Dominic celebrated his 2nd Christmas this year and it was so much fun. Mr. Dominic enjoyed first time moments with mommy, daddy, and his friends this year. At his school, they have weekly themes where they learned about Christmas and the holiday season. Dominic learned about Santa, reindeer and what they eat, Haunikka, snowflakes, the changes in the weather, geometric shapes, made yummy hot chocolate, baked yummy cookies and learned how to put on and take off snow gear (mommy was very happy about this).
Since the beginning of school. Dominic has been learning letters in his name. So far, Dominic has been getting very comfortable with spelling "Dom" and knowing what those letters look like. I feel confident that by the end of the year, he will know his whole name and start to write "Dom".
This December, we had been swimming A LOT at the YMCA and Dominic loved it. We brought our bag of floating dinosaurs and penguins and we would throw them in the deep end of the pool. Dom would then jump in and collect 2 at a time. Bring them to the wall and then go back and get more. Dominic has also transitioned from the arm floaties to the floaty that you clip to your back. Dominic seems to feel very comfortable with the new floaties and now he can even move around a lot more and float on his back if he chooses.
At the YMCA, they have many fun activities for the kids, especially around the holiday season. One day after swimming, Dom made a candy cane ornament and also wrote a letter to Santa. Dominic's list for Santa consisted of trucks, ninja turtles, new train track, and dinosaurs. We mailed the letter to Santa and a week letter we received a letter back from the jolly old man. The letter said that Dominic was a good boy and to listen to mommy and daddy. He also added that Dominic should eat his veggies and be sure to brush his teeth.
One new play date site we traveled to for Mommy and Dominic day was called "Imagine that Children's Museum". This was such a cool place to run around and they even had an area for crafts. There was an indoor bouncy house, pirate ship with sea creatures, supermarket for kids to shop & learn how to check out with a cash register, train sets, building blocks and an indoor jungle gym.
Dominic met so many sweet friends and they all played really well together. We were there for about 4 hours and we will be going back in February. Some of the things Dominic enjoyed was pushing the grocery cart through the shopping center, picking out veggies and fruit, sailing the pirate ship and learning about sea creatures. When we shopped for groceries, we talked about which veggies and fruits were his favorites and our manners. The jungle gym theme was dinosaurs and Dominic loved it. He climbed up to the 2nd level and ran around all the obstacles and made sure I was watching him as he explored. There was one area where you can look down through the dinosaur and wave.
Dominic never was a fan of Santa. So Mark and I never pushed it. However, this year when we went to the mall we would always wave and say "Hi" to Santa but never go up to him. One day, there was no one in line and Santa walked up to Dominic and asked for a "hi-five". Dom lite up. After that, I asked him if he would want to write a list for Santa and go sit on his lap next time we went to the mall. He said yes and could not wait. After that day, Dominic would not stop talking about Santa and his list of toys.
We have been focused on making sure we do as many family activities, as a family before baby A came along. Since Dominic has always like going to the Zoo. We thought it would be a lot of fun to go with Mommy and Daddy to Stoneham Zoo and we had a blast. Since it was winter. A few of the animals were not out because it was so cold, but we still were able to see about 80% of them. Some of Dominic's favorite animals we saw and loved cat species and birds. We also took Daddy to "BoBo's Indoor Playground" (one of Doms favorite places). There are many indoor jumping houses, slides, jungle gym, kitchen food and much more. The parents can join in the activities with their kids and it is non-stop fun. Dominic showed Daddy the big slides and made us breakfast for dinner in the play house. It was a lot of fun to have us all together and share those memories.
December was not a very cold for us this year when we went to get our tree. It was the 1st week in December and it was about 50 degrees and very sunny. So we let Dom pick out the tree and started to decorate the tree and Dominic made cookies with daddy. He loves to bake and then lick the spoon. The funny thing is, even if we are making pancakes, he wants to lick the spoon. We have told Dom it is not tasty and lets stick to the cookie batter.
Dominic really enjoyed decorating the tree with Madeline (even though she was in mommy's belly) and letting her know what and why we were decorating the tree. He has really enjoyed talking to her amd letting her know ll the fun things she has to look forward to when she arrives.
When Christmas Eve came, we went to our annual dinner at Aunt Kims and all the Aunts, Uncles, and cousins were together and it is always fun. It was a blast and the kids always get to crazy but it helps Dom sleep like a champ at night.
When we get home, we always have enough energy to put out cookies for Santa and celery for the reindeer. We do make sure Ellie Bell is not able to eat Santas goodies.
When Christmas morning came, we gathered by the tree with Ellie and started to open our presents. This year Dominic decided that when he opened each present he wanted to play with each one. This made our morning very long but it was a lot of fun. Dominic's eyes lite up with each present he opened from either Santa, mommy or daddy. Some of Doms favorite toys he opened was his puzzles (dinosour and truck themed), Thomas the train garage, dinosaur figurines, ninja turtle fort, truck sheets and books. He is such a great little boy and enjoys every toy he received from us and family. He literally plays with every single item.
