Surveying Christmas ...

... during the Christmas with Franklin intermission.

I'm not sure just what he's thinking here ...

But I think it's mischievous.

More Christmas Party ...

Alec with a cousin and a present from Santa.

Sailing Club Christmas Party

Alec with Santa.

Random Updates - November & December

I thought I would take a few moments to provide a bit of an update on what we've been up to so far this month and throughout last month as I have (yet again) been too busy having fun and not busy enough blogging about having fun.

We have been taking a Kindermusik class since September. We did not make it to a lot of the first few classes because we were doing lots of trips to Alan's parents to visit his family (and, in Alan's case, the boat). We have made it to a lot of the classes since though and we are finding that we get quite a lot out of it, despite the fact that Alec spends most of the class running through the halls of the huge church where the class is held. Because we only participate in a few songs each time (due to the draw of running through the halls), Alec occasionally sings these numbers on his own and always recognizes them when we play the CDs that includes them (as part of the class materials). In playing the CDs, I have found that one CD in particular has the bewitching effect of calming him down no matter what his state of mind. He particularly loves the Hot Cross Buns medly and lights up whenever it comes on. Sometime in November, parents started bringing cookies to share with the children after the class in a social time. Two weeks ago, it was our turn. I showed Alec the cookies for the first time on the way into the class (for obvious reasons). He was so proud of them that when the instructor told the class that there were treats for everyone, Alec stood up and proclaimed "Yes and I brought them and they are gingerbread".

His pride in our home baking was music to my ears because about one month before, I sent mini blueberry muffins to his school as a snack for him to share with his friends. A day or so afterward, I asked him how his friends liked the muffins. His reply. "No one ate them Mommy". "Oh", I replied (quite surprised), "what did they say about them?". "They said they were yuuuucccccckkkkkyyyyyyy". Now, this was unexpected because they were simply plain blueberry muffins. A few days later, I asked one of his teachers about it and she said they did recently have an incident with some yucky muffins, but they weren't my muffins. I'm still not sure who to believe ...

We have also done lots of swimming during this time. Alec will wear a life jacket for most of the 45-minute swim time but still requires at least one of my hands/arms to keep his little mouth out of the water. He is rather fearless when it comes to the water and will jump in unassisted while in the life jacket.

Alec has discoved the power of using the word play and can be heard responding to almost any of his parents' requests or demands (e.g. brush your teeth, put on your boots, let's have dinner) with "I need to PLAY", "I would like to do that but I can't. I am PLAYing", "Let's play", or "Mommy, can I just PLAY".

He is also fiercely protective of me with respect to people taking things from me or "doing my work" ("work" is how his school refers to toys or playing). Once at a playgroup (which incidentally is called the Big Bird Club) a staff member took a ball that I was carrying to the supply room during tidying up out of my hands and said "I'll take that". Alec cried for 10 minutes, during which time he wagged his finger at the girl and called after her "You took that from my Mommy. Don't take my Mommy's work". He also uses it at home if Alan tries to do anything to do with poop (i.e. diapers, underwear, whatever) and cries out "Mommy, Daddy is taking your work". One of the best was when he and I were working on something together and his Dad interupted to suggest that Alec accompany him for some teeth brushing. His reply? "Mommy, Daddy is trying to take your buddy".

We have indulged in more than a few Christmas festivities so far. We kicked it off with the Santa Claus parade in mid-November. Alec's school-mate and friend, Robin, joined us with his family for lunch and a walk to our preferred standing-place for the parade. Alec was positively mesmerized by the parade and loved the marching bands best. He referred to them as "marching soldiers" and clapped his hands for "more marching soldiers" each time a group finished. He enjoyed marching on the spot and waving his arms in a dancing motion as they walked by. There were also lots of character costumes to enjoy and he was giving out hugs to any and all of them that came our way. At one point, a big mouse caught his eye and he missed an equally large Elmo. I successfully waved down the Elmo to come and see him. Elmo tapped Alec (who was still rather focused on the mouse) on the shoulder, at which point Alec turned to him and said, "Oh, hi Elmo. Look - there is a mouse". Alec then turned to continue watching the mouse. I guess he was somewhat desensitized to the experience by that point.

We have also attended more than a few Christmas events at our local arts centre. We kicked it off with the Nutcracker Ballet, of which we saw only about 20 minutes before we were too restless to stay, but it was worth it. Alec has since done a lot of ballet dancing around the house and has referred to the story of the ballet more than a few times. We also saw Franklin's Christmas (featuring Franklin the turtle and friends) and Alec was so interested in this (and the dancing elves that came with it) that we were able to enjoy the whole show.

Finally, we attended our sailing club's annual christmas party last weekend and Alec had a pretty good time. He sat on Santa's knee with no encouragement and very much enjoyed the toy that Santa brought. More than that though, he was thrilled to see his big cousins Cameron and Malcolm and played with them straight from 12:30 pm to 9:30 pm. I'm hoping that none of the games they played (e.g. Alec chasing them with a stick, Alec tackeling them or Alec kicking them as they lay on the floor) will be revisited on the school playground.