Enjoying the spirit of the season

This semester was so overwhelming for me...I'm mentally and physically exhausted. I've had no time for anything non-essential and that means we got to the beginning of December without any Christmas gifts. So it came out of necessity, but it has been so pleasant that I think we may continue it...we've stepped out of commercial Christmas for the most part this year.

When someone called us to ask what we would like, we said, how about we don't exchange gifts this year? We're not doing a card, facebook will suffice this year. We're going on vacation with my family in lieu of gifts for those who are closest to us. I've made more charitable donations. And we did buy a few things over the internet--but only a few and the people and things have been very carefully chosen.

The result? We have one gift under our tree and I don't expect that to change...but we've taken walks with Joaquin to look at Christmas lights, he rode his first merry go round at Knott's county employee day, and I spent Thanksgiving at the beach with Joaquin running around with Bailey. We have not set foot in a crowded store or mall and I am getting all zen and spiritual about it. I don't know how I'll feel Christmas day when we would normally be opening presents and there are none, but the lead up feels pretty darn good.

18 months

Joaquin is 18 months old. Well...he's now almost 19, isn't he? I am consistently late now and I guess that's ok. He's got an extensive vocabulary. I had not counted before his appointment, but that's a check box on the 18 month one and so I started counting when I got in the car: mama, daddy, dog, woof, car, bubbles, ball, ice, hohoho (yes..."what does santa say?"), car (his new favorite...he likes to shout this when he goes by one), poop (which refers to anything that's a mess on the floor or in his diaper), food, see, again, tea, pop, shoes, again...I'm sure I'm forgetting some. What's most impressive though is his use of sentences..."Did you see?", "Mama, does daddy see?", "My dog!", "Our car", (I say "Are you hungry?") he answers "For food?"

We're up to 11 teeth...the front 8 and 3 molars. I can see all 4 incisors popping their heads through and the last molar as well. He's up to 2'10" and 38 lbs. He has curls all over, which is unusual and I love that. I can now see why mommies don't cut their little boys hair...how do I say goodbye to those beautiful curls?

This month, he decided instead of fitting into things, he could start climbing on top of things by himself. This is him after he got into the rocker in his room all by himself...Gid comes out of his room and says, "Why'd you put him in the rocker?" and I say, "I didn't," so we go to look and there he is clapping for himself.