It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

It has been almost a month since my last update. I can't believe the time has flown by so quickly. The Johnson house is in full swing for the holiday season. The stocking is hung by the..stairs..with care, with hopes that St. Nicholas soon will be there. :) Thomas is enjoying the Christmas tree this year. Every morning, we come downstairs and he points to the tree and says, "chee." So, we turn the lights on and look at it for a bit. He has been pretty good about not touching it...too much. There are a few low-hanging ornaments that have struck his fancy a bit. But, for the most part, he is being very good with the tree. We let dad open up a present early, so he could use it for his winter camping adventure. Thomas enjoyed helping his dad with the paper, but didn't enjoy seeing Charlie all wrapped up in his new mummy sleeping bag. He stood clear.

Thomas has found out that playing in the snow is super fun! Charlie took him outside, to play and Thomas ended up helping Charlie shovel. I was at work that day, but I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Wearing any hat that would normally be worn by dad is very fun! Baseball caps, stocking caps, winter hats, etc. It's all great fun.

We are looking forward to a Christmas with family this year. We will be spending Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Hogberg and then we are heading up to Grove City for Christmas Day, to be with the Johnson side. I am lucky enough to have the whole week between Christmas and New Year's off of work. I'm not sure what we are going to do with all of our time together, but I'm sure we'll come up with something.

New adventures this month:

• Owie has become the new word of choice. Thomas has realized that saying owie will usually get a reaction. So, it is used...when he doesn't want to get into his carseat, when he wants to get up from a nap, when he doesn't want to sit still...etc.
• Since he had his tubes put it, we have noticed that he is louder and even more talkative. He repeats many things that we say now. Even though it isn't always totally clear, you can still tell that he is definitely trying to say what we say.
• He is recognizing people in pictures. Not only does he say, "mama" and "dada," when he sees us in pictures, but he has all of his daycare friends down, too! Charlie held a picture up to him from daycare and he went down the picture saying, "Jo Jo, Jay Jay, etc." It was so cute.
• He is realizing that he is a pretty funny kid. He knows when he does something funny and breaks into laughter. Then...we laugh, then he laughs, then we laugh, and so it goes on. It's great.

Merry Christmas to all!! More to come in the New Year.