You don’t want to peek, just in case Santa might be lurking about.
Santa in this photo played oh so well by Brooklynn’s new cousin, Kolton.
Category Archives: Media
oh, christmas… (that’s it)
This is the first Christmas season that Brooklynn has really understood enough to be an active participant in. Last year, we decorated the tree while she was asleep and hoped that she wouldn’t get interested enough in it to pull the ornaments down. It was a successful and uneventful plan.
This year, however, has been a different story. We put the tree up while she was sleeping again, but we didn’t completely decorate it in her absence. We started while she was napping, but she woke up just a few minutes in to the process. After a quick debate, we decided to continue decorating. We have plastic bulbs for a reason after all.
She helped to hang some of the ones on the low branches and did a good job handing some to me to put up high on the tree. She was also around when we redid the mantle and she came outside to watch me put lights on the house.
She had a Christmas concert at school (she still likes to sing Frosty the Snowman) and Rhiannon just finished a round of holiday baking and treat making. I don’t know if Brooklynn has linked all of these things together as one big seasonal item yet, but I imagine she will soon enough. As of right now, she just knows we have some decorations up and everything is Christmas!
Really. It’s Christmas.
Her, turning on the lights for the Christmas tree: “I turned on Christmas!”
Her, pointing to the stocking holder Santa Claus on the mantle: “It’s Christmas. Hi, Christmas!”
Her, talking to her mom’s stomach: “Come out, baby. It’s Christmas!”
Ok, that last one actually works, but you get the idea. I guess as long as she enjoys herself, that’s really what matters.
For you, a picture of our Christmas. (tree)
project family v3.5r2.26
Is that a little over the top for a title? I’ve settled on it for a way of tracking where we are.
The main revision got a bump up to 3.5 when we officially learned Rhiannon was pregnant. This is major update and deserves it’s own point.
It’s Artoo (r2) this time around versus the Beta (b) we had before Brooklynn officially launched. And the .26 at the end means 26 weeks. It all makes perfect sense.
What’s that, you don’t care about my numbering scheme? You just want the photo update already? Well, fine.
Looking back over the past couple months of posts and then looking back at the posts that lead up to Brooklynn’s launch date, I’ve talked a lot less about Artoo. That probably isn’t fair. Artoo will never have the benefit of being an only child with the full attention of both parents all the time. I guess I figured I’d just start the ignoring process early.
Now, Artoo isn’t someone who is taking this whole ignoring lying down. Rhiannon informs me that she feels kicks, jabs, roundhouses, and full on disco-party mode several times a day, every day. In the evening when we are settling down for some sleep in the evening, I can usually put my hand on her stomach and get a good kick or elbow, as if Artoo is saying, “Hey, hands off my mama!”
Artoo is already standing up to Brooklynn. When she sits on Rhiannon’s lap and leans back (Artoo makes a great back rest for a toddler), Rhiannon says that Artoo will vigorously thrash about like someone is encroaching, which I suppose Brooklynn is. So far, Brooklynn hasn’t seemed to notice. She just likes to say high to the baby and kiss Rhiannon’s stomach. She’s also suggested that we call the new addition “Baby ABC”.
We’re keeping that under advisement and sticking with Artoo for now.
So, everything is going well. No news from us is good news. I’m sure that the new baby will demand split attention and probably trump Brooklynn for now, so we’ll ignore Artoo a little bit longer while we still can.
presenting brooklynn
Last night, Rhiannon and I got to be parents in the audience with a video camera for the very first time. And, thanks to the power of the internet, you get to see it too.
This is the program from her school. What you don’t see in the video is that the stage was lined with over 20 kids and three teachers. I thought everyone stood in line and “performed” very well considering it’s a bunch of two year olds under the lights with a whole bunch of cameras pointed at them1. Out of all of them, only one kid cried and had to leave the stage with his parents. I’ve picked her up from school in the evening when there are only a handful of kids left and it’s a little overwhelming to me, so seeing 20+ small people in a group, standing at attention neatly in a line was beyond impressive.
We didn’t know exactly what to expect – Brooklynn was basically asleep when we got there, but we had a little time to sit in the audience and let her warm up. When she saw her teacher and some of her friends, she was ready to go. You’ll note that while she didn’t do all of the actions, she did sing some of the words, and of course she danced around. In our house we sing and we dance around. We do some actions, and then we dance some more.
She got to bed almost an hour past her normal time, which actually wasn’t bad considering the video was shot at a time that she is usually asleep. This morning, we were talking about what a good job she did at her singing concert last night and she thought it would be fun to go do it again.
Yes, Brooklynn. You just have to wait one short year.
- Wow. Talk about cameras. Video cameras, cell phones, digital cameras. Everything under the sun. And everyone clamoring for a shot of their kid. And yes, I’m just as guilty as everyone else. ↩
A, B, C… oh, what?
Brooklynn has gone through several stages in her life of us trying to capture her in pictures and video. The first was indifference, where she may or may not repeat a funny behavior and there wasn’t much you could do to alter her reactions.
Then came the manipulatable stage, where we could get her to laugh or repeat behavior based on our reactions. Following that was a tough stage where she just really wanted to touch any camera or electronic device she saw.
Right now, she knows when we want her to do things again. She is capable of repeating her behaviors on command. The question is will she cooperate.
She just finished two rounds of complete ABCs, so we figured we should get a video of her doing it. Right, we should know better than to expect a full performance on demand. Silly parents.
