Lots of Go-To's!

Well, the holiday season is in full gear, huh?

Since the last BallouBlog entry, our pack has pretty much returned to our pre-Thanksgiving routine, which is busy, busy, busy, but also loads of fun. On Friday night, we celebrated Opa's Birthday with the family (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OPA!). Since we were all spread out over the holiday, it'd been weeks since a local family assembly - so it was a lot of fun.

On Saturday, we got special early admission to Costco because Oma is on the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce.  We got a lot of shopping done while the lights and sounds of Costco mesmerized the lil'one (and to think, we contemplated paying for the same experience at Disneyland). We spent the rest of our time until Baby Sign Language Class doing stuff around the house. That evening we had a fun-filled dinner with the Balyons over at our place.

Sunday was slightly more relaxed. E and I hung out while Lisa taught Sunday School until it was time for coffee with the family, Uncle Ron, and the Huis. Around lunchtime, there was a break in the rain so we rushed over to Home Depot to get a Christmas tree (I know, disappointing that we didn't follow the usual family tradition of going up to the Santa Cruz Mountains to cut one down, but there's always next year). I'm proud to say that we picked the 2nd one we touched (which makes up for all of those other years where we fondled pines for days before we found the perfect tree). The afternoon was productive, hanging the Christmas lights, running errands, and squeezing in a solid nap (for E that is, not us...sigh).

And now we're back to the work week, chugging along until next weekend! But before we go...

You may have noticed one or two pictures of a smiling baby on this blog. Don't get me wrong, he's usually a happy lil'guy, but we do have some tricks to get him out of his grumpy pants. In fact, Lisa pointed out that each of the adults in his life has a different "go-to."

1. I sing the A,B,C's with the hand-signs to go along with them. Or I fake sneeze since the critter thinks fake sneezing is downright comedic gold.
2. Lisa sings "Klap eens in je handjes" (a Dutch nursery rhyme that, even after 7 years of hearing it, I still don't know the words to). 
3. Oma sings lots of songs. Most often, "Hush Little Baby", "Everybody Loves a Baby" or "Klap eens in je handjes"...although I think Evan would listen to her sing the grocery list and smile. 
4. With Opa, E gets a hug and a slow pat on the back. If it's for a picture, Opa will sing just about any song quoted above to get a smile, but his favorite is "The Wheels on the Bus" especially now that we have the book with the words (thanks Sara & Haley).
5. Uncle Brian reenacts the classic Sesame Street Grover skit, "Near...Far" (including getting in E's face and then running to the other side of the room, arms flailing). 
6. Tante Ness sniffs (or FaceTimes) him and exclaims in a high pitched voice, "I-I-I-I-I-I'm gonna  get those feet!" She also keeps him happy with warm Alaskan booties and rugged pile buck attire (see the Carhartt overalls in the picture below). 
7. Nana resorts to the first song that comes to mind, which is most often "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall", that's right, beer. Not milk. (Though she'll claim all day that her staple is "Old McDonald"). She's also very good at walking him around and showing him all the different things to see. 
8. Papa gives some good back rubs, foot rubs, and hand rubs. 

It's funny, huh? Appears as if E isn't the only one learning fun things.