Fall, Flu Shots and Clothes with Ears

Fall has finally arrived with a bang around here!  I went from wearing short sleeves and sunglasses to sweaters and raincoats within the span of a day or two, and though I knew it was coming, it's been a bit of a shock.

It's also time to break out the animal-head hoodies.  Last winter this tiger hoodie was my favorite thing to put on Thumper:

I wanted to get another one in a larger size this year, but apparently Old Navy switches up their animals each year (makes sense).  So we've got a bear instead: 

It hasn't even been a full year between these pictures - just cold weather to cold weather - and the rate at which he's growing just knocks me over sometimes.  

The entire family got our flu shots.  I have been getting them on and off since college and I bragged that I never experience any side effects (it always weirds me out when people claim they got the flu from their shot).  I therefore jinxed myself and while I didn't "get the flu," the shot actually hurt for the first time in years and burned for a good two hours.  Since we were literally all in the same room getting our shots (the Yeti and I going first to show Thumper it wasn't a big deal) I smiled through it with clenched teeth.  

Thumper, thus far, had never really shown a reaction to any vaccine, apart from screaming when he got the shot.  His flu shot is split into two parts, since he's a first-timer and a baby; he'll get the other half in a month.  This time he only squawked for a few seconds, and then the Yeti distracted him with some Superman action.  He was fine the rest of the afternoon and evening, but he slept in extra late the next morning and was sleepy the rest of the day.  

The Yeti appeared to be in the most pain out of the three of us - when he went to remove the Band-Aid a few hours later.  He's a furry dude.  

I actually did a tiny Halloween craft: taking Thumper's footprints to make a little ghost.  It was an idea from Pinterest.  It actually turned out rather like the ones on Pinterest, but then, when all you're going for is a vaguely ghost-shaped blob it's not like you're reaching for the moon.  I sent it off to the grandparents.  The finished product has Thumper's name on it but trust me, it pretty much looked like this. 

I haven't decorated much for Halloween.  My taste has always run to old-timey, classic Halloween stuff; not gory, not too cutesy, etc, and it's harder to hit that sweet spot than you'd think, so over the years my decorations have dwindled to next to nothing.  I've got some kitchen towels, a tabletop metal jack-o-lantern, and a few Welcome signs.  This was partly intentional; I knew I wanted kids soon, and I figured I'd get new stuff that fit the new family.  But that doesn't do me much good this year. 

Finally, fall means it's time for my not-famous-at-all veggie chili.  I make a big pot and then get lunch out of it for the next several days.  I've already made one batch, but it's been a few weeks and I'm getting a taste for it again...  

Not making an appearance: pumpkin spice anything.  I love pumpkin pie but can't really tolerate it in any other context.  Well, except this one. 

Santa: the Myth, the Magic, and the Monster

I was reminded that I still haven't gotten around to talking about my Santa conundrum.  I know it's not quite the season yet (in fact, I need to pull out Halloween decorations), but that doesn't stop most of the shops in this country and it won't stop me.  Okay, first, you have to understand that the Yeti and I have been together for over a decade, and been adults for most of that.  So here's what our life has been like, pre-Thumper:

Me: My side of the family is pretty much lapsed Irish Catholic, but by the time I came into the picture it was pretty generic secular.  Celebrated Christmas and Easter, didn't belong to a church.  As an adult, I love the spirit of Christmas - the lights, the magic, the powering through the long winter with a party, the peace on Earth, goodwill towards men sort of thing.  I'm not religious, so I don't see anything wrong with celebrating all sorts of winter traditions, and it interests me in a cultural/historical way.  I try to pull out the Christmas decorations no earlier than the week of Thanksgiving (and preferably Dec 1, but there's something fun about having the tree up or decorating it on Thanksgiving).

The Yeti: He's not religious at all.  He's not a Scrooge, and he'll assist me if I need it, but I definitely have to take the lead in decorating or else there wouldn't be any.  He likes white Christmas lights, I prefer multicolored twinklers, in the past we've compromised with steady-burning multicolors because the twinkling drives him nuts and that's probably some sort of metaphor for our relationship.

Perhaps most notably, we place almost no emphasis on big Christmas gifts.  The Yeti likes buying stuff when he wants it/needs it, and does not like surprises.  I do like surprises and unwrapping things, so every year he gets me several little things (books or DVDs) and wraps them.  Usually they're connected to an inside joke, and sometimes I do the same for him if I see something really perfect, but he really is content with nothing (something that took me years to really understand and accept).  There's no pressure, nothing big or fancy, and it's meaningful and fun for each of us.

We have no idea how this is going to change as Thumper grows up.  We want him to be excited on Christmas morning, but we don't want him to be wrapped up solely in the materialistic aspects of the holiday; we know we want to work in compassion and charity in there, too.  We don't want Christmas to be a holiday where it's all about "topping" ourselves.  And then another issue is that his birthday is in January.  Lots of factors to consider there.

Then there's the Santa issue, which is just as complicated.  Neither the Yeti nor I are particularly nuts with the idea of playing Santa as a real entity, for different reasons.

Growing up, I was somewhat of a rube.  I heard my mother or one of my siblings say offhandedly that when you stop believing, Santa stops coming, and I took it literally.  It wasn't about the gifts; I was somehow afraid that the magic of Christmas would be diminished if I didn't believe.  So I forced myself to shut off my ears and brain and believe until a ridiculous age (12, maybe?  I mean I had my first little boyfriend at 12, such an awkward time).

Once I finally acknowledged the truth, I got to help play Santa for those younger than me, and of course the fun and magic wasn't diminished at all.  And I honestly wish I had saved myself the angst and anxiety.

For the Yeti, he thinks the entire idea of Santa is unfair - for example, if you come from a poor background like I did, it's unfair to make kids think that Santa is somehow ignoring their wishes if they don't get what they want, or, if they do, they're then thanking Santa instead of their hard-working parents.  He thinks it plays into the materialistic aspect, since really Santa is just about presents.

But, but!  It's fun to create magic and surprises for little kids.  And honestly, at a very young age, a kid is going to think a Mickey in a costume is the real character, right?  I distinctly remember watching Grover on Sesame Street and holding an internal debate over whether he was "a puppet" or "real."   On the one hand, I could see the strings.  On the other hand, he was hugging a little girl who clearly seemed to treat him as if he were real.  So maybe at a certain age, Santa will be just as real as Mickey or Grover regardless of what we do.

On the other hand, no one tries to perpetuate the notion that Mickey or Grover are the real thing.  Most people don't even try to act like Mall Santas are real.  And yet we all grew out of that stage with a minimum of drama.

So where we're at now is the idea of essentially following Thumper's lead.  Read books about Santa and other Christmas stories, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and don't place particular weight on any one part of it, or any more than Olivia or any other character.   Currently I'm leaning away from the idea of writing Santa's name on gift tags.

The one memory I sort of stall on is from when I was a teenager, well into my playing Santa phase: it was the late 90s, and we discovered that the NORAD website had a Santa tracker.  I thought the idea of live 'reports' and tracking was the cutest thing ever.  That's what I think of when I think of preserving the Santa myth.  On the other hand, I think it could be fun whether you believe or not - after all, it was for me.

I have a feeling I'm overthinking again, and when Thumper is old enough for this to be an issue, it'll work itself out, one way or another.  Or maybe I'm just hoping that's what will happen.

Regardless of which way we fall on the Santa issue, as Thumper gets older I do want to incorporate and discuss other traditions from other cultures.  Back in 2011 I went on a trip to Berlin.  I stumbled into a winter festival and happened upon these guys:

Now I know that they were Krampuses, who are associated with St. Nicholas' day in early December.  And, of course, St. Nicholas, or St. Nick, is one of the origins of Santa Claus.  In the last few years Krampus has gotten more attention in the US and I was excited to buy a Krampus stocking: 

My hope is that in years to come, we'll put that up for Thumper to get an orange and celebrate St. Nicholas as well.  Krampus is such a good link between St. Nicholas and older traditions.  

And with Krampus we'll swing back into the spookiness of October.  I love hearing how others celebrate holidays - any of them - as well! 

Book Time

As I've mentioned before, I'm a pretty huge bookworm.  I don't remember specifically learning to read, but I know I wasn't some baby prodigy; still, I was always surrounded by books, read to, in a family of readers.  In fact, I found this picture the other day:

Years before I was ever pregnant, I was too superstitious to buy things specifically for a baby that was still just a dream, but here and there I'd pick up a favorite YA novel from my childhood if I spotted it at Goodwill.  In my head, I said it was "for my potential future children, maybe, but otherwise I might re-read them."  When we did decide to actively try for a baby, I was still too superstitious to buy anything more than prenatal vitamins - and this book in hardback: 

However, other than that book and a few others that were gifted, I didn't think much about reading when I was pregnant, and then when I had Thumper I was on survival mode - and suddenly I realized he was two months old, I hardly had anything to read to him, and I was hardly reading to him at all.  

In retrospect, this seems like a silly thing to get upset about; he was only a few months old and only recently could he probably even focus on a book.  Still, with the hormones and stress raging, I felt like I was a Bad Mom who was failing to do any of the things I'd always dreamed of.  Over the following months we've bought more books here and there, and received even more from family.  

At first I just randomly read him a little book here and there, but as we actively attempted to get a bedtime routine going, it became centered around Book Time.  Now Thumper pretty much only plays with cloth or bath books or the smaller board books during the day - the physically light stuff I don't mind him chewing on, ones that I consider toys more than books (though I'll read them to him, too).  

At bedtime we read two or three real books as a family, and I think it's possibly everyone's favorite time of day.  Does he sit and intently listen to every word of every book?  No, he's a baby.  Most of them are full-sized board books, so he might start trying to chew on the cover or the spine by the time I get to the end, or try to crawl around on the bed, or try to climb Mt. Parent (either one).  But he's usually excited at least at the beginning, and there are some books that are definitely favorites of his.  

I never had a baby shower, because the vast majority of friends and family are scattered across the country.  If I had had the chance to have one, I might have wanted a book party; we've been trying to buy new stuff as well as the classics we grew up with, but the options are endless, and it would have been nice to get input from other sources.  

Here are two favorites that were brand-new to both the Yeti and me:  

We bought Olivia because it was a Caldecott Award-winner and I had vaguely heard that this series was a hit with kids.  Honestly, I didn't expect Thumper to go for it yet, because it's fairly long and I didn't feel like the illustrations would have been that eye-catching to an infant.  But he started to get the biggest smile when I turned to the second page (filled with Olivia doing many activities) and now, he gives a Pterodactyl Screech of Approval when it comes out.  We've since bought one other in the series, but she's much older and it's not as much of a hit.  We'll have to explore more of the earlier books. 

This one was gifted to us by the Yeti's mom.  Had it been me, I probably wouldn't have ever picked it up - the title reminded me of I Love You Forever, which I haven't liked since we read it in my second-grade class.  But this is sweet and simple, and manages to occasionally get me choked up without feeling deliberately manipulative.  

More importantly, Thumper loves it.  We've turned it into an interactive reading; I'll read lines like "I love your fingers... and toes..."  and the Yeti will grab Thumpers hands and feet, and so on.  And it's fairly quick, so it makes it into the rotation quite a bit.  It's yet another one that gets smiles and squeals, which is honestly freaking adorable.  

Since we do read two or three books a night, Thumper will probably be sick of these before he can even remember reading them - and we do continue to look for new recommendations.  But in the meantime, these are family favorites, and no matter how tired or whiny we all feel, they never fail to lighten the mood and make us all smile. 

One of the earliest hits