This Little Piggy Wrapped Your Present!

Santa Bribes Tyler

Tyler met Santa on Sunday. Brian's cousins Casey and Kay hosted a "Meet Santa" party, and his cousin Regina — a talented photographer — brought all of her gear to capture the special moments.

Tyler has no idea about Santa. He was running circles in the hallway while the other kids were lined up in front of Santa and chattering 90 miles an hour. But then Tyler discovered Santa has stickers. And he was very interested in the stickers. It took four attempts, including one that ended with Tyler laying in the floor screeching at Santa, and three stickers, but we finally got some Santa pictures.

Santa, Regina, and even the other kids were very patient, and it was a special day for me!

B-b-b-b-b-stutter

Tyler was reading Don't Wake the Puppies (a Clifford, the Big Red Dog, book) to me tonight. This is kind of how his version of the story goes:

Tyler (point at bird): DIRD!

Jaime: B-b-b-b-b-BIRD!

Tyler: B-b-b-b-b-b DIRD!

Tyler: B-b-b-b-b dutheee! (puppy)

Tyler: B-b-b-b-b-b Clifford! (I can't even begin to spell his mispronunciation for Clifford, but it starts with a "D" too.)

Tyler: B-b-b-b-b-b hot dog!

Tyler: B-b-b-b-b-b qwrl! (squirrel)

Tyler ate grapes.

A lot of grapes. He asked for more. I cried. Do you understand how huge this is?

Grapes are wet. They are squishy. These were kind of cold. Tyler doesn't like any of these characteristics. But he likes grapes. Praise God for helping my little boy.

More kisses for Paw-Paw

You know, I started this blog with two people in mind. My Grandma (my mama's mama) and my Paw-Paw (my daddy's daddy). They both enjoyed the Internet and a blog seemed like the perfect way to share Tyler with them since I didn't talk to them via phone very often.

Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled that my parents, my sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, a few friends, and probably some people I don't know read about my precious son and his antics. I love when readers leave a comment (thank you, Jodi!) or tell me they enjoyed a certain story (thank you, Grandma!).

But every time I've considered blogging in the last two weeks, I've felt this huge sense of loss. You see, my Paw-Paw died on November 21. And I feel like I've lost half of my audience. He never left a comment. I don't even think he realized he could, but it took him so long to type that he probably wouldn't have bothered anyway. But I know he was reading about his little buddy.

Even as we deal with our grief, my precious little boy is showing me so much about losing our Paw-Paw. Every time we get in the car, he says, "Nanny. Paw-Paw." (Because we visited so often while Paw-Paw was sick, Tyler began to associate car rides with going to their house.) Then he tells me, "Paw-Paw heaven." And he blows kisses toward the sky.

And sometimes I cry. And sometimes I smile. But I always encourage him to keep kissing Paw-Paw. And I hope Paw-Paw can see all these kisses.

As for me, I'll keep writing. For you guys. And for me. I love looking back through old entries, realizing how much Tyler has changed or laughing at something I would've forgotten if I hadn't blogged about it for Grandma and Paw-Paw.

And I'll keep loving my Paw-Paw and knowing how proud he would be if he could see his little buddy.