Christmas Eve!

The paper chain is getting pretty short, people...

Last night Nat and I embraced the Christmas spirit by wrapping up the "Santa presents" in the living room as we watched Love Actually. NOW it feels like Christmas; I simple love that movie. Actually. :)

So, the presents. Oh my. It turns out that Christmas with one kid is pretty ridiculous, but with two kids the present overload and decadence is bordering on obscene. I cannot wait for present arranging tonight! (It will be a challenge to fit it all under the tree, especially with the goal of a Geotrax set up running through the mix.

I love Christmas Eve.

A few quick kiddo updates to tide you over until we get Christmas morning pics posted:

We hypothesize that Ivy is working on another tooth. I was sad to see her gummy smile go but I have to tell you her growing toothers make for an adorable little grin. I like em. She has been focusing her growth in the vocal department recently, with tons of babbling, all sorts of different sounds and all said with LOTS of enthusiasm. She gets very, very excited about paper, combs, silverware or really any other "found object" we give her to hold. She will now brandish the object she's got, look us square in the eye and yell something like "Dado!" or "a GAHHHH!". Before, of course, sticking said object in her mouth and chewing with great vigor. Speaking of chewing, girlie also loves bread. And pizzelles.

Jack is finally on the mend from his cold and getting back to his energetic and hilarious self. Its really hard to quantify his verbal development these days but I would say the biggest change is his ability to effectively describe things to us, as well as to compare two things. The most adorable new verbal habit? Incredibly polite and sincere utterances. Example: Looking at presents under the tree, he picks one up and asks "Who is this one for" "That one is for Daddy." Turning to Daddy: "Oh!! Daddy!! I WONDER what could be INSIDE!! It's for YOUUUU, Daddy. I'm so excited to see what it is!!" I can't type the cadence of his little voice. You'll just have to imagine it as cute as you possibly can... Some not so desirable verbal behaviors continue to emerge, as well, as the boy tests the limits of his individuality. We hear plenty of NO, I WON'T! along with all the politeness. He now takes his little fist and hits it, rather gently but with great meaning, on a surface near him, whenever he gets mad at an injustice. These injustices usually look a lot like telling him he can't watch another Hot Wheels video... Overall though he continues to be a very sweet boy, a very good boy.

I think Santa will be good to him this year... :)