Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Merry Christmas! Well my second Christmas was definitely a white one. We headed back to Sioux Falls, SD and was not quite sure we were going to make it. With the "supposed" storm of the quarter century upon us, my mom's family was calling all week and telling us the likelihood that we would arrive on Christmas Eve was slim to none. To make matters a little more dicey, Delta was allowing those passengers traveling to the midwest to fly out early. As much as my parents tried to get on an earlier flight it was a no go. So we stuck with our original plan which was flying out early Christmas Eve morning in hopes that we would make it before St. Nicholas!

So at 4:00 in the morning I awoke to find a big shiny strech limo on my doorstep. Daddy installed my carseat and we were off to the airport. This was my first limo ride ever.

Security was a breeze and the flight to Minneapolis went great. With no delays in sight we headed to the gate to board the plane to Sioux Falls. We were in flight for approximately 20 minutes and the pilot came on the loud speaker to inform us that we were directed to return to Minneapolis as our engine was having issues with de-icing. Now for those of you that do not realize this, the flight from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls is 38 minutes total. By the time we got back to Minneapolis, we should have been landing in Sioux Falls. However, Christmas came a little early as Delta delivered a plane two gates down, loaded our baggage and in record time delivered us to Sioux Falls by 2:30 p.m. We were greeted by Grandma and Grandpa Kappenman. Needless to say this storm of the quarter century held off in our favor (more on that to come)!

Because we were supposed to get in at 12:30 p.m. we were a little starved, so we hit the drive through on the way to Uncle Todd and Aunt Barb's house. As it was taking forever, my mom simply asked if they were killing the cow, whereby I responded with a jublient "MOOOO!" This is one of my newest words.

We finally made it to Todd and Barb's just in time to get ready for Christmas Eve. Soon enough Aunt Lori, Uncle Mike, Danny, Bryce and the newest addition Brooklyn arrived. Not sure what to think of her, I just stood by at a distance watching her. Uncle Jeremy came and we opened up our gifts from him. Then Aunt Carol and Uncle John, Micah and Macy came over and we ate dinner. Next thing you know Santa's sleigh arrived up on the roof and down he came with his Elf to deliver me a stick horse that makes a "neigh" sound. He said he had to come early as he was trying to beat the storm. After he left, we spent the rest of the night opening gifts and playing with our new toys.

Christmas morning came and with it we found A LOT of snow on the ground. We weren't sure that Grandma and Grandpa were going to make it as there was 12" of snow. But they plowed through and arrived in time for breakfast and gifts around the tree. Uncle Jeremy showed up a little later that afternoon. Most of the day was spent sholving, playing in the snow with daddy, and figuring out my new toys. It continued to snow all day into the next; by the time the storm was over we had approximately 19" of snow. As for what I got for Christmas, here's the list of goodies: Elmo Live, big drawing pad + crayons, chuck the truck, clothes, savings bond, spinny alphabet/animal thing, tool and hammer, to name a few. I also spent the day feeding Oscar, that dog eats everything and anything you give him, hence his nickname "half fat." The dog is almost as big as I am!!

On Sunday morning we went to church to see baby Brooklyn get baptized. I made it all the way through the baptism and was doing fine until I got to go up front for the children's sermon. Once I figured out that I could walk around, which I did the entire time he was trying to tell me about homeless people, there was no way I was going to sit there and listen to the minister talk about grown up stuff. So my dad and I ended up hanging out in the fellowship area discovering all the areas of the church. After the service, we headed downstairs for breakfast and cake to celebrate Brooklyn!

The remainder of my Christmas weekend was spent getting sick. I still have that perpetual runny nose that just won't stop. On Sunday night, my breathing was very labored and my parents were very worried. So around 2:30 a.m. they woke up Aunt Barb who came in to check on me. It was discovered that I had a fever of 101.5. She called the ER and spoke with a pediatric nurse who stated that the labored breathing was due to my high fever and my body working overtime. Once the fever was gone, my breathing returned to normal.

Overall, my second Christmas was white, wonderful and full of wacky family!

The Chair

This weekend we celebrated Christmas a little early in two locations. We celebrated with Josh and with daddy's family because we're heading back to Sioux Falls for Christmas. It was definitely a white Christmas a little early as 2 feet of snow blanketed central and southern Jersey. We were supposed to go to Jenkinson's Aquarium to see the Sea of Lights, but it was not possible with the road conditions. So instead we just hung out at Josh's house and exchanged gifts. He got me a Handy Manny tool set that I absoultely love. It even has a working flicker!

Sunday brought even more snow. Initially we had planned on going to church with everyone but there was so much snow that we were not able to leave our house until 10:30 and Aunt Joy and Uncle Chad couldn't make it out of their driveway. Thankfully we have a 4Runner so we plowed right through their neighborhood. Who would have thought that New Jersey would get so much snow...not my parents, they shipped all my snow clothes to South Dakota. So I was without any snowpants to play in the snow. But we made due, I borrowed Ellen's pink snow pants and boots and Aunt Joy made sure to take LOTS of pictures to blackmail me when I get older! My parents thought I didn't care for the snow, it was really the fact that I was wearing pink pants. Sorry, but I will not be posting any evidence of my embarassing pink parade here!

After eating a late lunch/early dinner, Santa delivered lots of gifts under the tree. Ellen and I were definitely the stars with all eyes on us. We tore through gifts galore and became overwhelmed at times with what to do with everything. One thing is for sure, Ellen loves dolls. But we both love boxes!

The best part of the day was my chair from Santa. He left this big item sitting in my living room so my parents could transport it for him. I didn't really question what it was but when it was time to open it, I was very curious at what was behind the wrapping. Once I saw what it was, I went crazy with joy, jumping up and down, and sliding all around on it. I got so many awesome gifts but based upon my reaction I think the chair is going to be hard to top this year!

Shining Star

Today was my Christmas program at school. We have been rehearsing a lot for my big debut but the day before I ended up getting sick with an ear infection. So when the big day came I felt a little rusty.

My parents showed up and were stuffed in the back room of the school like sardines in a can. The infants were paraded in first being held by their teachers and everyone thought they were so cute!

Next up was my class; one thing they forgot to tell us when we were rehearsing is that there was going to be a 1000 beady eyes staring down on us. They expected us to stand there and perform like nothing was abnormal.

So the music starts and our teachers are singing "Dominick the Donkey." All I could do was stand there with a blank stare on my face and stare back at the crowd. Emily deserted me the minute she saw her mom.

Next thing you know "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause" starts blaring, Ms. Erica comes and smacks some big lips on the side of my head, and out of no where I see my mom standing there taking pictures. With all these people blocking my way to her, I just stood there and cried, eventually wandering over to some stranger's lap. Somehow, she broke through the crowd to rescue me, thank god!

We headed back to my classroom for some snacks and juice.

Overall, it was not my best moment and I think i'm pretty sure that this little shining star may not be cut out for broadway!

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service

At approximately 6:15 p.m. Thursday, December 10, 2009, my mother arrived home to find me sitting on the floor in the living room playing with my brown shoes. I came running up to her in bare feet, with no shoes and no socks; not abnormal. Thereafter, around 7:00 p.m., she had to leave to go to a meeting, leaving me and my father to play. I headed to bed around 7:45 p.m. leaving my shoes in the same spot that I left them. My mother arrived home around 9:00 p.m. finding nothing out of the ordinary. My parents went to bed that evening around 10:00 p.m.

I awoke the next morning, Friday, around 6:30 a.m. and the day started out normal. I drank my milk, my mother prepared my breakfast, lunch and snack, and we went upstairs to get dressed. It was not until we came downstairs around 7:30 a.m. that something seemed to be missing. My brown SHOE!! Oh where, oh where, did my shoe go. So logically, my mother called my father, the person who should have known where it was. There was one brown shoe with no match. He had no clue, so she turned to me and asked me, do you know where your brown shoe is? I, of course, could not recall where I put it last. So I ended up wearing my tennis shoes. My mother decided to file a missing shoe report with the local authorities; they told her it had to be missing for 72 hours before they would assist in the search. That evening my parents looked everywhere, high and low, it was no where to be found. It's as if it just walked off without its friend.

Saturday morning, again they tore the house apart looking for my brown shoe. No luck!! So they ended up forcing me to wear my brown boots. I HATE my brown boots. For some reason I can't stand wearing these boots; I just stand there and cry pointing at them. But after marching around the house counting to 10 in English and Spanish I decided they weren't so bad. Well this morning, Sunday, my dad was sitting on the couch and reached for the remote that had fallen between the cushions. Low and behold, out come a brown shoe, the missing brown shoe! Case closed!

I Do!!

I haven't told you guys lately how much my vocabulary is growing. As you can imagine it's getting bigger by the day. A few of my lastest words included shoe, milk, hot, bear, alright, up, two, not nice, all done, sit down, touch down, and I do!

"Not nice" started a few weeks back, before Thanksgiving, when I developed the ability to hit. I don't hit at school, just at home. When I started hitting my parentals, they would tell me "not nice" and to give hugs, not hits. Occasionally my mom would shake her finger at me when she was saying it. So in response I learned that when I hit, I should say "not nice" and shake my finger. So now whenever I hit anything, person, cat, or stuffed animal, I say "Not Nice" in such a tone that I truly mean it. My mother tells me that I'm missing the context on this...whatever that means!

"Sit down" is relatively new and is constantly being said by my parents. For instance, just today I'm climbing up on the big brown chair where I decide that it would be so much fun to jump up and down while standing. My silly parents think that i'm going to fall off and crack my head open so they say in a stern voice, "Thad, Sit Down!" Of course they have to make a move towards me before I do so. Then I sit down laughing...it's a big game I love to play. So now I tell them when I'm standing up "sit down." I guess you could say I understand context with this phrase.

"I do" is saved for those rare occasions where I just feel that I need to do it all by myself. This started when I would run away from mommy as she was attempting to get me to do something. She would say, "okay you do it." No fail, I would stop dead in my tracks and heel, attempting to pull off what some would consider to be a world record for a child my age. Needless to say, I now tell her "I do."

One, "TWO", three, yea (clap hands)! I guess you can say that I can count to three, kinda of...or I can tell you what comes after one. Even better is the fact that when I say two I hold up one finger. I learned at school to march around and count to ten, not only in English, but also in Spanish. So now we practice at home by marching around the house and counting.

Alright, is by far my favorite expression, and yes I do understand the context on this one. I love to say "Alrightttt!!" Not sure where I picked this up but everyone thinks it is so funny to hear me say it.

And finally, the one that impressives my father and all men around me...touch down! On Sundays, and probably only exclusive to this Vikings season, I can yell "touch down" on command. I even raise my hands to motion in celebration of such an awesome feat!

Needless to say, I love to talk!

Please Don't Go...I'm Begging You To Stay!

I have finally discovered what separation anxiety means...hanging on to my mom's leg, crying until she gives in, and making her feel guilty for leaving me at school. This didn't begin until a few weeks into my stay in the Next Steps room. The minute we're finished with breakfast and my mom turns the corner, out come the claws straight into her leg. I'm like a cat about ready to fall from the top of a tree. Being that my teacher, Ms. Liz, deals with this a lot she is great at distracting me with a toy, which usually works. What's really funny is that when they come to pick me up at the end of the day I'm not ready to go; I would rather stay and play for a little while longer. I guess I just like to make them think that I don't love being here, but they get pictures that prove otherwise.