Christmas conversations

Adelaide's spoken language is finally catching up with her extensive receptive vocabulary, and she is so excited about it! In a matter of literally two weeks, she has figured out sentence construction, and she loves to show it off. These days she narrates constantly in choppy word strings: "What grandma doing? ... Ada do. it." "Ada go OMSI ... stamp hand ... two stamps!" "Dad hide ... Ada find. you" always full of animation. Yesterday when I came home she said, "Mama, Ada. missed. you. today." What a breakthrough!

It's so much fun to watch her delight in easily articulating the things that she's previously had to work so hard to convey to us. And how perfect that's she's figured out her language skills at Christmastime, when there are so many new things to do and see. This will definitely be a Christmas to talk about for a long time!

Advent Elf

We started a new family tradition: an advent elf. This very charming elfin friend has a pocket for each day of Advent, with little daily treats stashed inside. Adelaide has loved meeting the elf (she talks to him everyday!) and although it's been a challenge to learn that we only get to explore one pocket per day, he's been a really fun introduction to the Christmas season.

Adelaide has only recently learned about "new-new" things and the excitement of getting presents. While I have all of these great ideas about teaching her the "true" Christmas message (vs promoting materialism), the truth is, it's really fun to see her little face light up as she stomps her feet in anticipation of a surprise toy or treat. I am realizing that it may be more challenging than I ever considered for me to restrain from showering her with gifts when it's so fun to see her enjoyment. This will be the first (and probably easiest) year that we struggle with this balance. Yet another example of how I have in mind a lesson for her that in so many ways turns out to be a bigger lesson for myself.