So this is Christmas

Milk and cookies for Santa

We had not one, not two, but three Christmas celebrations this year! The first was on the 23rd, as out little family of 3 before Alan headed to Australia the following day. Cale and I then drove to Fredericton for the Sprague and Jeffries family celebrations. We had an amazing time. Here are some highlights of our holiday week.

White Christmas and pinecone eyebrows!

Sitting on Santa's knee

Christmas Eve excitement!

New guitar

Gifts with Cousin Monica and Aunt Kathy

Matching hats

Boxing day sliding with Grammie!

Christmas cheers

With only one week to go until the big day, I thought I should share some of Caleb's words of celebration.

Weaned!

Well, I didn't know when it would happen, but after 22 months, Caleb is finally weaned. It came to an end very gradually, and now that it has been well over 2 weeks since I last nursed, I think I can officially say that we are through. Weaning, however, didn’t directly translate into better sleep like I was hoping it might, and he does still occaissionally ask to 'touch them', which I hear is very normal! It does still feel like a big step towards independence (although I don’t think he’ll be ready to move out anytime soon!)

Wearing mom's homemade 'ugly Christmas sweater' (staff party theme). Caleb has never been so impressed with one of my outfits!

Watching Caleb grow has become one of the biggest pleasures of my entire life. Each day I'm blown away by how much more he understands and says. For awhile, talking with him was like a continuous game of 'I Spy' - we would point and say the name of everything we saw. Now he's moved beyond just the basic nouns and we are actually having conversations. He uses full sentences and understands concepts like next, other, I, later, tomorrow, hurry...which leads to Caleb's quote of the week 'Mom, I need a Kleenex QUICK!'. It is also quite hilarious when he uses words and sayings that he hears Alan and I say, like his new favorite 'what's happening?' or when he calls out to Alan 'Come here, honey! (or usually just hon), since he also loves to abbreviate - Linda is now Lin, Nina is Neen and the other night he picked up the telephone to call Santa Claus and said 'Hi San!!

He is also learning how to manipulate us, especially at bedtime. When he is all tucked in and the lights are off, he will inevitably pull out ‘Caleb need potty, mom! Pajamas off, diaper off!’ or ‘I need some water’, or if he is really desperate not to go to sleep he’ll try to trick us into thinking it is morning by saying ‘breakfast time’ or ‘not dark out anymore’. You’ll have to do better than that, Caleb!!

Making Christmas wrapping paper

Christmas Spirit

Felt ornaments

This year we are taking Christmas by storm. It seems that once you have a child who is old enough to know who Santa Claus is, you need to fully embrace the holiday season and that is what we have done this year. I've been getting craft inspiration from Pinterest (www.pinterest.com - visit this site if you haven't already) and whipping up Christmas decorations and gifts. Caleb has learned tons of Christmas songs at school so we are constantly singing carols, and several times a day he will call out 'Happy New Year', 'Merry Christmas' and his favourite by far - 'Happy Birthday' ! And I must say, it feels quite nice to be told it's your birthday every single day!

Homemade snow globes!

We topped off our Christmas cheer today by bringing home our very first Christmas tree. My work is selling organic trees and wreaths and since I've been helping out with the campaign, they gave me a little one to take home. Since Alan will be spending Christmas on tour in Australia (amazing), we are going to have our own family Christmas on the 23rd before he goes. Caleb won't know what hit him when he gets not one, but two Christmas celebrations. Three if you count both the Sprague and Jeffries family Christmases in Fredericton. We've got another 3 weeks of celebrating to do before the big day, and we are soaking up every minute of the holiday fun!

Time to decorate the tree!