Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Papa's and Christmas morning

Watching a show in her pretty dress.
                                                     

Spending some quiet snuggle time with Mommy and Papa.
                                     

 Looking content on Mommy's lap.
                                                   

 Loving being held up high by Daddy
                                                   

The gift opening scene Christmas Eve.
                                                   

  This is exactly what Mommy asked for.
                                                     

Having fun playing with Grandma and her new singing dog toy.
                                     

Putting cookies out for Santa.


 Trying to open her presents Christmas morning, but playing with an old favorite toy instead.
                   

Vaguely tolerating the sight of new books.
                                                   

 Looking at the new books did not last long.  Mommy will work on it and she will like them eventually.
         

Daddy opening a special tree ornament Naomi made for us at preschool.
                               


Reading an old book while Daddy shows her her new ornanment.  This is her fourth Christmas!
       


Naomi still loves her old books.  Here she is reading her book about Santa's reindeer.
                         

Naomi in her Santa's elf suit with Uncle Joel later on Christmas Day.  She really liked how high tall  Uncle Joel could hold her.  


Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas At Nana and Grampy's House

We had Christmas at Nana and Grampy's house last weekend since they are going to visit my brother in Massachusetts for Christmas.  It was a really nice visit.  Anne and I came in on Saturday afternoon and went to the Penguins game that night.  Nana and Grampy baby sat Naomi and let her stay up late as a treat (although part of it was wild kicking on the bed for half an hour.  She then cooperated by staying in bed the next day past seven (yay Naomi).  We had a nice breakfast of cinnamon rolls and omelet bake and then opened present.  We got Nana and Grampy a new camera since every time they take a picture with their old camera the batteries were dead.  Naomi received lots of nice clothes including a Penguin sweatsuit as well as a tinier version of her best friend Violet.   Anne and I received many nice things as well.  We then took Naomi to the Monroeville Mall to ride Santa's train (for the fourth time).  She loved it again, and a little boy even chose to sit in her car with her (must be the beautiful blond curly hair).  We had a delicious dinner of ham, potatoes, brussel sprouts, corn, and pineapple souffle.  It was supposed to be during Naomi's nap... only Naomi decided not to nap.  We left Sunday afternoon and had a great time.  Merry Christmas!
Naomi playing with Grampy
Naomi is unsure about Christmas


She stuck her finger in the light socket

Naomi and Daddy opening presents

Naomi is not pleased with all the clothes

She needs to be consoled with hugs and a show on the lap top

All Better!

Friday, December 16, 2011

St. Nick Night.

St. Nick Night, or just St. Nick, as my family calls it, is a tradition from my mother's side of the family.  The modern Santa Claus character is based on St. Nicholas.  His feast day is December 6th and in many countries, St. Nick is the one who gives gifts to good children.  St. Nick is a fun and scary event for most children.  In my family, the event goes like this.  After dinner, when it is dark, St. Nick (usually played by a relative without children in the the home, like grandparents or aunts and uncles) comes to your house and bangs VERY loudly on the doors and windows.  This is kind of scary, even for the parents who are expecting it, because it takes you by surprise and makes you jump.  It definitely gets your heart going.  You, of course, never actually see 'St. Nick', but he leaves a sack (usually a white pillowcase) at your front door filled with oranges, nuts, small candies, cookies and usually a little treat for the children, like crayons or something small like that.  It's not meant to be an extravaganza.  So you wait to make sure St. Nick is gone (because, as mentioned before, he is kind of scary) and then you peak out the door, find the sack, bring it in, dump it out, and enjoy snacking and looking through everything.  It's kind of like a disorganized treat picnic on the floor.  All in all, it is fun, exciting and scary and as a child I loved it.  We did not do St. Nick with Naomi for her first three St. Nick's because we weren't sure how much she could understand, and she has tended to scream and cry over loud noises and unfamiliar experiences.  But we decided to do it this year.  Over the past year, we have discovered that Naomi pretty much understands everything going on around her, and she has become much more tolerant of new experiences and noise, especially since starting preschool.  My parents did St. Nick at our house.  My brother does it for most everyone in the family, but  as he says, he's on a tight schedule and our house is a little too far out from his usual run.  (I am pretty sure Joel loves doing St. Nick.  It's right up his alley, and I bet he does it really scary, how it is supposed to be done.)  Naomi did cry over St. Nick, but I think it was because we took her away from the end of her show rather than because she was scared of the noise.  St. Nick left cookies, oranges, hershey's kisses (no nuts; Rob is allergic) a cut of fabric for me, and two books, a jar of juice, bibs, hair accessories and bubble bath for Naomi.  Daddy took Naomi out to get the sack and we opened it in the front room.  Naomi cried until I started taking pictures; she really likes the camera flash.  All in all, it was really fun and it was nice to be able to start doing these kinds of things with her.  


Going out to look for the sack

Finding the sack

Being mad about being taken away from her show to find the sack

Considering being interested in one of her new books

Looking at a second page

Seeming to like the third page

Starting to cry over being forced to look at the offensive new book

Really getting into feeling sorry for herself over missing the end of her show and having to look at a new book

Noticing the camera flash

Settling down to consider enjoying the camera flash

Almost enjoying this experience

In the end, deciding to neither cry nor show enjoyment

Having fun in her bubble bath later that night.  

Friday, December 9, 2011

School with Daddy

On Tuesday I had the day off, and I took Naomi to her preschool class and stayed as her "aide".  It was a lot of fun.  School starts at 12:30 and the other kids get off the van (eventually Naomi will ride the van) and everyone files in.  There were 4 other 3 year olds in Naomi's class.  One who has to be belted in at all times because of incessant running.  This child loves ketchup and requests it frequently during snack.  There is another child who is also new in class.  He is a typically rambunctious boy who is into everything.  Then another child, who doesn't talk much either and apparently fell asleep on the van and was inconsolable and cranky for most of the day, but is apparently sweet and pleasant most other days when there is no sleeping on the van.  Then one more who does not talk much, but is mobile and points a lot.  This child is really sweet and loves Naomi, running up and touching her and made sure she was included.  The kids are all really cute. Naomi's teacher is great - she has a lot of energy.



 Naomi has her own chair with a belt around an activity table.  The kids all start by putting the letters of their name on a poster around the activity table.  Naomi does not like this.  She cried and was offended.  There was play time then, when she did a puzzle while being assuaged with a lot of books.  One child stole Naomi's puzzle and was reprimanded, but Naomi did not mind.  Then there was circle time.  Circle time involves her teacher showing a picture of each kid and singing a song about them being there.  Naomi sat in a cube chair with a tray.  When the kids clap along Naomi bangs the tray.  Following this there is saluting the flag, helping with the weather, and the days of week.  Each kid helps with an activity and Naomi helped pick the correct day of the week.  All through you have kids bolting and squirming and talking and yelling and general chaos.  Normally Naomi cries in situations like this but she loved it.  She was hooting and hollering and laughing the whole time.

Naomi then "built people".  Building people is a computer program where she hits a switch and each time a person is built on the screen hangman style and then the person dances.  Naomi did this while standing with support in her braces for about 20 minutes.  We can't get her to stand for 20 seconds without fussing.  She was laughing and getting excited.

We then tried to do School and answer question but Naomi was not that interested.  She had some stretch out time and Juice Bubba.  She worked with the speech therapist, who tried to get her to answer some questions about animals, and then we played with the IPAD.

Finally it was snack time and the kids all got yogurt and chicken nuggets.  Most of the kids got many helpings of ketchup.  Naomi ate 1/3 of a yogurt sitting with the kids which is amazing since we can't get her to eat with out the tv.  Finally at 2:55 Naomi had had enough (See below).  We had a great day at school.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Christmastime at the Mall

We had a very good time today at the mall.  We did things that all families do and with Naomi that is rare.  Going to the mall to sit on Santa's lap and ride the train are memories everyone has from their childhood.  They are almost throw aways lost in the hustle and bustle of the season.  And I saw it in the faces of the other parents at the mall... everyone in a hurry to buy more stuff, the kids are annoying, stop fussing and sit on santa's lap etc.
 But we don't get to have regular holidays.  Anne and I open Naomi's presents.  She is never excited and usually cries.  She is not excited for Santa.  We don't have an elf on the shelf.  So today was really nice.  Naomi LOVED riding on the train and sitting with Santa.  She whooped it up so loud on the train that the shoppers all stopped and looked.  I like to think maybe for a second they saw the meaning of Christmas.