Merry Holidayness

'Tis the season and all that. We celebrate Christmas in our house, but Mom and Dad are pretty open to everything. I mean, I don't know if they want to give me presents for eight days, or if they plan to get toasted on mead and make me sacrifice a toy to the pagan gods, or anything like that. But whatever you celebrate, we hope you have (or had) a good one.

We actually opened our presents this weekend, since we aren't going to be here on the actual day and this was the most convenient time to do it now that Mom's working nights. (I mean, we could have lugged them with us, but that's kind of inconvenient, don't'cha think?) I got a lot of cool toys, plus some great warm clothes for the next few months as well as a few things I can wear later. My grandma and grandpa in particular want to make sure I remember my roots, and sent me a bunch of Lobos gear to counteract the nearby UCF presence. Thanks to everyone who gave me such awesome gifts! (I intend to send personal thank-you e-mails as well, hopefully before the end of the week.)

This week is going to be a long and tiring one. We still have to mail presents to everybody, clean up the house so our dogsitter doesn't think we're slobs, and pack to go see my aunties and grandparents in Canada. I think I mentioned that Auntie Lourdess got sick with leukemia again. She's in remission now, but they're still looking for marrow donors. So if you're inclined at all to get tested, you can find more information about it here.

Oh, and Dad says if you want one of those cards at the top, you should e-mail me or him your address. (You'll have to correct the addresses before it'll send; I don't want any spam.) We got most of the family and others we think would appreciate them, but we still have eight left (nine if you want the one I chewed on).

Back on the Hamster Wheel

After our busy vacation, it might seem like I don't have anything to write about this week. True, I didn't meet any more family members, but that doesn't mean we didn't do anything.

The trend this week is my overall medical malaise. Of course I got a sniffle from the airplane ride, but luckily it was pretty much just a runny nose -- not anywhere near as bad as Mom's cold. Then the rash in the back of my knees (you know, those chubby folds where sweat collects and I don't get a lot of air) flared up again, so they've been rubbing cream on it and it's helping some. On top of that is the whole teething mess. I still don't have a whole one, and I wish they'd just bust out already. I do have a little point on top that's starting to stab Mom when I nurse (and Dad when I teethe on his nose), and Dad can see some white nubs in my gums, so hopefully in another week or two they'll really emerge and the pain will slack off.

I'm still working on the locomotion deal as well. I'm starting to get better at rolling to where I see something I want, but crawling is as of yet eluding my grasp. It seems so simple -- you get up on all fours, you wiggle your arms and legs, and you go forward. The dogs do it all day long. But I invariably end up sliding backwards across the carpet. Oh well -- maybe I'll just graduate straight to running. That's more fun than crawling anyway.

We are doing some yuletide stuff too. This weekend I made presents for grandparents and great-grandparents, but I can't say what they are because they read my blog. It's time for all the holiday stuff down at the theme parks too. We went to see the lights at Disney Studios yesterday, but we forgot the camera again. Next weekend we're talking about going to Universal to see the Grinch show, and maybe Dad won't be so brainless.

The Land of Enchantment

New Mexico was a lot of fun! The plane wasn't scary at all (I slept most of both ways), and I got to meet a lot of family that I hadn't seen yet and a lot of friends that until this trip I'd only exchanged e-mail with. All my aunts and uncles were awesome, and I finally met my Grandpa Moya, my other great-grandpa, and my great-great-grandma! It's pretty remarkable that I'm so lucky to have all this family and heritage alive to talk to me.

The friends were something else altogether. I haven't really had a lot of chances to spend time with kids my own age since I've been big enough to sit up and hold my own, so it was pretty fun playing with them. I met Ally (who was really nice to let me share her rocking chair), Hannah, Rachel, Fiona, Gage, Vincent, and Abran. Well, only two of those kids were very close to my age, but I had fun with them anyway. And that's not even mentioning the dogs and cats.

Let me tell you something -- when you're used to Florida, New Mexico is cold. It actually snowed on Friday after Thanksgiving, but not really enough for me to play in (if I was even actually big enough to enjoy it). Grandma was awesome and got me a big, fluffy snowsuit, so I was prepared for the weather, especially when we went out and saw the River of Lights at the botanic garden on Sunday night. By the end of the stay, though, it had warmed up enough that a sweatshirt, a hat and the pretty scarf Nona knitted for me did the job. Obviously, I won't need it in Orlando (Dad says the only times he's gotten his coat out are to go to New Mexico for Thanksgiving), the snowsuit will be good for when we go to Canada and see Auntie Lourdess.

We did a lot of stuff over our trip. We had three Thanksgiving dinners, went to Sadie's twice (because it's Mom and Dad's favorite restaurant), had a birthday party for my great-aunt, saw the lights, had a tea party (which one of the guests called a "baby viewing") at Nona's, went to three family houses and four friends' houses, and played a lot. I came ever closer to crawling, and I learned that it's fun to grab people's faces even if it's not necessarily nice.

The big thing that came out of our trip developmentally was my first word: "dada." I started saying it when we went to Santa Fe, but Dad said it didn't count if I didn't know what I was saying. Finally one night at dinner, I had to grab his finger, look in his eyes, and say it just one time without repeating myself before he got it. Next we're working on "mama" because it's only fair. (Dad hopes I don't accidentally say "puppy" first.)

Now we're home, and it's a good thing -- the dry climate didn't really agree with me. I had so much trouble breathing at Nona's that Mom and Dad bought a humidifier for the room. It was nice to get back to the moister air of Central Florida (don't tell Dad I said that), splash with my turtles in my own tub, and crawl into my own bed again. But even though I was all clogged and snotty, I'm looking forward to going back and seeing everyone again in May.