Teefers and Tantrums

We had a fabulous Christmas this year. It was so much fun to see Meredith really start to understand the holiday. Santa was very generous--he brought Mere lots and lots of presents. It was strange, because he wrote Jack's name on half of them! We kept telling her that next Christmas will be very different. You can steal presents from a 6-month old brother, but an 18-month old brother will have something to say about that!

Jack has been a little fussy the past few days and we can finally see why. He sprouted his first tooth! This is a little stressful for me. Not only can I tell my baby is in pain (which is the worst part), but I feel a little like I'm taking my life in my hands by nursing a baby with teeth. Meredith didn't cut her first tooth until 10 months of age, so Jack is definitely ahead of the curve. His second tooth doesn't feel like it's far behind. I personally think he's sprouting teeth because he's starting to get sick of baby food and wants to graduate to the good stuff.

We had our first attempt at "time out" this morning. Meredith was eating breakfast, so I put her hair back in a ponytail so she wouldn't get syrup in it. After she took the ponytail out for the third time and refused to sit on her chair, I told her she needed to sit in time out until she was ready to listen. Mere put herself in time out repeatedly this morning. She would look at me and say, "Mommy, I not listening. I sit in time out." I'm not sure if I feel like this was a success or if she's just impressed by the novelty of it all. She continues to increase her vocabulary. I hit the garage door with my car a few weeks ago (rest assured it was Chris' fault!) and now every time we get in the car, Meredith tells me, "Mommy, you bump garage door with our car. It's okay. Daddy fix it with his tools."

A few pictures from the holidays (in no particular order):


Now that Jack is sitting up by himself, we decided to try a trip to the grocery store. He loved sitting in the cart, but got tired halfway through the trip. He fell asleep in the cart and I had to finish my grocery shopping with one hand because I had to use the other one to hold him up!

Meredith helping Jack with tummy time this morning. They crack me up!

Jack loves his moose

This is our playroom on Christmas morning. Meredith was on toy overload and got out everything she could reach in about three minutes. Jack got stuck in the middle.

Daddy finally managed to get her to wear her helmet!

Family picture from Christmas Eve

Jack and cousin Dylan on Christmas Day (courtesy of Aunt Erin)