On Friday evening, we took the kids to go see Santa.
We had also tried to go see the big man the previous Friday, getting in line early but seeing the gross inefficiency of the line made us retreat. I waited in line with Lily for a good forty five minutes, to only see the line advance about twice.
We went to The Shops at Southglenn to go see Santa there. They have a big courtyard that is usually lit up with lots of Christmas lights year-round, and in years past, Santa has been outside near a big outdoor fireplace and under those lights. Except, last year, apparently Santa got pneumonia from sitting outside in the cold. So they moved to a different spot indoors.
The other ‘bonus’ about this is that it was free, and you are to bring your own camera to take pictures. Taking large volumes of pictures is something I am very, very good at.
So at about five o’clock on Friday evening, with cameras, kids, and gadgets in tow, we headed over to see Santa.
There was a small line. In front of us was a couple with a thirteen-month-old daughter. She and Lily were getting along just fine. Lily was in a great mood, smiling at everybody, clapping, and she was totally enamored with the lights and trees and decorations.
Owen went first, and he did really well given the last two years. I think he’s starting to get the association now. I also think he’ll be really sad when Christmas is over.
By ‘really sad’ I mean that he’ll probably be upset for about five minutes before moving on to something else, like with trick-or-treating at Halloween. The night after Halloween, after dinner he went and put on his hat and jacket and announced he was ready to go trick-or-treating again. We explained it was a once a year thing, and he just said “Oh, okay!” This reminds me that I need to get an audio recording of him saying this, because he says it in a very funny way.
Then we tried both kids together. I mentioned earlier that Lily was in a great mood, which you most likely (and correctly) understood was a precursor to this photo:
The bonus here is that you also get to see the peril of being your own photographer. It was a little dark in there, even with the teeny pop-up flash on the camera. Eventually the little Santa Sock Monkey won out, and she calmed down a bit.
Owen was excited to get outside and see more Christmas lights, so we kind of hung around a bit before going to dinner at Diego Zhang’s. We had never been, but in totally awesome family night style, we had a coupon and decided to give it a try.
It was a slider restaurant – tiny burgers. Lots of variety. Lots of small dishes. Then we rushed home to put the tired babies (and mama) to bed.
These things are the new best part of Christmas. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And I don’t want to forget.
Yesterday was busy.
Lily is officially nine months old, which is crazy to think about. Time doesn’t seem to go fast until you’re looking back and being introspective.
Compare:
Man.
I have been trying to use the video camera a lot more lately. In the very first video I took of Owen sleeping in this chair I remember sleepily, incoherently, and emotionally rambling how I never wanted to forget any of the moments, ever. But I have – we all do.
One day when I have a lot of time, I need to go through and prune our photo collection and get rid of photos like this one:
And, I need to actually edit and blend out the multiple videos I’ve gotten of anything that has ever been videotaped over the past three years. When?
Today we’re taking the kids to see Santa at our local uber-mall. This mall is kind of funny, because prior to 2008 it was all extremely high-end and very expensive shops and boutiques. Now it’s a handful of higher-end shops with a bunch of random filler thrown in. It should be a good time.
In other news, Lily just crawled across the floor, pulled herself up on the coffee table (the pulling up is new today) and spilled Owen’s water. Owen dutifully got a towel, wiped it up, and tried to put Lily in time out.
In 2007, when the Rockies went to the world series I obtained a fitted baseball cap, which is probably the first hat I’ve ever had that has properly fit my head.
Mom & Dad got Owen his Virginia Tech (or if you ask him go Hokies) hat a few years ago, and it still fits. He won’t go outside these days without his hat on. “I need my shoes, hat, and jacket, Daddy.”
I don’t have a go Hokies hat. I’d like one that fits, so that Grandpa, Daddy, and Owen can all have go Hokies hats.
I think I want one of these, even though I’m not sure how useful it would be.
You were spared from a glut of garden blogging and pictures this year. We did pretty well. Anna watched something on TV about how carrots and tomato plants have a certain symbiotic relationship – so we did tomatoes and carrots together. And it worked out well.
There was also fortuitous timing by Owen’s favorite cartoon, PBS’s Curious George. You see, George planted some carrots, and grew a perfect carrot, which he fed to bunnies, or something. I may be missing a plot element or two, but not by much. So Owen really enjoyed having carrots out there to pull out.
I think this sensor could be useful for our vegetable garden and other plants around the yard. Anna and I have already decided we’re going to try a lot harder in the yard next year. Maybe this tool would be useful towards that?
Today’s thing to not forget: Christmas lights.
Few things brighten up Owen’s eyes more than a single strand of Christmas lights. Luckily for me, and him, we have a giant pile of light strands.
He noticed other neighbors had lights up and had begun asking me, “Daddy, where are our lights?
This year, with his dexterity and communication enhancements, he’s much more interested in ‘helping’ daddy with the lights.
Next thing to not forget – when Owen is generally interested in something and trying to help and or win appreciation from me, the word ‘daddy’ gets used frequently. And of course, it works. When we were testing the lights, one particular globe-light strand was his favorite. “Daddy, maybe test those ones!” So we tested those first and then after switching bulbs and globes as necessary to get a full working strand I unplugged them. So they turned off. Which to Owen – means that they are broken.
I go to the bin to get the next strand to test, and hear “Daddy, I fixed it!” He’s taken the strand we’ve just repaired, and plugged it back in, and is genuinely proud of himself for fixing these lights that were oh so dark just a moment before.
Then, last night when the lights were on I took him outside so he could inspect our handiwork. Big grin for a short while – but then he had taken upon himself the monumental task of inspecting each individual light. This required him to point to each light and to name the color aloud in order to ensure that I stayed up-to-date on our Christmas light status. And I was happy to listen.
On a less parent-bragging note: the last two years, we’ve been taking advantage of Home Depot’s light recycling program to pick up some LED lights cheaply. These bulbs are supposed to last forever, don’t have the series problem, and use less electricity. One of the strands failed this year after only light use last year – half of the bulbs don’t light up, even after switching bulbs, multi-metering, and other such things to figure out why these more expensive lights weren’t working.
I mean, I guess I shouldn’t expect a lot from these inexpensive LED bulbs… but I guess I want to.
This is to remind me that I only get a few more Halloweens with the kids where it’s new and exciting and fun.
Owen has been begging to wear his monkey costume around the house. Today I think I decided we should let him if he wants – he won’t ever get a chance again to be this monkey. Nor will I get that chance back.
Also, I need to remember to be thankful for the family we have. This is Owen’s third Thanksgiving and Lily’s first – we only get a guaranteed handful together, so I need to try to make them count.
This may sound melancholy, but it isn’t meant to be. It’s happy – just remembering to experience things versus trying to capture them all.
I need to start using this thing again. Google+ has been neat, but it’s not for everybody, and Anna doesn’t really have a way to share facespace pictures. I don’t think. And I’m still steadfastly refusing to join facespace given things like this.
Mostly I need to capture things I’m thinking. I was really good about that in the before times. Now I keep forgetting stuff that I’m pretty sure I don’t want to forget.
Right now I want to remember Owen’s rocket jammies and how excited he is about them. They have stars on them that glow in the dark.
The evening routine is the same, but now when I turn out the light he lifts up his blankets and excitedly exclaims “HERE THEY COME!” as the stars start to glow. He’s actually somewhat excited for lights out! This is the kind of magic I want to remember. Glow in the dark stars on his jammies are currently the coolest thing in the entire world to him right now.
Lots of stuff has happened since the beach. Namely, family life.
Some milestones we may have missed:
8 months old!
Lily has been nothing short of amazing. She’s doing all the things she’s supposed to do and is very close to rearing up on her hands and knees and starting to crawl. She’s kind of crawling right now, only backwards. She has no difficulty getting to where she wants to be, it’s just … unorthodox. For adults and toddlers, anyway.
She likes to eat.
Owen is learning to play the digiridoo:
Halloween went well. Owen wanted to go trick or treating every night from 1 November to about 7 November until he finally realized it was really more of a “once a year” thing. One day I look forward to telling him stories of how entertained he was by two of his favorite things – doorbells and candy.
I never get tired of this picture.
And Lily also was seven months:
OK, all the photos I’ve taken from the beach are here for consumption:
If you’re on the googlebook, you’ve probably seen a few of these already.
We took the three month picture yesterday, when Anna reminded me I never posted the two month picture.
And
And, just so that Kenny isn’t totally wrong that my blog has become nothing but pictures of Owen – it’s hard to play games on my phone these days:
It appears to be getting better. Lily has slept through a couple of nights – and by “slept through” I mean we’ve gotten a window between 20:15 and 03:15. You don’t realize how much you need that contiguous sleep until you’ve gone without it for a few months. Yesterday was probably her most “talky” day – she was sassing and talking at me, smiling, making faces. Good times.
Owen must be growing or something, because he’s been taking four plus hour naps, in addition to playing at full speed whenever he’s awake. We were at a birthday party the other day, and he played so hard that when I went to pick him up and tell him it was time to go, I expected an epic meltdown. Instead, he was too tired to fuss.
It was a nice three day weekend, even if I can’t really remember what it is that we did.
Big wheel keep on turnin’ … kind of.
Pampers diapers have a rewards system, where each package of diapers has a code. You enter the code at their website, and they credit your account. We just recently hit the upper ceiling of what you can carry as a balance. In two years of diapers, we received enough points to get a $80 big wheel for “free” – or if you’re keeping score at home … two boxes of diapers.
What sucks is that OVL is very far away from being able to ride this bad boy. The box says three to seven years of age – but I figured as a tall two-year old, he’d be able to make it work. Instead, it appears you have to be a giant three-year old to make it work. His legs are still a good 8″ from the pedals, but this doesn’t stop him from kicking it around the room.
It was a good long weekend. It makes me appreciate the upcoming two-week vacation just that much more.
