Blessed Beyond Measure: The A Team Week 14a: The Last Few Moments

This week started with a cold dreary Monday...The last Monday before Christmas and the last night to get things done before our visitors arrived. Since our daycare had to close early that evening for a family function, I picked up the boys and took them to the Dollar Store to look for a present for Eric. A long time ago, Eric had asked if we were planning to get gifts for each other that were from the boys. I said no, since they are not old enough to pick something themselves and if it isn't something that they thought of on their own, it really isn't a gift from them. As I thought more about it though, I wondered if Asher actually was still too young to not understand how to pick a gift for his Daddy. One evening we looked through sales papers together and I asked him to help me find presents for Daddy. At the time, I was mostly just trying to occupy him as I waited for dinner to cook, but he was really into it. I thought about it more and then came up with the idea to take Asher to the Dollar Store to select a gift for Eric. If I had taken him anywhere else and told him that he could pick anything he wanted to get Daddy, I had no control over how much we would spend and if it would be worth the money I would have to shell out. At the Dollar Store however, I knew I would only have to spend $1 and that would be worth it to me, even if only for the observation of a toddler shopping for his Daddy.

Side Story: One day I did ask Asher what he wanted to give Daddy for Christmas, fully expecting him to not have a thoughtful answer. His response: Ice. While some may find this a strange answer, I was actually shocked by it because it was indeed an incredibly thoughtful idea. Asher and Eric both LOVE to chew ice, and on Saturday mornings they often let Avery and I relax or sleep in while they head out to McDonalds to get a Coke for Eric and a cup of ice for Asher. It is so amazing to watch our little guy grow up!

So, on that cold raining evening we headed into the store (which was packed) and I told Asher that he could pick any one item in the store to get Daddy for Christmas. He was really excited! We walked up and down the aisles looking at our options, and here is what we found...

The first aisle we went down happened to be the make-up aisle and some gold glittery nail polish caught Asher's eye. Now to be fair, he had no idea it was nail polish, but he definitely thought Daddy would like it. We grabbed it and walked away, but then he decided to put it back, so we continued on our journey...

Asher checking out the nail polish options.

...Next, we found some cocktail toothpicks. I am not sure what the appeal of these was, but they remained in the running for much of our time there. I would hold them up to other items that Asher picked up (like plastic dinosaurs, a plastic whale and a plastic lion) and he would put the other items back on the shelf and have me keep holding onto the toothpicks.

The toothpicks

Asher shopping.

I thought for sure that Asher would get completely distracted by the toy section and end up throwing a fit that he wanted them, but he really seemed to grasp the idea that we were shopping for Eric and NOT him. He did find a football while we were in that area and really thought Daddy would like that. However, he was not ready to give up on the toothpicks so we held onto them both. We continued on in the store and found a few more items that Asher thought were worthy of his favorite guy: a tin canister, some Mardi Gras beads, a Spiderman towel, a stuffed fish and some Minion playing cards.

Asher holding the football, toothpicks & tin canister

Asher modeling the Mardi Gras beads for me (his own doing)

When it was time to get going (we had walked up and down most aisles and Avery was getting impatient), I laid everything that we had in hand down for Asher to review and reminded him that we needed to pick just one item to get for Eric. He looked over them for a bit, decided that I should buy the Mardi Gras beads for myself instead (I didn't, but appreciated the gesture) and that the football was the best option (I agreed internally, although I did not try to sway him at all).

Asher reviewing our final options.

We headed for the checkout with the football in hand, but had one more moment of indecision. Asher saw some pop and really wanted to get that for Daddy too saying, "Daddy like this." I again reminded him that he had to pick one; either the pop or the football and he reluctantly put the pop back, although he was quite right that Eric would have thought that was a good idea as well (if it were not for the fact that it was orange Shasta pop). We made our way to the register, bought the football and headed home. Asher held it the whole way and was so excited. When Eric got home from work (despite the fact that I had told Asher several times that he needed to keep his purchase a secret and wait until Christmas), Asher ran up to him saying, "football, football" immediately. Thankfully though, he was saying it so quickly that Eric had no idea what he was saying as I sat laughing and shaking my head!

Asher wavering on his decision for the football.

Video: Popcorn

That evening, Asher helped me make some caramel corn as a gift for his daycare provider. We plugged in the air popper, dumped in the seeds and waited for the popping to commence. While we waited, I gathered the other supplies needed. When I turned back to Asher and the air popper, he was warming his hands by the air popper...maybe we need to turn the heat up in our house?

The next day was Tuesday. We worked for the day and then I picked up Asher and Avery from Daycare (when Asher finally got to open his gift from Christina, that he had been waiting for all month) and then picked up Eric to meet my parents at Red Robin for dinner. We had a nice dinner together and headed back home.

Side Story: On the Sunday before this week, we had a baby shower at our home as I mentioned in my last post. At the shower, our friend Richenda had decorated with three mylar helium balloons. One went home with her son, one vanished (probably with one of the other kids that were at the party), and one stayed at our house for Asher to play with. He LOVED this balloon. When it was time for a nap after the party, he didn't want to part with it, but we promised him that it would be right where he left it when he woke up and he could play with it again (& we wouldn't let Emma, who also LOVES balloons, play with it while he was sleeping). When nap time was over, Asher was thrilled to find his balloon exactly where he left it and spent much of the remainder of the afternoon and evening playing with it. Several times while he played with it and smacked it around the room, I reminded him to keep it away from the Christmas tree, as it might get popped. Toward the end of the evening, he didn't heed my advice and sure enough, the balloon hit the Christmas tree and was torn by the sharp needles, immediately deflating the balloon. Asher pleaded with us to "fix it", but we explained to him over and over again, that it was ruined and there was no way to fix it. He was very sad. That night, after I tucked him in and read him his bedtime stories, I asked him three questions that I try to ask him every night when I put him to bed (an idea I got from another friend recently). The first: What made you happy or smile today? The second: What made you sad or frown today? The third: What made you laugh today? He did not have an answer to the third question (& frequently doesn't have answers to any of them as he is still quite young to think back on the day like this), but his answer for the first question was, "My Balloon," and when I asked him what made him sad today he replied, "My balloon popped." :( Besides the fact that this is a cute story in and of itself, I tell it for another reason as well. When we left Red Robin, Eric and I tried (as we always do) to make it past the balloons at the front door, without having to bring one home. As is typical, we failed. Asher saw the balloons and wanted to bring one home. We let him go get it and watched him as he gleefully swung it around on the drive home. When we got home with my parents, I told him to be careful with it and not let Emma near it as I knew that this being only days after the previous balloon incident, there would be tears if it too popped. Only seconds after I said this, as we were walking down the basement stairs to the playroom, the balloon touched (barely) my leg and just exploded! Immediately the flood came as Asher became unglued about the loss of another balloon, again pleading for us to fix it and also stating that "Mommy broke my balloon!" ...I am going to do my best to keep balloons out of this house from now on!...we did "fix it though". Since this balloon was not a helium balloon and was instead simply tied to a stick. Eric and I quickly grabbed the stick, found another red balloon and tied it on to replace the last. Asher was happy to have another balloon, but still blamed me for the loss of the previous throughout the remainder of the evening!

After playing for a while in the basement (after the balloon incident), we finally headed to bed and when we woke it was Christmas Eve (& also Avery's 3 month birthday, but I will say more on that another time). I enjoyed a relaxing morning at home with Mom wrapping presents, while Eric, Asher and my Dad ran some errands for me and did some last minute shopping. By late morning, we were all back home and getting ready to go back out. Asher and Avery went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast with my parents, while Eric and I headed for the 10:50 (yes a.m.) showing of The Hobbit...our first date since Avery was born! We ate popcorn for lunch and enjoyed 2.5 kid-free hours together...it was wonderful!

Daddy & Avery enjoying a Christmas Eve morning snuggle.

Asher hanging out in bed with Grandma & Papa Christmas Eve morning.

Bed Hog

After the movie, we headed back home to get ready for Christmas Eve church, which was at 4:30pm. When everyone was set to go, we headed over there to enjoy the service, prepared with some small toys and treats to use for bribery for Asher as I knew there would be no childcare. Unfortunately, the bribery only worked for a short amount of time, and although Asher wasn't "bad" he also could not remain quiet, so Eric took him out into the hall during the sermon so that we would not disrupt the others around us. It was a nice service, ending with candlelight, and a great way to start of our Christmas celebrations. When the service was over, we headed back home and ordered a fancy feast of Dominos pizza and breadsticks for dinner after we took a few family photos while everyone was still dressed up.

Baby's 1st Christmas Eve & 3 Month Birthday!

Our attempt for a family photo.

The boys with Grandma & Papa

Our fancy Christmas Eve Dinenr

We ate up our yummy, hassle-free dinner and then I headed down to the basement to finish wrapping Christmas presents while my parents watched the kiddos. Soon after, my mom came down holding Avery and showing me that he had had a MAJOR blowout while sitting in his chair at the dining room table. She took him upstairs to the bathroom to clean him up while I continued to wrap. When she was done cleaning him up, she came back downstairs to tell me that she believes she heard Avery's first laugh. While she was excited to tell me this, I will admit that it made me a little sad. No parent wants to hear that they missed out on a "first." I know she was excited to be there for it, but I was bummed to miss it. She said that she didn't even do anything. She simply laid Avery down on the floor and turned on the electric wall heater that is in the room to warm it up so that he wasn't cold when she undressed him. When the heater came on, Avery laughed. Later that evening, I told Eric this and he said that we were not counting that as the "first", since neither of us where there to witness the event. I think he was bummed as well. I know that he got Asher's first laugh, and I am pretty sure he was hoping to get Avery's first as well. The next day though (Chrsitmas morning), Eric was able to get Avery to laugh (again I wasn't around to hear it!), and he said that that could be the "official" first!

Finally, it was bedtime. Dinner was done, all the presents were wrapped, Avery was cleaned up from his explosion and everyone was ready for some rest. Before bed though, there was one present for Asher (& Avery) to open. Since this is our first family Christmas at home, and our first Christmas with a child old enough to know what is going on, it was time for us to start off some family traditions. One of these being the single Christmas Eve present. Like my own childhood and a large number of others I know, I wanted to give the boys new jammies to wear on Christmas Eve so they look all cute Christmas morning. I wanted the jammies to be "Christmassy", but not have santas or anything on them that would make them seem silly the rest of the year. After much searching to find something I liked in the same or matching for the boys sizes, I finally found some at Sam's Club that were red with blue stripes and a polar bear. I thought it was a good choice for the color and the wintery look. I also wanted to give another small gift to the boys to go with their jammies. I have seen the idea on pinterest of giving a movie with hot chocolate, popcorn, etc. so that you can have a family movie night before bed. However, I wasn't keen on the idea of filling Asher up with sugar or junk before bed and he really doesn't enjoy watching any TV for more than 5 minutes at a time, so a movie is a no-go. Another option I had is giving them a family game to play before bed. This is a tradition that my family had. My parents always gave us something to the "family" on Christmas Eve and it is was always a game that we could play that evening together. I really like this option, and will likely use it in the future, but at the moment the boys are too young for board games, so it wasn't going to work. Finally, I got the idea of getting them a new bedtime story to read. Eric wanted to give the boys a book called, "Andrew Henry's Meadow," which was one of his favorite books as a kid. It is a little above Asher's current reading level, but still made the perfect Christmas Eve bedtime story book as it was Eric's night to tuck Asher in and they enjoyed some good snuggle time reading the new book. :)