Christmas in Virginia

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Dinner at Filomena's in Georgetown.

Christmas Morning

His favorite gift...a stroller!

Another favorite...a barn with animals

Christmas Dinner

Enjoying all the yummy food!

Shopping at Tysons in the Police Car. This has made shopping so much fun for him!!

Best. Invention. Ever.

Doing Tae Bo in the exercise room

Merry Christmas!

16 Months Old

Anderson, you are 16 months old today! I can't believe how big you're getting and you surprise me every day with how much you're learning. You have really been into talking and pointing this past month.

This is what you are up to at 16 months:

• You love pointing to people and things and saying their names. Some words off of the top of my head:
• Mama, Daddy, Agua, Si, Hi, Bye, Nana, Ella, Elo, CC (Cathy), mas, reloj, pan, arbol, cookie, all done, nina, moon, papa, ho, ho, ho, yogurt, leche.
• You still use sign language and sign, milk and more every day.
• You love your blanky and your binky. LOVE them.
• You still love Baby Einstein. You probably watch one a day and I think you've learned a lot through them! You have also started to like Sesame Street and Yo Gabba Gabba.
• You love trains. We still go to Barnes and Noble regularly so you can play with the train table.
• Your favorite toy this past month is the Lightning McQueen car Grumpy got you for Christmas.
• You love Christmas time. Your favorite is saying Ho, Ho, Ho whenever you see Santa or anyone wearing a Santa hat.
• I am so happy you are a good eater. You love bananas, apples, cheese, yogurt, scrambled eggs, clementines, bread, soup, animal cookies, cereal, milk, crackers, french fries, turkey, pancakes, casseroles and rice, pasta, I could go on and on. There is little you don't like! You love dipping and dunking your food. Today you wanted to dunk your grilled cheese in my soup. You love ketchup. I think I taught you this and you take after me. I love dips and dunking bread in soup. :)
• You go to the doctor in a week so I'll be able to know how much you weigh and how tall you are but you are a big boy! You wear a size 5 diaper and 18-24 month clothes.

You are so much fun, a joy, and also exhausting! While I sometimes struggle with the "tantrums" and the beginning of the terrible twos...your daddy says this is his favorite age. :) You get so excited to see him every day and wait for him outside the elevator chanting and squealing his name. I will definitely have to capture it on video because I never want to forget it.

Looking at the fish in the Nordstrom aquarium.

You can now go down the slide all by yourself!

It was very hard to pack with you in the room...you love crawling into things these days. :)

You have started to say "cheese" this week when I take a picture.

You love this Nursery Rhymes book. Reading with Ella.

You have your grandfather's eye color! You have started calling him "Elo"...short for Abuelo.

We love you so much and can't wait to see you experience Christmas this week! Happy 16 months Anderson!

Visitors!

This past weekend was busy with visitors! Tyler and Byron came Thursday and then left on Friday to stay in the city and Abbey and Shannon arrived on Friday. We did a lot of walking and saw Central Park, FAO Schwartz, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, The Lion King on Friday night, Soho, Little Italy, and Macy's to name a few things! We were also able to relax on Sunday, get manicures and pedicures, and shop around in Hoboken.

Central Park

Rockefeller Center

Tyler took this one of Anderson. I like how it shows our tree! I never took a picture of it with the ornaments on. :)

All bundled and ready for breakfast!

The Lion King Theatre in Times Square

Lunch in Soho

The decorations in Little Italy were fun to look at!

I had such a fun weekend with friends and I hope they visit again soon!

The Magic of Christmas

Anderson loves Christmas. The excitement on his face when he sees decorated trees, Santa, and lights is just absolutely adorable. I constantly am hearing him say "Ho, Ho, Ho" and he loves running up to his framed picture with Santa and smiling. The magic of Christmas has come back in our lives as we watch our little boy experience Christmas for the first time. Yes, he participated last year, but he was too tiny to realize what was going on. This year will be a different story. Tomorrow we are attending the Hoboken tree lighting with Santa which I know he will love.

Here are a few pictures from decorating our tree. I was worried about having a tree with lights and ornaments with a toddler but Anderson seems to understand the concept. He admires it and loves looking at the lights and ornaments.

He doesn't even understand that Santa brings presents but he already loves him! This picture really does capture how he feels about Christmas. Pure joy. I'm so happy the magic is back.

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