Merry Christmas

Warning: Do Not Attempt

Lessons Learned: Do not attempt to do last minute Christmas present wrapping in the presence of a toddler (even gifts for adults that she couldn't be less interested in). She does not understand the concept of wrapping and will constantly try to tear the paper, stand on the paper, grab the roll of paper and run around the house with it, or rapidly unroll it until it is ripped, wrinkled and unusable. Next year, perhaps we should think about getting her some rolls of wrapping paper for Christmas. I never realized how entertaining it could be. She is more interested in this than my cat was.

The Joy of Christmas (Trees)

Marty's biggest regret about marrying me is that I am allergic to pine trees, thus we are unable to have a "real" Christmas tree in the house (he is a wonderful husband for sacrificing his life-long Rockwellian dream of having a real tree so that I enjoy the holidays hive-free. I love you, Marty!). However, whether its a real pine tree or an artificial one, any kind of Christmas tree is proving to be a source of endless entertainment for our one and a half year old and, in turn, for us.

First of all, decorating a Christmas tree with a toddler is an interesting process all in itself. Elise loved pulling the decorations out of their boxes, putting the decorations on the floor under the tree (she quickly gave up trying to put them on the tree), and pulling the decorations off the branches once Marty or I put them on. The whole process was hilarious. "I can see why it would be confusing, Ellie, but those are not the kind of balls you throw." She only broke two ornaments, which, considering the craziness that surrounded this activity, was pretty good. And really, it's for just this kind of reason that crazy clue was invented.

And the fun doesn't stop once the tree is up and decorated! (Although I am finding it less and less fun to remind her to leave the ornaments ON the tree, please - she loves pulling them off! She is worse than a cat!) Ellie's new favorite games also revolve around the Christmas tree. The lights on our Christmas tree are on a switch that you just have to press a button to turn them on/off. Ellie quickly figured out how to do this, and she could probably stay occupied turning the tree lights on and off for hours. She presses the button to turn the lights off, gasps, and cries "Oh no!", then presses the button to turn the lights on, beams, and cheers "Alright!" This game doesn't get old for her or for us. It has us in stitches every time.

The other Christmas tree game is playing peek-a-boo behind the tree. She stands behind the tree, very still and quiet, and then sticks her head around the corner of the tree and says "peek-hue" which is just too adorable for words, especially when she doesn't knock the ornaments off in the process. This game also does not get old, and has provided hours of entertainment. Adding to all of her Christmas delight, is a 2 foot Christmas Winnie the Pooh Bear, courtesy of my cousin Colin (who I think is technically Ellie's first cousin, once removed) that is holding a little lantern and a pot of honey and he rocks back and forth in a Christmas Joy kind of way. Ellie loves Christmas Pooh so much, that she will actually stop in the middle of Peek a Boo or Lights On and Off to run over and give Pooh a quick hug and kiss.

Last year, I got excited about Christmas for the first time in decades because having a child breathed new found life into the holiday for me. Even though she had no clue it was happening, it was her first Christmas so it was special and wonderful to see it all through her eyes. This year, she again has no clue that it's happening, but the fact that she can delight for hours over something as simple as a Christmas tree, reminds me that, to quote my cousin Sarah, this really can be the most wonderful time of the year (corny but true!). And we have many, many fun-filled Christmas adventures to come.

Ew

For a few weeks now, Elise has been saying “Ew!” and pointing at her diaper when it is dirty. When she was younger, she just cried when her diaper was dirty (and it was usually a process to figure out why she was crying in the first place because there were lots of frustrations that she cried about), but now that she’s getting the hang of this talking thing, she can much more eloquently express herself. Ew is right! But recently she has been saying “ew” and pointing to her diaper, and when I go to change it, I realize that the diaper is clean. Then a few minutes later, it’s dirty. Hmmm. I think this kid has figured out when she has to go to the potty. From what I hear about potty training, that’s half the battle. And lucky for me, she hates having a dirty diaper, so I imagine that potty training will be fairly easy with her (and yes, I know I just cursed us to have a child who is still not potty trained by age 8).

Elise developed a mild fascination with the potty a few months ago, I think through a combination of several kids at her daycare potty training and me flushing her poop in the toilet at home. Using the potty is something that we have certainly not discouraged, but have not actively encouraged either. She’s still young for actual potty training, but as long as she is showing an interest, we thought why not make the resources available, should she choose to use them. So, I bought a little Elmo Potty seat and put it in the bathroom and said not a peep about it.


There have been a few occasions that she goes into the bathroom and asks to sit on her Elmo potty (but I think this has more to do with her love of Elmo than having to use the potty). I indulge this request each time, but it is always a lot more work than it is worth. The time it takes to remove her shoes, pants and diaper is always significantly longer than the amount of time she actually sits on the potty (which is usually about 5-10 seconds) and she never actually goes.




Last week, though, the weirdest thing happened. We were in the living room playing, when she got up and ran into the bathroom. She put the Elmo potty seat on top of the toilet and started pointing to her diaper saying “ew”. So, I took everything off and plopped her on the toilet. And then…she actually peed! She looked very proud of herself, and I must admit, I never thought I could be so excited to see urine. We are certainly not packing away the diapers or starting potty training because of this latest development, but we are pretty excited about it nonetheless. It was probably just a fluke thing, but the fact that it even happened blows my mind. When did she become such a big girl?

Aye, Aye!

As one that has always had a particular affinity to the word 'no', you can safely say that Elise has never been a yes child- in spirit or speech. In fact, I can probably count the number of times she's actually uttered the word yes in her entire lifetime on one hand, though it would take all of my fingers and toes to count the times she's said "no" in last half hour alone.

However, perhaps as a sneaky way to avoid getting a reputation for being agreeable, Elise has randomly started saying "aye" in affirmation where a "yes" would clearly suffice. Example:

Mommy: "Elise, would you like to read this book?"

Elise: "Aye!"

It's as though her deep-rooted Irish/English heritage has subconsciously kicked in or she has been secretly frolicking with pirates (is that your influence, Owstons?!). I have absolutely no idea where this new development could have possibly come from, as all of the people in her limited social circle (and on Sesame Street) say 'yes', plain and simple. Maybe she thinks that yes is boring and is trying to bring Middle English back. Well, I suppose that if this is the way she chooses to rebel, of all things, I can deal with it.