Christmas...round one!

Our busy week started on Sunday when we went on our annual trip to the Pleasant Valley Tree Farm. It was a nice, wet day to go chop down our tree for the house. I was excited to see the Live Nativity (especially the animals), Santa and Mrs. Claus, and the John Deere tractor that brought us to the field of trees. Grandma Lois met us out there so she could cut down her tree too. It was a success as we returned home with our Balsam and a wreath.

I told Santa I wanted real fish and a fishtank for Christmas this year. He thought that would be a good possibility. Santa can do anything, so he better not let me down!

I thought Mrs. Claus looked like a sweet Grandma, so I wanted to sit on her lap too. Santa gave me permission to do so.

I told Mrs. Claus that she was one lucky person to live with a guy that can fly around the world in a sleigh, can make any toy in the world, and bring yummy cookies home! Mommy wished she knew someone like that.

I liked the sheep the most and made "baa" sounds at them. Mommy was a little worried that I was going to get kicked by the goats, so the sheep is mostly where I hung out.

After we cut our tree down, they let me sit in this old sleigh. Anything for a family photo op, right!?!?!?

I was most excited about the tractor that pulled us out to the woods. I sat on the wagon and said, "John" and "tractor" at least 25 times on the ride. I would have loved to sit on the guy's lap that was driving, but my parents said, "No!"

When we finally were dropped off, we headed to the Balsam lot to cut down a 8 foot tree. Mommy and Daddy have a tradition to argue over the best one out there. Daddy likes trees with gaping holes in them, and Mommy usually picks out 10+ feet trees that are super fat. Luckily, after 30 minutes of analyzing each tree on the lot, they found "the one!"

To keep me happy, Daddy played a game where he would run me into tree branches and let the branches tickle my cheeks. I thought this was a hilarious game. Mommy is thankful that I didn't get any major cuts.

By the end of our tree search, I was soaking wet from the many wipeouts that I took (thanks to the uneven ground and my clunky boots). If you noticed in the above pictures with Santa, my pants are dirty and wet=yucky!

We seriously are going to cut a tree down and put it in our house? Sounds fun to me! We headed home and I took a nap while Mommy and Daddy trimmed the tree. When I woke up, the tree was lit and decorated. The new challenge will be to keep me from pulling off all of those fun ornaments!

Since I turned 18 months, it was time for my big check-up and ouchies. I have a new pediatrician because we are on Daddy's insurance plan. My doctor, Dr. Forster, is a nice, young doctor who was highly recommended. He first talked to Mommy and Daddy and they filled out a rating scale. I am considered "very advanced" with my verbal skills and motor skills. The only areas that I didn't get a "yes" in was using a fork and spoon without spilling and making a mess (I am still working on this) and drinking from a cup without spilling (I can drink from a cup, but I still spill). So, I am doing great...not bad for a preemie!

Dr. Forster checked everything out and I look healthy. Mommy and Daddy told him they are afraid I am going to have buck teeth because I still have my pacifier at night. He said I could have it for 6 more months if needed (Mommy and Daddy are hoping I didn't hear that). They are planning on taking it away after Christmas. They also talked about my picky eating habits, but I am doing better and Dr. Forster isn't concerned about this and said it is quite typical.

I really like my new doctor. I didn't like the 5 vaccinations they gave me (in three syringes...ouch!) I do not need any shots until Kindergarten (besides my flu shots each year). After the doctor's appt., I went home and took a nice 3 1/2 hour nap (thanks Ibuprofen!)

Here are my 18 month stats:

Length: 31.8 inches= 35% for my age group (not as short as Mommy thought I would be)

Weight: 22 1/2 pounds=9% for my age group (slim, but healthy)

Head: 18.4 inches= 23% (thanks helmet!)

I don't need another check-up until I turn 2 years old, so let's hope for a healthy winter season!!!

Saturday started our Christmas partying. We went to the cities to Great-Grandpa Jim's house. It is always fun to see the many cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Great-Grandpa has Alzheimer's disease (late stages) but he seems happy and looks good too.

The first round of Chrismas gifts at Great-Grandpa's house included Christmas money for our family (we booked our flight to Captiva this April with it), I received matchbox cars from Rieder, who is Mommy's godson, and Great-Grandpa loves sparkly things, so he gave everyone a Swarovski ornament (Mommy received the dated big star, Daddy received the Christmas tree, and I got the shooting star). For the past 4 years or so, everyone has received these ornaments, so now our tree is quite sparkly and lovely. Great-auntie Lynda renewed our family MN Zoo membership as a gift to us too... I am SUPER excited about this one!

Every year, it is a tradition for someone in the family to make a fool of themselves. This lucky person dresses as a Christmas symbol (reindeer, Santa, elf, angel, etc...) Great-uncle Jerry was the lucky duck who was chosen this year. He was an "interesting elf" and was really good at teasing us little kids. I just couldn't wait for his little "jingle" that he sang to be over so that I could get my hands on the candy canes he was supposed to hand out. Finally, the little treat I was waiting for came my way.

I was loving my Spree flavored candy cane until Mommy became paranoid about choking, so she took the delicious thing away from me and that caused me to have a little tantrum. I didn't win and didn't see the candy cane again... sniff, sniff.

On Sunday, we went to Papa's for our second Christmas party. Papa and Grandma Sharon will be in Indiana (where Grandma Sharon is from) over Christmas, so we decided to celebrate early. Papa is a BIG kid and he LOVES toys. Within 5 minutes, he was too excited to let me just walk around and destroy his townhouse (not a kid-friendly home), so he started to let me open some gifts. He had to convince me that it was OK to pull out tissue paper from the bags (Mommy always says, "No, No" when I do this at home, so now I am seriously confused).

The first few gifts I opened from Papa were fun ones. I opened a Santa Mr. Potato Head (this guy is super hilarious), Farm Legos, a Spider Man Fishing Pole that lights up (Daddy loves this gift), a Thomas the Train set and extra locomotives (Mommy and Daddy said it was to go on something they bought me for Christmas), and a BIG gift...see below!

I am now getting the hang of tearing open paper. It sure is fun to see what is inside of these colorful boxes! I couldn't believe my eyes when Grandma Sharon came riding out with a John Deere tractor! Little did I know, this was my gift from Papa and Grandma Sharon! I was amazed by this tractor and better yet, it is just the right size for me (well, my legs are a bit short yet). The tractor is battery operated, with two speeds and reverse! Cousin Sam couldn't believe the tractor either and he was excited to try it out too!

I know this picture doesn't show my enthusiasm, but I was so shocked, that I was mostly quiet during the entire John Deere introduction! Now that the John Deere is parked safely in the garage, I become so excited to go outside that I practically shake when Mommy gets me dressed for outside time!

This was the end of the night and Papa and Sharon finally opened the gifts from us. Notice the little guy STANDING on the tractor while his Daddy is laughing (and his Mommy was not aware of it because she was taking pictures of the gift opening!) We gave Papa and Sharon a food processor (boring), a webcam so when they are in Florida, we can Skype each other so they can see how big I am, his/her golf balls and tees, a recordable "Twas the Night Before Christmas" that they will read aloud, record and give back to me (Papa always read this book to Mommy, auntie Stefanie, and uncle Jimmy, so she thought Papa should record his voice so that I can hear him read this classic story), and finally, we gave them a digital photo calendar of all three of us grandkids. They were very excited about all of the gifts... but not as excited as I was!

We have more Christmas celebrations to come... here starts the crazy Christmas season!