Christmas update

Now that we've made it through Christmas and are starting to dig our way out from under the presents, wrapping paper, and junk food, I thought it  might be a good idea to update the blog. We had a great Christmas... but we somehow ended up with about three times as many presents for Perrin as we had intended to give him. Sigh. Score another point for the commercialization of Christmas. I just get so excited when I'm shopping for him and can't seem to help myself from buying just one more thing (then another thing, then another thing.) Anyway, at least we didn't go too crazy. It's not like we bought him a car or anything. Oh, wait...

In my defense, just look at that sweet face! How can anyone say no to that?

Christmas with a toddler

This is Perrin's second Christmas season, and I can already tell a big difference from last year. Last Christmas he was ten months old. He was crawling and babbling and starting to eat some table food. This year he's walking, talking, stealing my goodies when I'm not looking, and fully indulging in the many festivities of Christmas.

Last year, he wasn't terribly interested in our Christmas tree. This year, he broke three ornaments the first two days it was up. I did some clever re-arranging and decorated the bottom limbs mostly with cute plushy animals. Now Perrin can't break anything. (He does like to take my beloved giraffe ornament and pop its eyes out of socket, though.)

Last year, he barely understood the concept of opening presents. With some help, he was able to rip the paper off a few on Christmas day. This year, I have to keep a close eye on him because he keeps trying to unwrap presents (and has succeeded once... luckily it was a present for Trey and not for Perrin, so he wasn't incredibly impressed with what he found).

Last year, Perrin didn't do any fun Christmas activities other than being dragged along to a couple parties or to look at lights. This year, I already have two adorable ornaments that he made while at Mother's Day Out and some great pictures and memories of his first cookie-frosting adventure. (We stripped him down to just a diaper and gave him frosting and cookies and told him to "paint." He splotched some frosting on a few of the cookies, then realized the frosting tasted good. I had to take it away from him after he'd shoveled 4 or 5 spoonfuls into his mouth.)

Last year, he didn't understand much about why we celebrate Christmas. This year, he still doesn't. But he sure is having a blast playing with an interactive nativity set that tells the Christmas story through fun poems and miniature gift boxes that he gets to open. I was explaining to him one day that Mary and Joseph were married, so I made them kiss to illustrate the point. Now Perrin makes Mary smooch all over everyone. (According to Perrin, she seems to be particularly fond of the Angel Gabriel. I don't remember reading that part in the Bible. Oh, well... we'll get it right one of these days.) Also, you know you have a toddler in the house when you find baby Jesus in your shoe on a regular basis.

It's crazy how much he's changed and grown up in a year.  ::sigh:: While I look forward to the day when I don't have to worry for the safety of my Christmas ornaments or clean frosting out of his hair, I'm really going to miss these special holiday moments with a curious, spunky not-quite-two-year-old. Christmas loses a little of its appeal once you become an adult, but it becomes kind of magical again when you have a little one in the house.

Ick

Perrin and I take a shower together pretty much every morning. It’s the easiest way for me to keep my eye on him while I’m showering; plus, he loves playing in the water. Yesterday morning, after I had showered, I plugged the drain and ran some warm water so that Perrin could stay in the tub and play while I dried and dressed. After about ten minutes, I asked him to pull the drain to start letting the water out. So he did.

As the water slowly drained, Perrin suddenly stood then squatted down halfway and began grunting. It took me a few seconds to realize what he was doing. By the time I figured it out and rushed to hoist him out of the water and onto his potty, it was too late—a floating #2 was already merrily making its way downstream.

This is the kind of thing that other parents do NOT tell you about when they’re explaining how wonderful and fulfilling it is to be a parent. (For the record, it truly is wonderful and fulfilling to be a parent, but some moments are a little more blessed than others.)

I don’t want to get too graphic here, but let’s just say that I felt like Perrin and I both needed to take a swim in bleach by the time I had captured and disposed of Perrin’s “boat.”

So today’s a new day… and I’m a little scared to let Perrin in the shower with me again.