Lights Please

Last night, Christopher took part in a holiday tradition that has spanned the generations. He sat right down on the couch with Mommy, Daddy, and Kasey and watched his very first "Charlie Brown Christmas." It is something I never miss and I hope that Chris enjoys it as much as we do. The special itself is only half an hour and our little man sat quite comfortably with us the whole time. He did relocate to different parts of the couch, testing out each individual cushion. But he was satisfied to hang with his parents.
I also have a tradition of watching "Charlie Brown Christmas" with my friend, Lauren. We always laugh at the end when all the kids gather around the tree and sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" because we think it's funny when they stick their faces up in the air and sing "do do do do do do do do." Well, apparently Christopher has inherited his mother's sense of humor because he thought that was pretty funny as well! To make the evening complete, as we went into CJ's room to get him ready for bed, we looked out the window and there was a perfect coating of snow on the ground. It doesn't get much better than that! (Except for the 45 mile per hour winds and sub-zero temperatures at 3 in the morning).

Car pics

As promised...

Vrrrrooooom

It will come as no surprise that Christopher (110% boy) loves things with wheels that go vrrrooooom! When the weather was warmer, we would play outside in the morning and CJ would be fascinated by all the vehicles that drove by our house. Cars, trucks, buses... you name it. He especially loves school buses and garbage trucks. Last week, at Borders, we came across this little school bus that, when you back it up and let it go, will go flying across the hardwood floors.
And as if that wasn't cool enough, Brian's boss gave Christopher a Hess racing car for Christmas! Now, I had a Hess truck when I was little and it had lights and all that cool stuff. But times have changed and this race car not only lights up, but it also beeps and has two different revving engine sounds that are really loud. And to top it all off, there is another little car inside the big car that lights up and really flies across the floor. Christopher is a very happy boy with his new vehicles!

(For some unknown reason, the blog doesn't want to upload the rest of the pictures of CJ playing with his car so I will add them later on when blogspot regains its sanity.)

Spinning!

So Christopher has discovered a new form of entertainment for himself. It's known as "spinning in circles until he falls down." For some reason, he decided that today would be the day he busted this move out. We were listening to an older Kindermusik playlist and there is a song that has spoken directions about what to do. One part of the song goes, "Side, side, round and around." When the round and around part came on, he just started turning and turning and when he stopped, he totally lost his balance and went sideways into the floor. He was okay though and started cracking up! Apparently, he continued spinning while Mommy was spinning at the gym (first time in two years=ouch!) and Daddy was very nervous because Chris would lose his balance and practically crash into furniture. It's really funny to watch him crack up but we'll have to put a helmet on him or something to prevent head injuries. Ah, boys... Speaking of boys, Christopher is going over to Tristan's house today while his parents get a baby free lunch out. Thank you Dan and Mary!

Through the generations

Some toys are timeless. We have been very fortunate that Grammy saved several classic toys that belonged to me when I was a little girl. (Also, I wasn't a very girly girl when I was little so Chris doesn't have to inherit anything pink!). These toys have made it all the way out to Kansas from New Jersey and now that Chris is getting so big, he is beginning to use them. Since we brought this Playskool desk out for Tristan on Monday, Christopher has been very interested in using the letters inside. More than anything, he likes to hold them in his hand. Little man seems to be partial to the orange and blue letters (hopefully not a sign that he will also like the Mets... or the Islanders). Every once in a while, he will use the chalk to draw a line on the front of the desk, but that is the extent of his writing. Anyway, it's really fun to see him use this desk which, upon close examination, has "KARIN T." written on the front in crayon. The cool thing about the desk is it has also been used by many other children, like Ally and Julia, and I think maybe Nicholas and Natalie. Now it is onto another generation in little CJ Wogs.

To the moon!!!

Just a quick little story... Anytime we read a book that has a picture of the moon in it, Christopher points and laughs--hence the current popularity of "Goodnight Moon" for him. (Some of you will be happy to know that even though I have the same book in French--"Bonsoir Lune"-- Christopher still prefers the English version). Anyway, we were outside the other night at dusk and the full moon was out so clearly in the sky. When I pointed it out to Christopher a huge smile came across his face. As I was holding him, he motioned for me to put him down on the driveway. When I did, he started running... right for the moon! He would stop every few steps, check to make sure it was still there, and continue on. I had to stop him before he made it to the street, mind you. Later on we discussed that no matter how much he runs, he won't be able to get to the moon. He'll have to be an astronaut someday to get there!

A Little Monkey Bizness

This morning we headed out to a fun indoor play gym called Little Monkey Bizness to meet a couple friends from Kindermusik (Emily and Aidan). After napping in the car, Christopher was ready to go and let me tell you, this place was like kiddie heaven! There were climbing toys, rope swings, slides, cars, and even a disco ball over a dance floor. It was not very busy when we first got there so CJ was totally fine, having a blast. He even climbed up a set of stairs and went down a slide all by himself! But then, true to form, Christopher started melting down after the crowds arrived. I reminded him that I didn't pay $7.50 to stand around and hold him while he cried but he didn't really pay much attention. It was pretty busy and he was fussing, even when I caved in and gave him the pacifier. He did that for about 30 minutes and then got brave enough to venture off and explore. But he always came back to check in with Mommy (aww, still my little baby). We played for a good two hours there and Mommy had fun chatting with Emily's and Aidan's respective moms. (Adult talk=always good). Good times!