A Christmas Story

Once upon a time, long long ago (okay just last year actually), in a far off land (okay in Connecticut) lived a little one year old boy who was going to meet Santa Claus for the very first time.  His mother was very excited and took out his best linens (a cute Christmas outfit I bought on eBay), and bathed him to prepare him for the big event.

The little boy was confused about what was going on.  Why all this special attention? he thought.  Still, he took his bath and let his mother dress him up, completely unaware of what would happen next.

"You are going to meet Santa Claus," said Mommy excitedly.  "He has traveled from the North Pole to the Milford, Connecticut Mall just to meet you.  His eight flying reindeer may be there too."

Santa Claus?  Who is this Santa Claus? thought the little boy.

As his mother started getting dressed in her finest linens for the big event too, she let her son play with the closet doors.  He always enjoyed going in and out to play "peek-a-boo," and a few times she joined in the fun too.  "Peek-a-boo, I see you," said Mommy as she hopped into the closet to tickle him.

The little boy, in all his laughter and excitement, ran out of the closet, lost control of his little feet, and boom--crashed into the bed post.

"Oh my," (Okay insert cuss word here) said Mommy.  "How could this have happened?"  She cuddled her screaming boy and discovered he was bleeding above his eye.  "Oh no!  It's worse than I thought," whined Mommy.

She immediately took out her first aid kit to stop the bleeding and the swelling.  She was able to calm down her infant toddler, but the cut above his eye would not be disappearing anytime soon.  "Maybe I can put an elf hat on his head to hide the cut" thought Mommy, but the idea didn't really work.

Soon Daddy came home from work to partake in the big event too.  Upon seeing what had happened, he took a long pause.  (Okay it was about 30 seconds.)  "It seems to me that we should save this event for another day," said Daddy.  Now Daddy often was the voice of reason in the household, but Mommy often had the last say.

"We can't save it for another day," said Mommy in great angst.  "We need to do it today.  You already took time off from work, and we only have a week left before Christmas."

So off went Mommy, Daddy, and Little Lewie to see this wonderful, magical Santa Claus, and just as promised, he sat on his high throne in all his splendor waiting to meet good little boys and girls.  Although his reindeer did not come along for the ride, he did bring his snowflake village of larger than life candy canes, Christmas ornaments, and nutcrackers. 

"Here we are," said Mommy rushing to get a place in line before many of the other mothers with their children.  "Excuse me lady, but we were here first," she announced, knocking one woman to the floor.  (Okay, I really didn't do this, but hey, I probably felt like it at one point.)

So there stood Mommy, Daddy, and Lewie waiting to meet the great, wondrous Santa Claus.  The anticipation was enormous for all, especially Little Lewie who was fighting to get out of his stroller.

"Do you think we should have brought him to the hospital to get stitches?" asked Mommy, surveying the cut above his eye. 

"No, it stopped bleeding," said Daddy, "so I don't think there'd be a need for stitches."

As other moms looked at Little Lewie's bruise in disgust or curiosity, Mommy stood strong, for she knew the bruise was only from an unfortunate accident.

Finally after a long 45 minute wait, the moment to meet Santa Claus had finally arrived.  Mommy and Daddy took their son out of the stroller and proudly placed him on Santa Claus's lap.

 "He's all wet," mumbled Daddy, "he must have peed through his outfit." 

"Shhhhush," said Mommy trying to get a glorious picture of this momentous event.

"Wahhhhh," screamed Lewie fighting with Santa to get out of his grasp. 

And in a few short seconds, the moment the family had all been waiting for had ended.  Yes, the moment had ended with zero pictures, a flustered little boy, and a Santa Claus with (most likely) a wet lap.

And so, the family fled the mall having learned a great lesson--Don't bring your child to meet Santa after he's hurt himself and has already had a bad day.

The end.  

Monday's Mommy Moment: My Little Helper

This week, Lil' Lewie has really become Mommy's Little Helper. In the kitchen, he helps me throw away garbage, put kitchen items away in drawers, and put dirty dishes in the sink. (I think he'd actually help me wash the dishes too if the sink wasn't so high.)

During our day to day routine, he likes to help me sweep, vacuum, and even do laundry. "Here Lil' Lewie, will you put this wet sock in the dryer for Mommy? Oh, thank you so much!"

When I reach to grab something out of the pantry, he takes pride in opening the door for me and then shutting it closed when I'm done. (Of course, I'm always checking to make sure his little fingers are out of the way.)

When I'm ready to go outside, he brings me my shoes. Then when we're outside, he graciously takes on the role of my little garden buddy where he assists me with weeding, turning on the hose, and watering my flowers with his little watering can.

The joy and excitement he has in wanting to be my little helper melts my heart. I understand that kids like to imitate us at this age; however, sometimes, I think he likes to help because it makes him feel important, perhaps even empowered. (I know I certainly cheer him on when he does anything to help out. To me, it not only instills an excellent work ethic at a very young age, but it also motivates him to want to help others. Of course, it will also encourage him to help me when he's older, which let's face it, I'll take whatever help I can get!)

Anyways, my favorite mommy moment this week occurred just last night while the three of us (Lil' Lewie, me, and hubby) were all relaxing and watching TV in the living room. As Lil' Lewie appeared to be falling asleep on the couch, my husband and I decided to give each other mini backrubs. When it was my turn for a backrub, Lil' Lewie, got up, watched Daddy for a few minutes, and then climbed off the couch to rub my back too. His little hand movements were the same short, awkward strokes he uses to pet animals. After petting me five or six times, he walked around to greet me, leaned forward, and gave me a big hug and kiss. Then he returned to his comfortable position on the couch. "We have such a sweet little boy," I said gushing to my husband.

"Thank you, Lil Lewie," I said to my little boy. "Thank you for taking care of Mommy like I take care of you. I needed that."

Toys from the 70's Rock!

Being an only child, I’ll admit that I have had many advantages as a kid—my own toys, my own bedroom, my own playroom, and of course, all of my parents’ attention. Knowing how sentimental my mom still is about my childhood, I wasn’t surprised when she told me that she very neatly tucked away all of my baby toys in her upstairs attic. Perhaps she thought I was going to have siblings, or knowing her, she packed them away precisely for what she’s using them for now, her grandchildren. (She’s that proactive.) I forgot about them, but little by little, they started reappearing each time my mom had a chance to watch Little Lewie.

At first I thought the notion was cute—“Awww, look, Little Lewie is playing with my old toys. I guess you can say they’ve been passed down from one generation to the next.” However, as I started watching him interact with the toys, I realized that they were more interesting to him than his new toys. Sure his new toys have all the “bells and whistles;” they sing in different languages, they make sound effects, they move on their own, and they’re super colorful. They’re basically “eye candy” for the baby. They prompt him to push a button, and watch out—there goes a laser beam, a sound effect, and flashing lights. Parents don’t even have to be in the room for these toys to entertain. Nevertheless, besides pushing the button, Little Lewie doesn’t have to do anything else except be a passive observer.

The toys from my generation were a little different. Most required my power to operate them, and some of them required his ability to learn skills—hand operations way more advanced than simply pushing a button. Sure, in essence, they required more work on both his and my part, but believe me, the reward of seeing him giggle and coo every time they are taken out is well worth it. To provide some examples, I’ve decided to list his top three favorite toys—all former inhabitants of my old toy box.

1) Squeak-a-Boo (Fisher Price)—Squeak-a-Boo is a stuffed animal that looks like a brown furry triangle with large ears, small feet, and a bright orange/yellow face. (It kind of reminds me of a very primitive Ewok. My husband thinks he looks more like a flying squirrel.) His ears very cleverly have slots to place your fingers, so you can easily bend them to cover his eyes while squeaking them at the same time. Using one hand, I waddle little Squeak-a-Boo to my son while positioning his ears to cover over his eyes. Then, I say “squeak-a-boo” and squeak his ears respectively while lifting his ears to show off his bright blue eyes and face. I only show his face for a second because then I cover it with his ears again. “Oh my goodness!” I say. “Did you see his face? He’s playing peek-a-boo with you. Hey Little Lewie, are you ready…? Squeak-a-boo!”
Squeak-a-Boo hops all over the place—to the right, to the left, on top of my son’s head. My son laughs each and every time Squeak-a-Boo squeaks and/or uncovers his face. The design is brilliant—way better than any other stuffed animal in his collection.

2) Peek-a-Boo Block (Fisher Price)—Yes, I know, another peek-a-boo concept toy, but he loves it! When Little Lewie was seventh months-old, my mom decided to take it out. It’s a yellow plastic block (a little larger than a traditional sized Rubik’s Cube) that has four bright red wheels. It’s connected to a pumping device with a fairly long cord. When you press the pump, the air makes the block squeak and pushes a little cylindrical shaped boy out of the top. The top of the block has a little door, so the door is pushed open every time the little boy comes out and closes again when the boy falls back inside. Since the pump has a long cord, my mom and I drag or roll the block around while we control the squeaking and the surprise appearance of the little boy.

When my mom dragged the block out for the first time, my Little Lewie went buck wild. “What is it?” we asked him as he curiously watched the block roll, squeak, and surprise him at varying times around the room. Sometimes the block would squeak without the appearance of the little boy, and other times, if we applied more pressure on the pump, the block would squeak with the little boy coming out at the same time. He loved the surprise element—the fact that he couldn’t predict just when that little boy might pop up.

If his thunderous laughter wasn’t loud enough the first time, it became all the louder as we brought the block up close to him, so he could see it in full view. He’d try to put his little hand on top of the block to examine it, but every time he did, we’d surprise him. “There he is. Oh no, there’s the little boy again. Can you catch him? No, he’s too fast!”

My little boy did eventually tire of the block. It happened about two and a half months later when he started realizing how we controlled it. Nevertheless, I’d say almost four months of everyday use and laughter is quite an achievement for a toy.

3) Busy Surprise Box (Kohner Bros. Inc.)—The Busy Surprise Box is a plastic yellow box, with carrying handle, that gives Little Lewie five different types of levers to pull, push, dial, flip, or slide to master hand coordination. When triggering these levers, a colored door pops up with a “surprise.” Among the “surprises” are a lion, a cat, a dog, a little brown haired boy, and a little red headed girl. (There are modern toys that are similar.) In the beginning, I almost labeled this toy obsolete because it had a rotary dial. “Who uses a rotary phone anymore?” I questioned, but the reality is that each of these skills is important to master as they improve overall hand-eye coordination.

Initially, I wasn’t sure how Little Lewie would like the toy since it doesn’t have flashing lights or sound effects. The pop-up doors are pretty basic; the only sound that comes from them is the noise of the trigger releasing and plastic hitting upon plastic. Still, it turned out to be on the top three list of favorites. It keeps him busy and entertained as he tries to figure out each of the levers. (At nine months-old, he has now mastered three of them.) For close to an hour, he practices his little skills and appreciates the “reward” or “surprise” when getting them correct. Even more, he has figured out how to close, or push down, the doors themselves. I’m not sure if this is an early sign of OCD behavior, but after each door pops-up, he makes sure to push it down again before proceeding. This toy makes me so proud of my little boy!

So, in closing, if you have old toys in an attic somewhere or have a chance to frequent a local tag sale, flee market, Goodwill Store, or Freecycle center, it might be worth investigating what treasures are out there. There may be some cheap but exquisitely designed toys that will make your baby’s list of favorites.