Ho Ho Ho...

Our Christmas plans changed at the last minute (literally) this year.  We were intending to drive to Lubbock to spend Christmas with Melissa's grandmother, but thanks to an ill-timed snow directly along our travel route (and in Lubbock as well), we ended up driving south to Nana and Granddaddy's house instead. 

After hanging out with Nana and Granddaddy and doing dinner, it was time to prepare for the arrival of jolly ol' Saint Nick.  Riley set out chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk (which she had to sample of course) for Santa, and some of Nana's deer corn for Santa's reindeer. 

Riley was up long before the sun on Christmas morning.  There was no way we were going to keep her upstairs for long, so we went ahead and went down and let Jackson sleep a while longer.  The look on her face on Christmas morning is what I think I look forward to the most.  She walked around checking everything out, including Jackson's stuff of course.  But she was most interested in her biggest surprise from Santa:  a huge pink dollhouse with plenty of things to go in it.  Then of course there were the skates she'd been talking about for many months now.  When asked what Santa was going to bring her, the answer never wavered at all:  "Skates and toys".  So he delivered as expected.

Jackson is of course a little too young this time around, but he still enjoyed all of the paper and boxes and the toys he got as well.  He naturally was more interested in her stuff though, as usual.  Santa brought him a cool yellow dump truck as big as him that I may end up playing with myself. 

Just as it was at Thanksgiving, Riley chose Christmas for one of her already infamous moods.  I am not sure who coined the term "Terrible Two's", but my guess is that it was from someone who had never raised a three year old.  But just when you're ready to scream and run for the hills, she whips out the sweetness again and you forget about it all (at least until the next time).

The drive back was record-setting both in the time it took us to drive and also in the amount of screaming and/or crying.  We made it back in just over 5 hours (as opposed to 6 or so), and there was no crying or fussing at all, save for Jackson when he was getting tired and heading towards a nap. 

Next year should be a lot of fun with him being even more aware and obviously way more into things than he is now, and with a lot more talking and walking of course.  Speaking of which, he's well on his way at this point.  Just today he walked half-way across the living room.  Every day now he seems to go a little further.  He also is now saying "da" and knows that it is me.  His first official word though is "Uh Oh".  And he can point to the monkey on his wall when asked "where's the monkey?" 

While he is getting the hang of walking, she FINALLY is riding her Christmas present...from last year.  Just within the past few weeks she has finally gotten the whole peddling thing down, so now we can take the bike out and do more than just push it around like we have for the past year.  I honestly wondered if she was ever going to peddle that thing.  And now that she can?  Of course she gets mad because she doesn't think she is going fast enough.  :)

December 16th...

Well that was a fast one.  Hard to believe the little man is already a year old today.  This time last year I had come back home to stay with Riley while Melissa and the new addition got to know one another in the hospital.  It has been quite a year, growing from three to four, Riley adapting to no longer being the sole center of attention, and of course seeing how different (and similar) Jackson has been from how she was and is.

For the most part we've been blessed with two fairly decent sleepers, even if the sleep patterns were not exactly the same.  Whereas Riley was a great sleeper at night and a poor napper, Jackson has been a great napper but still fairly decent sleeper at night as well.  He has and continues to be a very happy guy, and his sense of humor is off the charts.  He laughs at practically anything, and is quick to give a smile.  With Riley, getting either one of those could sometimes require some hard work, but in the end you'd get it from her too...just not as quickly.

He is at the point now where he really enjoys playing with Riley.  He likes to be chased (while crawling) and I do believe he is now copying her "jump up and down" game/song in his bed.  He will hold onto the side just like she does and bounce/jump.  He has also turned into my little wrestling buddy.  As Melissa posted online a while back...her husband and son were wrestling and growling at one another in the floor.  And it is every bit as fun as it may sound.  If he keeps growing though he is going to be bigger than me sometime next year.  :)
His teeth are popping in left and right, as he now has the two top and bottom teeth in the front.  He is taking his time with walking though.  He can do it, and will walk 6 or 7 steps before dropping.  We know he could go further, but he hangs it up after that and crawls.  Maybe it's those chunk legs. 

Though today is his birthday, we had his party last weekend in order to keep it from interfering with anyone's holiday plans.  We had a fairly low-key event, but still a good time with family and a few friends stopping by.  Nana and Granddaddy made it up, as did Greg, Jenny, and Maddie.  We also had Gaylon and Sue and crew, and of course Tonise and Olivia...Riley's best friend in the world...came by as well.  Those two were off to do their own thing as soon as Olivia hit the door, naturally.  When it came time for cake, Jackson was not so sure about it, but I think he still had fun exploring it and he definitely liked it once he did get some of it in his mouth.  One thing he did enjoy were the wonderful boxes in which the gifts came.

Hopefully this next year will slow down a bit.  I already can't imagine them being 4 and 2 next year.  Though some days are challenging, and some days are very challenging, it is a joy like no other to have them both running around, creating pure chaos.  I never thought we could love anyone or anything as much as we love Riley, but this year has proven that we could.  But I definitely can't imagine loving anyone or anything as much as the two of them.  That, without a doubt, is impossible.

Happy Birthday, Little Buddy!

(Is it possible this Clemson thing is unhealthy?  nahhh)