Merry Christmas . . . and to All a Good Night!

So, we were at the mall. Annie wanted to sit on Santa's lap, I figured 'why not?', I love watching them trying to decipher Annie's pronunciation of 'kitchen set' for a few awkward seconds before I repeat it aloud to alleviate their discomfort. Annie was adorable, talking to Santa like he was her new best friend. But then a miracle happened. Santa held Ellie. And she didn't cry. "Take the picture!" I cried out at the man who I'd just told 30 seconds before we weren't at all interested in his photography services. Basically, that's how I blew twenty bucks at the mall the other day.

Tonight Greg had been struggling to get Annie down for bed for a good two hours. Nothing was working. (I was wrapping presents in my nearly useless state . . . I'm pretty much suffering from the worst cold in human history . . . body aches, sore throat, runny nose, severe grouchiness. Ellie has it too. Poor Annie's stuck with the two of us all day.) At one point, Greg brings Annie into our room to talk to me. She mumbles something about why she can't sleep. Greg (much like Santa), stares at her blankly for a second, then asks, "Your hair is in a ball?" She stares at him like he's crazy. "Your bed is full?" "Your pillow took a fall?" Annie, suddenly (as if she'd been saying it this clearly all along, which I'm here to vouch for Greg, she hadn't been) states, "My bed is not berry com-per-tah-bull." I laughed out loud. Greg looked at her for a second and said, "It's been plenty comfortable for the last four weeks, it's comfortable enough for these last two nights." It's 9:45. She finally fell asleep. I had to go lay down with her in her apparently uncompertahbull bed, which was suddenly the coziest place on earth. I laid there 'til she'd been asleep long enough that I could lay there and enjoy her little toddler snoring. Annie has only recently (like in the last two weeks, so VERY recently) allowed us to be present when she falls asleep. I think thus far she's wanted to keep up the appearance that she never slept, so as long as someone else is around, she was wide awake no matter how tired she was. But this last week especially, she's been requesting one of us to lay down with her in bed for awhile and cuddle until she falls asleep. Probably not the best habit to get into, but man, when you've had a kid who hasn't fallen asleep in your arms since 2006, you're a complete sucker for bedtime cuddling! Anyway, when I was sure she was sufficiently asleep to allow for maternal extraction, I eased out of bed. Annie's eyes flew open for a split second, she called out, "Are you just going for a little bit?" then she was completely out again. So cute. I should be asleep too actually . . . so, good night!