Santa did come!

Well, it looks like Santa understands how difficult it is for a toddler to hold it together after eating cookies and visiting big kids and their toys. James appears to have stayed on the Good Boys and Girls List.

James woke up early and then unzipped and removed his pjs while hanging out in our bedroom. OK. This means he was fully dressed for the morning's festivities (even if Mommy was still in her jammies). We had our traditional Christmas breakfast of cinnamon rolls (this year from IKEA-- Yummy!) which James called "cake" and enjoyed thoroughly.

It wasn't until after breakfast that we let James into the living room. So he didn't know that Santa had come. He was so excited! "I see Mickey Mouse," he said breathlessly.

He had a lot of fun opening and playing with his presents. As he would play with a new toy, Dan and I would seize the opportunity to open our gifts. When James saw us unwrapping packages, he would want to as well. "Present for James."

It was really fun!

Then off to Grandpa & Grandma's house.

James immediately checked out the tree and was happy to see that there were more presents. "I see stockings. I see stockings for James." James's favorite activity seemed to be pretending to make pancakes...

After lunch, James was napping and we decided to watch "Elf," for Dan's parents had never seen it. (I'd totally thrown Dan's mom off by answering the phone, "Buddy the Elf. What's your favorite color?") James woke up mid-movie, so we brought him into the family room to play while we continued the movie. Well, he was NOT a fan of "Elf" at all! He'd break into screaming cries if there was any yelling or physical roughness. And there is lots of both. So, Dan and I took turns chaperoning James in the living room until the movie was over. Oh well!

It was altogether a fun day. James still talks about presents and Santa. Yea!

Update

I'm interrupting my backlog of holiday posting to bring you some of James's new favorites.

He loves, loves, loves church. Thinks communion is great. We were the oblation bearers on Dec. 20th, and he thought the bread looked like a big pancake. After we handed it to Fr. Parnell, James said, "More, more pancake," on our way back to the pew. He really enjoys kneeling for communion which is hysterical since the rail is about to his forehead. Upper forehead. He also likes the songs. As I type this he's singing the great Amen. "Aaaa- men! Aaaa-men! Aaa-men!" Very cute. Last Sunday he was fond of the stained glass. "I see Mary and Joseph." (pronounced something like "Jopheph.") "I see sheep. Nice lamb."

His favorite new skill is removing his pants. He's done it when he's supposed to be taking a nap a few times as of late. He falls asleep pantsless. He even removed his pj pants one night recently. Right now he's walking/waddling around with his jeans at his ankles. No joke.

Some new catch phrases are "I want..." "I need..." and "No way." All great fun, as you can imagine. Really testing out that two-year-old independence. "I need that truck," he said in the fancy baby store in NYC on Monday. "No way!" he said over and over during his two-year-old photo shoot yesterday at the mall.

He also really likes singing. During our last minute shopping last week, he'd request songs about Joseph (I'd sing "Knock, knock, knock"), Mary ("Mary had a baby") and Santa. Then he'd sing them himself. Frosty is still a fave, and he can sing it all himself.

He likes to say "Little riding hood" when I put his hood on him. VERY cute!

Oh, Dan's family all have Santa hats. Dan has a big one with "Dan" on the brim, and a little one with "Danny" on it. James likes to wear the Danny hat. Now all Santa hats are known as "Danny hats." Yesterday at the mall he'd point out the Danny hats to me. "That snowman has Danny hat."

Christmas Eve

So, as I mentioned in the earlier post, we did some shopping in the morning on Christmas Eve. James, by the bye, LOVES shopping. I haven't the slightest idea where he gets that from. Seriously ('cause typically I don't). He'd say, "More more store," every time we'd go out a door to head to the car. Really. Finally, I'd had it and wanted to make sure he ate lunch at home and got a decent nap, so much to his protests we headed home. Also, as you've read, aforementioned nap got interrupted by the Santacade.

Well, after that final visit with St. Nick, it was practically time to head to the children's service at church. We went inside, and while I was changing clothes, Dan helped himself to a cookie and shared some with James. Well, Jamesy ended up eating TWO chocolate chip cookies himself.

The sugar and chocolate kicked in right about the time we got in our pew. Excellent. James was a spaz. There's no better word. Up. Down. Under the pew. On top of the pew. Talking. Singing. Running. Crawling. Altogether good times. He quite enjoyed helping to set up the creche. This year we brought Mary to the stable. James had become quite taken with the Holy Family in the days leading up to Christmas, so he really got into the creche building.

He was also enlisted to help in the presentation of the gifts at the start of the Eucharistic Prayer. In addition to the bread, wine and offerings, we also present a big basket of food for the needy. Well, James and another toddler were each given a canned good to bring up. So there was James with his can of green beans walking proudly up the aisle. I believe the idea was for the kids to put the cans into the basket as it was presented. However, James put the brakes on at the front of the church. He was ready to takes his beans and run for the border. Luckily, Dan was fleet footed and got the beans into the basket and James back in our pew. Hilarious. Communion was a big hit as usual.

When we got home, Grandpa and Grandma were here making Christmas Eve seafood. After we ate, we all went to a neighbor's house for some festivities. James quite enjoyed hanging with the big kids (and their toys). It was well past his bedtime when Dan and I decided we needed to get him home. He was none too happy and cried the entire time as we walked two doors down and then changed him into his jammies.

He stopped crying to get Santa's cookies ready...

... but then cried again when he realized they were for Santa and not for him.

He even cried during books! And he had a VERY special book from Nana and Pops.

Luckily, he did calm down and listen (and has quite enjoyed it in subsequent readings).

Whew... would he still be on Santa's Good List after all of that?

More Santa Love

Well, as Christmas approached, we saw more and more of the nicely-hatted Mr. Claus. Every visit to the mall included a spotting of Santa with James waving enthusiastically. On Christmas Eve Eve (that would be the 23rd), Dan met James & I at the mall after work. We had a family dinner upstairs at the food court in a seat overlooking Santa's chair. Evidently Santa was dining at the same time. James spotted him right away as he returned to his station. "I see Santa!!!" He was so excited! (Another mildly amusing episode from that dinner is that James got a book in his Chick-fil-A kids' meal. After flipping through it he tossed it aside... right over the wall into the Verizon kiosk down below. Oops. I ran down to apologize/retrieve it.)

On Christmas Eve morning, James and I went over to the Bergen Mall to pick up our last few items. Again, he was quite excited to see Santa. There wasn't much of a line, so we went up for an official visit (instead of James's standard shouting of greetings from across the wall). James was, again, anxious for his turn. However, as soon as I popped him out of the stroller, he chose to sit on the floor making bashful faces at Santa while keeping me in reach. He finally got on the big guy's lap, but the photo wasn't so great. This at least gave me an easy out for having to purchase any photos ($17 for the cheapest package!).

That afternoon, James's nap was interrupted by the arrival of Santa at our corner! The town's EMS has a Frosty & Santa that tour the streets (complete with sirens) every year. Dan was arriving home just at this moment, and as soon as he heard that James was awake, he grabbed him and his lil' jacket and ran out the door. (I followed behind with James's shoes and a camera).

James was thrilled by the "sleigh" and Santa. We chatted with our former neighbors and then began walking back towards home. James protested. "More, more Santa! More, more trucks!" So we promptly walked back. James went willingly to Santa's lap and even posed for some pictures. (Sadly, my battery needed charging and was therefore a bit slow, so I didn't get some of his best smiles recorded.)

Moral of the story-- if you want your two year old to sit happily with Santa, have some big trucks involved!

Post-Dec. 25th Santa news: in our few trips to the mall in the last couple of days, James has been looking for Santa. He's known right where to find him, and has been quite disappointed to continually find an empty chair.

James is Two!

OK, so we're about two weeks behind on our posting right now. Rather than starting with the most recent news (Christmas, of course), we'll go back to birthday-time.

On December 13, we had James's Birthday Playdate. We invited the six friends James has had since the beginning-- the kiddos from our Mommies group (can't believe they're all two!). Everyone was able to come over and a few children even brought their Daddies! Needless to say, it was a pretty crowded house, but great fun.

Dan had the genius idea to push the dining room table over to the wall to open up the room for playing. He also set up our train beneath the table. This gave the kids the chance to admire it without the ability to climb on it. (Dan spent much of Saturday evening crafting tunnels and an amazing bridge to make the set-up more magnificent.)

All the toddlers had a blast running (sprinting) back and forth from the living room (where the Thomas train track was set up) to the dining room. They even took turns riding on James's trucks in the kitchen. After enjoying yummy cupcakes, everyone (well, everyone except the Birthday Boy) played ring around the rosie.

Keeping with the train theme, the party favors were Thomas boxes filled with Thomas stickers and little trains that I'd personalized with each child's name as well as a big "2." James was such a gracious host and did a wonderful job passing out party favors. That is until he dropped Cora's box, and the contents spilled out. When he saw what he was giving away, he got really, really sad. Once he had his own personalized train in hand, he resumed his favor distribution.

Unfortunately, James came down with quite the cold on Monday. (He ended up staying home all week!) Tuesday, his actual birthday, he stayed home with Daddy. This meant no birthday treats for his classmates. Boo. We did have a special dinner with Grandma and Grandpa that evening though. And a blue (like Thomas) cake. Yummy.

After dinner, James opened all his wonderful gifts. He really enjoyed the cards and opening each present. When asked how old he is, James proudly says, "two!" often while holding up one finger.

He also calls the birthday song "The Cake Song."

Santa!

James has been pretty excited about Mr. Claus since "seeing" him in the parade on Thanksgiving. He's spotted him at the mall a few times. Last week we passed him en route from Target to Whole Foods. James ran over to the fence shouting, "Santa! Santa!" Then he said, "Nice hat! Nice hat, Santa!" He was really annoyed when I pried him away to go buy dinner. When we left Whole Foods, he darted back to the fence. Santa was up chatting to the photographer, and James said, "Santa, get in that chair!" It was funny. Santa sat down and waved to James :-)

Well, on Saturday we headed to a local nursery who had free Santa photos in the greenhouse. James was SO very excited the whole drive over. We'd ask him who we were going to see, and he'd say, "Santa!"

In line he could hardly contain himself and was practically diving out of Dan's arms to get to Santa.

Then it was his turn.

He wasn't so sure anymore.

The official photo we received captures the "deer-in-the-headlights" look a bit better.

He fell asleep in the car afterwards saying "Santa" to himself. When he woke up at home he asked for "More Santa. More, more Santa," until we let him hold the picture.

In Honor of Uncle P

James got some new shoes. I looooved his last pair, but they don't have them in his size anywhere. Not even the world wide web. Boo.

So, we got these.

They are called "Preston." And are pretty cute, no?

Latest Catch Phrases (updated on 12/08)

"Get down, run!" said pretty much anytime you pick James up to carry him somewhere.

"Get down, boogie." learned from Pops who sang the song after hearing the aforementioned catchphrase.

"Good job, James!"

"Dump. Dump the ______." (fill in the blank with whatever food James no longer wants to eat)

"Clean up the mess. James clean the mess. Put it in the shovel." This usually follows the aforementioned dumping.

"On purpose." This also follows the dumping.

"Turn on the light. Turn off the light. Ooh, it's dark in here. Now it is light." James recently figured out where the living room light switch is located and realized he can put a stool or small chair there to reach it. In the book Emma Goes Shopping, Emma goes to the garage: "Ooh it is dark in here. Emma flips the switch. Now it is light."

James-ese and A Very Sad Parenting Lesson

So, James speaks his own language sometimes. (I'm sure it sounds a bit like "Olympian"-- a language spoken by a certain adorable three year old circa the '88 Games.)

When there is something he's interested in for which he doesn't know the name, he'll point and say something along the lines of, "Babe-ooo-ab-gab-ee-ee?" in a somewhat sweet, and high voice. It cracks me up. We'll respond, "Do you want the salad dressing?" "Yes!" (with an enthusiastic nod) "salad dressing."

He's started to say "Cheerios" better instead of "Chos." And "cookie." (so sad to have "chi-chi" out of rotation.)

"Mountain" is pronounced "Mah-ment," and "Hickory Dickory Dock" is "Hicky Dicky Dock" or just "Dicky Dock."

Remember, the second word or syllable always receives the emphasis in James-ese.

Now for the sad news. Yesterday my fantastic NYC snowglobe became a casualty to toddlerhood and poor parenting judgement. A few weeks ago a certain grandparent showed James the snowglobe as, I'm sure, an innocent means of entertainment. Of course, James loved it-- especially listening to "New York, New York" and watching the cars go around on the base. He called it "House." Or "James House!" (after a few referrals in James-ese babble). I didn't let him hold it. He had to just watch it. Which he'd do laying next to it for the best view.

Well, yesterday I was a bit distracted and didn't get to him fast enough when the music stopped. I saw him trying to wind it up himself. The next thing I knew, he was screaming and the water and glittery "snow" was all over the floor. FORTUNATELY, he didn't cut himself (although I'm still not sure how he managed that!). I was so concerned with him that I didn't have time to be sad about the snowglobe until later.

It's probably irreplaceable as it had the Twin Towers in it. Dan got it for me at least 10 years ago when I still lived in SC.

Oh well. We know it is only the first of many things that will be broken/damaged/lost/ruined by children. And we've also learned that such items must be kept out of reach. Always.

New Skills and Advent

Just thought I'd let you know some skills James has picked up lately.

He can take his pants off all by himself. He's working on sock removal. And shirt (that's the toughest). Also, he's much more helpful than he used to be when putting on clothes as well.

Tonight we had Noseblowing 101. First, I tried to hold the Kleenex up to his nose while saying, "Blow," and breathing hard through my nose. That didn't work very well. Then I blew my nose while he was watching. The next thing I knew, he'd gone back to the Kleenex box, helped himself, and was blowing away. His accuracy into the tissue was a bit off, but he was quite successful with the clearing out the nose bit. Oh man, and he was so excited by this new skill-- he kept going back to the box for more Kleenex and was running around squealing with glee (and leaving tissue remnants everywhere-- nice).

Another skill is "singing" many songs: the hello song from our music class (which mentions both James and Thomas by name-- he LOVES that!), "Frosty", "Miss Mary Mac", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "Head, shoulders, knees and toes", "Happy Birthday."

He also enjoys retelling stories and books. And he's getting better at drinking from a real cup.

Next topic: Advent

Last Sunday was the the first Sunday of Advent. Dan, James & I got to light the candle on the wreath to start the service at church. (I had acolyting flashbacks-- trying to light the candle without being able to see the wick.... I was glad it was just the first Sunday!)

After the service we made our own wreath. The leaves are cut-outs of James's hand on green paper-- so cute! We lit it during dinner today. It is too big to keep on the kitchen table, but we finally ate together in the dining room tonight.

Another Day, Another Train Show

First, let's discuss the fact that James is IN LOVE with his Thomas train. Thanks, Nana & Pops!!! Last night when he woke up crying (thanks, pointy teeth coming in), Dan just put the Thomas engine into James's hands, and the lil' guy rolled over and went back to sleep! What?!

This morning, he didn't even care about helping make pancakes. He just wanted to play with the train.

After pancakes, Nana & Pops hit the road back to SC. We were very sad to see them go. James did tear himself away from the train to give goodbye hugs and kisses, then stood in the window saying, "Bye bye, Pops. Bye bye Pops. Bye bye Pops. Bye bye Nana," over and over and blowing kisses.

A little later we headed to the Bergen County Model Railroad Train Show. It was basically a church basement filled with three or four big set-ups of trains. I quite enjoyed completing the scavenger hunt (locating such items as "a few raccoons" and "underground parking"). James was in awe the entire time. But awe doesn't quite do justice to his reaction to the display of Thomas trains. He (and many other toddlers) stood at the plexiglass wall, just watching in amazement and wonder. He was so good-- he didn't reach in or try to touch. He just stood and watched. For at least FORTY FIVE MINUTES! He was super cute in his new Thomas engineer hat too (thanks, Nana & Pops!).

The ONLY bad part is that we didn't have the camera with us :-(

Train-tastic Day!

Today was Mom & Dad (aka Nana & Pops)'s last full day with us. We started off with a big yummy breakfast then headed over to the park for some good, hard playing at the playground. This allowed us to give James an early lunch and nap.

Then we were off to the Botanical Gardens for the amazing annual holiday train show. James was in awe, to say the least. We were too, quite frankly, because the displays were just amazing!

James had a blast running around the gardens after we saw the trains. "Get down. Run!" is his new favorite catchphrase. He ran all over the park before we headed home for some leftovers for dinner.

After dinner Nana & Pops gave James his birthday gift. We decided that they needed to be here to enjoy his reaction and delight when he opened the Thomas the Tank Engine set!

He was THRILLED and certainly did not want to go to bed. He took the train and some accessories to bed with him, but fell asleep pretty easily after his busy, exciting day.

This Year's Thankful List

So, since I've done this the last two years, here goes what has become my annual list. This Thanksgiving I am thankful for...

• the fact that my parents made the trip up to NJ for Thanksgiving
• how excited James has been to see Nana and Pops
• good weather for the parade
• the fact that the parade features balloons (so that you can actually see the parade)
• James's reaction to the parade
• my amazing husband
• James
• the fact that my sisters are my best friends
• the fact that my amazing brother-in-law was not hurt any worse in (and is recovering so speedily from) his cycling accident
• my awesome group of mommy friends
• James's rendition of "Frosty the Snowman"
• trains (not really, that one is on behalf of James)
• my new team at school
• James's school (aka daycare), especially the fact that he is so happy there every day
• Grandmother's macaroni and cheese
• Snickers
• my Mac
• good health
• Running Divas New York
• my fabulous hairstylist and the fact that he now makes housecalls
• bananas
• coffee
• skype and cellphones
• facebook and reconnecting with old pals