A Joyful Place: Christmas 2008

Chris took the above video of Dominic on Christmas at his Tutu and Papa's house. Dominic is growing up to be a sweet and affectionate kid and we had the best time sharing the holiday with him.

Here we are putting out goodies for Santa and his reindeer. Dominic often refers to things by the sound they make rather than what they are. For example, Ducks are "quacks" and cats are "meows." This proved no exception for Santa who has been referred to as "Ho Ho Ho" for the last several weeks.

This is Dominic with his new bike. I think it's safe to say that he's fairly obsessed with it--which is no surprise since Derek and I have been building it up for the past several weeks. The first things he does when we get him from his crib in the morning, is pat his head and say "Helmet, Mama. Bikkkkeee." Also, this bike does not have pedals and is just supposed to be propelled with his feet. Well, you can imagine how many bikes he sees on a daily basis in our garage so he was surprised by the missing pedals. He put he hands where the pedals should be and said "Oh noooooo, Daddy, oooohhhh no!!!"

Dominic is in love with his Papa. If you ask him what he wants to do, he usually says "Go Papa's house" or simply, "Papa". Now, we all know that Kirby is a fun and charming guy but the fact that he lets Dominic "drive" his GTO, play with all of his model cars, and feeds him sweet bread with whipped cream is not hurting the guy's popularity any.

When Dominic is not asking for his Papa, he's asking for his Tutu who is the best playmate that Dominic has. She sings him silly songs and make up stories and pretend things for them to do.We're lucky to have family close by.

Ah yes, and now we get to a few of Dominic's other obsessions. First there is his Uncle Mike (featured here with Dominic) whom Dominic insists on calling "Apple Mike". At least 50 times a day, Dominic asks "Where Apple Mike go?!?" with the most forlorn look on this face. In fact, one of Dominic's new words is "Tahoe" (which he says like Taaaahooooeee) because he's heard us tell him so many times over the past few days that this is where his pal Mike is. Anyway, one obsession leads into another as Apple Mike and his wife Diana purchased a skateboard for Dominic for Christmas. This means that my 20-month old has not one but t-w-o skateboards. And really? He loves them both--maybe even more than the bike. Thanks Apple Mike.