Thanksgiving and Decorating

 Adrian

We were traveling last week so I didn't get a chance to write, but we had a fun Thanksgiving with family over the weekend. Adrian did a lot of playing with cousins and enjoyed the attention but he was a little overwhelmed with so many new faces and was concerned when I would leave the room and not bring him with. It wasn't a big fit unless he was already cranky, but he definitely had some concerned sounds if he watched me walk away. I didn't get to feel very helpful with cooking because I brought food that was already cooked, good planning since Adrian didn't like the idea of me leaving him behind and he couldn't follow like his similar-aged cousin. I was hoping seeing another baby crawl would get him going, but he still resists it and would rather complain until he gets what he wants. Maybe before Christmas! And most likely because he will see all the pretty presents under the tree and want to play with them.

Claire

She is infectiously excited for Christmas wanting to eat her advent calendar chocolates before breakfast and touch every Christmas decoration before we decide where it goes. I wish I wasn't as controlling so I would let her have what she wants...but luckily she gets distracted easily for now. I do remember all my memories helping my mom so I can work on letting them help out in the future! We did get to do some fun crafts because Shay had a homework project decorating a tree with anything and Claire wanted one too, I even made it so they could stand up. They also liked visiting the park when Daddy had his day off for Thanksgiving and wanted to help Shay practice her bike riding. And then yesterday we got our tree and decorated it! First year of having a real tree and getting the beautiful smell in our house. Claire made sure to pick all the ornaments she wanted to put on before we went and had them separated so no one could do them but her.

Shay

We watched a puppet show she put on at the library when we went and had Adrian sit in a chair was cute. She also always asks me what I'm cooking when I'm in the kitchen now that I've been making some treats like pies, chocolate-covered cherries, and the chocolate strawberries with the leftover chocolate I had. It is mostly just getting to lick the spoons, but it is nice they want to help. My biggest ask is to play with Adrian so I can cook without him getting sad and impatient with me. She is good at that job though and does a good job making him laugh because she is a goofy sweet girl. She is doing so much better at school and doesn't need a star page sent home every day to tell me if she has been good. I hope she never has to go back to that and is the sweet girl 100% of the time from now on!