Micah Update and Christmas Fun

Merry Christmas! Here's our family photo this year:

Hold on to your hats people (okay well not literally, it's an idiom folks) I'm actually going to post something! I feel it's better to keep an readers wanting more. (Are you buying it?)

Actually, I've just been dealing with a lot of frustrations in several areas of my life and every time I sat down to post something, it was tainted and not something I felt I should share. Thus, the silence. The very, very long silence...

Anyway, now on to the good stuff - my boy! Seriously people, he's a genius! Please don't think I'm bragging. I just want to write down things that I've been neglecting. Don't compare your kid to mine, I'm sure your child can do some things mine can't do.

* Micah is sweet and gentle. He still continues to want to please the adults around him. Up until a week ago, he rarely told me no. Lately, he's been disagreeing more often. It's mostly about cleaning up toys and getting into the bath. We deal with it by giving him time out. It mostly worked until a few days ago. Micah got his first spanking on December 17, 2009. Josh was getting him ready for bed and Micah refused to pick up his shapes. He wanted to throw them around instead. We gave him two time outs and then Josh decided he would get a spanking if he continued to disobey. Thankfully, we had just discussed this whole topic earlier in the week. Josh brought him into our room, took off his little pants, laid him over his knee, all the time talking about how he needs to obey and listen, and hesitated when Micah cried out, "I'm scared!" So we gave him one more chance to pick up his toys. He didn't take the opportunity, so Josh repeated the process, but this time there was follow through. Micah cried; we hugged him and continued to impress on him that he needed to listen and obey. Wouldn't you know that then he went out and picked up his toys? Now just the mention of a spanking will often get him to do what we've asked, although we still use time outs as our main way of correcting bad behavior.

* He can speak very well. Just last night as we were getting into the car he said, "I have the car." Then he followed it up with, "Micah has the car." Seriously, he blows my mind away! He's a little language sponge. I know you are probably thinking that I emphasize correctness to him, but I don't. Granted, I do use proper English when I speak, but I don't correct him when he's wrong, as part of our conversation, I just repeat what he said the correct way. He's such a mimic that he often repeats what he hears from other things. He's surprised us with phrases like,"I have a question," and, "I have a ploblem." Sometimes he will even go on to ask the question.

* "Wowee" has not died yet! He still uses it for the word yes when it's something he's excited about. Although, sometimes he shortens it to, "we" and people think I've taught him French.

* Micah is still very timid when it comes to things that are unknown. For example, he sees the dust in the sunlight and thinks they are bugs. Gradually, it turned into a game where we catch fireflies. Josh grabbed at air and caught one; then Josh put the flashlight in his hands so that Micah would actually think he caught one. Micah ran and hid in the corner. He was scared. On Halloween, he refused to wear his dinosaur costume, despite lots of playing with it and practicing wearing it. Finally we took it back and opted for him to be Josh instead.

* He knows all his shapes, colors, letters, and lots of numbers. He will actually tell you, "I know shapes," because that's what they say on the Baby Newton DVD.

* He is excited about Christmas. He talks about the ornaments on the tree saying, "They're not lemons; they're ornaments." He can actually point out whose presents are whose - despite the fact that I only told him once when I was wrapping them. We have a few daily December rituals in our house. The first thing we do when Micah wakes up is plug in his Christmas tree in his room. Then we do the advent calendar that is set for counting down the days. Each day he takes out a different person or thing that belongs in the nativity scene and places it where it goes (or close enough). I encourage him to think about where things should go before he puts them up there. So the stars are in the sky, and trees, people and animals are all on the ground. And I even managed to get him to leave space in the manger for baby Jesus and his parents.

Next we go out into the living room and do the other advent calendar. When I was little, we always got a little present for each day in December. This is my advent calendar from when I was little. They really are little presents mixed with a few bigger ones in between. Depending on the day, Micah has gotten tiny ornaments for his Christmas tree, Mickey Mouse stickers, two quarters, Hot Wheels (these are very rare), and his most favorite of all - fruit snacks. In fact if I ask him what he got in advent and he doesn't like what he got that day - stickers and ornaments have gotten old - he will say that he got fruit snacks even if it's not true.

Then, Micah turns on the Christmas tree and goes to find the "Elf on the Shelf" that lives at our house. If you haven't heard of this, it's from a book that my mom got him. The elf sits on a shelf in your house and each night reports to Santa if you were good or bad. (Translation - parent must remember to move the elf each night). I will be honest and say that there is no way that I would have gotten this for my child on my own. But it was a gift, so we use it. In the book that comes with the elf, there's a portion where your child is encouraged to name the elf. Our conversation went something like this:

"Micah, what should we name your elf?"

After thinking for a few seconds, he replied, "Eat lunch."

"Eat Lunch Elf? Do you like that name?"

"No."

"What name do you like?"

"Peppernickel"

"Do you like Peppernickel Elf?"

"Wowee!"

So it was decided. I wrote in the book that his name was Peppernickel. I'm sure that this came from our game of just saying funny words and pumpernickel is a funny word we say. Anyway, the next morning when we got up, Micah saw the elf and said, "Eat Lunch!" So, his name is Eat Lunch.

Apparently, Josh didn't realize I had reason for why I took pictures of our elf, so he deleted the pictures of him. But here's a picture of what he looks like:

And some cute Christmas pictures:

Have any of you bought the gingerbread house kit from Costco? I still think it was cheaper and easier than buying all the candy and stuff myself, but I definitely feel duped by the false advertising on the box. They didn't give us nearly enough candy balls, and those were the best part. There are other problems too, but I'll leave it at that.

I hope you all have a joyful holiday season!