Christmas 2009

This was our first at-home Christmas (i.e., we didn’t go to visit anyone), so I thought I’d share a few highlights for those of you that we missed seeing this year.  We carried on some of our families’ traditions, and did a few things our own way.  I loved it.  I wish we could have it both ways every year! 

On Christmas Eve, we went to Mass as a family.  I love going to the Vigil Mass, although I have to admit that Henry was not on his best behavior and I think it would have been slightly more pleasant if it weren’t so crowded.  Still… it was lovely.  Afterward we came home, opened a present for each of us (matching Christmas pajamas that Mrs. Claus made), and sent Henry off to bed.  Santa and his helper then ate some Christmas pizza while getting the presents under the tree and filling the stockings.  I love being a parent on Christmas! 

Christmas morning, I got up early to put a coffee cake in the oven so it would be ready when the boys got up.  I also made some pigs in a blanket (which I have recently found out can symbolize Baby Jesus in swaddling clothes… but that is not why I made them!).  All of which we ate along with as many cookies as we could handle while opening presents and waiting for our actual breakfast (breakfast casserole, per Fleming family tradition) to cook. 

Since the overwhelming majority of presents under the tree were for Henry, our plan was to just let him dig in and have fun.  We didn’t, however, count on him being content to just look at the pretty boxes and leave it at that.  So we had to help quite a bit.  And leave several for later in the day (and into the following day).  He did eventually get the hang of it by the day after Christmas, as he would periodically go over to the tree and unwrap something whenever he felt like it.  Our living room is now quite full of toys (especially Little People and their accessories).  And we have the whole next week with Matt off of work to stay here and enjoy it all. 

Thank you to all of you who helped to make our Christmas special, even though you couldn’t be here with us.  We love you all! 

“We expect sentences by Christmas…”

Ok, so it’s not much of a sentence, but lately Henry has been putting “this is…” before the names of various objects when showing them to me.  “This is David” was the first time I heard this, in reference to a small statue of David that he found on a bookshelf (after he laughed and pointed out David’s “wee wee,” of course). 

Other new tricks:

“Thank you”… both when receiving and giving something, but at least we’re on the right track!

“Uh oh” … whenever he drops something (intentionally or unintentionally)

Pretend sleeping… complete with snoring sounds.  We started reading “The Napping House” recently and I think that’s where he learned it.   He doesn’t do this in his bed or anything, just for fun. 

He can identify Mary as well as Jesus (both as a baby and as an adult, but this is definitely getting more confusing for him).  He does think that Noah’s wife is Mary (from his Ark that he got for his birthday), but she is wearing a blue dress and veil, so I guess I can understand the confusion.  Besides, no one really knows what her name is, so Mary is as good as anything else. 

Movies.  I guess he’s watched enough Veggie Tales to know what a movie is, where we keep them, and what to do with them.  Several times a day, I get requests for a “moomoo.”  I’m so glad we don’t have cable/TV; it would be far too easy to just turn it on to quiet him down! 

He learned Aunt Kathy’s name while we were in MI for Thanksgiving.  The other day when we were looking at pictures of Mommy from high school, he identified them as Kathy, not Mommy.  Oh well. 

“Butts.”  Henry loves pushing buttons of any sort and will often point at them an yell “butts” quite desperately in an attempt to get us to let him push the buttons.  Thermostat, radio, credit card machines at the store… all fair game. 

We’re snowed in today, with an anticipated record-breaking December snowfall for the area.  Great.  Do we have boots and snow gear?  No, not really.  We live in Virginia!  Oh well.  At least we know the word for snow (hint: it sounds just like “nose”). 

Henry

Just because I wanted to share:

• This morning, Henry had some orange juice in a sippy cup.  I took the lid off because the pulp blocked up the holes.  After a few sips, Henry decided to start “drinking” the juice with a fork.  Then he dipped his toast in it and sucked it off of that.  Matt says he gets this from my side of the family…
• Yesterday, I brought Henry into bed with me in the middle of the night because he seemed to be having a really hard time getting back to sleep (I’m blaming a couple of teeth that are on their way in).  Since Matt was at work, I laid Henry down with his head on Matt’s pillow.  Even though he was fast asleep by this point, Henry snuggled into the pillow and said “Daddy.”  Maybe he could smell him?  It was very sweet. 
• When Henry is whining/crying/frustrated, he will often add a few desperate-sounding “E-I-E-I-Ooo’s” to his cry.  I have no idea where he got that idea, but it makes me laugh. 

Mickey’s Thanksgiving Surprise

A couple weeks ago, the Pannings decided to take an impromptu vacation.  Location?  Not so important, just as long as it was warm and away from home.  It took all of a few minutes of looking around for us to decide that Disney World sounded like fun.  So we booked it and were on our way within a week.  This is one of the many reasons why I love my husband… I would never have done this on my own! 

Henry did a great job with the trip.  He loved it, in fact!  The plane ride there was great (the one home a little more rough) and he did really well with the crazy, disrupted schedules of the week.  I actually really enjoyed doing Disney World with a toddler.  Henry and I were pretty much cleared for all the same rides, so he could go on everything with us.  Here are some highlights from the week:

• Staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  We had giraffes and ostriches right off our balcony.  Henry loves animals, so this was the perfect built-in entertainment. 
• The collection of kiddie-rides including Dumbo, Aladdin, and several others.  All the same ride, but with different "vehicles” to sit in.  Safe for Mommy and Henry, and apparently thrilling to a toddler. 
• Going on an off-season week, which meant that we never had to wait more than 5-10 minutes (if that) for anything.  Except for the shuttle bus, on occasion. 
• Perfect weather!  Around 80 and mostly sunny all week. 
• Shuttle Launch.  We got to Florida in time to watch our first (and probably last, as the shuttles are due for retirement soon) shuttle launch from the coast.  Matt has been wanting to do this for a long time, so the timing was perfect.  It also gave us an excuse to rent a car, which meant we could get some groceries for the week instead of eating resort/park food the whole time. 
• Meeting Mickey, Tigger, and Pooh.  Henry didn’t have any idea who they were before we got there, but now he does!  I was a little afraid that he would run away and cry, but he did great.  He even gave Mickey a kiss, which was adorable. 
• All the animals everywhere.  Henry loves animals and making animal sounds, so we got LOTS of practice! 
• Snuggle time.  Due to crazy schedules, Henry did a lot of napping and sleeping in the parks or on the bus, which meant I got to snuggle with him a lot more than I usually do.   
• Visiting with Uncle Mike and Aunt Jessica.  It may be awhile before we get to see them again, so it was wonderful to be able to add a visit into our week. 

Some pictures (the rest are on Facebook)