...But please don't make me talk to him! Haley still has no desire to come face to face with Santa. We recently drove down to Fargo to do some Christmas shopping and stopped at the Red River Zoo there because I'd read that Santa would be there with some real, live reindeer. But once there, Haley wouldn't get within 20 feet of him and suddenly expressed an intense interest in the nearby bison. That's fine with us really, and we can only hope that she shows the same disinterest in men in costume when she's 18...
I'LL HAVE WHAT SHE'S HAVING
Jake loves to eat. And chew, gnaw, sip, taste - anything that involves putting something in his mouth. An item has not been experienced completely unless it's been tasted, or so Jake seems to think. It will be a happy day in our home when he can say "More please, Mama" instead of "Uh, uh!" Ever wonder what a glittery ornament tastes like? Jake could tell you...he taste-tests the ornaments while Haley checks out our newly-decorated tree.
Haley helps deck the halls by carrying in a mini Christmas tree and decorating a gingerbread house. 
ROCK CLIMBER TO-BE
One thing we learned this month was that Jake can climb. He shocked us all by pulling himself up the bottom step, and then one day I turned around in the kitchen and saw him on the stepstool. And we thought Haley was a monkey! I can just see the ER visits now...
SAY CHEESE! BUT DON'T LOOK SO CHEESY.
I put the kids through three photo sessions before settling on one to send out this year. The first round didn't last very long because both kids were sick - we found out later that Jake had an ear infection. The poor kid, you can see in his face that he just doesn't feel well. For round two I had them in their cute matching shirts, but it was late afternoon and Jake really wanted to play with/chew on the camera. By round three I had learned my lesson. I put their nice clothes over their play clothes, used a tripod for the camera, and had a huge pile of stuffed animals at my disposal. It was still hard to get both of them to face the camera with a semi-normal smile, but made for some cute snapshots along the way.
We hope your Christmas is merry and bright!
