Santa Claus

We took Jonah to see Santa at the Brookfield Square Mall on the Monday after Thanksgiving so that Grammy Sweets could join us. One benefit of going so early was that there really wasn't any line to see Santa and we were able to get through quickly.  We weren't certain how Jonah would handle Santa; he generally is pretty good with strangers, but we know this is also the period when kids generally start to freak out at seeing Santa.

The photographer explained to us a strategy that really worked well. She told us not to "introduce" Jonah to Santa, but to instead walk up, plop him down in Santa's lap, step back so that she could get a picture (using an Elmo toy and encouragement from us), and then we could introduce him to Santa after that.  The strategy worked pretty well.  Jonah didn't cry, but most of the time he sat on Santa's lap, he had a pretty serious look on his face. In the end, we got the following photo that makes it look like he was snuggling into Santa's arm, but I think he was more reacting to the toys he was being entertained with.

Don't I look like I'm snuggling with Santa?

Just because one experience with Santa worked well doesn't mean that a second will.  On a Friday earlier this month, Santa made an appearance at the Marquette Child Care Center, where Jonah's reaction was slightly different:

To his credit, Jonah did actually get on Santa's lap.  Apparently few of the kids in his room made it that close to Santa and instead freaked out and cried before they could even sit on his lap.

Last year, Jonah enjoyed Santa pretty well:

How much Jonah has changed in the past year and how much he will change before next Christmas! At this point, Jonah can identify Santa, but doesn't identify him as someone who brings presents to children for Christmas day. I wonder what he will ask Santa for next year??