Haveeda Susans?

We've had a lovely bit of time off around here for the holidays. We drove up to the Kwons' on the 24th to spend Christmas Eve together. As soon as we got in the door, Jonathan started asking for the doggie, which confused us all. He hugged Grandma and Harabojee somewhat impatiently, then headed for the front door. "Doggie" turned out to be the little draft-catcher with a dog's head that apparently Jonathan remembered quite well. He also had a great time rediscovering the giant Mickey Mouse he'd received for his 100 days party. It's a measure of how much he's grown that he's now taller than Mickey, and what was before a terrifyingly large rodent is now an old friend.

Christmas Eve dinner was a combination of traditional American and Korean foods. We sat Jonathan at the end of the formal dining table and I filled his plate with things I thought he might like. He got a scoop of rice cooked with beans and barley, some beef and some ham, and some fruit salad. I thought with such a plateload, I'd be able to concentrate on my own dinner for a while.

I thought wrong. Heaving Mickey up onto the sofa again and again must have helped Jonathan to work up an appetite, because I swear that entire plate was empty in under two minutes. I could not cut the beef and chicken fast enough - he'd eat three pieces in the time it took me to cut two more. At one point I switched to the marinated tofu, thinking the novelty at least might slow him down. He liked it and instantly christened it "Tofood" - and wanted more.

Finally, all of us comfortably full, we made our way back to the living room to open presents. Jonathan has got the technique down. He searches all over to find an unsecured flap, makes an initial rip, and then the pieces start to fly. He was thrilled with the packages Grandma got him, all of which contained cars. By the end of the night, he had a whole fleet. Our little budding valet parker spent about thirty minutes carefully lining them all up on the coffee table. Then he would select two and crash them together.

Christmas Eve was also Jonathan's first night in a big boy bed. Grandma Kwon had folded up some foam padding to make a mattress, then piled it with quilts and blankets, making Jonathan a little pallet beside our bed. He was worn out from the excitement of the evening (not to mention the food-induced coma) so when we carried him upstairs he snuggled in quite happily. I came up to bed a few hours later and found him half off the bed, face on the carpet. I heaved him (he was completely limp) back into bed and tucked myself in. Several times during the night, however, I would wake up to check on him, and he was always on the floor. One time he had even migrated under our bed! I think, after a rock hard crib mattress for two years, the pallet was just too soft for him.

The next day, after a little Christmas breakfast and lunch, we headed over to Liz and Jim's. Once again, Jonathan showed some pretty good long-term memory. He ran right down the hall to see Mr. Ooga Booga, and was indignant that Auntie Liz had put the truck and the bee on a high shelf for safekeeping. He also wasn't prepared to leave until he saw Kermit, and Jim gamely went looking. In the meantime, Jonathan terrorized Moonpie and Harry.

We drove up in two cars to Baltimore. The men's car got there a little late as Jim took them on a tour of Baltimore neighborhoods. Jonathan was napping when they arrived, and was passed around to anyone who wanted a thirty-pound furnace to snuggle. Finally, as the Woods were tackling their mound of presents, Jonathan woke up. He showed off by counting all the candles in the fireplace, and as always, had some special hellos for Nanny. There were some lovely presents for Jonathan (as well as for Chris and me) in the pile, and as Jonathan's attention started to wander, I picked out one with a promising feel. We called Jonathan over and watched the shreds of paper fly.

It was an airplane! One of the Fisher Price vehicles that Jonathan enjoys so much. For his birthday, Bobby and Mary Jo had given him the dump truck, and Jonathan had decided the Little People driver was named Susan, after a girl in one of his favorite books. The Little People all look very much alike, short and squat like fireplugs. The airplane came with three more - a pilot and two tourists. Jonathan loved flying it all over the living room, and when the people fell out, he'd ask us "Where'd Susan go?"

For Christmas dinner, Jonathan loved the "as-ah-nya" that his auntie fed him. Bobby and Jack took turns holding him up to the wall displays, where he picked out a tiny train and an Ernie, among other treasures. He managed to open the TV cabinet to get to the llama that stood inside. Still, many times during the evening, he would come back to the airplane. If he couldn't find the passengers, he'd come over to where I was sitting, asking "Haveeda Susans?"