Christmas in Georgetown

The other day we were waiting for Dad to get out of work so we went over to the Georgetown Harbour. They have a beautiful Christmas tree. There's also a Starbucks where Nolan tried his first hot chocolate!





-- Post From My iPhone

Budding pianist

The nice lady at the Steinway store in the mall let Nolan play one of the baby grands. He was so gentle with the keys and was very focused.


-- Post From My iPhone

Mom: Sea Urchins

Here's another funny Nolan story that I wanted to share and--most importantly--wanted to record so I don't forget it. I mentioned a few posts ago that Nolan is really big into the Planet Earth documentary series. One of his favorite scenes is the one where the sea urchins chew through the underwater kelp forests that are several stories tall. For some reason Nolan LOVES this footage, and he loves the sea urchins, which he also calls the "yellow and red things."

Well, fast forward to Thanksgiving Day, when we were at Memere and Grandpa's house watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. There were a bunch of cheerleaders doing a dance routines with red and white pom poms. Nolan pointed to the TV and said, "Look Mom! Sea Urchins!" He's also pointed out that some of the decorative sea grass Memere and Grandpa have around their house looks like sea urchins.

We also got to see some sea urchins in real life when we were in Connecticut. We went over to the Mystic Aquarium and they had a large tank full of colorful urchins, starfish, and other ocean critters. The Aquarium also has 2 huge beluga whales, some seals, and lots and lots fish and other stuff to see. We had a great time!

Mom: Too cute!!

So this year Nolan is much more into Christmas. We've been reading a bunch of our Christmas books - from "The Polar Express" to "The Night Before Christmas," to "The Christmas Story." He cannot get enough of it. His favorite book right now is "The Sweet Smells of Christmas," which is a scratch and sniff book I remembered reading as a kid. He got this book as a gift for his first Christmas from Aunt Carly. In the book, a little bear and his mom bake gingerbread cookies, and ever since reading it Nolan is obsessed with gingerbread men and gingerbread houses.

Nolan also points out Christmas trees whenever he sees one and definitely KNOWS who Santa is. We're hoping he will sit on Mall Santa's lap when we go this weekend, unlike last year where Mom and Dad also had to be in the picture. So we've been talking about Santa a lot and trying to get him comfortable with the idea of the jolly old elf.

We asked him the other day what he wished Santa would bring him. His answer? "A Christmas tree" Then, "Cars." I think Santa can take care of those requests!

We're going to pick out our tree on Saturday, and it might even be snowing when we go! We're also hoping to make our gingerbread house and bake some gingerbread boys. It's going to be a great weekend!

Mom guest blogs: Some updates

Wow, it's been over a month since our last post. We've been really busy but that's no excuse.

Nolan is just doing the cutest stuff. First, he has become a really great singer. He sings all. the. time. He sings songs he learns at school (one that introduces the Spanish names for colors), and he even sings songs I make up on the fly. Back around Halloween we went to a big pumpkin patch and took a hayride. The tractor pulling the flatbed with the hay on it pretended at one point to be stuck in the mud. The wheels were spinning and spinning and Nolan got really scared. Eventually the tractor driver had a friend pretend to pull us out of the big mud puddle with a rope and we finished the hay ride. For the next four weeks at least, Nolan would bring up this incident and talk about how the tractor got stuck in the mud. One day I decided to make up a song about it. I sang it to the tune of the Bangles' "Eternal Flame":

Tractor wheels, they're stuck in mud (darlin')
Do you see my wheels spinning?
Round and round they go,
But we go nowhere.
Am I only dreaming,
Or is my tractor (tractor) stuck in mud?

Nolan sings "The Tractor Song" all the time now, so earnestly. It's hilarious. He can really hold a tune and he hits the high notes so well!

He also loves singing the Sesame Street song (Sunny Days), Old MacDonald, Mary Had a Little Lamb (he knows all 7 verses, too!), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and many many more.

He also loves when Mommy tells him stories, which are abridged versions of books we've read together about Lightening McQueen and Thomas the Tank Engine. Mommy has told these stories so many times the same way that Nolan will even correct me if I miss a word or say something differently.

Nolan is also such a sweet boy with so much empathy. He will always ask, "Are you happy Mommy?" When we pick up Daddy from work he says, "How was your day, Daddy?" At dinner, it's, "Would you like some more food, Mommy?"

I'll post more soon. I promise we'll get around to posting more regularly!