Obama is Coming

Originally uploaded by cheekymom

As Christmas gets closer we have these conversations about what’s happening next week. Inevitably he always starts by saying Obama is happening. Then he rewinds and says Santa is coming.

Merry Christmas HO HO HO

Originally uploaded by cheekymom

I finally get what parents have meant when they talk about how their kids ‘get’ Santa Claus now.

Mack has been talking more and more about Christmas, and presents, and Santa, and all of that and suddenly Christmas is fun again.

Originally uploaded by cheekymom

Merrick was a monkey for Halloween this year. He got into it a little bit for the first time. He didn’t really get the concept of trick or treating. He wanted to stop and sit on the stoop at each house and eat the candy. That really only worked at a couple of houses. Eventually he was holding up the crowd. But overall he had fun and I think next year will be a big year for trick or treating.

We brought Mack to Minnetonka Orchards with friends and he went hog wild. He ran around in a corn maze, got caught in barn prison, jumped from car to car in a wooden train, went on a hayride, watched goats stomp on a bard roof, and jumped around on a pile of hay. This is my favorite image from the day.

My little dude never ceases to amaze me. He’s speaking in whole sentences now. He’s wild and loud and energetic and imaginative. He sees things I miss every day. He reminds me to stop and to dance and howl at the moon. He reminds me that simple things like sentences and peeing on the ‘big boy potty’ are huge achievements and not to be taken lightly. He takes pleasure in new sounds and smells and tastes and sights. And, lucky me, he takes me along for all of those rides. He notices every airplane and bird and ant. Someone taught him the word wheelbarrow and it wasnt me. Or Laura. Or anyone we’ve interrogated. He’s intrigued by belly buttons. And no one says the words jelly and bean quite as perfectly as he does. Mack’s got the perfect gap right between his front teeth and a smile so bright and open it melts everyone around him. He knows football and baseball and golf and hockey and he hounds us for a glimpse of any or all of the above. He likes his bike and his scooter and knows he has to wear his helmut to like them enough to move them. He falls asleep almost every night precisely at 7. He wakes up every day almost precisely at 7. He calls for his moms the second he opens his eyes. The wheels on the bus go round and round and his little arms crank those wheels in the cutest way. He’s an acrobat, a warrior, a ninja, a runner, a jumper, a yeller, a cuddle monster. He’s my boy. He’s 2. He’s home now. I have to go.