It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Wow, it's the end of November! Where has time gone? It is hard to believe that Christmas is less than a month away. I am trying not to let it stress me out as I have done no Christmas preparing yet. And to make matters more stressful we are planning on hosting Christmas this year. Travelling between Beaverdam, Hanwell and Stickney was too much work last year! But now that I think about it, hosting Christmas for 9 people and 2 dogs is no small task either.

We haven't ventured to the mall to see Santa yet. I am not sure how Adrian will react to him this year but I will keep you posted. He gets shy out of the blue sometimes which is odd because usually he has no fear in the world. Adrian and I did take a ride on the Christmas train in the Presque Isle mall last weekend and he sure loved that. He just sat on my lap and made funny little grunting noises the whole time.

Our babysitter Lisa has her Christmas tree up (protected by baby gates) and Adrian loves to look at it. But I suspect he would much rather be tearing it apart based on the little devilish twinkle in his eye when he looks at it from behind the gate. I plan on putting our tree up this weekend, so we'll see how he makes out with it. I suspect it will be a battle. 'No touch' has become a the most popular phrase in our house lately, followed closely by 'Please don't stand on that', 'Stay out of the garbage', 'Get out of Barkley's water bowl'. 'Don't put that in your mouth' and 'DANGER!'. Wish us luck!

I love that Adrian loves books

A few weeks ago I was sitting on the floor playing with Adrian and he got up and ran over to the table with his books, picked one up, brought it over to me and sat of my lap and waited for me to read it. He sat intently while I read the whole thing. And he has done this many times since.

It was the sweetest thing ever. For starters I just love it when he sits on my lap like that. I can't imagine any better feeling in the world than having your baby so close. But the really exciting thing was that he actually wanted to read a book, even with all of the toys surrounding him. Jamie and I have been reading to him daily since he was born with the hope that we can instill a love of reading in him. So this was the first sign that it might be working. I felt a tinge of accomplishment! I so hope that he grows up to be an avid reader and to know the feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing a good book.

A weekend in Enfield

We had a great weekend visiting Brian and Tracey this weekend in their lovely new home in Enfield, NS. As an added bonus Grampy and Grammy Underhill and Tracey's sister Susan were there as well. Adrian was his usual busy self and it was nice to have 7 pairs of hands to pull him out of trouble. I am glad other people got to experience just how busy the little guy is because I sometimes feel like I am exaggerating but I don't think I am. He literally never sits still. Ever.

Despite his non-stop motion he was such a good boy and didn't really get upset once. He was even good on the drive to Halifax which surprised me seeing as he doesn't like to sit still for 5 minutes let alone 4 hours. I got quite a sore back from constantly turning around to feed and entertain but I guess that is the price you pay when you travel with a busy toddler. I came prepared with a full bag of 'tricks' (food, toys, drinks, books, etc) which helped. Ah I remember the days when Jamie drove and I sipped away at my coffee, read and had a quick cat nap.

(Check out Adrian's evil face. Not quite sure where that came from as he enjoyed 'flirting' with Susan all weekend.)

A true New Brunswicker

Please don't ask how Adrian ended up in just his diaper and his winter boots. And the worst part is that after these pictures were taken he ended up in his birthday suit and his winter boots as he finally ripped his diaper off.

The good news is that we found winter boots to fit his fat little feet. And obviously he likes them because I will catch him clumsily trying to put them on himself. I think he really likes the clop-clop sound they make when he walks.

I don't know why but seeing a guy in his underpants and winter boots makes me think 'New Brunswick'.

Evel Knievel

Adrian has been upgraded from our little monkey to our little Evel Knievel. All of the sudden he wants to be standing on everything. He tries to stand on his toys, even the balls. I am forever pulling him off the fireplace ledge. And last night Jamie was playing with him on the floor and he decided to try to stand on his bike!!! He would get his feet on the seat and balance himself while holding onto the handle bars, then ever so slowly stand completely up. It was really something to watch and because it was so entertaining we let him do it (with some careful spotting by Jamie). He was quite proud of himself whenever he made it all the way up. The only problem is now all he wants to do is stand on the bike so we had to put it in the closet for now. Hopefully a few days will get him out of this stage!! It's one that is sure to see us in the Emergency Room some night.