The Holidays

After a total hiatus for the holiday hustle, a few memories remain...

Thanksgiving
"Alexandra, do you know why they call this holiday Thanksgiving?" I said.
It was breakfast, Thanksgiving morning. We are visiting my parents in Florida.
"No, Mama."
"This is a time when we think of all the things we are glad to have."
"Thanks for you," she said and pointed to me. She looked around the table. "And you," she said pointing to her Daddy. My heart melted. "And you and you," she continued around the table. "And Mimi and Grandad and TT" (our dog). "And Maddie and Chloe" (her cousins), and she went on to name just about every person she ever met.
So the meaning got a little lost, but the very fact that instead of being thankful for toys she immediately pointed to her family made all the difference.

Christmas Eve
After Alexandra's lengthy quest to find "the real Baby Jesus" that had gone on for all of December only to be shown dolls or pictures, my mother-in-law told her that she could see Baby Jesus in church. She was talking about the manger scene set up on the alter that we would visit after the service.
But my little girl didn't want to wait. No sooner were we settled in our pew than she noticed a woman with an infant two rows ahead of us. As the choir finished Hark the Herald Angel Sings, Alexandra pointed to a 4-month-old with a big pink bow on her head and yelled, "Mama, there's the Baby Jesus!"

Christmas Morning
Two months before Christmas, Alexandra wanted a camera. She was always trying to play with mine, and always getting told not to touch. So I spotted the Fisher Price Kid Tough Camera in a toy store flyer, snapped it up and put it away.
One month before Christmas, Alexandra wanted a statue.
A statue? She's two. A statue of what?
A week before Christmas, my mother-in-law got it out of her: a statue of Mickey.
Um, ok.
So like a crazy person, three days before Christmas, I not only went to the mall, I went to the Disney Store.
Talk about Christmas magic: I got a parking spot near the door, happened to be at an entrance actually close to the Disney Store, and found as I entered a giant sign marked Treasure of the Week. The "treasure" was none other than a half-price six-pack of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse figurines. I snapped it up and headed for the register where - bonus - there was no line!

Fast forward to Christmas morning...
The little one is shoulder deep pulling the last item out of her stocking when she looks up at me and says, "I really wish Santa bringed me a camera."
Really? I haven't hear her mention the camera for months!
She moved on to the pile of gifts. As she pulled the wrapping from the Disney package, she started jumping up and down. "I think...it's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...it's statues, a LOT of them...I knew he was gonna bring me this!"

Wow. Baby's first "real" Christmas, and Mama scored twice. The camera has about 20 pictures of our floor on it, and the statues never leave her sticky candy fingers.
May every Christmas be this merry and bright!

Milestone miracle

Today we went to a birthday party. At a bowling alley.
My 2.5 year old is not much of a bowler, but this was her first real kids party other than cake and ice cream at someone's house.

In short, she behaved beautifully. She took turns bowling, didn't try to blow out the candles herself, didn't go rummaging through the gift bags and said please and thank you.
She also told me she needed to make pee pee.
Great! Oh God...a public restroom. Great.
OK, babygirl. Come on.

Well, she did great there too. Didn't touch anything she wasn't supposed to. Let me hold her so she didn't fall into the big girl potty. Washed her hands nicely.
As we were leaving the restroom, I squatted down to her eyelevel and said, "I want you to know that Mama is VERY proud of you. You told me before you had to go potty. You used a big girl bathroom. That is a very good girl."
And you know what she said?
"You're a great Mama." And gave me a hug.
I almost cried.

Who says bowling alley bathrooms are awful?