Welcome to December! If you're dreaming of a white Christmas I hope it works out for you. Me? I'm dreaming of a warm Christmas. Unfortunately there is almost zero chance of our Christmas being white or warm. That is the only part about travelling to Sacramento I'm not looking forward to. Everything else makes me excited just thinking about it. Time off work, wearing my scarf and gloves, and hanging out with Kendra's family and extended family. So many things to be excited about.
This will be the first Christmas Easton and Layla are completely aware of what it means to give and receive gifts... and to destroy wrapping paper opening the packages.
Christmas came early this year for Kendra. Her bright smile lets me know I chose wisely... Here is the new washer and dryer of Kendra's dreams.
Introducting the LG Steamwasher front-load washer and matching SteamDryer Electric Dryer. Best Buy made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I had no idea a washer and dryer could be so important and bring such joy to one person, but based on Kendra's reaction I'd say this is a success story. The old dryer was on its last leg and I've been putting off buying a new one for several years. If I had known how thrilled Kendra is about it I would have bought them long ago.
Anyway, here are a few Easton and Layla pics from our play time together. I took off a couple of days from work because I have more vacation time than days left in December so I gotta use some of it. Easton being his normal, happy self is getting more brave every day. He used to just step down from Kendra's aerobic steps, but he recently found the joy of jumping. Something Layla discovered long ago.
For Layla I have two such pictures. The first is from our regular daily round of hide-and-seek. Seeing her smile and hearing her giggle is a highlight of every day for me.
However, occasionally she'll get a bit of an attitude and flop onto the floor. As you can see by the furrowed brow and pursed lips she was really having a tough time of it. The great thing about kids is how they can act like this and then 5 seconds later will laugh and play as though everything is right in the world.
I did a little experiment on Easton today. I stacked nine new boxes of Kleenex on the tile and told Easton he could play with them. At first he laid down behind them as a fort or bunker and threw toy dinosaur grenades over the top. That move is a direct result of watching Swiss Family Robinson the day before. In that movie the family throws coconut grenades to defend their house. Coconut... Dinosaur... same thing. Anyway, after he ran out of dinosaurs to throw he immediately lined up the boxes end to end and pushed them across the floor while making train choo-choo noises.
Layla watched inquisitively, but had no idea what he was doing or why. Easton's imagination is so extensive. I'm extra happy to see this trait in him because I've always felt imagination and creativity were areas where I lack.
Easton scratched his finger and needed a band-aid so I was happy to oblige. Look at those muscles!
After patching him up he wanted to cuddle. He is becoming more of a cuddle bug with me and I soak up every second. He came over and put his head against me. As I pick him up he tucks his hands down in front between us. He'll stay like that for almost a full minute at a time. Doesn't sound all that exciting, but it's a huge change from the 3-second-loving he gave for the past year.
Is this a picture from Halloween? NO! It's a picture of Layla figuring out that when Mommy is gone Daddy is a pushover and will let her wear whatever dress and accessories she desires.
She asked, "Do you wanna dance with me, Prince Daddy?" and of course I was happy to do so. We danced to Christmas songs by Straight No Chaser. Because we were dancing she couldn't see there were 12 guys making all the sounds so she kept asking me, "what's that?" It's harder to explain Acapella to a 2 year old than you think.
See you soon!
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