5 posts tagged “christmas”
We had a nice time in Oregon. Owen's 11 month older cousin Hailee warmed up to him a little. On Christmas she obligingly sat next to him for a photo shoot in front of the tree. He was fascinated by her and would reach out to pet her blond hair. And by the end of the visit she was bringing him her balls to play with.
Owen's hand-eye coordination improved just in time for the holidays. Rather than just thrusting his hands in the general direction of an object, he can now pick it up in both hands and put it in his mouth. He had quite the appetite for wrapping paper, in particular. He and Hailee had soo many gifts under the tree, we had to stop present opening TWICE for naps. My family makes everyone open presents in turn, youngest to oldest. Even with Hailee and Owen doubling up on their turns, this still took an eternity.
Flying went less smoothly than our first trip. Four hour flight to Denver + teething infant, not the most pleasant
In new baby tricks, Owen groans/grunts violently as if to say
"gimme!" in the direction of what he wishes to put in his mouth. And now that he can sit up on his own, he is so over the infant carrier. He digs in with his elbows to resist being put in. Once in, he still takes good naps in it, once he gives in and lets himself relax.
After a (surprise to mama) 3 day visit from Grandma and Grandpa L, we're off to Oregon tomorrow for Christmas with Grandmom and Grandpop R (& family). Flying through Denver (we hope), so wish us luck!
Owen's 4 month checkup stats:
Height: 25" (50-75th percentile)
Weight: 18lbs. 6oz. (>97th percentile)
Brains: 16 3/4" (50-75th percentile)
Happy holiday week everyone!
Our mom's group nurse likes to say that if you put all the
We had our "Chrismukkah" celebrations over the weekend. Dinner with friends Saturday night, with the traditional Hanukkah latkes and Christmas ham. (My first post-baby dinner party! -- I can't count Rosh Hashanah since our friends did the cooking. -- And the food was even ready pretty much at the scheduled time, although L had to take over frying the latkes so Owen could have his dinner.) We put Owen in his high chair for the first time so he could sit at the table, and it worked for a little while before he decided he'd rather be held.
Sunday morning we gave Owen his presents since we didn't want to schlep them all to Oregon and back. (We'll just do his stocking there.) He really enjoyed the shiny red wrapping paper on his main present, an iBear. He was less excited about the clothes and shoes, but enjoyed his new toys. And he got a few new books, including one about a hippo named Owen. It was nice out (can't beat 60 degrees in December!) so we followed this up with a walk to Starbucks and O fell asleep facing outwards in the bjorn. Too much excitement for one morning!
Growing up, our family tradition was that each of us kids got a new Christmas tree ornament each year on Christmas Eve, so that when we grew up and moved out we'd have a full set of ornaments. I'm definitely planning to do this with Owen. I'm thinking of doing a theme too, and trying to make it a train ornament each year. (Trains are also a family thing, my grandfather started a short line railroad.) When Owen's a little older (and we have more room) I will definitely be purchasing a train for under the tree.
This year we're not getting a tree, since we're going to Oregon. I always think we'll skip it or get a small one only to wind up not being able to resist. I did grow up in the heart of Christmas tree country, after all! Our first Christmas out here I made the mistake of asking my Jewish husband to pick up a little fake tree from the drug store ... since then we've had real ones. But this year I just got a red ornament tree at Target to give Owen something fun to look at.
We're still trying to figure out how to handle Hanukkah. This year we're celebrating Chrismukkah -- we've celebrated this with friends for the past couple years, and it makes sense this time since we'll be out of town for Christmas. But it's probably the last time we'll combine holidays unless they fall on the same day again (as they did last year). My preference is for Hanukkah to be about latkes and the menorah, and not to give Owen gifts at all. Since he's going to be raised primarily episcopalian, I don't want him to think being part jewish just means you get to be extra spoiled.
