The Bedtime Story

Jack talks with circular breathing all day. Amazingly, he is capable remaining silent when playing on his blanket for quiet time. That is the only time I am guaranteed he will not talk. I have heard him talking in his sleep, after talking himself to sleep. One of his favorite games is "think about it" where he recounts in meticulous detail everything that he can possibly think of regarding a specific event or adventure. Polar Express was one of his favorite "think about its" this Christmas. We watched the movie once, read the book a couple of times, and suddenly everything big enough to put a foot on was a train, everything small enough to hold in your hand was a ticket, and everyone in the house was a passenger on the train. He even sings the hot chocolate song after hearing the soundtrack. Last week I caught London yelling "AAAAALL ABOARD!" for the first time. Pretty cute. Anyhow, last week  Jack asked to hold Blake for a minute before going to bed, and decided to tell him a bedtime story. Bet you can't guess which story he told...

After about 2 minutes it occurred to me to video tape it so you could hear part of his favorite story.

Part 1

Part 2

Goodnight from Kansas!

London's Look

 Last Wednesday we had London's eye appointment. I mentioned to the doctor that he had a new "dirty look" that he gives us when he is sullen or in trouble. It involves closing his left eye almost completely and looking at us out of the top or side of his right eye. It has nothing to do with his vision, I think he is just learning to "use" his droopy eye for maximum effect. I finally managed to capture "the look" on my camera.

This effect is his happy ornery look.

 This look indicates that he knows he is cute and little.

 This is his warning look, cast sideways at Jack. He is grumpy and does not want to be messed with.

"Am I really in trouble?"

None of the posed looks in this post were real, except possibly the smiling ones. He was just practicing his different faces while playing with play-do. 

Christmas Memories

 London and I took this tree down yesterday. It took us about 2 hours to get the totes, take all the lights and ornaments off, disassemble the branches and stand, and pack it all away. That may sound long, but London is 18 months old, we wrap almost every ornament individually, and it took us about 6 hours to set the whole thing up! The following pictures, excessively detailed though they may seem, depict the course of those 6 hours.

 Jack, the do-it-yourself man, Jon the multi-tasker, and London the unbalanced koala. Below is a picture of London rolling around on the floor throwing a fit. He was not as helpful setting up as he was tearing down. I thought he looked hilariously pathetic lolling about on the floor.

Our traditional tree topper. Unfortunately, they always end up needing clean diapers and food and never make it through the Christmas season up there.

 Happier after a good nap and finding his elf slippers. (made in New Zealand from lama wool for anyone who wondered...)

 These pictures are slightly out of order. We didn't vacillate between having lights or a top on our tree. Once they were on, they stayed on until yesterday.  

 Keep an eye on that lower left corner of the tree. It ended up hosting about half of the ornaments on our tree, all packed 2-3 to a branch. Cozy, eh?

The happiest of all. Jack was a blast this Christmas. He soaked up all of the sights, tastes, sounds, and traditions. I taught him how to squint his eyes to make the lights on the tree sparkle and dance. He can sing about 4 carols all by himself, and he enjoyed reading Christmas story after story after story after story. We haven't pushed the Santa issue, we just tell him that Santa is a guy in a lot of the holiday stories, and Jack thinks he is pretty nice. Kind of like Clifford the big red dog. Someone told him that Santa was going to come to his house and Jack got all excited about having waffles with him and maybe building a fort. So innocent and friendly. I love it.

Christmas is gone, and the lights are packed away. But, I am thrilled at the thought of doing it all again next year with Jack old enough to ice cookies, London repeating Jack's excitement from this year, and Blake watching the train run around the tree.