Bears and trains and laptops, oh my!

I hope everyone had a merry holiday celebration (or at least enjoyed some time off work). We had a good Christmas. Little Bit was so excited to see his presents under the tree Christmas morning. Unlike last year, he wasn't afraid of the large stuffed animal in the living room. He ran towards Winnie the Pooh, saying, "My bear! My bear!" and gave it a big hug. It's almost bigger than he is and very soft. When Little Bit has outgrown it, it's mine! It will make a great pillow for watching tv.

After opening some presents, we told Little Bit that he should check the front room for anything Santa might have left him. On Christmas Eve, DH and I had stayed up after Little Bit was in bed and put together his new train set. It briefly looked like this.

Within, oh, 10 minutes or less, Little Bit had begun picking up sections of track and throwing them onto the floor. DH and I expected that. We didn't expect that Little Bit would want to immediately start building up the tracks again. He wanted to do it himself, putting the pieces together like a big puzzle. Sometimes he'd ask us for help. He's only two and a half, but he already saw the fun in re-arranging the tracks. The tracks got put together and taken apart several times over the long weekend.

Little Bit also likes his baby doll from Santa. He's not too clear on all the intricacies of baby care ("No, son, don't beat the baby against the side of the couch. That's not nice"), but he did lay the baby down for several naps and told us, "Shhhhhh...baby sleeping."

DH and I got new laptops for Christmas. We actually bought them before Christmas when they were on sale, but got each other some accessories to unwrap on Christmas. I love the advance of technology. My new laptop cost about 1/4 the cost of my six year old laptop, and of course it has way more memory, speed, etc than the old one. Plus, it weighs almost half what the old one weighs. I love it.

Chri-mas Lights Inside!

Holidays this year are especially fun since Little Bit is old enough to understand something about Christmas. Over the weekend, Santa Claus came through our neighborhood riding a fire truck with the horns and lights and sirens blazing. Little Bit was slightly disconcerted by the noise, but he was excited to see Santa Claus.

Last night we finally put up a Christmas tree (yes, we are lame). We usually get a real tree, but with all of us alternating being sick and with DH's work schedule, the last few weeks have just disappeared. After we put up our new fake tree (pre-lit, too! how convenient!), Little Bit toddled over to the entertainment speakers where a few presents were gathered, picked them up, and put them under the tree. He just knew that was where they went. Too cute.

Then, he asked, hopefully, "Open now? Open now?" We laughed and explained again that he could open the presents on Christmas Day. He seemed to accept that he would have to wait a few more days.

We left the lights on the tree lit for the evening. Every now and then, Little Bit would point to the tree and exclaim, "Chri-mas lights on! Chri-mas lights inside!" Because up till then, he'd just seen the lights outside in neighbors' yards.

I'm so looking forward to Christmas morning - to seeing his face when he sees his new toys. He just loves trains so much. I know the train set and train table are going to be a big hit. He will play "train" with his toy cars, saying, "Choo-choo!! All a-boar-d!"

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This morning, when I was sitting next to him on the couch, Little Bit put his arms around me and said, "I love my Mommy!"

*cue melting heart*

All I Want For Christmas

We already have the big Christmas gifts for Little Bit -- a new KidKraft wooden train set (he adores trains) and a used KidKraft train table (gotta love ebay for saving me $100). I also got him a Playdoh set (Playdoh is another favorite in our house), the cutest Max and Ruby beanie babies, and a few Max and Ruby books. I was idly surfing on Amazon for stocking stuffer ideas. I clicked on the "Under $10" link, then the link for "Boys".

What immediately struck me was how the boys' toys were all violent toys - soldier figurines from Halo or Transformer battle robots or Nerf "blaster" guns or "Battle Brawler Deluxe Monsters". Besides the fact that all these toys were for older kids, was this seriously the only thing Amazon's listmakers could come up with?

(As an aside, there is a link for "Preschool" that has a mix of things like puzzles, trucks, Mr. Potato Head, and dolls, etc., but I'm sad that the older boys' toys are all violent.)

One of the things I love about our little guy is his warm, affectionate nature. He snuggles up against me or his dad while watching tv. He just wants to be touching one of us. He will just run over to give us hugs, saying, "My mommy!" or "My daddy!" I don't want him to lose that as he grows up. Sure, I find myself falling into the stereotyping of young boys sometimes...when he wants to run and jump and falls, but picks himself up and says, "I fine," I think or say, "He's such a boy!" Really though, that just seems to be active, outgoing toddler behavior.

So, one of the other things he's getting for Christmas this year is a baby doll. This Corolle doll. He has stuffed animals that he carries around, but now he will also have a baby doll to love and nurture.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

SNOW!!! In Houston! It snowed here yesterday and last night, ya'll. The last time it snowed here was Christmas Eve in 2004 (when DH proposed to me BTW).

This was Little Bit's first snow, and it was miraculous. We bundled up Little Bit to take him out and show him the snow falling before his bedtime. I loved watching the white flakes come swirling out of the darkness. The snow frosted the tree limbs and bushes, the cars and houses. It sprinkled powdery fine on the grass, melting on the warmer street. It swirled around the Christmas lights.

The sound of our neighbor's kids laughter rang out in the darkness. They scrounged snow from all over their yard and built a snowman. DH took a pic of Little Bit standing next to the snowman this morning. I'll have to post it later. I think Little Bit was about the same size as the snowman.

I actually had to scrape icy snow off my car's windshield this morning. I don't know where my ice scraper is (bought when I lived up north and packed away somewhere), so I used the edge of a magazine to loosen it.

Kyla at The Journey has some great pics of them playing in the snow. Our local paper has an article with pics too.

It was warm and in the 70s here on Tuesday, then snow last night, and we're going to get back up to the 70s by Sunday. Gotta love that crazy Houston weather. At least we had a little wintry weather to really get us in the mood for the holidays.

Xmas loot

Little Bit on Christmas day with all his loot, including the new pony.

Mom, there's a pony in the living room!

This year for Christmas, Santa brought Little Bit a rocking horse. He first saw it at the Cracker Barrel store about a month ago. At the store, he patted its head and even rocked on it gleefully with my hand steadying him. However, come Christmas morning, he held onto my leg and pointed, saying, "Shuu-shuu!" (Shuu-Shuu is his favorite phrase. It can mean many things. "What's that?" "Go that way." "Look over there.")

He seemed to be saying, "What's that?! There's a pony in the living room!!" He clung to my leg, not wanting to go into the living room. With encouragement, he ventured in. He still held onto me, as we approached the pony. Dear Husband (DH) and I tried to get him to ride it. Nope. He'd rather play with the cars and car garage that came from my parents, thank you very much!

DH realized this morning why Little Bit was suddenly shy/scared of the rocky horse. Last Friday night, we went to some friends' for dinner. They have two very big dogs. Very excitable dogs. Who proceeded to try to play with the new creature who was just their size. DH and I tried to keep the dogs away from him, but they scared him a few times into crying.

Little Bit probably associates the pony with the dogs since it's also about his size and has four legs. He's a pretty fearless little boy, but I think it will take awhile for him to warm up to the rocking horse. Yesterday morning, holding onto my finger, he did pet the pony. That's a start.