Christmas 2010

We stayed home for Christmas this year. It was hard not being with our families, but it was nice to be home for the holiday. We will make up for it when see all of the grandparents in Colorado next month.

Christmas this year was so much fun! Elliot was very excited about Santa and the prospect of new toys. On Christmas Eve Elliot, Beatrice and I (Mommy) when to the children's service at the church where Elliot goes to pre-school. It was a very nice service and both kids were VERY well behaved. Unfortunately, Elliot didn't like the music. He told me it was very sad, perhaps he would have liked more Joy to the World and less Silent Night. He was also disappointed that there was no cake. It was, after all, Jesus' birthday.

After church we had spaghetti for dinner. While Elliot was eating his dessert, I heard a thump in the fire place.

Me: (very serious) What was that? I think I heard something.
Elliot: (also very serious) Where?
Me: (trying not to laugh) In the fireplace.
Daddy: (also trying not to laugh) We should go look.
Elliot: (Screaming and running from the kitchen) SANTA'S HERE! SANTA'S HERE!

We found two packages in the fire place marked, "To: Elliot and Beatrice, From: Santa's Elves." The elves had delivered Christmas PJs. After baths and three Christmas books (Olive the Other Reindeer, Merry Christmas Curious George, & The Night Before Christmas), Elliot and Beatrice went to bed. I thought Elliot might be up all night, but he went right to bed when I told him Santa wouldn't come until he was asleep.

Everyone was up and ready to open presents by 7:30 AM. Elliot told me that he "heard Santa and the penguins." I am not sure when penguins became a part of the Santa mythology. Mariana was a trooper and joined us at 7:45 AM to open presents. Elliot loved passing out the presents and loved opening presents even more. He got more toys than he could possibly need, including a monster truck - per his letter to Santa.

At 2:30 PM Frank and three Brazilian girls visiting Mariana joined us for dinner. Brian made a feast of short ribs, gravy, risotto, french bread, and salad (made by me). By 5:30 PM we were all stuffed!

Of course I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, and it was very hard to get Elliot to stand still for more than a second.

Elliot showed Beatrice how to use her new little kitchen

Mariana helping assemble the Legos

Day after Christmas, Beatrice with two of her new toys

Scooter

She doesn't go great distances, but Beatrice has figured how to scoot. Her technique is sort of a modified commando crawl. She still prefers rolling from point A to B, but she'll use the scoot if she wants something in front of her, especially if that something is the remote control.

A Visit With Santa

I took Elliot to the Mall this morning to visit Santa. I wasn't sure what to expect since this was his first trip to see Santa, and he can be quite shy around strangers. Well as the picture proves, he was not shy about meeting St. Nick. Elliot told him that he wanted Legos and a train for Christmas, and that Santa should not go down the chimney because it is dangerous. I think we'll wait until next year for Beatrice to meet Santa. Mommy saw too many traumatized babies in line today.

A White House Christmas

Yesterday Elliot, Beatrice, Mariana, and I (Mommy) got a very special treat. A friend of Daddy's got us on "the list" for a White House Christmas tour! I took a half day and we all headed to DC to see the White House decked out for the holidays. Elliot and Beatrice were very well behaved and both seemed to like looking at all of the trees, lights, and decorations.

The tour leads visitors through a small part of the white house that is TOTALLY decorated for Christmas. Elliot's favorite part of the tour was the miniature version of the White House that is made out of white chocolate.

You can see more of the White House Christmas decorations here.

Letter to Santa 2010

Elliot is pretty excited about Christmas this year. We have been counting down the days on the Advent calendar, decorating the house, and talking about baby Jesus and Santa. Today we wrote our first letter to Santa. He dictated I scribed:

Dear Santa,
My name is Batman Farnum and Elliot. And Dinosaur. I play with trains and stuff thats good. I love my sister. She is Beatrice. I would like a train for Christmas. I would like one with a smoke stack, coach, and a big whistle. Like the one Mariana gave me.

I really want a monster truck because they really do tricks. They have big tires. I want a blue one. Blue is my favorite color. I want a ball and a hitter for golf. Maybe a real one. I want a pretend kitchen and a drill too. I want a kitchen so I can fix the sink.

Beatrice wants a little race car. Maybe she wants blue. Maybe she wants a trimmer (Mommy could not figure out what this is) that goes up and down. Beatrice will like that. I also want little scissors to cut.

Thank you Santa. I want to go to the mall to ask you. Good-bye. Don't go down the chimney because it is very dangerous.

Love,
Elliot

Thankful

In thinking about our activities over the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I have been reminded of how much we have to be thankful for:


Family. While I ran the 1/2 Marathon in Richmond, Elliot and Beatrice stayed with their Mimsey and Gramps in Williamsburg. Elliot had a great time helping Gramps with various projects and playing with all of the new toys they have bought for the grand kids.

Our health. We all had a minor bout of stomach flu last week. It was fast moving and we recovered quickly. We are lucky that other than the little bugs we may pick up, that we are all very healthy.


Friends. We spent Thanksgiving with our good friends the Haugens. Elliot and Gus played very nicely together and I hope that they will be life long friends like Gus's Dad and Brian.

Home. We have been our home for almost a year now. As much as I love our house, its not the place that makes a home; its the love that surrounds us.


Mommy a few yards away from completing the Richmond 1/2 Marathon.

Beatrice is happy to be at Mimsey and Gramps' house.

Mimsey and Gramps with the kids at the Virginia Museum of Art

Elliot checking out the modern art.

A beautiful November fall day along the Sligo Creek trail.

Elliot and Gus at the kids' table on Thanksgiving

They really liked the sparkling juice.

Sharing the fire truck after filling their tummies.

Beatrice playing in Elsa's "exersaucer".

Babies and Au pairs (Mariana and Ricky). Elsa was not happy about having her picture taken.

More Halloween Pictures

Gus's Mom, Caitlin, sent over the following great batch of Halloween photos this morning. Aren't Gus and Elliot the cutest? They had so much fun together. I wish we had a picture of Elsa (Gus's little sister) and Beatrice, but Elsa slept through most of the festivities.

Budding Artist

Elliot's drawing ability has improved dramatically over the last couple of months and he has started drawing more than just scribbles and circles. His favorite subjects are monsters - blobs with lots of stick limbs, eyes, and a mouth. Today he presented me with his most detailed drawing to date.

Green Halloween

Halloween was so much fun this year! Elliot actually "got it" and had a blast trick-or-treating. He liked wearing his costume and proudly told everyone that he was a garbage truck (he was a recycling truck). Mommy let everyone know that Beatrice was a recycling bin. We went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and were joined by the Haugen family. Gus and Elliot are good buddies and they were pretty funny together. Gus's parents took lots of pictures and I'll post them as soon as I get them. The following are shots from our Halloween dress rehearsal.

Walk Like a Zombie

This weekend was filled with fall fun (between long stretches of work for poor Daddy). Last night we went out to diner in downtown Silver Spring on our way home from the Home Depot. When we left the restaurant we discovered that we were just in time for the annual Zombie Walk. A parade of people dressed up as Zombies that makes it's way through Silver Spring and ends at the AFI Movie Theater with a showing of Night of the Living Dead. Elliot was pretty excited about the Zombies and wasn't scared when the parade started. he was afraid of the wolf howls projecting from speakers but he told us that the Zombies would fight the wolves and he was brave because he is Batman. You can see a video of our zombie encounter here, http://picasaweb.google.com/amandafarnum/ZombiesOnParadeVideo?authkey=Gv1sRgCLGehsD1k4fU9wE&feat=directlink.
Beatrice just hung out in her stroller taking it all in.

Pictures to come...having technical difficulties at the time of this post.

Sitting Pretty

Last weekend Aunt Lindsay and cousin Natalie stopped by for a quick visit while passing through town. Even though Natalie wasn't feeling her best and was a little fussy, I got a couple of shots of the the babies showing off their new sitting skills. Beatrice still needs some help sitting but she is getting better at it everyday. Natalie can already get up into the crawl position a rock back and forth - watch out Aunt Lindsay and Uncle John!

Happy Half B-day Beatrice!

Today Beatrice is 6 months old! Where has the time gone? She is growing and changing everyday, Mariana swears she looks bigger after not seeing much of her over the weekends. Missy Moo, Pup, Bea, or BB (as she is frequently called) is a very happy girl. She smiles every time she sees her brother, Mommy, Daddy, or Mariana. Beatrice loves to laugh and finds Elliot, Mariana's singing, and Daddy's silly faces to be quite funny. She is getting stronger everyday and likes standing and sitting with help. She also loves to bounce in her rain forest bouncer (something that Elliot also enjoyed) and roll around on the floor. Beatrice is a great little sleeper and goes to bed every night with little to no fuss.

We've only been a family of four for 6 months, but it feels like Beatrice has always been a part of us. I know the next six months will bring even more changes and surprises as Beatrice gets bigger and becomes more engaged with the world around her. I can't wait to see what's ahead, but I also want time to slow down so that I can enjoy every second with my baby girl.

Half B-day Update: At her six month check up Beatrice was 75 percentile for height and 64 percentile for weight. She grew two inches (to 26") and gained two pounds (to 16.4) since her last visit.

Three!!!

We celebrated Elliot's third birthday on Saturday with a dinosaur themed party. His friends Conor, Gus and Aiden joined in the fun; as did Mimsey and Mariana. It was a great day. Elliot received lots of cool gifts including an incredibly realistic recycling truck from his godmother and a train table from Mommy and Daddy. I can't believe my baby boy is three.