This Christmas was filled with so many fun adventures for Dominic. This year he loved all the "pretty lights", fake deer/snowman and lawn decor with every passing home. We took a few trips into Hudson NH where there were several homes lite up and Dominic was just so excited. He screamed with laughter and giggles to and from the houses we had visited. One night in particular, mom and Dominic took the long way home through a few housing developments and to our surprise. Dominic started shouting "deer deer" and I of course relied yes there is a "DEER" and as soon as those words left my mouth, there was a live deer in the yard that started to bound.
On Christmas morning we woke with the lovely sound of Dominic singing and ready for his day. As we knocked on his door with coffee (for mom and dad) and milk (for him). We asked, "Are you ready to see what Santa left Mr. Dominic? Was he a good boy?" and his response was " Yes I see Santa, Santa, Santa". Our morning was filled with Christmas music, sounds of laughter and our animals running around. It was so nice to just enjoy all the new things Dominic was getting to really see and understand this year about Christmas. Some special moments I like to recall are as follows; Dominic opening a book and walking over to Daddy and say "read" and Ellie joining in, any new present he opened he would always come to mommas lap to get started, grabbing Mommy's camera and taking selfies, unwrapping each present slowly and "very very small pieces ripe of the paper off".
At the end of the day, Dominic was a very good boy this year and he received a train set, lots of cars, books, building blocks and a battery operated police motorcycles (thank you Poppy). This year we did a stocking for Dominic and the tradition is as follows; it comes from mommy and daddy and no more than $25. This also would include a Christmas ornament that reflects from something the person did that year.
Later that day we went to Nana's and Bambas to celebrate Christmas with Daddy's family and have some good times with the cousins. We sat around the table and gave thanks for being all together and reflected on each of our journeys on how we ventured to where we are today and with such loving family members and great memories.
After dinner we open our presents from one another and that is when the crazy fun shenanigans happen with the kids. A few of my favorite memories of this day are as follows; Frederick and Dominic wearing their teenage mutant ninja turtle hats and playing trains, Frederick showing Mark and Dominic how to roll on their sides, Alex hands deep in the apple pie just feeding himself, Dominic having a dance party in the middle of the kitchen and the giggles from all the kiddos.
In the month of December, as Dominic approaches his 2nd Birthday. Wheels are turning with everything he does. He comes home from school and is now talking in sentences with a few babble words but its so awesome. A while ago mommy downloaded an app for him to learn more and remember animals, body parts, food, objects and toys. He was using this with the help of mommy but Daddy was able to teach Dominic on how to finally open up the iPad, go to the app, open and choose his choice of category.....AWESOME !!!! So if you did not know, mommy is a "little type A" and Dominic has a few of these tendencies which I do not mind. These are routinely about clean up for food and toys which I am all for. It melts my heart as we read books and he reads along with us and knows what to say, stills is asking about all the lights that are no longer light for Christmas but is understanding why at this point.
Some other fun things Dom is up too:
- Using a knife and fork
- Loves to get his placement and meal area prepped for dinner
- Getting better at steering his Police Motorcycle's
- Still working on potty training and getting better with every passing week for telling us or school when he will or "has" pottied
- LOVEs to say "Please and Thank you" which melts my heart
- Starting to say "Ellie Ell Bell"
- I started to make his sweet potatoes in shapes ( like hearts) and LOVES it. Loves it so much he eats double the amount he normally does... one point for mommy
- When he wants you to pick him up he says, " I hold you"
- When he wants you to play he will walk over and say, " hand please lets play, want to play with you"
On January 3rd Dominic turned the big "2" years old. This year we went with a theme Dominic choose which was trucks. I attempted to be creative and continued with this theme with the food and all decor. Dominic was goo goo eyed about everything. It was a lot of work but so much fun to see him, his cousins and friends have a blast. These past few weeks, Dominic has also been getting into baking and helped mommy back all the cookies that were in the shapes of cars and planes for party favors.
One odd request Dom seems to make at least once a week with Dad is to watch soccer while he eats dinner. I will admit I have done this 2 times and hes so funny because he is very animated every time a team scores.
As a general note of reflection. When I write these posts and being a 1st time mom. There are so many awesome experiences. As my son is growing everyday, I get to see all the new things he is learning and watching what others as do in which he will repeat. Its scary sometime but I always try to make the best decisions for him and my family. Time goes by so quickly and I hate to miss out or not reflect on the things I see him doing.
