Holiday Traditions

One of our favorite holiday traditions is making pounds and pounds of fudge, licking the spoons, and then giving it away to anyone that comes within arms reach of our house! This year was my 8th or 9th year making fudge of my own. My mother always made the fudge and one of the first years after I was married, she talked me through the steps over the phone as I stood in my kitchen in Kansas.
This year I had lots of help! Sam was ready and waiting, wooden spoon in hand, to stir until his little 3 1/3 year old arms couldn't stir anymore ( which didn't take long)! He helped with each batch, chocolate, peanut butter, layered. And when it came time to wrap it all up, he was ready to help with the labels, the bags, the ties, even the photograph. (Do you see him peeking through the rows of fudge?)
Then it came time to give the fudge away. All afternoon he watched the neighbors house, waiting for the Christmas lights to be on...that was the sign that they were home. Three times during dinner he ran to the front window to check on "Jessie's house". When he finally saw them park in the driveway, he opened the front door and yelled, "Hi Jessie, we'll be over to bring you FUDGE!" After all coats, hats, boots and gloves had been applied, he ran over to Jessie's house, rang the door bell three times and knocked in between, then handed Jessie the fudge with all his might. She was not as excited as Sam had hoped, but her Barbie collection distracted him and he was off playing in Barbie world.
When in Maine we made sugar cookies and of course, Sam helped. We had lots of them, though they didn't last long and my sister and I ended up decorating ALL of them. It was a fun way to start off the holiday traditions we all know and love!

My Sweet Boy!

At one year old Arlo is amazing! Walking everywhere, running, in fact, to keep up with his big brother. He mimics sounds, waves "bye-bye" , nods "yes", and shakes "no". He can sign "milk", "all done", "hot", sometimes "please". He has a few words, "bye-bye", "mama" and "dada". He is very deliberate in his actions and extremely observant of others and their actions. He knows where things "belong", i.e. the blankets go on the bed, etc. He points at everything and grunts with an intonation of question. When asked to go get something he'll usually follow the direction. He can complete his wooden stacking toy and loves to "race" cars along the floor.
We had a simple party with few gifts, as I have learned how little they play with them and how little they can handle. One or two quality items are enough to sustain a one year old's attention! He was given a couple wooden pull toys, and a fantastic wooden race car from the Maine State prison Showroom.

This morning we had a little crisis when Arlo climbed from his high chair and fell to the ceramic tile floor! He was immediately lethargic and vomiting, pale and sweaty. He wouldn't nurse and wasn't alert....I took him and Sam to the ER! Matt is in San Diego at a conference!
A long story short; he's fine, though had a concussion. After 3 hours at the ER, a 2 hour nap, and a big snack with some mommy milk, he's back to normal! Whew! What a scare.

I can't believe my baby is a year already. Time really does pass much faster with kids....

Link to December of 2006 for a flashback of when my sweet boy arrived!