Go, Mr. Pickles, Go!

Henry is SO close to crawling, he can taste it! Look at this little booger, all in a perfect crawling stance. But then - doh! - he starts bouncing his butt and slides himself backwards. He rolls and scoots himself really well now - he just hasn't quite figured out the whole direction thing, yet. It's only going to be a matter of time and I'll be struggling to keep him in the same room with me.

He's also able to get into a sitting position on his own now. Stephen said yesterday after Henry did this, "Hey! When did he start doing that?" Like a good, caring mother, I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I dunno. Huh. I guess that is new. Must have just started doing it. I guess." You mean he didn't come out of the womb sitting up on his own? How quickly I forget.

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Cat Puke & Glitter

I love decorating for Christmas. The tree, the lights, the sparkly ornaments - nothing makes me feel more festive and all around warm and fuzzy. However, there is a pretty big downside to having the decorations out - THE CLEANUP. No, I'm not talking about after Christmas when it's time to put everything away (although that isn't on my list of favorite tasks to perform, either). I'm talking about the little tree needles that I'm still vacuuming up in mid-July - and we don't even get real trees! The decorations that I have to continuously put back in proper order - see Exhibit A, the picture I took of the nativity scene in which Asher has gathered everyone EXCEPT the lonely baby Jesus (back in the barn) outside for a gathering. (It also appears that the angel has had a little too much eggnog and is passed out on the ground.) We have an infinite amount of kitty tree needle throw-up. Then there's unique instances of cleanup that you wouldn't even think of - like Exhibit B, where Asher managed to get glitter not only all over his hands, but also all over his mouth like a sparkly goatee. I still haven't figured out what he was doing with the ornaments to get so much glitter on his mouth, but maybe it's best I don't know.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Come to think of it, maybe I won't be so upset when it's time to do the big cleanup of putting everything away for the year.

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New Skills

Henry is this close to getting into a sitting position on his own and pulling himself up into a standing position. Earlier this week, Stephen went into Henry's room to rescue him from his crib after his nap and found him sitting on his knees. Guess we better lower the mattress in his crib before he perfects his ability to pull himself up completely.

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Christmas Bonding

One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season is to put on some sweats, make a cup of hot chocolate, light some candles, plug in the Christmas tree, pop in a Christmas movie, stretch out on the sofa, and just bask in the coziness. With babies, however, this simple luxury of doing nothing is next to impossible, let alone be lazy AND enjoy it. The past couple of years, I've kind of had to let my Christmas movies collect dust because Asher hasn't had any desire in sitting still or doing anything close to relaxing. Bah humbug.

Well, we're still in that same boat to a degree with Henry, but Asher is beginning to enjoy movies and the art of lounging. On more than a few occasions, he's been very content to lie in bed with me and watch Sprout and words cannot describe how much I relish those moments. I love being a parent, don't get me wrong, but much of parenting does not revolve around actually enjoying your child's company. I don't know about anyone else's opinion, but I'm really not the biggest fan of dealing with temper tantrums or cleaning up the endless trail of messes that my children leave behind. Or changing dirty diapers or stressing about eating habits. I think a large reason why I am thrilled to just sit and stare at a TV screen with my child is because during this time he is quiet, peaceful, and snuggly. I can kiss the top of his head as many times as I want and he's too entranced to even notice, let alone brush me off. With the TV on, I can just hold him and enjoy his presence.

Anyway, I'm stoked that he is showing more interests in movies especially now that the Christmas season is here because now maybe I can enjoy some of my favorite holiday movies with him! The one movie he really loved last year was "A Charlie Brown Christmas," and a couple of months ago, he decided he wanted to start watching it again. I love this program, but after watching it almost every night for the past month at Asher's request, I was ready for something different. We watched "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Shrek the Halls" the other night, and although Asher sat and watched most of them, when they were over, he was ready for them to be over. When I asked him the next night if he wanted to watch them again, he said no because we watched them already. And then he begged to watch Charlie Brown. AGAIN. For the millionth time. (The logic of a two-year old cannot be explained.)

Personally, when I watched "Polar Express" a few years ago, I thought it was a little creepy and weird. However, I was excited to see that it was on TV tonight because I thought a movie about both a train and Christmas would have to be loved by Asher. Luckily, I was right. He remained glued to the TV during the entire two hours, became upset when commercials interrupted the movie, and randomly informed me throughout the movie that he liked the movie. I knew it was a winner when it was over and I told him that I'd recorded it in case he wants to watch it later on and he then started whining that, yes, he wants to watch it again. NOW. And, this time around, I enjoyed the movie so much more. Of course, I think part of that may be because I spent half of the time watching him watch the movie. The movie has a few suspenseful moments, which Asher is completely unaccustomed to - I've never caught myself biting my nails during an action-packed scene of Blue's Clues - so it was funny seeing his reaction when he was feeling tense. At one moment, he exclaimed, "Oh my goodness! That was CLOSE!"

With Asher's comprehension maturing, I'm so excited about Christmas approaching. Watching Christmas movies together is one of the many ways I hope we can celebrate my favorite time of the year.

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