Bad Mommy No Santa

Yes, I'll admit it. We didn't get Jonathan anything for Christmas. I'm sure this will be ammunition for him in the years to come. But truly, the kid has so many toys that we take them in and out of rotation every few weeks. We haven't got any more room in the house! He has a whole shelf of books and a closet full of clothes. Plus, I knew that the wrapping paper and boxes from our own presents were going to be far more fascinating to him than anything the toy store has to offer. I was right - he had a great time "helping" me open packages and doesn't seem TOO deprived by his no-toy Christmas. Of course, Grandma and Grandpa Kwon were happy to provide some things for Jonathan to open on his own. He got a lot of fantastic outfits in a range of sizes - he's set until kindergarten. I promise that next year he will have a few things under the tree - or potted evergreen shrub, actually, since he's such an inquisitive little guy.

Once again, my plans to get a family portrait made are thwarted. Jonathan has picked up the stomach virus that is going around town, just in time for my day off. The nanny and Cara have decamped and our house is a quarantined hot zone. Jonathan is napping in the basement playpen, sprawled forward from when he fell asleep sitting up. Chris is going to stop by the grocery and pick up some Pedialyte on his way home from lunch. And I am wiping down all available surfaces with Lysol and airing the house out. I'm sure there's no karma involved here in light of the previous paragraph. Happy New Year to everyone!

Starts with "B"

Birds, for one thing. We hung the bird feeder back up about a month ago - I had a hunch that the kids would enjoy it. Birdavision is a big hit! The nanny was in the kitchen when she realized that Jonathan and Cara were being awfully quiet. She came out the living room to find both of them, sitting side by side, entranced by the chickadees and cardinals. Jonathan will race over to the window when we tell him a bird is there. He's so close to talking these days - he'll purse his lips and blow up his cheeks and strain so hard to get a noise out. "Buh. . . buh. . . buh."

Blueberries is another word that starts with B. Jonathan has cut his first two molars over the past three weeks. Thank goodness for frozen blueberries, which feel so good on aching gums! We pour them onto his tray straight from the freezer bag. Jonathan loves these so much that he lets out a squeal of delight as they come rattling down. He picks up one in each hand, then knocks them together. Then he stuffs both of them into his mouth at once.

Book - of course. We are getting much more specific requests these days. Jonathan will carefully pick up the book he wants to hear and carry it over. Chris has become the designated reader of the "Touch and Feel Animal" series, because he had the brilliant idea of adding animal noises to the text. Jonathan (and I!) are quite tickled by Chris' rendition of a bunny, an elephant, and of course, the gorilla.

Finally, there's boogie. We keep Jonathan busy with the dancing. Of course he continues to dance to music - 50's rock is a favorite right now. But he also enjoys shaking his baby booty to anything rhythmic. He'll dance to a book reading and to his toys knocking together. Last night I took down the Newton's Cradle Chris gave me for Christmas a few years ago. Jonathan's face lit up with a fantastic grin as he looked at the shiny silver balls going back and forth - and he started to dance.

Mr. Claus, I'm ready for my closeup.

I haven't had much luck getting Jonathan's one year portraits taken. First of all, I don't have many free days when I can haul him over to the studio. I did have a fantastic plan just before his birthday, but Jonathan got a cold and I couldn't see paying $40 for pictures that look like the "before" guy in the Nyquil ad. Then I had a long month on the transplant service, but was looking forward to my free weekend. However, the nanny paged me at work that Friday to tell me Jonathan had fallen and cracked his nose hard on the changing table. I came home to find him with a bruised nose and a cut right across the bridge. Once that healed, he started teething again, which means bright red cheeks and a whole lot of drool. So, no portraits.

Still, here I am on my first day of Christmas vacation. Jonathan and I trucked over to the mall to meet Santa. Santa sleeps better than moms with one year olds, though, and wasn't open until 10. So we took a detour to the play space at the other end of the mall. Jonathan had a great time running around and trying hard to keep up with all the other kids. He especially wanted the attention of one little boy, about six months older, and kept running over to give him hugs and pull his hair. Alex, it turns out, has two older brothers and was quite happy to have someone smaller around for a change - he was very patient with Jonathan's over-enthusiastic methods of making friends. I thought all the friendliness boded well for Santa, so after about twenty minutes we headed back to the photo shoot.

Santa was nice, and very low-key. Jonathan wasn't quite sure about the whole thing, but after a few minutes consented to sit on his lap. The flash was BRIGHT! The first series of pictures was hysterical, because his eyes kept getting smaller and smaller as he squinted against the lights. I wasn't thrilled with any of the shots, so we tickled and cooed and tossed Jonathan up in the air until he was smiling, then tossed him on Santa's lap and got a few more pictures.

Which I promise I will get Chris to post very, very soon.