What goes up

Before we get to some of the more current stuff, I don't want to forget to mention that Zach had his first holiday show (with his little class from school) last Thursday night. The idea was that they would all go up to the front of the auditorium (dressed in green) and sing two little songs along with their teachers. Of course, like most two-year-olds, Zach had other ideas about what was going to happen. He refused to go up on stage without Dave (which gave Dave some time in the spotlight in front of all the other parents) and made himself maddeningly hard to see during the performance (standing behind another girl). But Bill (and Suzi, our faithful audience for all family spectacles) got a few shots of Dave and Zach waiting together at stage left after the performance.

For the past few months when we've talked about Christmas, Zach has been saying, "Christmas is coming... I'm going to be a blimp for Halloween." Then he started modifying it to say, "I'm going to be a blimp for Christmas." And then later: "I'm going to open a present and it will be a blimp." I didn't want to promise him anything, but... We had our traditional gift-giving day with Dave's family this weekend, and Suzi and Bill got Zach the biggest blimp any two-year-old could ever want. Of course he loved all of his gifts, especially the "car carrier-ier-ier-ier" from Grandma Bobbie and Granddad, but he's made a point to keep the blimp near at all times. Mostly he carries around the blimp during the day, and then it hangs on the ceiling of his room at night.

Luke has been driving himself mad with Lego anticipation, and he got some of it relieved on Sunday when Suzi and Bill gave him a Bionicle, and Grandma Bobbie and Granddad got him a cool robot Transformer. So here's a picture of him doing what he'd be happy to do all day long if he could.

Sunday night we got to enjoy one of my favorite So. Cal. traditions - the annual holiday fireworks at the pier. This year we walked down to the beach with the boys (no stroller), all lit up with various glow-sticks and bracelets, and the mood was happy and festive. When we snuggled together on the sand to watch the first few fireworks, I had no sooner finished saying, "This is my favorite fireworks show ever," - and those words were hanging in the air in a little voice balloon - when Zach announced, "I don't want to see the fireworks, I want to go home." So unlike last year, when he thought they were hilarious, this year he thought they were a little too close and scary for comfort. Maybe next year will be my favorite year instead.

Somehow Luke seems to have worked a notch up in his maturity level. Usually when he and Zach are arguing about something, it's a knock-down, drag-em-out fight until the end. But lately Luke has been resolving things himself, whether it's giving Zach a piece of his cookie, letting him choose the TV show, handing over a toy, or doing whatever it takes to keep the peace. I don't know if he's trying to be "better" than usual for Santa's benefit, or if he just has started to notice that things are much nicer around the house when he and Zach aren't clawing at each other, but either way, I'll take it for now. We'll see if it lasts beyond December 25.