We really enjoyed our chance to ride the Polar Express in December. Monkey and I skipped the reading of the book and the visit from Santa (we watched from the hall) but it was still a good time. Maybe next year we can convince him to watch the show!
I spent 4 hours yesterday doing photo editing.
Christmas fun!
Every word I hear from Monkey is music to my ears…but you know how annoying ear worms are? 🙂 But, no, I’m still not complaining, right?
Monkey has been in the “Mama” phase for a while. He will chant “Umma, Umma, Ummai, Ummai, Ummy, Ummy, Umma, Umma, Umma” on a regular basis to get my attention. Umma’s response, eventually, is “WHAT?” Sometimes he has a legitimate reason, he’ll ask for help or something. Sometimes he has either no reason to attract my attention other than just wanting my attention (which I guess, for a 5 year old, is a reason) or he has forgotten by the time I respond, it’s hard telling.
Anyway, he has recently started to skip the whole “Umma, Umma, Umma” bit and skip to “What! What! WHAT!” until I respond “What??” His response varies according to the same pattern above. I feel like I’ve said this all before but I can’t find the post…maybe I’ve just been telling too many people… Anyway.
On Christmas day I got a chance to get even without even trying to do so. We were visiting at my parents house and after all the presents were unwrapped I pulled out the camera (yes, I pulled it out AFTER we opened presents…brilliant) to show my Mom and Sister the photos from earlier in the day. As we were going through them I got to a bunch of photos that looked like they were taken by a 5 year old because, well, they were. Monkey loves the digital camera and has begun taking tons of photos any time we leave the camera within reach. So, I start saying “Monkey, Monkey, Monkey, Monkey, Monkey…” approximately 40 times. Suddenly I hear, from the living room “WHAT??” We look over and see a very annoyed looking Monkey glaring at us. He was not impressed when I had no good reason for saying his name so many times. Haha! Revenge is sweet!
May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!
Happy New Year!
I made my post-Christmas return to the office this morning. Other things got in the way yesterday.
While I was home yesterday I played over 2 HOURS on the Wii Fit. Oh my goodness is Monkey ever persistant. “Again!” “Pens! (penguins)” “Bird!” “Again!” “Again!” “Again!” “Again!” “Again!” Until Umma nearly collapsed. After watching us play we even convinced Monkey to take a turn with the “Pens” and he did pretty good considering he was mostly just flapping his arms in excitement, lol. I guess maybe we should try to get him to play the “Bird” game since the whole point is to flap your arms. Taking negatives and turning them into positives is a way of life around here 😉
I know most people are glad to see the crazy season end but I really wish we could do Christmas morning again! Monkey had so much fun. He loved opening his presents. We heard several “Wow!”s. He loves his toys, he even enjoyed opening the clothing. Watching him have so much fun was totally worth the 2:30 and then 5:30 wake-up calls.
We’ve spent a lot of time with family over the last few days as well and watching him interact with everyone was a ton of fun. He seemed to enjoy being the center of attention whenever possible and more than once went out of his way to get his share of the glory. He was amazingly social and vocal.
There are a million funny things I kept telling myself to blog about but my brain is so fried from all the excitement that I can’t think of anything at the moment, lol. Let’s see…He was a huge fan of presents but had no interest in gifts until we explained that gifts were presents, then he was down with both and used the words interchangeably. Not bad for two totally new vocabulary words. He let his Grampy pick him up, dangle him upside down and tickle him…when he was done he told Grampy “Put me down!” lol. He sat on the couch with his Great Grampy and shared a movie on his DVD player. He would look at the gift tags and yell “Me!” every time he read his name. Santa left a Wii Fit under the Christmas tree and Monkey has already decided on his favorite games for Umma and Duhdee to play…he’s a slave driver…we don’t need a personal trainer!
I’m sure I’ll think of more once my brain recharges 🙂 I hope everyone has enjoyed the holidays!
I realized last night that, in all my eagerness to get Monkey excited about the pending visit from Santa Claus, I’ve left out the whole bit about good boys and girls getting presents from Santa. I decided to drop that little bomb on Monkey last night.
Umma: Is Santa going to bring you presents?
Monkey: Yesss!
Umma: You know only good boys and girls get presents from Santa, right?
Monkey: … (he just looks at me out of the corner of his eye.)
Umma: Good boys and girls get presents from Santa. Naughty boys and girls don’t. Have you been a good boy this year?
Monkey: …..(in a whisper) Yes?
Umma (struggling not to laugh): Yes, you have been a good boy! I’m sure Santa will bring you presents. (Monkey grins) Has Mommy been a good girl this year?
Monkey: Yes!
Umma: Do you think Santa will bring Mommy a present?
Monkey: Yes!
Umma: Was Daddy a good boy this year?
Monkey (in a low voice): No.
Umma: Daddy wasn’t a good boy this year?? Is Santa going to bring Daddy a present?
Monkey (still in a low voice): No?
Sorry, Duhdee! Hopefully you make the good list next year!
When Monkey responds positively to a question: “Yeah. Sure.”
When Monkey wants something: “What.” Umma responds: “What?” Monkey then tells or shows her what.
When Monkey wants to watch Toy Story or Toy Story: 2: “Buzz? Ok!”
When Monkey wants someone to follow him: “C’mere, c’mere” He bends over slightly and gently claps his hands together…like we do to catch the dogs’ attention. It does work.
When Monkey wakes up every morning: “Big! TREEE! Dark!” He says this periodically until the Christmas lights come on (they are on a timer.) Fun fact: The Christmas lights come on at 6 (!) in the darn morning and we always hear at minimum 10 minutes of this, usually much longer. So there is the sleep update.
When the Christmas lights finally come on: “Hi ‘ta!” (Greeting a big Santa who lives next to the tree.) Another fun fact: He won’t enter the dining room (where the tree is) until the lights come on. He prefers to stand at the foot of our bed while yelling, of course.
When I first manage to peel open my eyes in the morning and make eye contact with Monkey: “Umma, tea? Tea?” Too bad he can’t make me a tea and deliver it bedside. It might make the unreasonable time on the clock feel more reasonable.
