Simon, Bennett, Robbins, Oppenheim & Taft

Look at my boy and his bling. On the way out the door to the booty mall, Andrew found this gold cross necklace and felt it added a little something special to his outfit. I put on his jacket over top thinking no one would ever see it, but as soon as we got inside he made sure to pull the chain out so everyone could admire his flyness. He's so much cooler than me. I wonder how much longer I have before he asks me to walk 6 feet behind him when we're out.

New topic: Big neighborhood news! We've been living next to a mesmerisingly craptaculous house for years. The people living there moved on several months ago and we've been waiting anxiously to see what would come of it. Saturday we had the thrill of watching a giant backhoe smash it to bits and haul it off!!!

Before:



During:


(Andrew watching the backhoe fill a giant dumpster)


After:

Merry Christmas to me!

Andrew was both fascinated and frightened by the backhoe. It hadn't occurred to me that it would scare him, so I grabbed him up and we watched it work for a while. I ended up needing to talk with him over and over again throughout the day about why that house was being torn down and, more importantly, why ours wasn't next. After they finished and I finally convinced him the house-eating machine wasn't coming back, he was OK.

New Topic: Elsbeth handled our Christmas travels amazingly well and gets 20,000 points for all of her fabulous car riding! She decided Nannie and Papa's house was far too exciting to sleep in, so we had one serious meltdown after 2 napless days, but other than that, she was happy as a lark. Andrew loved all of the festivities and has become quite the impressive present opener, ripping through all his packages with superhuman speed, then going back after the dust has settled to appreciate what he opened. I think the best moment was him sitting in the middle of his stocking innards, lovingly caressing a fancy milkshake straw from Nannie and saying, "This is wonderful!"

I think Elsbeth has started calling me, "Mama." !! :-) When she's not being held and I walk by, she'll look at me pitifully and wail, "Mamamamamama!" and reach up. This, as you can see, is why I hold her almost all the time. Occasionally she will also bat at the light switch and say, "Mamama," which makes me momentarily insecure, but I still think most of the time it means me.

AND (I know, the mind reels that there could be more) ... she's clapping.