I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I know we did. I think the best part was being able to draw it out, so that we have been celebrating not just on the actual day but over time with loved ones and spreading the presents out.
The trampoline has been a big hit. We have been jumping on it pretty much every day. Every time Nicky is grumpy I just mention going outside to jump and he cheers up. We also had fun when the cousins came to visit and the older kids enjoyed jumping too.
During the time my father-in-law was here Nicky received his first Christmas vehicle which was a quad bike that made noises when you pressed it. Unfortunately it wasn’t very durable. It got dropped and the wheel came off. A handle bar also came off. We probably spent more on glue than we did on the actual car. But Nicky has fun with it.
My sister, who is an occupational therapist, wanted to get Nicky a balance bike for a while now, and went to a lot of effort to make sure he had his gift. This is no small feat considering she lives in the states.
According to the pamplet, there is a progression involved in learning to ride this thing. First you walk. Then you walk on the saddle. And so it carries on. Nicky is walking on the saddle at the moment, much in the same way he rides his scooter.
One of the best gifts was having family here. My father-in-law fixed Nicky’s toy, attached our kitchen cupboard, sorted the pool pump and kreepy and did various other jobs. My father made sure my car was going. He noticed the brake light was on. I thought it was broken because I thought it only referred to the hand break being up, but here I was driving around without brake fluid. Scary. But it is sorted now. My mom did all the dishes. That is priceless. And of course the baby sitting. We have now seen two movies in the space of two weeks. That has to be some kind of record.
Christmas day itself was a laid back kind of day. We made it to church. Nicky crawled over all our laps and under the chairs. I think he did very well considering he was two years old.
When we got home we opened presents, including his Christmas box. We had wrapped it in front of him and he had been standing pointing in front of it all week, much like he does with the biscuit cupboard. So it was a huge thrill to finally open it and of course play with the box.
As you can see, the first car he pulled out was a blue one that made noises. We gave him two of them and he raced them against each other.
Another toy he loved was a car transporter. As you know, Nicky loves lining up his cars and putting them on trucks as well. So putting them in this contraption was heaven. He insisted on taking it to bed with him. Eventually I persuaded him to leave it on the shelf where he could still see it.
We also gave him a Cars duvet set and a Cars puzzle. It might be a while before he manages the puzzle, but until then we had fun putting it together.
My father gave him the most amazing Montessori red rods. These are rods of wood that you sequence from shortest to tallest. My father went to the effort of making a superb box as a control of error for each rod to fit into. This will help a lot until he can sort them without the box. For now they also make great building tools as a road for his cars and other formations.
For lunch we had decided to do a braai. I had seen a recipe in the You magazine which looked great. The marinade and the meat worked out well. The vegetable kebabs? Not so much. For a start I couldn’t find baby brinjals. So I decided to do my own thing. Probably a mistake. Onions and peppers were joined by patty pans and mushrooms. The soft vegetable did not really go. The patty pans and onions were undercooked. It was a bit of a disaster. The meat we also had to cook in the oven a bit. Lunch worked out a bit late but we filled up on chocolates and mince pies.
Fortunately the potato salad came out great, as did the butternut. For desert we had trifle which was delicious.
All in all I guess I appreciated the company more than the food, and I certainly learnt few things. (Like: I’m never making those vegetable kebabs again.)
Of course Nicky was surrounded by cars and trucks so he was very happy. He even got a packet of chocolates to eat which thankfully has come to an end.
How was your Christmas?
The kids LOVED jumping on the trampoline! Thanks for having us over 🙂
It was a pleasure to have you – bring them again! 🙂
Great to see you had a good Christmas! We also had family over, and Little Miss loved all the presents!
Glad she enjoyed her pressies!
Vegetable kebab disaster aside your christmas sounds like it was so much fun. Ours was quiet, church in the morning, lunch and games and nap!!
Oh yes napping is very important after eating large quantities of food.
Our Christmas was very low key. Seems like you guys had a blast though! Those Montessori blocks look VERY awesome!
Thanks! My dad is awesome!
Hi,
It does not seem as though Nicky had any trouble on his first days on the STRIDER Bike.
He should be whizzing around within two weeks or less.