Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ah, it's the holiday season again. We're officially in December and I'm feeling (slightly) less apprehensive about the holidays than I did last year due to the fact that most of my family is vaccinated and not too many visitors are coming from out of town. So that hopefully means I can enjoy our last holiday season as a family of three, rest up (or baby prep) on holiday vacation days, and enjoy delicious food in my final weeks of eating for two. It's about a month and two weeks until my due date, and also my son's half birthday as he officially turns 2.5 on December 5. This age has already been exciting as we've noticed growth and change in a variety of areas.

First, he's talking a lot more! From a kid who could only say two words on his second birthday (Mama and Dada) he now has at least 50 words or word approximations and is starting to form simple two-word sentences like "two balls" when he counts basketballs or "Mama help," which is especially useful with everything from making Play-Doh shapes to picking up an out-of-reach toy.

He's also old enough to begin to enjoy the season! While he doesn't understand what Christmas is exactly, he knows that we have a Christmas "tee," which he points out each morning, and if you ask him about Christmas he will happily bring up the tree subject. He even helped decorate it! He also sees Santa Claus everywhere (especially inflatable Santas around our neighborhood) and seems to remember his uncle dressing up as Santa last year (or maybe he just remembers the photo. He definitely loves to see the lights that our relatives and neighbors have been putting up!

The harder parts about this age is his continually growing independence, which is a beautiful thing to see unfold but also makes nap time, bedtime, tooth brushing, diaper changing, and clothes changing a bit more challenging than they've been in the past. But so far (knock on wood) even these stubborn streaks have been manageable--nothing a good negotiation can't manage, like we promise he's going to have fun with his grandparents in exchange for getting dressed or give him some Cheerios in exchange for sitting in his car seat. The biggest struggle has just been getting him tired enough at bedtime to stop squirming and trying to play when we all know it's time to sleep. There's not much we can do with negotiations then, it's just waiting it out (which can be exhausting, but at least we know what to expect).

Luckily, Baby 1 seems to have outgrown his brief "extra clingy" period that he was starting to go through a few weeks ago. While he still adorably follows me around like a baby chick, he previously spent a full week afraid to even let me go to work or take a bath. Now he will happily stay with my inlaws or brothers (and knows them all by name!), plays with bubbles in the tub, and jumps into my own mom's arms after giving me a goodbye hug when I leave for the office. He'll even say "Buh bye!"

Probably one of the best things about this age and this time of year is that I can tell my son, "In about a month your little brother is going to come out of Mommy's tummy and say hi!"

And then he says, "Hiiii" and waves to my belly. It is the cutest!

Now that he's a little older, it will also be fun to see him start to understand the concept of unwrapping Christmas presents (since he definitely knows what presents are). Already we have a Play-Doh advent calendar with a door he gets to open each day in December leading up until Christmas (and trust me, it's been a challenge and taken some negotiations to convince him to only open one door each day). Yesterday he wanted to open "five" so badly, but we finally convinced him he would get to open the door as soon as he woke up the next morning. Sure enough, when he got out of bed, he held up five fingers on his hand and eagerly headed downstairs. This kid does not forget! And, sure enough, there was a new Play-Doh color and cookie cutter shape hidden behind the door, which pleased him immensely. The cookie cutter surprises have actually started to teach him about Christmas too--there's been a snowman hat and a candy cane, which our son had never really known about before.

He's probably too little to watch Christmas movies just yet, but we may bake some cookies together, see if Uncle will dress up as Santa again this year, and prepare for celebrations at both my parents' house and my inlaws house where I'm sure he will be receiving lots of new fun things (that Hubby and I will have to find room for in the house!). I'm just excited to get to take it all in with him and enjoy his wonder while anticipating the arrival of his brother shortly after.

A friend of mine mentioned how fun it will be to take Christmas card photos next year, and I realized that Baby 1 will be 3.5 then and Baby 2 will be almost a year old! He might even be walking!

Christmas with one is sure to be fun, but now I can't keep thinking about how exciting it will be to have two toddlers to enjoy this wonderful time of year with.