Getting Ready for the Holidays

Despite the unusually warm December, we got in the holiday spirit picking out and cutting down our own Christmas tree at a local tree farm.  Brady had a lot of fun running through the trees and trying to get Mom and Dad to chase him.  Parker was more cautious of the tractor that dropped us off and picked us up and preferred Mom to hold him.  Every year the tree farm cuts down only 1000 trees, and replants them all.  One of Daddy's co-workers works and lives at the tree farm and made sure we got the best tree.

The boys did a great job decorating the tree.  Brady took the ornaments from Mom and put them on the tree so it was well decorated, to preschool height anyway.  Parker had fun watching Brady and attempting to pull the ornaments off the tree.  This year we added a few new special ornaments to the tree including the boys school picture, Parker's handprint in clay, Parker wearing antlers made at daycare, and a Seminara family ornament. This year was special too as Mommy got to pick her favorite ornaments from her childhood. Brady was a big helper with keeping the tree watered.  The tree survived cats drinking the tree water, a fall during watering (oops), a preschooler running around and into it, and a toddler trying to pull off the ornaments.

No Christmas is complete without seeing Santa.  The boys got a couple opportunities to see him this year.  Early December every year Chelmsford has their holiday tree lighting in the town center.  We took the boys in to see all the action where they got to have free cocoa, take a horse drawn hayride around the town common, and meet Santa himself.  The town did a great job with the tree lighting and Santa's workshop.  Brady enjoyed watching the other kids play and was fairly content to ride in his stroller.  Parker was full of energy and didn't want to be in the stroller, rather he preferred to be out exploring the common.  Both boys got to sit on Santa's lap.  Despite Brady practicing what he would ask for from Santa (a shooter, a drum, and a watch), once he got a turn with the big man he froze and just said toys.  Parker at 19 months old is now at that age where he is fearful of Santa.  His brief visit was mostly spent crying, screaming for Mom and Dad, and trying everything he could to get away from Santa as quickly as possible.  

The boys got a second visit with Santa at Daddy's work where LM hosted a family Christmas party complete with trains, cookie making, and a visit with the big man.  The facility may be small, but it is very family oriented and threw a really nice holiday party.  The boys enjoyed watching the model trains race around the track and Brady enjoyed eating the cookie frosting.  When it came time to visit the big man, Brady did great posing for his picture with Santa.  Parker would have nothing to do with it latching himself onto Mom with no hopes of prying him off.  Instead we opted for a nice family photo.  Brady has Grandma Reggie's problem, he smiles but is always distracted by what's going on around the camera.  Silly boy.  Santa gave the boys each a goodie bag and a present which the boys were excited to open when they got home.

This year the boys were old enough to ride the Polar Express!  We took them to the railroad in Lincoln NH in the white mountains for the special ride.  On the train they got hot cocoa and sang songs.  Once we arrived at the North Pole we were greeted by elves who took us past Santa's workshop to the big tent to see Santa.  An elderly man read the kids the night before Christmas, the elves sang Christmas carols, and Santa appeared and walked through all the aisles to meet and take pictures with the kids.  Brady was proud of himself for going up to Santa to say hi and thank you.  Parker...well you can guess.  Next year we'll have to try the train in North Conway, we hear they have reindeer.

At 3.5 yrs old, Brady is at a great age to enjoy Christmas.  He and Mom had a lot of fun shopping together and he even picked out his own presents for Parker (car carrier with cars) and Dad (RC car).  He was so good about telling Mom when he wanted a toy, and not begging to buy it, but that he would put it on his Christmas list.  He's so sweet!  Parker had fun shopping too enjoying riding in the cart and trying out all the toys.  He's pretty easy to shop for at this age and has just as much fun with wrapping paper and boxes as any toy.

Christmas is in the air at daycare too with all the kids making their parents gifts or decorating classrooms.  This year Parker make the ornament and a nice framed picture for Mom and Dad.  And Brady was a gingerbread man in his classroom window.

It's hard for Brady to be good ALL the time, otherwise what fun would there be?  When we give him a gentle reminder that Santa's watching his response is "Where?  I don't see him."  Not sure he quite grasps the always watching concept just yet, or that it slows him down any.  But it's hard for a preschooler to contain all his Christmas excitement.

Around all the holiday preparations we did have a few medical scares.  Earlier in the month Mommy had what we thought was a stomach bug and had to cancel one of her business trips.  After some prompting from Daddy, she went to the hospital and had an emergency appendectomy.  That was one heck of a stomach bug!  She was in and out of the hospital in 12 hrs and other than looking pregnant again for a few weeks she recovered fine.  Then it was Parker's turn getting a really bad case of RSV and having to stay home for a week.  RSV is the dreaded 3-letter word in our house.  It results in breathing treatments every 6 hours (which you can imagine a 19 month old doesn't enjoy), turns with Advil and Tylenol to curb the fever and allow him some rest, and fluids to keep him hydrated.  Being a virus we couldn't give him antibiotics, only try to make him more comfortable, and hope it doesn't cause anything worse.  We are still giving him breathing treatments and monitoring him for ear infections.  In all this the poor guy broke 2 molars and we're waiting on the last one to finally break (lower right).  

We are ending the month with our health, our family, and our friends and are excited for the holiday break.  Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Years!!!

Parker's 18 month Checkup & Eating Specialist

Parker had his 18 month checkup a couple weeks ago - his height was 30 inches (1%), weight 19.6 lbs (3%), and weight/length ratio 14%.  Yes, he's still a little peanut.  By this age Brady was in the 25th percentile so looks like Parker will be a little smaller unless he hits a major growth spurt.  Regardless of height and weight, he has moved up into his 12-18 or 18 month clothes with his 12 month clothes fitting too small or giving him the flood pants look.  At this visit the doctor recommended we see an eating specialist to verify nothing was wrong with Parker's system.  Developmentally he seems to be doing well with his expanding vocabulary and love for cause/effect playing (stack blocks, knock them down, repeat).  He also got his flu shot and a second shot for Hep A.  His words continue to get more clear and he can say Mommy, Daddy, Brady, doggie, up, please, yes/no (with head shake), mine, big ball, milk, wow (with big surprise face), baseball, and football.  The cutest is his name Parker (like Pa-Ka), pizza (pee-ta), and his teachers names Icky (Vicky) and Isa (Lisa).  In addition to words he does great animals sounds roaring like a bear, meowing like a cat, or panting like a dog.  If he's not talking or making animal sounds, he's making airplane sounds (chewwwww) or honking like a big truck.  He loves to repeat words you say as he continues to practice his talking.

Daddy and Parker went down to Boston to visit the eating specialist, which actually turned out to be several specialists.  Parker and Daddy walked into a room with 7 people. Each person had a different role to observe and ask questions about Parker's eating habits. Daddy brought some crackers, milk, juice and squeezey packs for Parker to eat and drink during the visit. After the doctors witnessed how Parker was doing, they felt he had the eating thing down and made a few suggestions for his diet. They suggested to try and limit milk to 24 oz a day and not offer juice because it provides empty calories. They felt his weight was good for his height but there was some concern about his height. If there is still a concern about his height as he gets older they suggested we visit them again. All in all it was a pleasant experience, the doctors were really nice and Parker really soaked up the attention.