A Christmas Story

Our Christmas story is so much different than last year. How much Emma "gets" Christmas at 2 years old is amazing. Last year, I would have never guessed that Emma would be able to say Merry Christmas or half the other words/phrases she says to date; her vocabulary really made Christmas a lot of fun this year.

Christmas Eve morning we had a nice lunch and play date with Doug's parents at our house, Emma took a nap, then we went off to Uncle Mike and Aunt Gail's for a family party and to wish Great Pop-Pop Bob a Happy Birthday...how special to be born on Christmas Eve! Emma had a great time playing with her cousin Maria and being social...what a difference a year makes! I felt a smidge guilty we weren't watching Emma as closely, but her cousin was loving being a "sitter". We didn't make it to Christmas Eve service but it would have been too much stimulation for Emma after an already big day.

Christmas morning we carried Emma downstairs, then nudged her towards where the tree is located, telling her Santa had been to the house and brought her presents...the bounce house was waiting for her in our sun room, all blown up and ready to "bounce". Emma wasn't quite sure what the large, yellow, inflatable monstrosity taking up 80% of the room was, but once we tossed her inside, she was like, "Oh yeah, it's a trampoline". She started running around and dancing in the bouncer, but then saw the presents under the tree and wanted out. She could not decide which present she wanted to open, would put one gift down, then pick up another to open instead. Emma repeatedly said one of three things, "Oh boy", Oh wow" or "Ho Ho brought dis (this)" while opening gifts.

After Emma opened her gifts, had breakfast and cleaned up, we headed to Gramma Cheryl's place and Emma enjoyed herself all over again with all the gifts and attention from Gramma, Uncle Jeff and Auntie T or Tandy, as Emma calls her. She received a Fisher Price dollhouse and was so excited, she jumped around and yelled, "Oh boy" and "Dollhouse"...we have this on video and had quite a laugh reviewing the videos at the end of the evening, reliving Emma's Christmas joy. I didn't expect to feel so emotional Christmas morning, but when we were carrying Emma down the stairs and set her down, seeing her, in her snowflake PJ's, running towards the tree, had me choking back the tears.

We are still a stickler with the nap schedule because Emma shows signs she still needs it, so after Gramma Cheryl's we headed home for a nap and Doug went off to work. All the excitement of the day made Emma extra snoozy and I had to wake her up to head off to Great Grandma's house...horrible idea...never wake a sleeping bear! She woke up sweaty, with socks on her hands (yes, socks on her hands, this is something she does lately), disoriented and very, very salty about being woke up. This waking mood called for extreme measures, so she got a cookie for a snack before we headed out the door...the cookie and car ride seemed to soothe the mood, but once we got inside Great Gramma's, with all the people, Emma wasn't having it, but eventually warmed up. She had a great time playing hide and seek with a cousin and opening gifts. Christmas is so much fun, but it is definitely too much running around for little ones.

Yesterday we stayed home to decompress from Christmas and Emma spent the day exploring all her new toys. She rotated between all the new stuff several times and really burned some energy out in the bouncer. On Friday, we will head to her Pop-pop and Neeny's house for more Christmas fun and I'm thankful Emma can have a few days to regroup/get back on schedule after all the excitement, so she will be ready to unwrap gifts and be her normal, silly self at their house.

Emma had two Christmas dresses this year, since we go several places, but she chose to only wear one of them...."the pink one" she said(it's really red). Since we have 2 more Christmas events to go to, I am hoping I can get her to wear the other one, but we will see. This is probably the last year I will buy a Christmas dress or more than one. I feel better about Emma being in comfy clothes vs. cute/frilly. She plays hard and sweats like crazy every minute of the day.

Chipmunk!

I promise, the title of this post will make sense at the end, but it needs some groundwork...

From the time Emma could start talking, I have pointed out to her that she is Chinese and we are not, when looking in the mirror while brushing teeth or washing hands. We touch each other's hair, nose etc. to explore the differences so that one day she doesn't suddenly realize that we look really different. Sometimes we have a little fun with this when we talk about being Chinese...I tell her that Mommy is Norweigan and Daddy is Mexican...clearly, we are neither. If you ask Emma, she will say that Mommy is Chinese and Daddy is Mexican or she will say that nobody is Chinese, including herself, or everyone is Chinese depending on the day.

Today, Emma was talking about being Chinese at the sitters and it continued at home. Doug called from work and we had him on speakerphone, so I asked Emma what Daddy is, which should have been Mexican or Chinese, but she replied, "Chipmunk". She saw the Chipmunk movie today...I fell to the ground laughing.

The first thing she said to me when I picked her up from the sitter was "Chipmunk!", her way of telling me she had been to the movies. She really likes the Chipmunks...I DVR'ed their Christmas special and we've watched it every night this week, so I'm sure seeing them on the big screen blew her mind today.

Salad tongs

If you give a toddler a pair of salad tongs and show her how to pick objects up with them, you are guaranteed a good 20 minutes of entertainment.  We (I) got the idea from a book on Montessori learning techniques.  In January we could register E. for preschool but we are going to hold off for one more year.  The Montessori approach is fascinating and I'm going to start building her shelf of activities in January.

We are really excited for Christmas morning this year.  It was hard to figure out how much was too much gift wise.  Emma is receiving a jumpolene, Fisher Price camera, books and watercolors with a painting smock.  She has a few stocking stuffers like a slinky and ball.  We are amazed at how well she grasps the concept of Santa, so we've had to take special measures to hide gifts etc.