Santa, Baby!

Visiting Santa at Brookfield Square Mall.

We're still playing catch-up here. I can't believe that Christmas was over a month ago already, but it's too cute not to document some of our experiences with the man in the red suit this year.

As in the past, we took the boys to see Santa at the mall. We went on a Friday early in December, taking advantage of the fact that I was home on leave to avoid the longer lines of evenings and weekends. Jonah had been very excited about Santa; this is the first year that he really seemed to engage in and understand the concept of Christmas and this mysterious man named Santa. Ben and I were able to use the concept of staying on Santa's nice list to our advantage, prompting good behavior and a listening boy on a number of occasions. Before visiting Santa, we had asked Jonah what he was going to tell him that he wanted for Christmas. This changed a few times over the course of a couple of weeks, but then fortunately settled into a pretty consistent response of "an orange convertible and lots and lots of garbage trucks."

Our experience at the mall was a positive one. Jonah sat on Santa's lap without issue and Jude, innocent babe that he is, didn't mind one bit. Santa definitely got a chuckle when Jonah made his request. How many little boys ask for lots of garbage trucks? I suppose there must be a good number of them as you can find several different models in stores and online.

Baby Jude is bored by Santa.

The following Saturday, we went to Cranky Al's, our favorite bakery in the old neighborhood, to see the Santa they had there. It's been a bit of a tradition for us, and we weren't ready to give it up. Leading up to the trip, we were getting some sense that perhaps Jonah wasn't feeling as keen about Santa as he had for his first visit. Trying to get him out the door with statements about going to see Santa were met with "I don't want to see Santa" responses. While we waited in line, Jonah was more interested in placing his order for a doughnut than in getting to the front of the line to see Santa. In the end, it took a lot of bribing to get him to stand next to Santa (Jude, of course, slept through it). Santa's elf even gave him a jingle-bell hat in an attempt to make him happier, but Jonah wasn't really having any of that either. What happened between his first visit with Santa and this one? I can't say, but a doughnut made everything better.

I just don't know about this guy...

Trying out the elf's hat...

My doughnut! Awesome!

Jonah with Santa at day care, 2011.

Jonah's final experience with Santa was at daycare. We rearranged our schedule so that Jonah would be at daycare on the day of Santa's visit. Last year, Jonah didn't want anything to do with the Santa at daycare, and it is our understanding that this year, he sat on his lap for this photo, took the candy cane from him, and would then have nothing more to do with him. Wouldn't talk to him. Nothing. Poor kiddo. At least he mustered a half-hearted smile.

Jonah with Santa at day care, 2012.

I wonder what next year will bring. I doubt Jude will be sleeping through the experience at that time. Will he be afraid of Santa? Will Jonah conquer his fear? What will be on their Christmas lists next year?

Christmas Trees!

Rolling the cone in the toppings.

Continuing the arts and crafts theme, Jonah and I had a good time at the end of November making Christmas trees out of sugar cones, white chocolate, and a variety of decorative toppings, including miniature M&Ms, coconut, and sprinkles. I'd seen the idea on Pinterest or on one of the blogs that I follow and thought it was a good seasonal activity for his current skills and abilities.

In an attempt to rein in the messiness, I plated the various toppings and let Jonah roll the ice cream cones in them, as the white chocolate itself was relatively hot and I wasn't sure he was able to handle spooning it on the cones. He enjoyed rolling the cones for a while, but the sugary foods soon won out (and stuck to his hand as he touched the white chocolate). It quickly became an opportunity to eat as much sugary stuff as possible, which is fine for a "special treat."

At first, Jonah tried to be sneaky about eating the toppings. Which is pretty hilarious. There is nothing "sneaky" about a 2.5 year old. (He currently likes to "hide" right in plain sight of us.) But I pretended to ignore it for a while. Eventually, he didn't try to hide it and his face and hands became increasingly covered with the sweets. The nonpareils were especially bad for sticking to his hand and he resorted to shoving his entire hand in his mouth to eat them. What a mess he was by the end, and what a great time we had!

I'm not eating this coconut, Mommy!

I put our trees on a small table near the front entry, amidst some stuffing arranged to look like snow. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of this (or I can't find them right now), but it was nice to walk by the trees every day and be reminded of our fun time together. I think this is a project I'll keep on the list to do again in the years to come!

Oh, you caught me, didn't you?

Open mouth, insert hands.

Look at that messy face!

Our finished "forest."

Drag-doe (Tractor)

Jonah continues to be fascinated by anything with wheels. The first words out of his mouth most mornings seems to be "choo choo!" While we were in Ohio for Christmas, though, his interest in tractors grew.

From the first night we arrived, he would point to Grandpa Gregg's tractor Christmas ornaments and say "drag-doe!" It became a common occurrence throughout the visit. Sometimes it seemed Jonah was even seeing imaginary drag-does.

His interest certainly grew when he got his very first tractor ride with Grandpa on Christmas Eve. Despite the cold, it was warm enough to get out on Grandpa's 1942 Farmall B-N. Of course, the paparazzi (AKA Mommy and Daddy), were there in full force.

Jonah enjoying a tractor ride with Grandpa

Jonah seemed to have a really good time and even did a little steering.

"Hold on tight, Grandpa! When this thing hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious stuff!"

Steering! (sort of...)

Michelle got some great video of the experience, too, capturing Jonah trying to steer, sticking out his tongue, and waving. Unfortunately, I got in the way a couple times.



Later in the visit, Jonah got to ride with Grandpa on his Cub Cadet (maybe a 1974ish model for those keeping track) and his skid loader (Gehl).

On the Cub Cadet with Grandpa

On the loader

He even got to ride on the B-N with me for a bit, though we didn't get any pictures of that. That is probably a good thing, though, because I forgot that there isn't a gas pedal on the tractor... there are two brake pedals, one for the left and one for the right. I couldn't figure out why the tractor didn't want to go when I pushed the gas! :)

Jonah didn't get any more rides on the tractors after that, but he did get to sit on one more before we left. He also spent plenty of time looking at the tractor ornaments inside when he wasn't able to see the real thing outside.

All smiles to be on a tractor!

More pictures and videos from the tractor rides and the rest of our trip to Ohio for Christmas are available on our family photo site (Note: the videos are on the last page rather than being mixed in for some reason).

Merry Christmas!

May your holidays be bright and merry. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2012!

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