New Mexico New Year!

So sorry for being tardy on these posts (again). Things feel like they've never been busier. And things only heat up from here. Yikes. But it's all fun stuff and it's all worth it.  It just means that sometimes I fall behind on things like blog posts. The travel is out of the way for now, which should help. Anyhow, here's what we did for the holidays and some new E stuff, though it's happening so fast it's impossible to capture everything.  Here's a handful:

• We've entered the "Repeat things" phase also. For example, he will say "Aww shucks" after dropping something just like Mommy did that one time. Luckily, it was Mommy and not Daddy, or his term would've been less Leave it to Beaver. 
• When he wants someone to come with him or wants to find them, he says, "Papa see you. Papa see you."

• He knows a lot of his colors now. He has his favorites: Boo (blue) and Nnnngg (orange--though pronounced like your jaw is wired shut). He's good at identifying Bown (brown), Bean (green), and Vhite (white and very Russian sounding of him). Bur-bull (purple), Bink (pink) and Vree (red) are hard, but he can get it. Yellow is 'Sun,' though we're not officially counting that yet. And he still hasn't mastered gold and silver.
• He's almost better at saying Albuquerque than I am, and I'm from that city. And his New Mexico genes are very apparent now that he can ask for a Dor-dee-ya (tortilla) and Sopa-pee-ya (Sopapilla - a traditional New Mexican dessert).
• His memory is developing too. For instance, when he's asked about Oma and Opa's house, he'll talk about his Uncle Bri, his little bus and the big fire truck there.

• He's also picking up the concept of adjectives. He knows things like boo eyes (blue eyes), bean dar (green car), and bown poop (no translation necessary).
• He loves saying goodnight to EVERYTHING in the house. 'Bye-bye mask', 'Night-night steps', etc. 
• He owns so many cars that he's gotten very specific with the names. My personal favorite is a little yellow one from the movie CARS. One time Nana asked him about 'the little yellow VW' and Papa pointed out, 'that's a Fiat.' Now, when E plays with it, he says, 'That's a Fiat,' and we all call it his fiat.

I drove the dogs, stayed in Needles at a Motel 6 and arrived in ABQ just in time to drop off the dogs, get dinner and pick up Lisa & E.

Spent much of the next several days getting ready for Xmas. But we did have time to hang out with family friends, eat (a lot), and play in the few inches of snow outside. Nana and Papa got E a snow outfit and sled, so we spent time everyday sledding and letting the dogs romp--truly, this is the Doggie Mountain Resort. Though by far, the most fun was seeing Nana, Papa, GG, and the Seattle cousins.

Xmas was fantastic. We got up early to make brunch for the family. After coffee and coffee cake were made, we opened presents with my parents. E slept in (he clearly didn't get the memo that it was Christmas), so once he was up, he started opening his gifts--though they were paced throughout the day. Being the first grandkid and our first born, let's just say there were a few presents. GG came over, as did my aunt, uncle, and the Seattle cousins and we had a lot of fun catching up and opening yet more presents. We all made out like bandits, as my dad says, and E got a few trains, cars, and books (enough to last until his birthday :) That evening we had a HUGE dinner over at my aunt and uncle's house while E ran around with his coloring set to give everyone a turn drawing him a 'happy choo-choo'.

The day after Xmas, Nana, Papa, E, Lisa, and I managed to squeeze into the CR-V...along with the BOB stroller, ski gear, and luggage to make the 5 hour drive to Durango in southern Colorado...the last 2 hours of which were trying...unsuccessfully...to get E to nap. Once we arrived in the quaint little mountain town, I pushed him around for an hour with still no nap luck. And then it was time to meet with the aunt, uncle, and Seattle cousins for dinner (they'd driven up separately). Sans nap, we entered the restaurant expecting the worst. E was a perfect lil' guy as a majority of the conversation revolved around picking names for the new baby.

After dinner, we walked to the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad train station to board The Polar Express, though completely weary of how an exhausted E would handle being in a confined space. Well, good thing it was a 'Choo-choo' because the kid LOVED it and just kept saying, 'doo doo,' as he sat with Nana and Papa. The entire experience was amazing. There really is something magical about watching a steam engine chug-chug-chug into a platform at night, lights blazing and spouting steam. It gave me chills (and it wasn't just the 19 degree temperature). They did such a good job that it made the whole Durango trip worth it for us. Hot cocoa (though I question if it was as 'thick and rich as melted chocolate bars' as the book describes), cookies, carols, and a reading of the book itself. The only scary part was the visit from Santa, though E was very happy with the silver bell Santa left him. Finally, his eyelids got very heavy pulling into the station, though they popped back open when we disembarked and saw real reindeer, the steam engine again, and a whole train museum. He never fussed at all, even as we put him to bed a little late. Exhausted, we all hit the sack right after.

I woke up at 5 AM to discover a concerning text from my parents' dog sitter, who was also watching our dogs. It was time-stamped 12:30 AM and said our dogs had been outside barking at her for hours and refused to come in. A second text from 1:30 AM said that she finally got them inside. In the hustle and bustle of Xmas, we stupidly didn't have Cody and Bailey meet her. It was just so out of character for our goofy dogs to act as such (in fact, we've always joked that they would never protect our house if anyone ever broke in - they just seem to LOVE everyone), so I was ready to throw everyone in the car and head back, but we decided to wait until we heard more from her...at a more reasonable hour. I'm glad we did, because it sounded like they warmed up to her by the morning and became best friends. My parents and I went skiing for a chunk of the day while Lisa and E strolled around downtown Durango, checked out the train again, and ate a nice lunch. Skiing was amazing, though my legs were burning by the mid-afternoon when we picked up Lisa/E and headed back to New Mexico.

The next few days were much lazier in comparison to those pre-Xmas. The highlights were definitely taking the dogs and kiddo to the snow. He loved having Nana and Papa pull him, mush-mush style, on his sled. And he looked adorable (please note the completely objective opinion) in all his snow gear (he calls his mittens, 'sock hands').

One night, we went to the Albuquerque Botanical gardens and saw their River of Lights, which must've had about a million xmas lights. It was really impressive. And dinner at the Aquarium overlooking the big tank was pretty cool too, though it was distressing when at 6:20 PM the tank lights shut off in a blink. It was hard to explain to E, who wanted 'Mo fish' that the tank lights were on a timer and it was a simulated night-night for the sea creatures.

Nana and Papa watched E one evening while Lisa and I caught a movie and dinner. It was a really nice night and we managed to have some grown-up conversation, too. Ok, we did talk about the new baby and names a whole bunch, but still. And boy, did we stuff ourselves. A night of indulgences.

New Year's Eve and Day were spent with family and friends, filled with food, good times, and relaxation. Then my time to drive home came all too soon. I was thankful for the uneventful trip home for us and Lisa/E on their flight. But I was more thankful to have so many memories from our Holidays in New Mexico this year.