Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

This is the first year that we have spent our Christmas vacation in Brookings with Misha (For the past two years we have gone to Colorado). Decorating our own house, playing holiday music, putting up the tree and stacking presents beneath it, and making all kinds of holiday goodies proved to make a very warm, cozy Christmas indeed. With my parents in town, piles of snow on the ground, and my sister Tanya and her husband home to visit, Misha has really enjoyed the full experience of Christmas.

Christmas morning was very exciting - once Misha realized it was Christmas. Like every other morning, he crawled lazily into our bed to snuggle. We said "Merry Christmas, Misha!" and he didn't seem to register. We finally asked, "Do you think Santa brought you some toys?" He looked doubtful, then he asked, "Is it Christmas?" We said, "Yes!" And then his eyes popped open and he ran for the stairs. "My robot!" he screeched, clomping up the stairs to see the robot from Grandma Kate and Santa. At the top of the stairs he saw his stocking with his old "We wish you a merry Christmas"-singing chipmunk from Grandma Kate last year in it, and he said, "This is not a present." I told him I thought Santa put batteries in it for him so it would sing again. At that, he grabbed the chipmunk out and pushed the button and began singing along happily to the music. Then he saw his basketball hoop-and-return collapsible catcher, and we played with that a bit. Just as he announced that he had to pee, he saw his robot out of the corner of his eye. It was bright red and sitting between the tree and the basketball. "Ah! It's my robot!" All thoughts of a bathroom break were forgotten and he cooed over his robot, saying, "I like him! He's my cool robot! No, he's not a cool robot - he's a super robot! How do I turn him on?"

So then he had to play robot for almost an hour, figuring out the remote, and watching him roam around on "auto-pilot," which is fun because you just watch him roll around and talk without bumping into things. He says lots of funny things, like, "This floor needs vacuuming!" and if he falls over, he says, "I'm seeing things from a whole new perspective." He has a lot of programs/games that are too hard for Misha, but he does have a few things that are easy and fun. His "guard" setting will guard a space and start whooping an alarm whenever something (Misha) runs in front of him. Misha always jumps at the sound and then laughs and does it again. Finally he went to the bathroom and played robot some more.

When my parents, Tanya, and Aaron came over, we started opening presents from under the tree. Misha is not much for keeping secrets; as he handed Aaron a present, he declared, "It's an airplane." Oops. Then, when he gave Aaron a very flat present later, Aaron asked, "Is this an airplane too?" Misha responded, "Yes, it's a flat airplane." Aaron unwrapped it to find, indeed, a flat helicopter that had to be assembled. Oh well!


Aaron, Tanya, Misha, and Josh experiment with the Lincoln Logs on Christmas Day. Misha loves anything to do with building!

In past years, Misha has been more interested in ripping open box after box than at looking at what was actually inside. This year, however, he has taken a much greater interest in the toys themselves - upon opening his new markers, he had to stop and get paper and draw for a good while. Same with the finger paints, the play-dough, the maracas, the Cootie game, the Lincoln Logs, his new books, and his treasure rocks and gems. At least he was appreciating them! That way, opening presents was an all day affair, some at our house, some at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Here are some more pictures to enjoy:

Meeting Santa

Misha got to meet Santa this year, when he came to Lewis with two of his reindeer. Misha was so excited. I thought he would be a little too shy to go up and sit on Santa's lap, but he had no reservations. He went right up, told him he wanted a robot, and sat on his lap with a big grin for the photo. As he walked away, he told Daddy, "Now I'm going to get TWO robots - one from Grandma Kate, and one from Santa!" (I told him that Grandma and Santa are going to work together and get him one extra-cool robot, and he seemed ok with that.) He also liked watching the reindeer outside, even though they were in a cage. They were chomping on hay and eating snow.

We got a whole envelope full of little wrapped gifts with bows and ribbons and the works from Grandma Kate. Misha said they were from Santa, and we said, "But Grandma Kate sent them to you." Unphased, he reasoned, "Santa came to Grandma Kate's and gave her all the presents, and Grandma Kate gives them to me!"





We bought a little fake tree and decorated it with homemade ornaments that we made out of dough, baked, and painted. Misha loved the whole process, patiently painting with such concentration and being so careful to not dip his brush into more than one color at a time. I was very impressed.

Christmas music now fills our house almost all the time - Misha rushes to blast Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, or Frosty the Snowman, or Jingle Bells, or We Wish You a Merry Christmas. He dances around the room and sings along to all the songs as best he can, making up the lyrics if he doesn't know them. He's quite a performer.

My parents took him out to Oakwood State Park for a drive and a walk a few weeks ago on a not-too-cold day. We walked around a little island/peninsula on a trail. Once Misha saw the trail, there was no stopping him. For some reason, whenever he sees a trail, his only instinct is to follow it as fast as he can. Grandma was not sure she was up for such a fast-paced walk, but I told her she was just lucky the trail made a loop! On the way, we saw deer tracks and turkey tracks in the snow and mud, and Grandpa had his binoculars to look for birds.

Amusing Anecdotes ... featuring Misha

Misha is getting to be such a good singer. He remembers the words quite well, too, with comical mistakes.
Misha’s version of There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly: “There was an old lady who swallowed a bug. I don’t know why she swallowed a bug. I guess she got dead.”
And Baa Baa Black Sheep: “Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. One for the master, one for the little boy who lives down the street …”

He is now very fond of the songs “Sugar Sugar” and “Dizzy.” Yesterday he played “Sugar Sugar” incessantly and sang along, “Shooga! Oh honey honey! You are my candy girl!” And today he’s stuck on “Dizzy,” and the whole time it plays he spins himself in little circles and sings “dizzy!” whenever the line comes up, and he spins until he falls over, and then he plays it again. He knows exactly how to operate the 3-disc-changer CD player.

This week he has wanted to eat breakfast at Julie’s house (his day care). I asked him, “Why? I have toast and cereal here. Julie has the same thing.” And Misha said, “No, Julie doesn’t have toast and cereal.” “Well, what does she have?” And he looked at me and said with a smile, “Popsicles.” I said, “Noooo, Popsicles aren’t for breakfast!” But he still wanted to eat breakfast at Julie’s. When I dropped him off, I saw that the other kids were eating pop tarts. ;)

He likes to drink milk, and usually I tell him he has to finish a glass of milk first and then he can have juice, because milk makes him big. Today I was drinking water and he was drinking a little cup of juice, and he told me, “Mommy, if you drink up all of your water, I will give you a little of my juice. I’ll pour it in your cup.”

Halloween 08!

Misha had a blast trick or treating this year, running from house to house and refusing any help to carry his ever-sagging pumpkin of candy. An hour later, however, he was asking to be carried and wanting to go back to grandma and grandpa's house. :)

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