Christmas 2009

Christopher would like everyone to know that he had a wonderful Christmas today and that his mom will update the blog upon our return to Kansas (if we can get through the snow that will most certainly be covering our driveway). He also wants you all to know how cool it is to stay in your pajamas for over 24 hours... and then go back to bed in them. What a life.

A Hip Hop Holiday

And here is the dynamic duo in action... the best yet!

A Little Boy's First Haircut

A new milestone was reached today on our little boy's 17 month birthday. We took Christopher to Shear Madness to get his hair cut. I have been saying for a while that when his hair started getting into his eyes, we would take CJ to get a trim and the time had now come. (Plus we want him to look super handsome for all his east coast family come next week). Anyway, this place specializes in children's haircuts so when you walk in, there are toys everywhere! Of course all the toys have price tags on them so you can bribe your kid and say, "If you do a good job, we'll buy you one of these _______." Christopher needed no bribing, although he did need some coaxing. The "chairs" are actually little cars that the kids sit in and they face a TV in order to distract as needed. Lollipops are also available upon request. Chris was very serious the entire time, as you can see above. We had a nice girl named Jamie cut his hair and she started by just spritzing him with some water so he was nice and slick. Then she began on the back, those beautiful little curls! (Sniffle, sniffle).

But fear not! Those first curls are forever saved in a little baggie. When she first started cutting the back (by his neck) he raised his shoulders because he is really ticklish back there. He did a wonderful job and was okay sitting there as he was being spiffed up. But then... the evil, electric hair trimmer came out! Here was his initial reaction to that piece of machinery:

And then, here is what happened next:

But the tears only lasted a short time and Christopher was good after he realizes the haircut was done and he looked fabulous (plus a little soothing from the good old pacifier). Being the new parent suckers that we are, they talked us into getting the "Baby's First Haircut" package ($14.95!!!) where they give you a certificate with before and after pictures as well as signatures of all those present and a small baggie with his first little curl enclosed. When we got home, Christopher was all smiles and loved showing off his new do to Kasey Moe. We are very proud of our big boy on this big day!

Three tales

STORY 1:
Last night was the annual Jeff and Kay Christmas extravaganza at our neighbor's home. We brought Christopher to the party last year and it was pretty easy to manage him because you could just plop him down and have him sit anywhere. This year was a bit more of a workout for us. Because Kay's stairs are not blocked off, we had to constantly chase after CJ to make sure he didn't take a nice dive down to the bottom floor of the house. Kay also goes all out with her beautiful Christmas decorations which Christopher likes to admire with his hands. Therefore, I think I repeated the phrases "gentle hands" and "no touch" a thousand times! If, for some reason, our little man disappeared for a minute, we only needed to go into Kay's kitchen where there are lots of ovens, dishwashers and microwaves to look at. The boy is happy in a kitchen which I hope makes his future wife happy as well. All in all we had a great time at the soiree and we are so thankful for our wonderful neighbors and the nice people who live in our neighborhood.

STORY 2:
Christopher is 17 months old today. Holy cow!

STORY 3:
Whenever I put Christopher down for a nap, he sits up and watches me walk out of the room. Right before I close the door, I send him a kiss by kissing my hands and blowing it over to him. This morning, as Daddy was leaving for work, we walked over to the door to say goodbye. Christopher gave his Daddy a wave and then put his hand up to his mouth and "kissed" him goodbye. I know... AWWWWWW! So stinkin' cute!

Last day of Kindermusik

Okay, folks. What are we going to do? Today was the last day of Kindermusik for the fall/winter semester. Now we have to wait almost a full month until we get to sing and dance and run around like crazy with other kids in a setting where nothing can get broken or damaged. Ugh! I can't, I mean, Christopher can't wait that long! It has now been almost a full year since we've been going to Kindermusik and it has been so much fun for both of us. Part of the reason it is so awesome is Christopher's teacher, Ms. Heather (pictured above with CJ who absolutely loves her but was totally ready to get in the car and go home today when I took this). He has become so comfortable with her now and always giggles and flirts when he sees her. Fortunately for her, but not so much for us, Ms. Heather is pregnant and will not be teaching our class next semester. Hopefully we will get to see her when a sub is needed and we wish her and the baby the best! Anyway, class was fun as usual today. There is a song called "Pig Jig" that is a sort of variation of "This Little Piggy." When we did the song today, Chris ran around to a bunch of the moms and their babies and pointed to their toes. It was so cute! Then he stood in the middle of the circle, squatted down and pointed to his own toes... At least we have our multiple Kindermusik playlists to keep us dancing over the holidays. And we will be looking forward to when we start up again mid January!

Must be Santa

Instead of waiting on line for three hours at the mall, our neighborhood moms got together and hired a Santa Claus to visit our children at one of the neighbor's homes. And let me tell you, this was no mall Santa. This guy may have been the real deal! Now last year, Christopher was so easy to just hand off to Santa. There was no fuss and we got some great pictures. For the past few weeks, Christopher has been very fussy and overwhelmed in large group situations so when I saw in the evite that there would be 45 people at this event, the dread began. I thought for sure he would be "that kid" that was screaming and fussing the whole time. Once again, my boy proved me wrong. We were at the house for 15 minutes before Santa came in, bells and all. I was holding Chris at the time and he immediately did the "put me down" lean and ran over to Santa, pointing to him and laughing. Later, when we put Chris on the jolly old man's lap, he was a little cautious but as soon as he saw the Hot Wheels car Santa was handing him, they were best friends. And he got a candy cane on top of it! After Santa visited with all the children, he was in the kitchen (possibly grabbing an adult beverage?) and CJ went right up to him and gave him the signal for "pick me up." Can you believe it? Here are some pictures from their visit.


Yesterday, we went to Petsmart to get some items and there was a Santa there who was taking pictures with dogs. As soon as we walked in, Christopher ran directly to the big, furry black dog that was with Santa and started petting him. Then he went right up to Santa and started "petting" his beard. Maybe he thinks Santa's beard is a fluffy white dog? Anyway, that should have been a sign unto me that he would be okay with today's Santa... The rest of the party was so fun and Chris was going up to practically every mom in the kitchen, asking to be picked up (sound familiar Grandpa Woglom?). He was in heaven because this kitchen had three, count 'em, three ovens and a microwave. Wow. To top it all off, his favorite babysitter, Kay, was there to see all the kiddos and we got a picture of the two of them. It was a great afternoon!

Havin' Fun with Applesauce!

A boy, a spoon, and some applesauce...