11 MONTHS??? I can't believe that in one month (or less than that now) our baby will be 1 year old. Although he hasn't done much in the way of outward developments he is starting to develop his own personality. And, oh what a personality it is! Like his big brother, he is social and loves to be around people. For the first time in several months, he got over his separation anxiety and loved going to my family members while we've been visiting. Easton loves making people laugh and will mimic people just to ensure he'll get a laugh. He'll fight a nap if he knows there are people in the other room having fun. He's also developed a stubborn streak. If I tell him "No" he looks at me and then goes back to what he was doing- most of the time. Or if he isn't getting his way he'll let you know. Or he'll get impatient if someone has food and is not offering him some.If I read him a book that doesn't have a sensory aspect, he'll take the book out of my hands, shut it and put it down. He definitely lets you know what he wants and doesn't want. For outward development he's started saying, "Mama, Dadda, and Doggy" as well as "Bubba" (which he's been saying for awhile). He has 5 teeth and most of his nourishment now comes from table food. One of his favorite past times is dancing and that boy has some rhythm! He keeps us on our toes and sure is a lot of fun!
For those of you that don't have kids or your kids are grown, you may not know about the fairly new phenomenon Elf on the Shelf. On Thanksgiving evening you, as the parent, are supposed to read the book Elf on the Shelf in which your elf (You name it the first year it's with you) plans its arrival from the North Pole. On Black Friday the elf shows up somewhere at your house. From then until Christmas Eve the elf keeps watch on the children every day and then uses its magic to fly to the see Santa every night while the children are sleeping to report if they've been good or bad that day. Then it returns in the morning, but never in the same place as the day before.
Some parents go all out for their elf on the shelf. Our elf, Shooby, is rather a boring elf....mainly because this mama wants him to be fun but not detour from the meaning of Christmas. On Facebook I see parents go all out with the things their elf does, usually something that involves getting in trouble. Although I find it cute, I a) don't have the energy to create messes that I'm going to have to clean up each day and b) find it counterproductive that the elf gets to get in trouble but then reports to Santa each day about whether the children have been good or not. So Shooby brings enjoyment without being the main focus of Christmas. It's fun watching P look for him in the morning, seeing Christmas spirit through the eyes of a child.
We've been at my parents' for the past couple weeks, visiting for Thanksgiving. Like our last trip, the boys were plagued with illness a few days after arriving. It wasn't until P got sick that I realized that both boys had hand, foot and mouth. (No, it's not the cattle disease) Both boys were miserable for a few days. Although it's uncommon for adults to catch the virus both of my parents and Rob got sick with a head cold/sore throat/cough. So the first week was mainly spent around the house, laying low. But we did go ice skating and Rob, Easton and I went to Reno (see previous blogs for more about that). The second week here I got to see some friends, which was fun. I loved catching up with girlfriends sans kiddos. The boys got to sit on Santa's lap (again) and I was able to do some Christmas shopping. My parents worked part of the week so I met up with a friend and her kids to do a breakfast meet n greet with Santa one day. One day the boys and I met my mom for lunch. My mom and I had a chance to sneak away and get pedicures. This weekend we got my parents' Christmas tree up and partially decorated. It's been a fun, mellow, relaxing vacation. I'll put pictures up in a few days so you can see the fun moments we shared together.
OK, tomorrow will be a long day with being on an airplane all day so I'm going to call it a night. I'll be blogging again in the next few days. Until then......
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