Wow we've had a busy couple of weeks. I apologize for not writing more. You continue to amaze us, of course. You now quite frequently speak in full sentences, count to ten, and say your abcs. You also sing along to many songs, tell jokes, and are all in all adorable. Your potty training took a bit of a backslide the last few weeks, but we're still pushing ahead. Not sure why, but you've taken to screaming and crying when we try to sit you on the potty preemptively to avoid wet pants. I hope you get over that. You've also taken to show really strong preferences for whoever stays home with you on a particular day. So on the days that Daddy is home, when I return from work, you want nothing to do with me. When I stay with you, you prefer that I be the one who cuddles you and puts you to bed. You are so fickle. I don't know that I've ever heard of a kid quite like you in this regard. Hopefully it is also a stage that you will outgrow!
So a few weeks ago--December 11 to be exact, your daddy got a call from Uncle Zak telling him how your cousin Jesse was removed from Uncle Jesse's house for reasons I won't go into. Anyway, Uncle Jesse asked Daddy if we could provide a temporary home for cousin Jesse. Of course we agreed, and on the night of the 12th, drove down to Phoenix to pick up cousin Jesse. Jesse will be three in January, so he is a little over a year older than you--and quite a big kid. You were so excited (at first). You wanted to see him and touch him. We joked that you thought you'd just gotten a new pet. Jesse wasn't nearly as interested in you as you were in him, but he was pretty patient for a 3 year old all in all. As we expected, your fascination with Jesse ended after a few days. I'm sure you realized that having another kid around could potentially take away from the attention you receive from Mommy and Daddy. By day four you were pretty much done with the whole ordeal. Fortunately for you, they found another temporary home for Jesse back down in Tucson so you were able to have all the limelight for yourself once again! You still ask about Jesse and we hope that we can visit him fairly often so you can have a relationship with your cousin, but I think you are pretty happy to have life back to normal again.
So yesterday was Christmas! You are much more involved with Christmas this year than you were last year. You have visited Santa 3 -4 times. Although you talk a big talk about wanting to see Santa and talk to him, when the time comes you find him a bit more intimidating than you imagined! The first time we went to see him was at the library. You were so excited and we stood in line to talk to him. When it was your turn, you got scared and wouldn't sit on his lap. You did manage to muster up enough courage to shake his hand and stand in front of him for a picture. The awesome part was that they were offering craft stations at the library. So we went to make candy canes out of pipe cleaners and wreaths out of paper leaves and paper plates. As soon as you were done with your candy cane you took off running back toward Santa. I had no idea what you were doing. Most of the kids had finished speaking with him by then. You walked right up to him and handed him the candy cane you had made. It was totally your idea and soooo sweet. You won a few fans that day!
You still didn't quite pick up on the excitement that mommy tried to infect you with about the whole Santa Christmas thing, but you did manage to talk about Santa and worry about him getting burned in the fire. I think all in all you had a good Christmas. Santa brought you a little kitchen which you seem to enjoy and Nana and Poppa got you an easel which I think you will enjoy more and more as time passes. It is so funny, though. With all your new toys, you really just want to play with mommy and daddy mostly. Toys impress you for about 10 minutes and then you just want love and attention. You are so darn sweet. Don't get me wrong, you have your moments, but usually if you know you've offended us or hurt our feelings, you will reach out and say "I'm sorry" giving us a big hug and kiss. I feel so lucky to have you in my life. I know Daddy feels the same.
You are so awesome.
Love,
Mommy
