you ask? Well, Earl is the man who Josh’s father has called to help with various household projects since the beginning of time. For example, Earl is the man who put together Avery’s crib. Yes – you read that right. We called Earl to put together a crib. Don’t even ask. Josh is still getting grief for that to this day.

ANYWAY – we FINALLY get the tree up on Saturday and then spent Sunday afternoon decorating it. Avery had fun helping me but was interested for about 1.2 seconds. She did put a few ornaments on the tree and did a very nice job, I have to say.

Yesterday, Avery and I went to high tea with Josh’s mom. A mansion in Bristol (which is a small town near us) had high tea for Christmas. It was great. A table was reserved for each group and each setting had a little cup and saucer (which, I guess would make sense at high tea). Then a bunch of women came around with trays of scones, then finger sandwiches (which included PBJ for the kids, but of course, Avery ate the ham salad), then dessert. And, they offered both tea and hot chocolate for the kids. Santa also made an appearance during this event. Thankfully, Avery didn’t see him….until she had to go to the bathroom and we had to walk right by him to get there. She actually was ok. I told her that she didn’t even need to look at him if she didn’t want to and that she should just look at me as we were walking by (at which point, she just STARED me dead in the face for like 5 minutes straight, which kind of freaked me out – I sometimes forget how literally kids take things at this age). After tea, they had a man dressed as an elf who read a story to the kids and then told all of us that an elf was hiding somewhere in the mansion. So, we spent the next 30 mins looking for the elf,only to find out that he was sitting in the Christmas tree which was in the room where we were in the first place – go figure. Anyway – it was a great night and Avery had a great time.
On a developmental note – Alex sat up on his own the other day! I put the boppy pillow around him, but he didn’t even use it. Of course, at the time, my camera was out of batteries, so I didn’t get the exact moment that this occurred, but I got one later. He isn’t doing quite as well here as he did the first day, but we’re making progress.
We are also working on his sleeping ( or lack thereof). We have started to let him fuss it out a bit longer than we were and now, instead of me going in there, Josh goes in there to give him a pacifier when he wakes up. In the past, this never worked, as he would only be satisfied if he ate. But, for the last week or so, he has accepted the pacifier and gone back to sleep. He is still waking up at 4 am (nearly on the dot) and I feed him at that point, but then he goes back down until anywhere between 730 and 9 am. So, it isn’t horrible.

Oh!!! And, Chili has found a new home for Christmas. A woman, her boyfriend and her child adopted him. They seem to really like him. Although, I did get an email from her yesterday asking me if he “play bites” at all. She also mentioned that he is rather vocal at night and hasn’t really warmed up yet to her 4 year old daughter. All of these do not sound like a recipe for a permanent new home. I’m just hoping they like him so much that they can look past all of these lovely traits because, quite frankly, I’ve gotten pretty used to a house without chili. We’ll see. I’ll keep you posted.