Holiday Cheer

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The holidays are upon us and the boys are doing great.  I’ve always enjoyed this time of year, but it just seems so much more special now that I have a family of my own.  Thanksgiving was fun.  It’s hard to believe that a year ago we were telling ourselves that “in one year, we’ll have two new additions to the table,” and there they were this year.  Both Sam and Max got to try some of the Thanksgiving feast; Sam couldn’t have as much as Max, but he still got a taste.  I think they really liked it.  Sam’s doing so much better at eating.  Whenever Max is being fed, Laura gives Sam little spoonfuls of the same.  He seems to be doing very well and he likes everything he tries.  Coverage for his feeding therapy has finally been approved, and he’ll start going regularly in January.  Besides eating, we need to get him drinking from a sippy cup.  Once he’s both eating and drinking, we can get rid of the GI tube.  Hopefully this won’t take too long.

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Now that Thanksgiving is over, we’ve turned our attention to Christmas and all the fun that goes along with that.  Laura has decorated the house, and the boys are fascinated with the Christmas tree.  Max is really getting around when he’s free on the floor.  Besides rolling (which he does very fast), he’s mastered the army crawl.  Between the two, he can quickly get to where he wants with little effort.  Sam is also starting to get around.  He doesn’t travel as much as Max yet, but he’s starting to roll now and wiggle his body to move.  Now that he’s completely recovered from the surgery, he seems to be catching up with Max and might even be developing faster than Max.  When we put them on the floor, they often end up under the tree, reaching for lights and ornaments.  All the soft, non-breakable, baby-friendly ornaments are on the lower branches, so it’s not a problem if they actually reach one.  Max is now sitting without any problem, and Sam has started sitting on his own, but is still a little wobbly.  Also, Max is starting to stand with help.  I don’t think it will be long before they’re both running around the house.

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On December first, we were visited by our Elf on the Shelf.  If you’re not familiar with this, it’s basically a creepy little elf that spies on your kids, then reports to Santa each night on whether or not they were naughty or nice that day.  That’s right, Santa’s little stoolie.  Furthermore, since he travels to the North Pole each night, he shows up each morning in a different spot to freak your kids out even more.  He doesn’t speak or move; he just sits on his chosen perch, silently grinning and staring down at your children, penetrating their very souls and infusing them with the fear that the slightest indiscretion will be reported to Santa, destroying any chance of them getting the toys they want for Christmas.  Lovely.  Anyway, we named our elf BOGO.  My mother-in-law came up with this name, which stands for “Buy One, Get One.”  This is a perfect name, as that’s how we got our kids…  we essentially bought one and got one for free.  Sam and Max are completely oblivious to BOGO’s presence, but we got him early because our older nephews have their own elf and expect Sam and Max to have one, too.  Personally, I’m a little worried about BOGO’s safety in the future.  When the boys are older, I can just imagine Sam talking Max into silencing the elf because he was a witness to something he shouldn’t have seen.  We’ll need to explain to them that if BOGO doesn’t show up at Santa’s workshop as expected, Santa will become suspicious and the jig will be up.  Hopefully that will buy BOGO some salvation…  at least for a little while.

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Speaking of Santa, the boys got to meet him the other day.  Because we’re still hesitant, for health reasons, of bringing Sam to see Santa at the local mall, friends of ours who happen to know Santa, invited him to their house so we could visit him there.  It went well…  kind of.  Sam, as he usually does with strangers, gave Santa the skunk eye, and wouldn’t let him out of his sight.  Max, on the other hand, greeted Santa with a piercing scream of fear.  I keep trying to explain to the boys the importance of first impressions.  If you think about it, though, can you blame him?  If you’re this little guy, and all of a sudden this huge guy is hovering over you, completely dressed in red with a big, furry white beard, you’d be a little weirded out too.  Well, Sam warmed up to the big man, and we finally got Max calmed down enough to take some pretty good pictures.  Overall, it was a fun experience to take the boys to see Santa for the first time; hopefully no one was traumatized too much (Santa included).

So, we’re pretty much ready for Christmas.  We’ve bought some gifts for the boys, and I’m sure Santa will bring them some too, even if Sam did give him the skunk eye.  I look forward to watching them open their presents, even though I know they really don’t get it yet.  And they’ll probably be more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes than the gifts within, but it will still be fun to watch them play with whatever they choose.  And I look forward to the Christmases to come as the boys get older and their excitement about the season will be infectious and permeate our house.  It will like being a kid all over again!