Merry Christmas!

We had a progressive holiday this year -- like a progressive dinner where you have one course per house in several different houses.  I think our count of Christmas celebrations made it up to four?!  Here's a recap...

"Wait -- four celebrations?  Do you know how much food prep that will b

e?"

First celebration : At our house with Grandmama, Grandaddy, Aunt Katy, Uncle Brian, and Cousin Mallory.

Harrison and his new helicopter

Hewitt and his new airplane

"Hey!  What if we put our flying machines in our new suitcases??"

Second celebration : At Grandmom and Grandpop's house with Grandmom, Grandpop, Uncle Josh, Aunt Laura, Great Granny, Great Uncle Tom, and Mama's Cousin Annette.  

"Oh!  It's a boy-sized wheelbarrow!"

One for each boy -- oh, yeah!

Third celebration : At Great Grandmama Nell's house (but somehow we didn't get a picture with her?)

Fourth celebration : Christmas morning back at our house.  This photo was completely unstaged -- unh-hunh...

Hewitt acting like he doesn't love the gummy fruits he just pulled out of his stocking

 But he does love them -- and I love Dada's gasp of celebration at the very end of the video

All my boys :)

 Merry Christmas!

Any Ideas for Dinner?

Apparently Hewitt wants fish -- Harrison always says it's good for your brain, and Hewie wants in on that brain-building.

An Excellent Idea

"I have an excellent idea.  Let's get up on this bookshelf to hide from Mama and Dada."

"Oh -- Mama has already spotted us.  Let's just hide from Dada then..."

"Has anybody seen the boys??"

"Back-toring"

That's what it's called when you ride a tractor backwards.  :)

Harrison Made Breakfast For Us Today!

Put some cereal (no milk, fortunately!) in bowls for each of us while he waited for us to come downstairs.  :)  His own idea!

A Special Treat :)

Harrison and Mama got some special treats from Starbucks when we were out doing a little Christmas shopping.  Harrison's was of the snowman cookie variety; Mama's was of the gingerbread latte (or some such Starbucks nonsense...) variety.  Yum!

Spelling

Harrison's class is learning letters (both recognizing them and writing them), so we spend alot of time saying the letters in words we see and practicing writing letters and words.  Recently when the boys and I were driving somewhere, we stopped at a red light and the following conversation took place...

• Harrison : "H-O-O-T-E-R-S.  Mama, what does that spell?"
• Mama (internally) : "Did he just spell 'hooters?'  Like the restaurant for people who like to eat chicken wings served by ladies with big -- well...  Ah!  A Hooters billboard -- I guess that makes sense."
• Mama (out loud) : "That spells 'Hooters.'  Like the sound an owl makes -- whoo, whoo!  See the owl on the sign where you saw those letters?"
• Harrison : "Oh -- whoo, whoo, Hooters!"
• Mama : "Exactly!"

Green light --> go.  Moving on!

Why?

At 3 1/2 years old, Harrison is in full-blown "Why?" mode.  Some of his best (unanswerable) "Why?" questions include...

• Why is it Tuesday?
• Why am I wearing socks?
• Why am I hungry?
• Why is it raining?
• Why is that a shark?
• If we have ear drums, why do we not have kneecap guitars or foot drums?

I do try to answer these, but the psychological rule that a person cannot ask the same question more than 3 times is just untrue with preschoolers, and eventually he wears me down.  Sample discussions resulting from these "Why?" questions include...

• "Why is it Tuesday?"  "Because yesterday was Monday."  "Why was yesterday Monday?"  "Because the day before that was Sunday."  "Why is today not Friday?"  "Because we still have to do today and Wednesday and Thursday before we get to Friday?"  "Why?"  "Because whoever designed a 7-day week and named the days decided it would be like that."  "Why?"  "I don't know."
• "Why am I wearing socks?"  "Because you put them on."  "Why did I do that?"  "Because you want to go outside, so you put your socks on to get ready to put your shoes on."  "Why do I want to go outside?"  "Because there is alot to do outside."  "Why is there alot to do outside?"  "I don't know."
• "Why am I hungry?"  "Because you need to eat some food."  "Why do I need to eat some food?"  "Because you used up all of your food energy by playing so hard."  "Why did I do that?"  "Because it is fun to play hard."  "Why is it fun to play hard?"  "I don't know."
• "Why is it raining?"  Didn't even begin with talking about clouds and weather patterns for this one, just jumped right to "I don't know."  See me getting smarter?
• "Why is that a shark?"  "I don't know."
• "If we have ear drums, why do we not have kneecap guitars or foot drums?"  "I don't know."

Hewitt at 18 Months

Hewitt's stats...

• Weight -- 28.6 pounds (83rd percentile)
• Height -- 34.5 inches (92nd percentile)