Christmas

When I was younger, we had a tradition in my family to open one present on Christmas Eve. I would like to continue this tradition with Bodhi just because I remember how exciting it was to choose one gift to open the night before Santa's arrival. When we told Bodhi he could one one present early he knew exactly what to do. He went for it and immediately started ripping the paper.

Christmas morning, Ray put on the yule log (I like this new tradition) and Bodhi looked through his stocking and opened a few presents. He really liked singing into the microphone. We spent the rest of the day at Sherry's house with my family. We had a lovely day of opening presents, in between eating. Bodhi was very excited when he opened up a train set that he received from my Mom. Although I think Mason was even more excited than Bodhi. Both of the boys played with the train set for most of the day. It was quite sweet, Mason put together the track and they both played so nicely together. The next day when we left, I said "Bye Mason, see you next time" and Mason replied "Okay don't forget to bring Bodhi's train"

i do it, i do it, i do it

Our blog has become somewhat less frequently updated lately, mostly because it has become quite difficult to get pictures of the little guy. Every time the camera comes out he insists on being the one to take the pictures as you can see here:



It's not without it's rewards though... Once you take out all the photos with little fingers in them you end up with some pretty cute ones. Enjoy!

christmas time

It definitely has been feeling like Christmas the last week or so. Ray and I have been staying up late baking and wrapping and watching the 25 days of Christmas shows. I have seen most of these Christmas movies so many times before but they never get old. I love watching them every year. Bodhi has been up late too, since there are so many events. This last weekend was very busy. Saturday night we went to a holiday party. We weren't sure if we were going to go or not since it was raining, but we decided to go and glad that we did since we had such a great time. The party was hosted by my Dad's friend and we have been going the last few years. We get a chance to catch up with friends and eat some yummy food. Bodhi had a lot of fun running around with his cousin Zena and playing the slot machines in the Saloon (not a real saloon, silly).




On Sunday, we got up early to get our Christmas tree. Bodhi was very excited once we got the tree tree lit up and decorated with ornaments. He walked around the tree and pointed out all the different ornaments saying names of things he knew (bird, fish, scooby doo, ball, cat). I've come to realize we have quite a few animal ornaments.


Later that day Bodhi and I went to my friend Kristi's for a cookie exchange. All the kids had a great time playing with Vivian's toys and the adults had a great time chatting and munching on cookies.

After the cookie exchange we met up with several family members at Disneyland to see the holiday decorations. Bodhi of course loved "Its a small world" since it was lit up and decorated for the holidays.

little helper

Bodhi likes to help do lots of things around the house. He likes to help make coffee, crack the eggs for scrambled eggs, measure ingredients for pancakes and cookies. He also likes to help Daddy wash the dishes, help Mommy put the dirty laundry in the laundry basket and water the plants with his little watering can.

Bodhi Language

Bodhi has been amazing me everyday with new words that he's learning. The other morning I greeted him with "Hi Bodhi, how are you?" and he said "Hi!" Later that same morning, he walked into the room and I said "Hi Bodhi!" to which he responded "Haoyoo?" Close enough. He knows the sounds for 6 to 8 animals, but surprised me recently when I showed him an owl and he said "Hoo Hoo"... hey! I didn't teach him that one? Where did he learn it?

The best part is that he's learning words that help us understand what he needs and wants. When he's thirsty he says "wawa", when he's hungry he says "ah'm onrry" and points to the tabletop. When he's hurt he says "booboo" and when he wants something he can't get out he says "stuck!" That last one works for when he gets himself into a spot he can't get out of, too. Something that happens quite a bit with a toddler. When he spills something he says "tao" which means "towel" and is pretty useful, too. He can even tell us which TV show he wants to watch with "Pooh" being a favorite along with Curious George for which he points at the TV and says "OO! OO! OO!", like a monkey.

I'm really having fun with this stage of his development. Maybe it's because I'm a language guy, myself, but watching him mimic sounds, put them together and attach them to objects and concepts is really neat.

trick or treating

Bodhi had so much fun out trick or treating. We went to our friends house after the fair and had dinner before heading out. I think Bodhi was done with wearing the dinosaur costume so we didn't push it and let him wear the backup costume of skeleton pajamas. He actually looked pretty cute and loved running around at night, from house to house, holding onto his light stick. When we would step up to the front door, usually the person handing out candy would bend down to his level to put a piece of candy in his treat bag, but Bodhi would take this as a cue to pick out another piece of candy from the bowl. He would look at all the wrapped candy and decide which one he wanted and then pick that one. Ray and I kept laughing. The only thing that scared him a little bit was when he saw a blowup ghost.

halloween fair

We met up with Christina, Zena, my Mom and Sherry's kids at a Halloween fair that was held at their church in Orange County. They had lots of game booths set up for kids. When they participated in the game they got to pick out some candy. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, with lots of rides (for older kids) and food booths. Bodhi was so good and wore his costume almost the whole time we were there. We took it off when we decided to get some food. He was a cute little dinosaur. I'm so glad I picked up that costume when BabyStyle was going out of business earlier this year. I wasn't ever sure that Bodhi would actually wear it for Halloween so I ended up buying a backup costume just in case.