Loot from Santa

Charlie was very excited to have Santa Clause come this year. He asked Santa for a dolphin, paints and a bike. He spent the entire month trying so hard to be good so that he could stay on the nice list. As his mom, I am wondering how long the residual “goodness” can last, and what new ploy I can use to motivate him to be good. :)

Santa really came through for Charlie. His loot included:

• A “Cars” bicycle
• A “Cars” helmet and pads
• A Lightening McQueen shake and go car... Which, incidentally, goes quite fast!
• A stocking full of wrapped gifts, including a Handy Manny toy, a jump rope, silly putty, and countless other things... Oh yes, of course there were watercolor paints and a stuffed dolphin!

Charlie’s approach to his loot was priceless. He went running and jumping down the stairs, but slowed down right when he got to the tree. Then he saw the bike and ran straight for it... Grabbing the zippered pouch on the front before anything else. What is it with little kids and things that you can use to store other things in? (At least for Charlie, they are always especially cool if they zip up!) Then he examined the helmet briefly before he saw the dolphin sticking out of the stocking. The dolphin was immediately named Mortimer the Baby Dolphin. I think it is because we have a Christmas book about a mouse named Mortimer that temporarily takes up residence in a family’s nativity scene!

Once Charlie found Mortimer the Baby Dolphin, he had to open the rest of the stocking. He excitedly dumped it out and started ripping into the little packages. There was a little bit of candy in there as well, which he was excited to eat after giving me a glance for permission.

With the stocking opened, Charlie was thoroughly overwhelmed, and his eyes were darting back and forth like crazy. They finally came to rest on the zippered pouch at the front of his bike again. He first put Mortimer the Baby Dolphin inside, and then his remaining candy inside, and then Mortimer the Baby Dolphin again. Then he grabbed his helmet and Andy helped him to put it on. Once his helmet was on, he just wanted on the bike. We were surprised to see how quickly he figured out the petals and steering. He has a tricycle, but still... The conversion to a bike (with training wheels, of course,) came very quickly! After a little bit, Charlie hopped off of the bike and asked to wear his pads... But couldn’t decide if he wanted them on his elbows or knees. So we compromised and did one on each! Soon they ended up on his knees, and stayed there for an hour or so.

We let Charlie continue to discover his loot and ride his bike around on our wood floor while we started to get ready to eat breakfast. Charlie was very, very happy with his loot this year! In fact, he didn’t ask about opening the other presents for at least an hour. :)

Look! Because of the helmet, I actually got some shots of Charlie that don't include any part of his face this time... so here's some teaser pictures until that adoption finally comes through!