Dear Lou,

Happy belated 21 month birthday! As you can tell, things are really crazy around here-- I can't believe I'm just now writing your little monthly update!

I'm sorry if I've been a little preoccupied lately with all the shopping and baking and wrapping and decorating, but I want to reassure you that despite how it may seem, yes, you are still my number 1 priority, and no, we have not moved into Target permanently. And although it's been hectic, I'm not too worried about you because you seem to really be eating this Christmas thing up. You love the lights and the trees and the elves and the Santas and the trains and the fake snow and the singing and the dancing... and so on and so on (and, of course, most of all, the CANDY)...

Since you are so interested in pointing out what things belong to whom or who did what to whatever these days, you are convinced that Dada is responsible for every Christmas light everywhere. Every once in a while you give me a shout out for doing whatever Christmas-y thing I've done around the house (which is everything except for putting up the lights), but you're obviously most impressed with Dada and those damn lights! I guess he should get some credit, though, because at least his task involved a ladder and climbing at dangerous heights.

You love our Christmas tree. Every single morning you tumble out of bed and head straight to it where you point at it and yell "uh-oh! uh-oh!" because the lights are out. Since we have them on a little clicker-remote, it's always your job to turn them on, and you LOVE doing it. You've gotten better about not touching the ornaments-- sometimes you remember to look at the tree with your hands behind your back (you look so cute doing that!) but I've also learned which ones are the most indestructible.

Along with the excitement, this past month has brought a few challenges as well. Although you don't really know the word "mine" yet, you definitely have the concept. A little pushing, a little taking-things-away-from-other-kids has shown up (you went to time-out for the first time at the gym!), but your teacher says it's only a mild case and that you'll grow out of it soon. Everyone agrees that you're not trying to be mean, you just see something you want and go after it. I have to say that I think that's a whole lot better than hanging back and not making a move at all. We'll just have to work on the manners part a bit more!

Well, Christmas is in five days and I can't remember the last time I was so excited about an upcoming date (maybe waiting to have you?). Daddy and I had so much fun shopping for you! We've told you that if you're really good, Santa might bring you not just one, but two presents. I can't wait to see your face when you see half the room filled with toys for you! I'm sure we overdid it, but we figure now is the time to do it and not when you're asking for a room filled with iPods, Wii's and flat screen TV's.

I love you more than all the Christmas lights in the whole, wide world!

Love,
Mama

I just got back a little while ago from a weekend of shopping in Houston with Lizzie, Emily and my mom, so Gary's been taking care of Emmylou! Luckily, Mimi came in yesterday for back-up. I believe the weekend included a trip to Chuck E. Cheese and shopping so it's probably good he wasn't on his own. Here are a couple of photos:

Emmylou with Mimi...





And with Daddy in front of the fire Sunday night after the long, fun weekend...



In other news, remember how a couple of posts ago I was bragging to you all about how I could bribe Emmylou to do anything with candy? It turns out she's smarter than I thought- she's actually been trying to bribe me! I don't even want to admit this, but one morning before I dropped Emmylou off at school, I gave her a piece of candy to sit still so I could put pigtails in her hair. She HATES when I mess with her hair and although I got the pigtails in, she struggled to get away from me the entire time. In fact, she usually won't even let me spend more than 0.2 seconds brushing or combing her hair after a bath (which explains why she has homeless person hair a lot of the time). So anyway, as much as she hates it, the other day, after asking for some candy without success, she came up to me and pulled her hair out at the sides of her head, as if to say, "I'll let you put pigtails in my hair if you give me candy." Oh. My. God. When did this upper-level reasoning set in?!!! I guess I have to try parenting with some integrity now rather than bribery. Here she is recreating the scene:





P.S. Emmylou, your letter is coming soon, I promise!

It's beginning to look a lot like... FALL!

Finally!

Emmylou and I were enjoying playing in the leaves yesterday after an unexpected cold front blew in. A nice change considering the thermometer in my car said it was 91 degrees on Saturday. That just isn't right in December, even in Texas!

I've been meaning to post pictures of Emmylou in her camouflage Ducks Unlimited outfit PawPaw and Nana gave her for ages. But maybe it was good to wait so we could test out the efficacy of the camo against the Christmas tree. See if you can find Emmylou in this picture:



It's almost like she's just a floating head, right? Maybe she'd be better camouflaged if I hung some ornaments and lights on her. Here she is really trying to hide, crouched down low in front of the tree:



Ooh, such stealth-like hiding skills! Hmmmm.... Maybe we can try this again sometime soon out in the wild? Thanks, PawPaw and Nana!

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In other news, today was a very big day for Emmylou-- she met Santa! We've been talking about him for a while and I was a little nervous she might freak out, but I knew things were going to go well the moment I saw that he had a big bag of candy next to him. Santa's pretty smart. As you all already know, she will do ANYTHING for candy.*



After seeing Santa, she rode the little train all by herself. Can someone please tell me where my little baby has gone?



And back at the house, just after telling Emmylou for the millionth time to quit rearranging the lights and ornaments on the lower third of our Christmas tree, a Christmas miracle occurred: a giant package arrived from Mimi that among other, adorable things, contained a stuffed children's Christmas tree (with its own ornaments) that she can hug and love and pet and touch ALL SHE WANTS! How smart are the people at Hallmark for making this and how smart is Mimi for picking it out?! Thanks, Mimi! I might actually keep my sanity throughout the holidays now!





(Emmylou's pretending to nibble on the cupcake ornament.)

*In another "Am I a terrrible mother?" moment today, I overheard the woman in front of me with her three (crying, approximately 3-5 year old) children tell the helper elf who offered them candy that "they don't know what candy is." Um, is she CUH-razy?! Doesn't she know what she could bribe those kids to do with a little candy?! No wonder they were all crying and clearly not as well-adjusted as my little sugar-filled angel.

Wanna see our family really getting into the Christmas spirit?

CLICK HERE

And, as usual, I'm a couple of days late but wanted to share this with all of you. World AIDS Day was December 1st, and with the holiday shopping season upon us, we want to encourage you all to look for Product (RED) items! Here's what you can help do:



Learn more HERE.