The Kids Visit Santa

Katy visited Santa at Bass Pro Shop again this year.  As expected, she was very timid at first.  Thank goodness Santa was patient with her, despite the long line of children waiting to sit on his lap on the day before Christmas.  Of course, he had been equally patient with the lady who visited Santa before us...with her cat.  After much coaxing, Katy told Santa what she wanted: the doll on which you put make-up.  Santa looked up at me sarcastically and asked in a low voice, "Really?  Do they sell that?"  I appreciated Santa verifying with me that he was about to promise something that actually exists.

As we were leaving, Santa grabbed my arm and said, "one more picture."  He then directed me to sit on his knee and put my legs across his other knee.  I was a bit embarrassed at first, me being a grown woman sitting on this old man's lap.  But I understood Santa's motive as he placed his hand on my belly.  He seemed quite proud to give me my baby's first picture with Santa.

 

Katy's New Room

Katy had a lovely room in our old house but not so much in the new house.  Her room was brown, brown, brown.   So, when I received a little of my teaching money, I spent some of it on transforming Katy's room into a little girl's room.  Katy could barely wait to make her room pink as packages began to arrive in the mail, and she is now quite happy with the end result.

Christmas 2018

Christmas was quiet this year.  We stayed in the Valley, and no one came to visit us.  We were just three, the babies still growing away inside my belly.  Next year, when the children out-number the parents, I suspect quiet is a word that will be missing from our description of Christmas.

Christmas was exciting this year.  For the first time. Katy understood all things Christmas.  She asked for the same gift for six weeks straight (la muñeca en que puedes poner make-up), she wrote a letter to santa, and she persistently asked to decorate Christmas cookies.  She loved counting down to Christmas day using the Advent calendar Gigi made for us.  On Christmas eve, she had so many technical questions about Santa that it took her an hour to fall asleep (How will he know which stocking is mine?  Where will he go after our house?  How far away is he?).

Christmas was slow this year.  We started opening gifts before 9 a.m. and didn't finish until 2 p.m.  We didn't have five hours worth of gifts.  We stopped for breakfast.  We stopped for phone calls from loved ones.  We stopped when Katy was absorbed in a new toy.  We took our time, we lazed about, and we enjoyed the day.

Christmas was spent at home this year.  The day after Christmas, we ate lunch with our former McAllen neighbors.  Upon seeing our former home across the street, we weren't struck with feelings of longing or loss.  Instead, we felt grateful for what we now have instead.  This confirmed our feeling that we are finally feeling settled into the new house and feeling at home.

Katy was excited to decorate the Christmas tree.

One of several Christmas crafts. 

Cookie-decorating event at Chick-Fil-A

Finally decorating Christmas cookies at home. 

Mom enjoyed cookie decorating too!

Merry Christmas!

Decorating cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. 

Cookies and Egg Nog for Santa.  Katy in her new Christmas pajamas.

Santa came through.  The make-up doll. 

Stopping to play with the new toys while others wait under the tree. 

So cute!

Letter to my Three-Year-Old

Dear Katy,

You are three-years-old for only a few more weeks.  I'm know I won't remember all the little quirks that make this age fun, so here's my effort to capture who you are at three-years-old.

• You learned English this year and despite how well you speak it now, you still have an accent.  You sound almost Russian when you say Daddy (Dah-Dee).  You still occasionally use Spanish grammar when speaking English.  Sometimes I can tell you are stopping mid-sentence because you don't know the English word for what you want to say.  
• You are learning about jokes.  Your one joke, "What's brown and sticky?" is usually delivered without any pause for the punchline.  One time, however, while visiting all of my family for Thanksgiving in Denver, you walked up to everyone at the table, said "You want to hear a joke?", and delivered it perfectly.  You made everyone laugh, and you loved it.
• This year you started saying, "Shake it like a booty snake" a lot.  We have no idea where you learned this or what it means, but you usually shake your torso as you say it. 
• You like to sing songs that you make up, usually when we are in the car, and you get mad if anyone tries to sing with you.  You accuse us of "robando mi canción."  If you and I make up a song together, however, you love for us to sing it together and ask me to make-up new verses forever. 
• You hate to brush your hair, wash your hair, or do anything to make your hair look presentable. 
• You have a small bell in the bathroom that you ring after you wash your hands or brush your teeth.  The last time we traveled, you packed the bell because you needed it to brush your teeth.
• You say "hurra" (hooray in Spanish) when you are excited about something. You learned this from watching Peppa Pig in Spanish.  Peppa Pig has been a favorite lately, displacing Daniel Tiger.
• You get scared in movies very easily.  I tried showing you Frozen but you asked me to turn it off.  I thought G-rated Lady and the Tramp would be ok, but I was wrong.  
• You love packing random objects in boxes, bags, or any other container you can find.  When we leave the house, you usually pack one or two or three bags of stuff you need to bring. You love packing a suitcase for a trip, and then unpacking it when we arrive at our location.  I've actually used unpacking your suitcase as a way to keep you occupied when I was tired from a day of traveling. 
• You like for someone to lay with you at night as you fall asleep to "placticar" with you.  You like talking about so many different things - the pipes in the house, guardian angels, what we'll do the next day.
• Anytime we are going to do something "mañana", you ask, "hoy?"  When I repeat mañana, you ask, "cuando es mañana?"  Every. Single. Time. 
• You continue to be a very messy eater.  Food on the floor, on your clothes, in your hair.  
• Your favorite store is Target.  I think that's my doing.  Your favorite restaurant was Chick-Fil-A until we bought you your first Happy Meal at McDonalds.  Happy Meals are king now. Your favorite number is 8.  Your favorite color continues to be black.  Your favorite song is Barquito Chiquitito.  
• You learned to write your name this year, as well as Mom and Papi.  
• You like to color with colored pencils and cut different texture papers and plastics with scissors. 
• You learned to pedal your tricycle. You did really well on your balance bike until it broke about a month ago. You said you broke it because you were going "so fast."
• You like giving different kinds of hugs - little hugs, big hugs, wiggle hugs, squishy hugs, strong hugs.  If Papi or I give you more goodnight kisses than you wanted, you tell us you are "quitándolos" as you wipe them away.  I told you that you cannot wipe away my kisses because they travel straight to your heart and stay there forever.  
• More often than not, you put your shoes on the wrong feet.  We're starting to think it's not accidental. 
• You love looking at yourself in the mirror, especially after putting on your ballet uniform.  You stand, stare, smile, and comment on how pretty you are. 
• You can count to 25.
• You color well and insensitively state that friends and cousins your age "solo hacen scribbles."
• You still love to read.
• You started playing with your stuffed animals a lot over the last few months and although you don't have a favorite, you rotate through them regularly. 
• Sometimes I speak very firmly to you when you keep getting out of bed to avoid going to sleep or when you are trying to avoid something I've asked you to do.  When this happens, you try to distract me by saying, "Es que solo quiere un beso, mami."
• You have very specific ideas about how things are to be done and any deviation may trigger lots of sad sobs.
• Sometimes you tell me you are a big girl and other times, when you want me to do something for you, you remind me you are only "un poco grande."

Soon you will be four and around the same time you will become a big sister.  Your life is going to change in so many ways that you do not understand, although you very sweetly talk about how much you are going to help me with the babies.  Know that I have very much enjoyed our time together, just the two of us.  Three plus years of one-on-one time is something the twins and I will never have, so know that you had something very special, even if you can't remember it. 

Love,

Mom