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.
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.
2 comments:
Ella is receiving a Lionel Polar Express O-Scale train set and character figurines for Christmas. See, now you all must come here some time so that they can play with it together.
Also, I too thought it was creepy when I first saw the movie, but it has since become one of my favorites. And Ella (obviously) loves it too.
I have that movie and watch it by myself. Guess I'll take it with us to Dayton!
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