Hugs and Kisses

Jace is not an affectionate sort of toddler. He never has been. He's never wanted to cuddle. Giving hugs? He can take it or leave it. Mostly leave it. Squeezes? I don't think so. Really he can't even sit still on my lap for longer than 3 seconds.

Anyway, I've been trying to train him to give hugs and kisses. It's not working. I'm pretty sure he knows what I'm telling him but I'm not totally sure (he's 18 months and knows a whole lot more than he lets on sometimes). So anyway, this week I decided try my efforts with renewed vigor. I would get a kiss from my baby boy. He will not say no to a mother's love. A hug once a day is good for the soul.

This was all met with an upturned nose, a quick look in any other direction but moms, or a complete and encompassing blank stare. Ok fine, maybe he really doesn't know what I'm saying.

But maybe he does.

I decided to try blackmail. An activity I try not to resort to but at times am forced to. Before bathtime the other night Jace was dancing around in his birthday suit just waiting to jump in. Did I mention Jace loves taking a bath? As soon as Jace got mobile he began crawling for the bathtub any time he heard someone turn the water on. When he gets in he swims around in absolute bliss. There's nothing Jace likes better than a nice, warm bath and a rubber ducky. I took one look at Jace's excited little face and knew what I had to do.

"Jace? Do you want to get in the bathtub little guy? Ooooh, the bath is soooooo much fun! Let's get you in..........Give mommy a kiss Jace, and mommy will put in the bath....."

No look of confusion, no blank stare, no glance in the other direction. There was absolutely no hesitation. An open mouthed kiss came my way, about took my nose off, and then it was gone. I was left with a string of slobber and a big smile.

I got my kiss.

Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Here we are on Christmas morning getting right to it. We got kind of a late start for the morning because we had sick kids. Abby was hacking up a lung all Christmas Eve night which made it hard for Santa to get everything ready! Which is why she slept in on Christmas morning. She actually came into our room in tears when she first woke up because she felt so bad. Poor little girl! Jace and Brooklyn were up at 7:00 and they came and hung out in our room until Abby woke up (around 8:00). Jace did not understand why he was locked in mom and dad's room and was really not very happy about it!


Here is the new addition to our house. His name is Bucky. We adopted him from someone's front porch!! Really. We had been trying to find a spring horse around here and no one carries them anymore. I went online and discovered that these things were expensive!! Like anywhere from one to two hundred bucks! What!! I am not a good enough mother to justify spending that kind of money for a toy that may or may not be used.
Fortunately, Darren remembered seeing Bucky sitting on someone's porch out in the country where he goes hunting. So, he gave them a call, discovered he actually knew one of the family members and Bucky became part of our family! (Just for the record Darren did throw down 5 dollars for our new toy. He felt it only fair;) Talk about a bargain! And Jace loves his new horse. And so do the girls. I did try to play Cowboys and Indians with Brooklyn but she got scared and ran upstairs. Luckily one of my arrows hit her in the bum on the way up so I won!



Here's Abby with one of her favorite presents - a PillowPet! Why these things are such a craze I have no idea. But my girls think they are pretty awesome!

Jace loves to ride pretty much everything (which is why we got him a horse) and his new truck is no exception.

Later on we headed over to Grandma's and Pa's to open a few more presents and eat Christmas dinner with all the fam.

Merry Christmas everyone!