Good gosh, it’s been a whirlwind since last time I wrote. It all started with my friend Carson coming for a visit. She left her kids at home in Florida (a first) and spent the whole time playing grandma to Rinat. She brought a ton of gifts and every time I turned around, she was giving him candy and cookies. He of course adores her and still talks about the choochoo she gave him. After that came a visit from my friend Eileen. She, her husband, and two kids (ages 5 years and 20 months) stayed with us for a few days and the kids had fun just hanging out. And so did the grown ups. The next week we went out of town for the week and we went to not one but two Thanksgiving dinners in two different cities. Then a week off (but, sadly, I was sick and didn’t get to enjoy having time to relax). Then off to Richmond for my SIL’s graduation from nurse practitioner school. And now, of course, here we are at Christmas. Yikes! I feel like I have run a marathon. Rinat has taken things pretty much in stride except for the fact that he is no longer willing to let me sleep through the night when he is anyplace but tucked into his own little bed. He woke up at least 4 times a night when we were out of town with an all time high of 7 times in Richmond. Ugh. But, even being completely sleep deprived, we have had time to fit in lots of fun stuff along the way. We’ve had trip to the zoo (of course), the natural history museum, a first ride on the carousel, the Baltimore aquarium where he got his new fave animal ‘sea lion’ from Auntie Ann and is still talking about the dolphin show, cooked a Thanksgiving of our own here at our house with Ann and MattMatt, a ride on Santa’s train at the mall, a photo op on Santa’s lap, and, for me, a couple more preschool open houses. And speaking of Santa, I can’t even tell you how excited his is about ‘HoHoHo” coming. Did I mention that we wrote a letter to Santa a month or so ago asking for a train? Well he mentions it constantly. We got a dusting of snow about a week ago and Rin was so excited and he was saying “HoHo, Mama, HoHo!” Sadly, I had to tell him it’s not quite time for HoHo to come yet. I’m really amazed at how much he understands how it all works already. We went to visit Santa when we were in Richmond and I wasn’t really sure how it was going to go so I did a lot of preparing him and telling him what to expect. Well, he did great. He wasn’t a bit scared and just sat there on Santa’s lap like a big boy and let us take photos. I think he enjoyed the HoHo Bear that they gave him best and he still sleeps with it. I have been playing Christmas music a lot lately while we are hanging around the house and he has started trying to sing it. It started with “Fooootee Maaaan” (Frosty the Snowman) that he loves because we have a Frosty movie that he likes to watch. Then I realized that he was playing while singing “Saaadda Baaaybee” (Santa Baby). But my favorite is the “Dindle Bews, Dindle Bews” at the top of his lungs in the back seat of the car as we were driving home from getting fingerprinted at CIS today. Oh, and then there is the very annoying “HoHoHo Meddy Kissmiss” that he shrieks periodically while I am on the phone or trying to talk to the mailman. He’s definitely two and wanting as much attention as possible (being fawned over by family and friends constantly for the last month doesn’t help). He is quickly turning into the textbook two year old. His new phrase is ‘NatNat self’ because he wants to do everything himself. And oh boy the tantrums- he will stamp foot or fall onto the floor screaming when I say no. But I don’t have enough patience to put up with it so I just put him in the other room and tell him to let me know when he’s all done. And he actually does it- it’s amazing. He comes back once he’s no longer screaming and says “All done, Mama”. I mean, really. I never expected it to actually work. But he is mostly a really sweet boy. He loves his cars and lines them all up in a row, lies down on the floor and kicks his little legs, asks me to lie down next to him, and says “Oooo, neat!”- and then thanks me for all of them- “Dat do Mama choochoo, Dat do Mama pupul toe tuck, Dat do Mama white cah, Dat do Mama dump tuck…” I love it. Then he puts them in the little basket I gave him to carry them in and takes them off to line them up somewhere else. No matter how crazy he drives me sometimes, all he has to do is flash that little smile and I melt once again. What a sweetie. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and bring in 2009 with a bang. I’m sure we’ll be in bed by 9:30 J -m
