Santa Claus

Who knew I'd post something Christmas related BEFORE Thanksgiving??!! Alex, for the first time in his short little life, knows who Santa Claus is. He was looking at the back of one of his books and in a tiny little picture of another book cover was a picture of Santa Claus. He wanted to know who that man was so I told him. That led to a discussion of the real Santa Claus, followed by a trip to the mall to meet Santa. While Alex wasn't actually brave enough to sit on Santa's lap, shake his hand, or get too close he did tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Santa gave Alex a bell and then Alex tried to take one of the fake presents in the display. It was all very cute and Alex loves his bell.

It's also really nice to have the whole "Santa's watching you" bit in my back pocket. Needless to say it whips Alex into shape pretty darn quickly!

In a totally different direction, I was noticing the contents of my pockets when I went to bed last night. It seems to be a growing trend lately that they contain much more than the usual set of keys and pocket change. Last night I found a matchbox car, a wooden bead, and a napkin from the birthday party we went to that afternoon (and my thanksgiving grocery list). Who knew I'd be carrying around toys all day long!!

This & That

Time for another random update. It's quite fun to have 2 kiddos running around now. I am forever amused by the things Ben is doing now that Alex used to do. Things like pull all the movies and music off the shelf, play with my cookbooks, jump 10 feet in the air when I catch him doing something he shouldn't (Alex still does that, although now he has a tendency just to launch straight into a screaming fit). They are both food hogs, they eat just about anything. Ben is starting to copy Alex as well, always amusing for us, not so for Alex.

Then there are the differences. Alex has always loved to sit on my lap (or daddy's) and read a book. Ben thinks it is great for about 2 seconds. He would much rather be on the floor playing. I do think he likes hearing us read to Alex as he usually hangs around for a story. Alex was always a snuggler, still is. Ben is so much more independent, he has been since he was born. Ben seems much more vocal in his opinions than Alex was. Until he could talk, Alex would pretty much go with the flow.

Anyway, it's just fun watching them each grow and develop independently.

On a totally different note, I got to thinking about the things that make me feel like a mom. Sounds silly, you would think that the moment Alex was born I would feel defined by that label. Not so. What makes me feel like a mom - making clothes for the kids, staying up all night when they don't feel good, putting silly holiday place mats on the table. I guess it's the special things that I think of my mom doing when I was little (thanks mom!!)

Just an ordinary day...

It's been awhile since I posted anything, so I thought I'd better get back to it. I'm even ditching my afternoon siesta with the boys for this! For lack of anything better to write about, here's what we have done today: breakfast, play, Ben's nap, park, lunch, everybody's nap. Exciting or not, this is pretty much how I spend every day. But, here are some pictures from the park:

As you can see, we had lots of fun today.

While I'm thinking of it, I thought it would be fun to share some "Alex-isms":

Tummel - Alex's version of "Tunnel"

Pajammies

waTER, was WAwer - We've been working on enunciation, so no longer is it wawer, but the emphasis is on TER. Oh well, it's close

banaNA - here again, emphasis on the wrong syllable.

When he plays peek-a-boo, he covers is face and says "Where is me?" Then he says "Boo - There me is!"

From one of his favorite songs:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - In Alex's version, it goes something like this.

Twinkle Twinkle little star

how I wonder what you are

Up up there so high

like a diamond's eye

Twinkle twinkle little star

how I wonder what you are