Christmas Eve at Uncle Mike's

Christmas Stop #2: Uncle Mike's & Aunt Judy's Christmas Eve Party

Uncle Mike got out some toys for the little boys to play with.  Most of them were dinosaurs, which Henry (left) thought were awesome.  Tanyon thought they were pretty cool, but he chose the least scary of them to play with himself. They ran through the house and crowd laughing and making their most ferocious roars.  

Katrina and Julia:

Tanyon playing with Papa and his "not so scary" dinosaur. By the end of the evening, he had found and settled on a helicopter and ladder to play with.  He explained that these ones were not scary. While a ladder may not seem that exciting to play with, he did a pretty good job coming up with various scenarios you may need to use it. Yes, our son is quite a cautious little guy...

Paul and I:

Matt and April:

Uncle Mike kicking off the White Elephant Gift Exchange:

Christmas Eve Morning

On Christmas Eve morning, we decided to exchange one gift between us, because we were about to embark upon our annual crazy Christmas rounds and we wanted to share a present with just the 3 of us. Tanyon got a set of small puzzles from us, which he loved. He immediately went to work putting them together.

A little bit later, Aunt April and Aunt Julia came over and we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa Marilyn's house. They prepared a lovely brunch for all of us.

Unfortunately, Tanyon filled up on appetizers, so he was more interested in laying on the floor and exploring the house while everyone else ate...

The Aunties in a food comma before presents:

Tanyon opening up gifts from Grandma Dee and Larry:

He was thrilled with his new train additions, especially the ones that made noise!

Tanyon was very sweet during present time.  He was super grateful and excited about each gift.  He was also a good helper if anyone needed assistance opening their gift.  Here he is with Great Grandma Marilyn:

Grandma Dee got two very cool hats, a vintage sailor hat and a panda hat, which made her very excited.

Tanyon had also gotten a panda hat from Aunt April!

Here is our little guy opening a gift with Aunt April (a Santa filled with candy!):

Checking out Christmas Lights

This year, Paul and I took Tanyon down to Walnut Ct. again to check out the Christmas lights. He was not in the mood to get his picture taken, but he definitely loved seeing all of the light displays.  Funny though, one of the houses had a major light show timed to music each hour and Tanyon really wasn't that impressed.  He liked the smaller displays with a few movable objects. The thing that caught his attention the most was a set up in which they had Santa crashed into the side of the house and his legs sticking out.  He talked about it several times a day.  "Santa crashed!" I am not sure if he was concerned about Santa still making it on Christmas Eve, or whether he just thought it was funny.

Need a tissue?

This is what happens when you tell your son to go get himself some toilet paper to use as a tissue...

ELMO!

My son has officially joined the Elmo fan club! Like most 2-3 year olds, he thinks Elmo is amazing.  He has even ventured away from watching Dora the Explorer some days and chooses Sesame Street, which he pronounces, "Snesame Street."

Making holiday cookies

Since I was a little girl, we have made holiday sugar cookies for our friends and family.  Since Paul and I have been married, we have invited various folks to our house to help decorate them.  Last year, Tanyon was a bit young and a bit too sick to help in the making of cookies. This year, he loved every step of the process. First, he helped me make the dough:

 Then, I gave him his own board, dough, rolling pin and cutters to make cookies to bake:

Not many of Tanyon's creations made it to the oven, but he had a ball playing with the dough as I rolled out dozens of batches of cookies next to him. The next day, Tanyon also participated in some cookie decorating. Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures of our friends decorating this year, but it was tons of fun and we appreciate all of the company while doing it. 

12/16-12/18

New Haircut

After the last haircutting experience, where it took both Paul and I to hold Tanyon down in order to get the job done, I was a little nervous to face the task again.  However, we had been practicing "pretend" cuts at home and talking very positively about the idea of getting his hair cut again. So, early in a marathon day of errands and Christmas shopping, I took Tanyon to Kidz Kutz downtown.  He saw another 2 year old do a great job in the chair, which was very encouraging.  

Then, the lady listened to his list of concerns and made sure he felt at ease.  

• First, he did not want to sit on the special frog seat.  Instead, he wanted to sit on mommy's lap in a regular chair.  This was an easy request to fulfill.  
• Second, he wanted a green lollipop when he finished.  Again, no problem, there were plenty of green ones in stock.  
• Third, he wanted to make sure she would not be using the blow dryer at all during the process, "No blower, no blowing!" he repeated over and over.  This concern seemed to be quite large and he didn't quite trust the lady not to do it.  So, she showed him a seat where there was not an outlet on the wall next to it and hence, there could not be a blower involved in his experience. After a bit more conversation, he seemed to be content with the situation.  
• Finally, he requested that he watch a Dora video with Diego in it. I thought this was a bit much, since Dora and Diego usually have their own shows, but Tanyon and I were thrilled that they had a Dora video in which she and Diego rescue Baby Jaguar (his 3rd favorite character)!

Once all of his demands were met, Tanyon sat like a still little angel for the entire cut!  He even let her use the buzzers around his ears and on his neck. I was very proud of him! Maybe next time he won't have so many stipulations. Then again, I think this may just be his personality...

12/15/11