and now a break for an abudance of cute

Just this weekend I managed to finish sorting through and tagging all the photos from the Christmas holiday. I was much too busy for blogging but feel the need to memorialize some of the season's event. Not the least of which was the quality time with Nephew Leland who turned three this New Year's Day.

He's at a great age for the holidays, although Santa Claus (AKA Ho Ho) and Baby Jeus are making him a bit confused. Brother Mac told him that he had to go to church because it was Jesus' birthday, so when they got to church he kept looked for this Jesus kid. "Is he outside?" "Is Jesus on the playground?" Not to mention his expectations for cake and ice cream (AKA "happy to you") Mac telling him that Jesus was everywhere just sort of freaked him out.

Leland also has a love/fear thing with Santa/ Ho Ho. When Bradley (turning 17 this month) and Ellen (now 14) were younger, one of the uncles would dress in the Santa suit and appear at the window during Christmas dinner. Brother Jay dressed up for Leland this year, but the sudden appearance and the reaction of the older kids scared the little baby Bejessus out of Leland.

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However, the rest of the Christmas holiday was filled with super baby fun time. Leland is pretty hilarious and just ridiculously adorable. I love that he loves me so and knows that I am someone special. He is just getting to wrap his head around the concept that I live someplace "else." It's interesting to watch him concentrate and try to work this out, and try to "use his words" to form his queries about where I go when I go away and how that all works. His Uncle David on his mother's side lives in Colorado, and he's getting it together that we are alike in that we are family who love him and are here from time to time but most of the time exist elsewhere.

He also loves that I am silly and always am willing to play with him. He always wants to play with me, and has gotten a little fascinated with the beard. It was just a ridiculously fun time.

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I just melted when he asked me to be the one to give him his bath and his story and tuck him into bed. Mom and I found him a little toddler shaving play set and he got to "shave like daddy."

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He also got a big boy bike. The new thing is the Strider Bike, which is pretty revolutionary in teaching kids to ride a bike, and vastly superior to the tradition of training wheels, which actually are counter-training to balance and bike riding.

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Here's a video from the inventor—



If you have a little one, you have to check this out.