First I'll start with Christmas. The holiday was perfect and everything went as planned. Unfortunately, Gabey, you were under the weather on Christmas day and just not quite your usual bright self. Its possible you were also overwhelmed with all the presents and everyone in the house as well. Nonetheless you had a great time opening presents until about 3/4 of the way through, when you just looked overwhelmed and over it! Its hard to say what your "favorite" gift this year was, but I think was the few trucks and trains that you received. The new books have also been a big hit...the "Sheep" series and "No David" series from
Aunt Kellie, and the Thomas books from Mom and Dad...
Christmas Eve 2009...just before you went to bed. You had no clue:)
Christmas morning after opening your motorized scooter from Aunt CeeCee. This was the only "big" present you got, and you love it. Once you figure out the logistics of steering it will be a lot of fun outside. Right now its in the basement and you wear a helmet while "practicing" :)
The day after Christmas we headed to Grammy and Grandad's for a reunion with Grammy's side of the family...the Kramers. Its a big family that includes 5 children who are great-grandchildren, and this was the first time you were all together. The pictures we took of Gram and Pap (my grandparents--your Gigi and PapPap) are not the best photographically, but they will definitely be treasured. You also got to meet my cousin Katie for the first time, and other people, like Kellie, got to meet some kids she'd never seen before. It was a chaotic and fun day...
Gram and Pap with Gabey, Lilly, Isabelle, Max, and Vanessa
For New Years this year, we skipped our usual Avalon trip and ended up having a party. The attendence was mostly our 'new' friends (aka Gabe's high school friends he reconnected with recently) and there were a lot of little kids there for the early part of the night. One of the great things about our 'new' friends (wonder how long we will call them 'new'??) is that there are a lot of little kids in the group! Your favorite is Teddy, who is about 9 months younger than you. You two squabble a lot when you are together, but you always ask about him and look forward to hanging out with "Little Teddy" and his brothers Joseph and Stanley.
Not really feeling the hat, and yes, we let you stay up late on New Year's Eve. Til 9p.m.
Your latest obsession...is monster trucks and the movie "Cars". You are quickly acquiring quite a collection of the monster trucks, and you know all of their names, and constantly ask for ones you don't have. You take them pretty much everywhere we go, and its so cute to see you pack up a little bucket of trucks. Over the Christmas holidays I am pretty sure we watched "Cars" about 15 times...you love the movie and its not unusual to hear you say "I need "Cars" Mommy! I need "Cars""
You have developed quite a routine with Daddy over the past month. We've always read stories to you before bed, and this has mostly been Daddy's responsibility. Since acquiring our new elliptical machine, your father has taken to working out as soon as he gets home from work. He takes you into the basement with him, where you plan monster trucks and sometimes watch "Monster Jam". Usually around 4 p.m. or so you start asking "Where's DADDY?" and saying "I wanna go owwn-steers" (downstairs.) Sometimes you go as far as to pack up your little trucks, as if being prepared will make Gabe get home sooner! The few times this routine has been skipped you have been quite unhappy. After we eat dinner, you and Daddy lay on the couch for about a half hour and read a pile of "stories". After reading, Daddy asks you about your day, and its just really cute and funnny to listen to this exchange. At this point you are usually so sleepy you don't resist me carrying you up to bed. Even though I'm not directly involved in this routine, its one of my favorite times of the day--and I'm pretty sure it IS your favorite.
You've started to eat dinner with us at the table most nights, sitting in your little booster seat. I use the term "eat dinner" loosely...it is rare that you actually eat normal food. You pretty much refuse to try anything that doesn't resemble candy or cake or something equally pleasing to your palate. I struggle with the notion of expecting you to eat what is on your plate or go hungry (b/c you pick going hungry) and the notion of giving you something separate (like a p.b.j. sandwich) which probably only fuels your pickiness. Oh well, you're growing and you don't look malnourished so you must be doing okay!
A few other notables...
* You now take showers instead of baths, and you love it. Not sure how clean you really get, but you do take your little soap thing and "wash"...
* You pretty much answer every question with a disgruntled or an overly exhuberant "All right". This is very cute and I need to videotape it to really show the level of cuteness, but those who have heard it probably agree...
* You can make French toast all on your own (with help from an adult obviously) thanks to Grammy Flock. You know all the ingredients to put in, to stir it, to dip the bread, and then you spread your own butter and put your own syrup on it. Pretty sure you get this cooking gene from Daddy and not me!
* Finally, Grammy and Grandad, Kellie and Shawn, and us have all joined the 21st century and have webcams hooked up so we can talk. You love to see Grammy, Grandy, and Aunt CeeCee on Skype. I have to admit its pretty cool!
That concludes this month! The next month will bring lots of new experiences for you...Valentines Day at school with your buddies, your first overnight with Grammy Sharon, and your first time sleeping in a real bed (at Grammy Sharon's...you have a new toddler bed waiting for you! If it goes well, we might decide to convert your crib even though it hasn't occurred to you to climb out yet!) Here's hoping the "winter" part of next month goes quickly, and the "kid getting older" part goes slowly!
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