Santa Claus

Today, we took Nonna to a church that we had not been to before near Memorial Park. You know, just to check it out and see if we liked it. The church was very nice and quaint and was very welcoming. Andrew actually did very well for the most part. He spent most of the time looking around at everything and everyone especially kids. During one of the songs, he actually started dancing. But towards the end of mass, he started to get antsy, so I took him out. He started yelling for Daddy. He didn't want to be inside the church anymore, but didn't want to be without Daddy either. Drew really didn't understand that he couldn't have both. I took him outside where we looked at some of the Christmas decorations. Then, later, I took him to the nearby playground. It's nice to have somewhere to go play, but I wonder if kids just are too tempted by knowing there is a playground just outside of the church.

This morning, it just so happened that the church was holding a funraiser to take pictures with Santa Claus. I thought it might be nice to check out since Andrew was already dressed nicely. And I figured that this could be another trial run (our first with him getting close to Santa versus just seeing him from afar). We asked him a few times if he wanted to see Santa to which he replied "yeah". We waited in line; and he seemed fine. But when it was our turn and I tried to set him down next to Santa, he cried and wanted nothing to do with him. The photographer (who was so great and patient) suggested we let a few more kids go before us so Andrew could watch and get a little more comfortable, which we did. Then, we tried again, but Andrew still wasn't happy about it. Well, Daddy jokes that it a right of passage to have one picture with Santa while the kid is crying...I guess we have ours. What is funny is that Andrew didn't cry too hard. Rather, he was more pouty and sad.

Before all this, I had planned to take Andrew to Berings where they were kind enough to have pictures with Santa. It was awesome because not only did they take a picture for you and print it out, but they also emailed you the digital file--all for free! Andrew was more agreeable this time and sat nicely in Santa's lap. We got a few nice shots thankfully. Andrew even gave Santa knuckles and told him what he wanted for Christmas...whoo whoos (trains). So, our trial run this morning ended up doing the trick! It worked out really well!

**Note: My scanner isn't working anymore thanks to the work of a little rascal so I will have to post the picture from the church fundraiser later. The first picture is the one from Berings while the one after that is one that Daddy took with our camera. The little man and his fingers crack me up!