daddy? work.

These are words Natasha has learned to say. Mommy has been off this past week as school is closed for the holidays. Daddy on the other hand, has been at work. He even had to go on a vacation day because one of his staff members had a family emergency. While Daddy has been at work, Natasha has been asking Mommy where he is. Mommy told Natasha that Daddy was at work. So now, she goes around the house asking “Daddy?” and responding to herself, “Work”. Cute stuff.

can i take your order please?

One of the things my parents bought for Natasha was a small, wooden table and chairs set. It is currently set up in our living room right beside the new kitchen. Natasha likes to set the table and cook food on the stove. She also is pretty demanding that we have a seat and let her serve us.

She will point to the chair and say “sit”. If that doesn’t work she will pull our arm, point to the chair, and say “sit”. If that still doesn’t work, she will pick up the chair, carry it over to one of us, point to it, and say “sit”. You get the idea. Once you are seated at the table, she will hand out silverware, put food on the plates, and pour tea. There have already been days when I get home from work and she serves me food before we actually eat dinner. It’s very cute and quite fun. I will remember this stuff forever.

simply having a wonderful Christmas time

I knew Natasha would have a lot of fun on Christmas morning, but I didn’t realize how much fun I would have watching her. At first however, she didn’t even notice the large, odd-shaped bulk covered in wrapping paper across the room. She opened a small package that contained plastic food that Velcros together so that it can be “cut” apart. She was so excited with it that she ignored everything else for about 10 minutes.

Eventually, we were able to get her to open other gifts (plastic spoons, forks, knives, cups, plates, utensils and more fake food). Then she finally did notice the large, odd-shaped bulk covered in wrapping paper. It was a toy kitchen (apparently Santa went with a theme this year). It was out of the box and already assembled (Santa must have been at work late into the night at our house). It even had all of the batteries installed (Santa’s helpers should be thanked for having batteries handy...I think Santa forgot to bring enough).

Our families came over for brunch and not only did she open her gifts, but she passed out all of the gifts to everyone else. Later at GG’s, Natasha got some more toys. She was also enjoying helping everyone else open their gifts. She did this again at Nanny’s house. She opened every one of Pop’s gifts for him.

It was pretty magical watching her have so much fun giving. It was also fun watcher her opening stuff. She wasn’t greedy about it, but unlike her birthday, she opened her presents and seemed to understand that they were presents.

sparkle season

I say sparkle, not because I am trying to be PC but because I seriously see a sparkle in Natasha’s eyes when she’s looking at snow globes, or a Christmas tree, or our new lighted lawn deer. This is going to be the Best. Christmas. Ever.

She may only be 18-months-old and still not talking much, but Christmas is going to be so much fun. I am so excited about her opening her new toy kitchen on Christmas morning. She plays make-believe a lot already and I know she’s going to love the kitchen.

I’m also excited that Beth’s Uncle Ken has gotten some more work done around the house. Last night he stopped over to put up the mantle shelf above the fireplace that he made. Beth and I are so happy to have one again so we can put out our Nativity display. Our house even feels more “homey” with it.

Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year. How could it not be? I had my favorite decorations that my mom would put out around the house. I loved winding up the music boxes and plugging in the lights. I hope that the Christmas season is just as magical for her and sparkles as brightly as ever.