Holiday Happenings

What a crazy time of year! Lucas is still too young to be caught up in everything but he does like my musical figurines. Every day he needs to play them. Saturday he was brave enough to sqeeze himself between the recliner and table to turn one on himself! A few days ago I was talking with a work friend who has a 18 month year old. We were talking about what our little ones were getting for the holidays. She had a pretty long list that included things her parents were getting Ana. I felt bad-Lucas is getting a few things but nothing too grand. But when I thought about it again, I did sign him up for a 10 week music program which he will love. And some of the things I got him for his stocking are more practical-forks, his favorite snacks, his own set of wooden spoons (this way he won't need to always use mine). Lucas is definitely not lacking in much of anything, well except for patience, but I haven't found a store that sells that!

On Saturday I needed to do some last minute errands so we were out of the house by 8:30am. Our last stop was the mall. We sat near the holiday display with Santa and a train ride. He was entertained for about 30 minutes. As the train came by us, he waved to all the kids riding it. Maybe next time we are there he can go for a ride. I hope to start walking the mall again and Lucas likes to people watch-sounds like this might work!

I have been worried about Lucas' tantrums and how he hasn't been able to really deal with his growing independence. I finally decided that the stress was impacted my life way too much for me to deal with it on my own so I decided to use our Employee Assistance Program. I had my first session on Friday and the very wise woman said that Lucas will be OK-she could see how independent I was and based on what I was telling her, she could see how nuturing Marc is (one of his greatest strengths which I always acknowledge). Given those two qualities of ours, Lucas was going to grow up in a environment that values both and he was going to be OK. That put things into a whole new perspective. She also said that we are entering probably the hardest developmental time with Lucas. Toddlers are nuts-they are still exploring their independence, they don't have a firm grasp on language skills and they are still dependent on us. She said that it is very hard but we need to find outlets-it isn't healthy that we don't go out as a couple anymore. She really encouraged us to find a sitter. I told her that was one of my new year's resolutions.