Frosty the Snowman

Porter loves to serenade me, the wall, whatever, with two of his favorite Christmas songs: Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman. We have a Frosty the Snowman picture book that we sing along to and now he is quite fluent with the lyrics. At this point, singing Christmas carols are the most complete sentences he says. He is thrilled with the splendor of snow (I am not a big snow fan but because he is, snow seems a little more fun all over again...ahh, blissful children...mostly blissful children). Porter loves to walk in the snow whether or not his feet get cold and soaked. Lane and Porter went out and built the best snowman EVER! Porter loved how he could create something and make it look however he wanted. Frosty, for that is what every snowman is named, had enough arms to be an arachnid and he atennae ears. Only the face a 3 year old creator could love. :)
Once he was built, Porter was actually afraid of Frosty. Wouldn't give him a hug, wouldn't even give him a high fiver. He did; however, sing Frosty the Snowman to him and put particular emphasis on hollering 'STOP!' as the law enforcing officer does in the song. Like papa, like son. "He led them down the streets of town right to the traffic cop. He only stopped a moment when he heard him holler, 'STOP!'"

3rd Annual Date at Spruce Meadows Christmas Market

Not that we go on dates annually, but we make sure we go to the Spruce Meadows Christmas market every year. It's the perfect way to get excited about Christmas! Lane always wants to put up Christmas decorations the day is snows or when the last hints of warmth leave in September but I try to hold strong until December 1st. Well, Lane has been painting his pa-tooshie off so we can switch Porter's room and the new baby's room. Then we go to the market and he gives me googly eyes, and then I say, 'sure lets put up the decorations'. That's how it works around these parts.

The market has carolers, fire pits, roasted chestnuts (which are disgusting, how could they get so much merit as to have a carol written after them!?), ice sculptures, tonnes of pine, old carriages, and great homemade food. Sometimes I can't decide what I like better: the old glory of the traditional Victorian Christmas or the rustic beauty of the country Christmas with homemade, distressed decorations. I like them both. Both are Christmas imagery to me.

We bought a Santa Claus policeman decoration. We like to say we buy a decoration every year on a date as part of a tradition but seriously, we don't need anymore decorations! In fact, we have a surplus, a saturation of Christmas tackiness on our tree but when I saw the St.Nick policeman, I couldn't pass it up. We're proud of our blue brotha. To serve and protect. What a pal.

Baby Brudder

On November 12th, Porter was rubbing my baby bulge and lovingly said, 'My baby brudder.'
This kind of came as a shock because he calls my tummy, 'The Baby', or 'Baby Grady', but we've never even referred to the baby as his baby brother. It was so tender and it's amazing what he picks up. Now when people ask if he knows there's a baby coming, I feel pretty confident he has a good idea. He knows it's his 'baby brudder'. So sweet! Then again, I have a sweet kid so not totally unexpected.

Oh boy...

Well, there's no better person to show you the things you need to improve upon than your child. I'll admit, on occasion (rarely for sure), when dealing with a rude sales associate or dealing with a nutzo driver, I spit out the word, 'jerk'. Well, yesterday I was telling Lane that I needed to be somewhere at a certain time and so he needed to go upstairs and keep an eye on Porter. I got the 'in a minute'. I walked upstairs waiting for the 60 seconds to pass and sat with Porter. Porter than said, 'Daddy jerk.' Uh...'Porter, that's not nice! We don't say that about Daddy.' He just got a bigger grin on his face and decided it was best to say it again. 'Daddy jerk.' I then repeated, 'Porter, don't say that.' He continued to smile at me and said, 'Fetch.' This is a word we have taken out of our vocabulary once we realized it had become Porter's favorite word and we've since been trying to get him to stop saying that. He knows it's not a word he's supposed to be saying; hence, why he continued to repeat it. He once again chanted, 'Fetch', and then I just started to laugh. These may not be the best disciplinary actions but I couldn't help it!

The day to day

Porter is in the middle of potty training. We give a lot of positive reinforcement with comments like, 'Excellent!' 'Good job!' 'I'm proud of you.' Well, now this is a potty ritual. Whenever he discovers the bathroom is occupied, he bursts through the door and tells either Lane or I, 'Excellent!' and then attempts to check out the progress. He always makes us feel so good about our accomplishments. :)

Slow Starter

Finally!
Well, I started this blog months ago with Stephanie Larsen as my coach but then I couldn't remember my password and that my log-in is my e-mail address and not my name. How much should I reveal that I really didn't know?
I'll keep going. I couldn't even remember my address to it! Miraculously, I found a post I made six months ago on Stephanie's blog and I clicked on my name and it took me to my barren blog. Now I am determined to learn the ways of the blog. I have no clue what I'm doing, which is sad. Apparently I don't fall into the generation of technology. I fell between the cracks. Here it goes. One day I will be a professional blogger, just you wait Enry Iggins.