Santa

Last weekend the town had a Christmas celebration and we took the kids to see Santa. Ady was so excited, she kept telling us that she loves Santa. Kasey invited her mom to come along and we thought that we'd be able to snap a picture of the kids with Jolly Old Saint Nick. As you can see, Brock did not want to be jolly for the picture. Brock is at that stage where he only wants mom or dad. Usually only mom. Even the candy cane couldn't get a smile out of him.
Even though Brock didn't enjoy his meeting with Santa, Ady loved it. Before we went we rehearsed with Ady a conversation with Santa. We practiced asking her if she had been good, and what she wanted for Christmas. Well sure enough, Santa asked her the questions and do you know what her response was? She told Santa she wanted a red present. She has since seen Santa two other times since then, and everytime she tells Santa she wants a red present. We told her that we were pretty sure that Santa would get her a red present. The trouble is that the very next day she wanted to know why Santa hadn't brought the red present yet. Seems Ady has some time frame issues.
Ady never seems to stop talking these days. And she has serious issues with volume control. Last Sunday during church she just kept asking questions and talking. When the sacrament was being blessed and passed amongst the congregation I tried really hard to get her to be quiet, or at least quieter. So I sat her on my knee and got out a few pictures of Jesus. As soon as I opened them, she excitedly(in other words very loudly) said "look dad, its Jesus." I reminded her to be quiet and to try to whisper to me. It worked for a brief moment. But then she started asking me if I loved Jesus. I assured her that I do. Then she asked me if mommy loves Jesus, I told her she does. Then she asked me if I wanted to know who she loves. I said "yes, who do you love?" In a very confident and loud voice said, "I love Santa!" I told her that we were looking at pictures of Jesus, not Santa and asked if she loves Jesus. She said yes. And we looked at another picture. Then she asked me why I love Jesus. I told her a brief and short 3 year old type of answer. Then she asked me if I wanted to know why she loves Jesus. I said "yes, please tell me." Ady said, "because Jesus is going to bring me lots of red presents and come down the chimney, and mommy says I have to give him cookies." The lady in front of us couldn't help herself, she started laughing.

Sometimes Ady is very sociably awkward. Bold, usually not shy, but very awkward. She thinks that every kid who is about the same height at her is her friend. Basically that is her only requirement for her to be a friend. So often in the grocery store she will see some kid who we don't know and say "look dad, its my friend." We have become accustomed to this and just nod. The best part is hearing the other parent ask their kid if they know us or Ady. Last night we went to the Christmas party at our church and Ady saw another girl who was about her height. Immediately she pointed and told us that the girl was her friend. I asked her if she knew the girl's name and she said she did not. We told her that maybe she should go over and talk to the girl. So Ady got up and walked over about three tables, stood right next to the girl's chair, leaned over till her face was maybe 3, probably 2 inches away from the other girl's face. And there she stood, watching the girl chew her food. Didn't say anything, didn't move, just stood there waiting for the girl to notice her. Of course the girl noticed, she leaned away a bit, and gave Ady one of those weird looks that could be interpreted a dozen ways, none of them being particularly friendly and tried to ignore Ady. After about a minute Ady left the girl and came back to our table. Kasey and I had found Ady's antics to be far more interesting than the talent show we were supposed to be paying attention to. I asked Ady if she had made a friend, and she said that she had, but she didn't know her name. Finding the program to be vastly less interesting than Ady, I decided to see if we could extend this side show. So I rehearsed how to ask the girl her name and how to introduce oneself. Ady went back over, stood right next to the girl, leaned in close and didn't say anything. The girl's mother had seen the proceedings and told Ady that the other girl's name was Rachel. Without being asked Ady finally got bold enough to say something. Very loudly. And in a guttural, throaty yell said "ADYSON". Of course everyone one around us heard and now we weren't the only ones being entertained. The girl's mother correctly interpreted Ady's outburst to be her name and said something to the effect of, "nice to meet you Adyson". I assumed that Ady would go back to being shy. I was wrong. Ady turned to the mother and in a very loud voice, clear not guttural this time, said "I was baptized". Now, I didn't even know that Ady knew the word baptism. I had seen the picture that Ady had colored and brought home from her nursery primary class last week. It was a picture of a baptism. But I didn't know that she knew the word. Then the girl's mother said, "oh, you've been baptized have you?". Ady said, "yes, in the water". Then Ady turned around and walked back to our table.