Christmas Open House

Like most small towns, we had our annual Christmas Open House today and it will continue tomorrow. I've been talking to Katie about Santa Claus all week and got her all excited about meeting Santa Claus. Now, if I ask her what she wants Santa to bring her, she'll say toys. If I ask her what kind of toys, she'll say Dorothy, Scarecrow and Witch, which happens to be characters from the movie "The Wizard of Oz." I have no idea how this popped into her head because she hasn't watched "The Wizard of Oz" in months. This morning, I told her today was the day she would get to see Santa Claus and tell him what she would want for Christmas. I had an idea she wouldn't touch him much less talk to him, so I didn't bother taking the camera. She was so excited! She wanted to go see Santa right then. She told me, "Come on Mommy, I wanna see Santa Claus." Well, we got to where Santa was located and Katie would only look at him. He tried talking with her to get warmed up and she would give him nothing. He even tried to give her a sucker, which is a good warm up step with her. Nope, not this time! I didn't force Santa on her, so I put her back in the stroller and away we went. Katie got her first cup of cool Apple Cider. Normally, I get the hot Apple Cider and I never really get to taste it because it always burns my taste buds. In one shop, "You're Invited" had cool Apple Cider. All they did was put an ice cube in the cup to cool it off. I have to say, I like Apple Cider a lot better cool. I don't know if Katie was just really thirsty because I forgot to bring her milk sippy cup or she likes Apple Cider as well. She nearly drank a whole cup. I was so glad she got to see the horse drawn carriages. We were headed back to the car when I saw the horses coming from a distance. One of the carriages happen to have been the Cinderella type carriage. I pushed the stroller over to the side of the sidewalk and waited for them to get closer. As soon as I knew Katie could see them, I pointed out Cinderella's carriage and horses. Her little eyes lit up, she pointed and nearly came out of the stroller with excitement about Cinderella's horses. I tried to get her to say carriage, but I can't remember what word she came up with. After being in a few of the shops, I have to say I'm beginning to fall in love with Middleton dolls. I'm tempted to get one for Katie for Christmas. I love the "Reagan" doll with dark hair, brown eyes & her hair is up in pig tails. She is so cute! Katie likes the smaller Middleton dolls. I guess because she can handle them better. I think they are precious! Luckily, I did get some more Christmas shopping done.

I have to tell this cute Katie story. The other day while we were at Wal-Mart, we were looking through the Christmas stuff. She saw up on a shelf, Santa, Snowman & a Reindeer yard decorations. I asked her what she saw and she answered everyone correctly. The shelf beneath the Santa was a Nativity Scene Airblown yard decoration. I asked her what else she saw. She looked confused and pointed to the Nativity. She asked me, "Whose that Mommy?" I told her it was Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. Well, she knows about Baby Jesus so her eyes lit up and said "baby Jesus." That's all it took and then she began pointing out baby Jesus in all the Nativity scenes in the Christmas section of the store. Later that night after Supper, she saw our Pilgrim figurines and announced to Doug and myself that it was Mary and Joseph. I had forgotten about what happened earlier that day, so she shocked me. I began giggling and laughing while Doug was very confused and asked me what was going on. I tried to explain it to him when she saw the Indians as well and said they were Mary and Joseph. I asked her where Baby Jesus was? She just looked at me confused. She decided to skip the question and confirm that the Pilgrims and Indians were Mary and Joseph. It's amazing the little things she remembers.

Alright, we're not doing all that great with the potty training and I know she is still young. In fact, I think Katie is a little confused about the whole thing. She does tell me every once in a while, she needs to go to the potty. This is a step in the right direction and a lot better then what she's done in the past. The problem area is she does her job in her pull up/diaper and then tells me she has to go to the potty. When I set her up on the potty, nothing happens. I still praise her for telling me and sitting up on the potty like a big girl. I've told my sisters what's going on and how Katie would wear a dirty diaper as long as I'll let her. She hates having her diaper changed. In fact, it's a battle every time. June suggested I put real cloth training pants on her. June didn't know if they still made cloth training pants and I certainly didn't know. I've checked out Wal-Mart and didn't notice anything similar. Yesterday, I found them at Target! Whoo Hoo! They had both the vinyl and cloth sets. We're going to try the cloth for right now and see if we might make some headway on the potty training.

A while back, June and Peggy made it clear to me, Katie needed to learn how to drink from a cup. Of course, this suggestion was made because they didn't have a sippy cup at that particular moment. June and Peggy, I want you to know that we are making progress. She still wants to put her tongue inside the cup to drink at times, but in most cases she is doing great. Hopefully by the Christmas, she'll be a little pro at drinking out of a cup. Tehe!

Liz - I think we have another "Nutcracker" lover in the family. I've been introducing to Katie all the character of the holiday. She loves the Nutcracker. Books-A-Million had a sale these past few weeks on most of their Christmas books, including "The Nutcracker." I purchased the one from the author, Jeffers. I chose it because it was beautifully illustrated and it wasn't the full version of the tale. I am confused and need your expertise in the story. The book that Kaitlyn has shows "Marie" is the little girl that eventually falls in love with the nutcracker. I found another Nutcracker book by a different author and it was "Clara" as the little girl. Which is it, Marie or Clara? Katie loves her Nutcracker book. We have to read it over and over. While I'm reading the story, she has to point out whom everyone is in the pictures. She has been begging for a nutcracker of her own. The other day at Target, she about drove me crazy. "Please Mommy, please. I wanna Nutcracker." Honestly, I would love for her to have a Nutcracker of her own, but there are none available that seem durable for her. Target did have to full miniature set for $12 (Mouse King, Marie/Clara, Sugar Plum Fairy, Herr Drosselmeir, & Nutcracker). I did cave and let her have a Nutcracker Christmas Ornament to put on her tree. She held it all the way back home that night. I was able to slip it away from her before she went to bed and I've got it stashed away for Christmas. Today, I found the full "Nutcracker" version musical CD. I played a few of the songs while I was driving around town. I didn't get to my favorite, Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy before getting home. I think Katie will like it because she has grown to like Classical music from watching Little Einsteins every day. She'll even go around the house, while they are on, and hum pieces of the music. When I turn on Classical music, she'll pipe in and say that it's the Little Einsteins. In fact, she recognizes pieces of music with specific scenes from the Little Einsteins. It's amazing!