One mo time, Santa: December 2019

 December was a good month for our family.   

As I mentioned last month, we started the Christmas season out by visiting the Giving Machine.  It was wonderful.

While waiting for Christmas to come, life went on.  Atticus sent some fun mail to his Nana.  The two of them have been penpals ever since her birthday and we have treasured the letters they've sent back and forth.  Here is a sampling above.

Atticus and Hinckley still love to draw.  Here is some of Atticus's Christmas artwork (nothing says, "Merry Christmas!" like Darth Maul!)  The Christmas tree was on the present he made for us (it had the cutest little "Mistle-toes" painting inside.)

Atticus had a Christmas pajama party at preschool:

And we had several playdates with good friends:

Speaking of playdates, we had an interesting development this month.  Atticus has an adorable little friend who surprised her parents one Sunday by asking if they thought Atticus would like her dress and bow.  When they asked her why, she told them that Atticus was her boyfriend!  This was news to all of us.  We didn't worry for long.  When we asked him what a girlfriend was he exasperatedly told us, "it's a girl that's my friend!"  He did mention later that her older sister told him that her little sister wanted to marry him and, when we asked what he thought of that, he said, "I want to do it!"  Maybe he knows more than he's letting on.

It was so fun to have a five year old this year at Christmas time.  I'd even say it was magical.  He and Hinckley were eager assistants as we got our house ready.  I absolutely loved how he set up our nativity.  All of the figures were huddled closely around Baby Jesus.  I left it like that the whole month.  I imagined his thoughts as he tried to get everyone as close as possible to our Savior.

Hinckley was adorable, too.  He couldn't stop saying "Christmas tree?" over and over the day we set it up.  He learned the tunes to a surprising number of Christmas songs.  I'm not sure which was his favorite (probably "Jingle Bells") but when I played "The First Noel" one day he kept telling me, "One mo time, Mom."  

          
There were plenty of not so fun moments.  Hinckley and Max were just as eager to defrock our house as the boys had been to decorate.  Max destroyed quite a few of our ornaments (we had to keep placing them higher and higher!)  It definitely made us lose the Christmas spirit more than once.

Another experience that had us losing our Christmas spirit was getting locked out of our house.  It was nice to know that we've fortified ourselves well but man, oh man, are locksmiths expensive!  Don't get me wrong, it could have been a lot worse.  But when the locksmith drove up and asked me, "How's your day?" with a cheesy grin, I was more than a little irritated.

Still, we tried not to let minor and major irritations like that take away from a great month.  Atticus's 5th birthday was so fun.  He really knew what was happening this year and was able to anticipate it and enjoy every moment!

He got a skateboard and legos to work on during the week and then celebrated with a double birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese that weekend (his friend from preschool celebrated  his birthday, too.)

Christmas did, eventually come.  Atticus wrote a list to Santa very early on, then proceeded to ask for very different items.  Thank goodness for good return policies!

Along with his presents (he got a hockey stick, a wolf hoodie, a Razor scooter and legos Christmas morning) he got a big rock in his stocking and a letter from Santa.  He was pretty rotten on Christmas Eve and almost didn't make the cut! 

But he really was a pleasure to be with on Christmas Day.  He is such a grateful little boy.  Even though we don't always love the idea of too many things, it was so fun to see him play with all of the gifts he received from grandparents and relatives.  (Thank you!)

After opening presents and eating a quick breakfast we finished packing and left for Utah, where we'd spend quality time with so many wonderful family members. 

 Aside from a couple sleepless nights, it was a great visit.  We missed the Laney family and my older brother, but made some great memories.

   

Atticusisms:

• "Hinckley is hitting me on my birfday!"
• "Can you _________ since it's my birfday?"
• "I was punching them pretty seriously" (While defending his friend at a party.)
• "I’m trying so hard to be good but I just can’t do it!" (Talking about Santa). "I guess I don’t get any presents because I’ve been a brat." (This was said so dejectedly and defeatedly it broke my heart!  Don't worry- we didn't let him feel that way for long.)
• "Mom, I don’t want any presents. (while running holiday treats to friends) I like giving!"
• “Max has your booby holder.” 
• "I’m the raven master and when I do something bad I listen to scary music."
• "Why does Santa only give and no one gives back?  I want to give something to Santa!"
• "Mom!  Why didn’t you remember Santa’s key??  You remembered everything for our trip but you didn’t remember the key!"
• "I'm going to live somewhere else." (His first attempt to run away!  He proceeded to pack a pretty healthy lunch, then let me distract him with a helping of dinner, then forgot all about it.)

Man, is Hinckley two, with all the cuteness and all the obstinacy that comes with it.  I feel like, as his mom, I am public enemy #1.  Anything that is my idea is a terrible, awful, no good idea.  And we are having a hard time getting him to stop hitting.  He tells us, "I sahee, Mom/dad," almost immediately, but I'm not so sure time outs are enough.  

He was so hard for my brother-in-law that Adam called him a terrorist and nicknamed him Osama Bin Ladin for the rest of their stay!  But we still love cuddling and snuggling with our little terrorist when he'll let us.

His favorite book this month is We're Going on a Bear Hunt.  He loves it and whispers, "Tiptoe, tiptoe" all the time.  He is saying more and more full, though somewhat slurred sentences.

Unfortunately, he did NOT enjoy meeting Santa the first time.  He surprised us by asking to see Santa again in the car shortly thereafter.  And the next time he saw someone who resembled Santa he was far calmer!

One of my favorite moments with Hinckley in the last month involves this little monkey.  I heard Hinckley saying, "Monkey, you okay?"  I came into the room and he told me his monkey was crying.  When I asked why he said he needed a "ban-aid."  He ran off and found bandaids somewhere (still not sure where!) and as I helped him put the bandaid on he told me that his monkey's arm got "smooshed."

I love his growing imagination as he pretends to cook us food and talks to pretty much all inanimate objects as though they can talk back.  

Hinckley speaks:

• “Bishop!”  (Searching for Bishop Whittle, one of his absolute favorite people.)
• “Hi ______, how you doeen?””
• "One mo time Santa.  Bye bye Santa, see ya later Santa." (Shortly after screaming his head off when Santa held him.)
• “One mo time Santa, bye bye Santa” (the next morning as he woke up.)
• "Bucket!" (the kid lives for filling buckets with toys and random objects.)
• "One mo’ time, Mom/Dad."  (For anything he has just done- there is a lot of toddler inertia...)
• "Moteecycle!" "Eh-plane!" (loves both and recognizes the sound as one approaches.)
• ”Oh dee gosh!”
• "Watch, Mom/Dad!" (Before he does a cute little toddler trick.)
• "Bobba house?"  (The whole 5 hrs as we headed to Utah.)
• "Follow, Mom." (Then he'll grab my hand to lead me to whatever he wants help with.)
• "Let's do it!"

Welcome, 2020!

Addiss, Wessle?

Yay for November!  We did get sick early on (yuck, we all got a stomach virus and a couple of us eve seemed to relapse) but once that passed the month was beautiful and we had some good times.

This Thanksgiving was a little different.  We didn't have any family visiting so we felt more free to try a few new activities that we're hoping to make a tradition.  We started the day off with a one mile Turkey Trot (more on that later), made sure to play at a park before Hinckley's nap and then had a blast hot tubbing in the rain after an early dinner.  We had umbrellas to keep our heads dry and friends to make us laugh.  It was perfect.  And I now feel confident that I can cook a Thanksgiving dinner on my own. 

The next day we decorated for Christmas (Dane put up Christmas lights for our first year, ever) and on Saturday morning we had the chance to visit the Giving Machine downtown.  If you haven't heard about these, check it out!  It was such a worthwhile experience (and a great way to start off the Christmas season!

As always, our Atticus has had amazing and awful moments in the last month.  His questions have been so deep and detailed.  He asks about the devil pretty often, which has led to some really great conversations involving life before this life and after it (here are some great resources that we believe to be true.)  We're a little worried that these detailed questions are going to get us into trouble.  He is already pretty curious about Santa Claus and isn't very satisfied whenever we use magic as an explanation.


We are finding that he is starting to come up with his own explanations, too.  Some are right on and others make us laugh.  For example, when a classmate didn't turn in her homework (at preschool, mind you!) Atticus got very concerned about her.  He told her that his mom had told him that in big kid school that if you don't turn in your homework you get sent to prison!  He even told her that there are guards and that you don't ever get to see your family.  Up until this point I had been pleasantly surprised by his diligence when it came to homework completion.  I think we now know why!

Another development that I've loved this month has been watching him play with greater kindness with smaller children.  I babysat quite a few children in November (way more than usual!) and I've been so pleased with how he includes them and adjusts his intensity for them (more than he used to, anyway.)  It's a start.  Even when he wrestles with Hinckley (which is all the time!) he is very good about letting Hinckley feel like he's winning or that it's an even match.  They both LOVE it.

The most embarrassing moment was our Turkey Trot.  The poor little guy was convinced it was a race and got very upset when an older friend was "beating him."  It did end up well, though.  About halfway through he started trotting along with me as I tried to get him thinking about things that make him happy.  He ran or walked the rest of the race.  We couldn't ask more than that.

We have begun praying with him that he'll be able to control his temper more.  We're not giving up on the tried and true relaxation methods that are out there but we figure that a little Divine help won't hurt.

Atticusisms:

• (Dane says, "Come on, dude.")  “No!  You  call me ‘Son’!”
• "Stop littering, people!" (Shouted at cars while riding his bike.)
• "Aw man, I was hoping to keep that in my stomach.  It was so delicious." (The first time he threw up)
• "Dear Heavenly Father... please help me to get the throw up out!"  (This was a prayer that he yelled 3-4 times in the middle of the night after having thrown up many more times."
• "Does Heavenly Father have a wife?"
• "Is God really real?"
• "Look!  1+1=2.  Check it out!" (Showing off his calculator to some younger kids.)
• “Is this pornography?”  (He's asked a couple times about pictures of people in swimsuits.)
• "[I'm grateful for] Everyone in the world except bad guys." (Gratitude list)
• "My shark is grateful for his house." (Gratitude list)
• "MOME SO SMOT." ("Mommy is so smart.") (Gratitude list)
• (After hearing that Daddy's the "head of house,") "What is Mommy?" ("I don't know, maybe the neck.")  "Then are we the stomach of the house?" 
• "I don’t want the Government to take my money!" (Where did he get that?!  We were dying!)
• "The only thing that makes me happy is money!" (During our Turkey Trot.)
• "You’ve lost my trust, you have to earn it back." (When Max kept ringing the potty bell but then wouldn't go outside.)
• "Those aren't really wise men!  Those are robbers who dressed like wise men and shepherds and they are going to get the baby and hide him." (While playing with a nativity set.)
• "Mom, what do the policemen get for Christmas?" ("I don't know.  Would you like to do something for them?")  "Yeah!  Maybe Daddy could get them a bad guy."

Hinckley started the month off VERY grumpy.  We're pretty sure he was teething.  He kept grabbing his mouth and chewing on blankets/shirts.  He even started gagging on food and would only eat when I started cutting his food into TINY bites. You can see him rubbing his gums in the photo below:

Unfortunately he went straight from teething to "thwow up" as he started calling it.  He began in the middle of the night (after we had been awake with Atticus up until then) and it was awful.  He does NOT like to throw up or admit that he's going to.  He even throws his head back like it will stop him from vomiting.  It was messy and exhausting.  And it took him days for his tummy to get back on track because he didn't want to eat ANYTHING that was nourishing.

The kid is growing up, I tell ya.  He is at a hard stage in some ways (he throws huge tantrums several times a day now) but we still want to enjoy every moment and milestone.  He is saying three word sentences all the time now and he can totally count to 20!  He is able to pray by himself, although he usually waits for help.  He wanted to try undies one day but after 30 minutes things got pretty messy and he hasn't asked since.  But he does love his froggy urinal.  It's so funny- when he uses it he bends his right knee and lifts his right heel.

He has developed a little stutter step that he'll do when he's unsure or, more often, when he's trying to be funny.  It works.  Makes us laugh pretty much every time.

He already loves "Sah-Wah" (Star Wars) and knows the names of many characters (thanks to a favorite board book.)  His favorite stuffed animal is Wicket (the Ewok).  He calls him "Chub-chub" and he wrestles with him and with Chewie, both of whom are close to his size, so it's pretty funny to watch.

Hinckley-

• "No. I Not."
• "Yes." (Said very clearly all the time, usually with a long a sound.)
• "Addiss, wessle?"  (Asking his brother to wrestle- all the time.)
• "Sunny?" (Smoothie.)
• "Ice eem?"  (Ice Cream.)
• "Vacuus?"  (Still asks for the vacuum but then cries when we turn it on.  It's so confusing!)
• "Pway?" or "My ton!" (Loves to pray but still waits for unnecessary help.)
• "Hi Nana, how you doeen?"  (Is starting to greet Max and other people/inanimate objects this way)

And now we begin the Christmas season.  Can. Not. Wait!