Candy Cane

 Somehow Richie got his hands on a candy cane.  He was enjoying it so much I didn’t have the heart to take it away from him.

  His stocking did have some treats.  Animal crackers, gingerbread crackers and a teeny chocolate Santa.  This was way better.

  He’s clearly a second child.  I don’t think Anthony discovered any candy before his second birthday.

Christmas Brunch at the Fairmont

 I wanted Christmas to be special, but I really didn’t want to cook.  We went out to Christmas brunch at the Fairmont instead.  It was really nice.  The food was excellent, the desserts were amazing.  Anthony decorated a cookie, as you can see!

  Anthony got a balloon flower and Richard got his face painted.  I asked for “something fast and easy”.  He rocked his little Chrismas tree.

  Afterwards we walked around Christmas in the park in San Jose.  It was a perfect afternoon!

Merry Christmas!

  Santa, Grandparents and Cousins were all very generous to my boys this year.

  Highlights (so far) include Anthony’s Rainbow Loom and Anna doll (from Frozen).  He also really digs his Fort Magic kit.  I think he’ll really enjoy his puppet theater once I get it set up for him.

  Richard’s favorite toys so far are his Plan Toys hammer ball set, his stacking cups and his crawl through tunnel.  Its funny, my boys are five years apart, but Anthony still grabs the baby’s toys to play with himself.

Santa Pictures

 We visited Santa at the mall Thanksgiving weekend.  Anthony was excited to see him, but quite unsure what to ask for.  (That was rectified a few weeks later when he decided on a Rainbow Loom.)  Now, he's very insistent that he wants a Rainbow Loom.  He isn't greedy, though.  He doesn't really ask for anything else.

  Richie evidently just wants socks for Christmas.  (He does own socks and shoes, he generally chooses not to wear them.)

  I love this picture of Richie with Santa.  I've spent a ridiculous amount of time staring at it.

  Anthony has figured out that not ALL the Santas we see are the real Santa.  He didn't have an opinion on this guy, whose beard was clearly real.  He will point out (afterwards) that the clearly fake Santas are indeed fake.  On a related note, he realized that the Ariel who flirted with him at Disneyland was NOT the real Ariel, but rather a woman in a dress.  He had a pretty hard-core crush on her for a long time after that.  I'm really thankful we made that trip while he was still a true believer.

Donahue’s Christmas Party

   Tuesday night was the Donahue’s annual Christmas party.  We’ve been going every year since Anthony and Robert were tiny tikes.  We started off with potluck dinner, then Christmas songs, then a visit by the fat man himself.

  Sarah was surpised/impressed that my boys had matching shirts.  We’ve been friends for six years now, I thought she knew me better than that!  What else would they be wearing???

  Richie was more enamored of the fat man than ever.  When his turn was over, I held out my arms for Richie to come to me.  He completely ignored me because he wasn’t done visiting with that strange guy.

Stylin ‘Do

 Maria at daycare always does the girls’ hair every morning.  Richie was fascinated by the process and always wanted to interfere.  I had a good laugh when he came home with a mohawk.

Kathleen’s Christmas Party

 Saturday was a long awaited day—the Christmas party at daycare.  It is the social event of the year, in addition to her current kids, Kathleen always invites the alumni.  Anthony had a great time playing with his pals.  I barely saw him all evening!

  I loved seeing Richie playing with Nico.  Nico is 2 1/2 and adores Richie.  Nico lent Richie a matchbox car and they crawled around on the floor playing cars together, it was so sweet!  Nico’s mom is pregnant with a girl; Nico was very disappointed to learn that he wasn’t going to have a Richie of his own.

A certain special guest arrived after the singing.  Anthony was a VERY enthusiastic singer, I think he may have been louder than all the others put together.  He was also a very good big brother.  When the singing started I put Richie on his lap and he took care of R until the special guest left.  Everyone commented on what a good big brother he is.

Santa was very good to both boys.  Anthony (and the other bigger boys) received these Planes airplane launchers.  Anthony has barely put his down.  Richie scored TWO presents—the traditional “baby’s first Christmas” ornament that Kathleen gives to all the little ones AND the toddler toy—a shape sorter/crock pot.  Richie hasn’t figured out the shape sorting part, but he certainly enjoys putting things in the pot, take them out of the pot...

School Christmas Program

   Today was Anthony’s Holiday program at school.  Its funny, it was so much lower key than the programs at preschool.  (I think I’d expected the opposite.)  The program was led by Teacher Anton, their music teacher through CSMA.  They sang five songs, but I only recorded one.  All of the kids did a good job singing and I was very pleased with how focused Anthony was.

  After the concert was the holiday party.  As usual, Anthony rejected hot chocolate, but he did enjoy eating the marshmallows off the top and the spoon, which was a peppermint stick.  (He really likes the idea of hot chocolate, just always rejects the real thing.  He feels the same way about soda and bubble gum.)

Cool Mirrors!

 Richie has finally figured out mirrors.  I'm pretty sure he understand that he's looking at himself, rather than some other friendly baby.  (The babies in the mirror always smile back!)

Lately we've been showing him all sorts of neat mirror tricks.  First was the Exploratorium the day after Thanksgiving.  Their parabolic mirror was pretty darn amazing.  Richie just kept reaching out to try and touch his reflection.  (Anthony loved the museum, too.  His favorite part was the shadow room.)

  This kaleidescope picture was taken in line for Santa.  Richie was fascinated.

Playing “Family"

 Anthony spent the morning playing “family” with Richie.  Here he’s letting Richie help him cook breakfast.  Anthony is actually very good at entertaining his brother, I’m quite thankful!

11 Months Old!

 Richie is 11 months old!

  He has a few exciting new tricks.  He claps.  He claps a lot!  He’s realized that when he claps that others do it too.  Bubb School has assemblies on Monday morning, families invited.  They recognize the classes with perfect attendance, the classes with highest participation in “spirit wear”, etc.  Richie will happily clap along.

  He also waves.  We saw the Los Altos Parade of Lights tonight and he happily waved at everyone.

  He still isn’t standing independently for more than a few seconds, but he’s working on it.

  He has FIVE teeth now!

  Unfortunately, he appears to think that napping is optional on weekends.  He’s sleeping better now, I think he’s made it through the night five times!

Boomer comes to visit

 Anthony is special student at school next week.  As part of being special student he gets to host “Boomer” at our house.  We felt that “Eight Silly Monkeys” was perfect reading material for Boomer.