Christmas 2008

As you can see Joe had a very good time Christmas morning. The last picture is actually from the 24th. He crashed in his little chair before I could put him down for his nap. Very sweet.

Christmas time has been very entertaining with a two year old. I am happy to report that the tree stayed upright for the entire season and no ornaments were broken. Of course this year I invested in shatter proof ornaments and nothing on the tree was breakable. My glass ornaments are going to be on vacation for the next few years so that they'll survive. We worked this year on the one finger theory when touching the tree. This had some very funny stories to go along with it. The first night the tree was being decorated was the hardest. Joe was very excited and kept grabbing everything. Ed finally handed him one of the old bells that we hung on the tree which kept Joe busy for a while. When the tree was almost finished Joe lost interest in his bell and attempted to hang it himself, which required a bit of assistance. He then proceeded to grab a gold ball and try to yank it off the tree. This is when I stepped in and explained the one finger theory to the little man. He was very cooperative and gladly released the ball to touch it with only one finger. Smiling up at me with that angelic face I thought to myself this is going to be easy.

Yeah...right.

He moved to the other side of the tree and grabbed another ornament with both hands and began yanking with all of his two year old might. I exclaimed one finger in what might have been a bit of shrill alarm. Joe stopped yanking, still holding the ornament with both hands I could see the wheels in his brain turning as he mulled over my declaration. The light bulb clicked on and he let go of the ornament walked back to the original victim of his attack and proudly touched it with one finger while smiling up at me. This continued for the rest of the night with either his father or myself stating one finger and Joe returning to the original ball and touching it with just one finger only to grab another ornament a minute later.

After a couple of days he finally started touching everything with one finger when we were watching and when we weren't well the the tree had to fend for itself. All in all he was very good and never really posed any danger to himself or the tree.

Christmas morning Joe helped to open his gifts. We used a little bit of subterfuge by exclaiming that there were balls or cars in each package so he ripped away until he discovered the trick and let daddy finish. He was thrilled with everything he got and it was funny to watch him play with everything after wards. He could'nt decide what to play with so he played with everything at once. Quite the challenge but Joe is pretty talented.

Our new bathroom is almost done. I will be painting soon and then the next project begins.
Must go get lunch ready for my hungry crew.

Love you all and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Nikki