Since I resumed blogging at the end of January, I sort of missed out on all the holidays posts, and now that I am knee deep in inspirations for other parenting/breastfeeding/toddler posts, it’s hard to have to go back to the holidays that happened 2 months ago and do a recap. But. Christmas morning is pretty fun. And there are some fun presents there. And I had the pictures ready. So I just have to do it. It’s the last one, too.
If you ask me what we did on Christmas Eve, I honestly can’t remember. Like I seriously can’t remember whether we cooked, or did take out or how it all looked. I know Lexi opened some gifts, I know we took some photos and the rest is blank. I’ve experience this memory funk since Lexi was born. It’s like my memory is selective and can only hold so much!
So the photos fill in the blanks a little bit and then we’ll go into the Christmas Morning.
Lexi playing her favorite saxophone and snuggling with grandma and Miss Elaina above.
Regardless though, we obviously had some family fun and opened presets! Oh I remember opening adult presents- we bought my mom an iPad mini that she wanted so bad but never let us know. Andrew gave me a super cute versatile bracelet similar to the one I have and love but this time it was meant for casual wear which is great. I also got a purple Hobo wallet to match my grey Hobo bag. Andrew got a bunch of personal care items that he wanted and his favorite choice of booze: scotch (there isn’t a better present for him than some new scotch).
CHRISTMAS MORNING
The next morning we were all super excited! Alexis came down in her adorable Skylar Luna organic snowman pajamas and ran to the gifts!
The first one she opened was a simple remote controlled car. She loved it and figured out the controller much faster than I thought she would. I loved that she took her time with each present and enjoyed it before we had to remind her that there was more. Unfortunately, this car didn’t last long. When we walked outside to play with it, a neighbor boy ran over it on his bike. Oops!
The Pacific Play Tents house in the picture below was one of the earlier Christmas gift, but unfortunately I later found out that it has fire retardants and the company was not co-operative in specifying whether the fabric is inherently fire-retardant or if they actually spray them on. So I am assuming it’s the latter. It’s a shame because she ADORED it 🙁
The next box was the ROLLER BLADES! She had been watching mommy go rollerblading while daddy bikes and has always expressed interest in them. I bought them specifically to let her experience it, even though she is too small to actually use them. She gets such intense interests, like most toddlers and I feel it’s important to foster them and let toddlers have as much exposure to those interests as we can allow to whatever extent possible at that age.
So when she opened the box and saw that there were roller blades, she instantly jumped up and tried to put them on. I quickly told her that we needed shoes to put them on.
This in the picture below is how FAST she ran to the door to get shoes and back! And then quickly she was on them and “riding”! I don’t really have to describe the joy that was on that girl’s face when she was sliding across the tile! She went a few times up and down the hallway and actually went outside (with me holding her hands of course), but since she kept loosing balance and sliding, lack of control was starting to frustrate/scare her, so she soon wanted them off. We haven’t put them on since then, they are waiting for her to grow up a bit, but every time I go rollerblading, she runs to her blades and tries to bring them to me, just won’t put them on 🙂
The next present was a ukulele. As much as she loves musical instruments, this was not something she was thrilled about. The strings are nylon and didn’t make a lot of sound and the tuner didn’t keep them tight enough. Honestly, it’s the second ukulele we purchased and both had the same problem. I am so done buying them.
The colorful stones in the picture above are from Gonge and are really great physical and balance toys. She LOVED them and still plays with them regularly.
Of course, there were books. She spent such a long time going though the little Disney board books, reading them, asking us to read and stacking them like blocks.
Then the final gift, my personal favorite, was opened and it was a balance beam. She is obsessed with the beam at the gym and this was a great way of having a practice toy at home. Aside from practicing walking on it, she enjoys putting it together.
So I was very happy with all her gifts and I have been very pleased with the amount of attention she still devotes to them.
I love the balance beam and stones! Great ideas! My kids love tiny board books like that. We have some with little nursery rhymes and Avery carries them everywhere!!
Lovely family pictures 🙂 this year was the first time my 2 year old (she is a couple months older than Lexi) really enjoyed the presents. I can’t believe Lexi has a PJ “outfit” change on Christmas morning – you crack me up! Cute PJs 🙂
Hahaha! I thought about it when u was posting. She just spilled something on her first pjs. Or did something that we had to take then off. Lol
Merry Christmas, lol! Glad your mom was there for the holidays. Wish you could share more about the day, traditions, food, family, etc.
but I TOTALLY understand the lack of memory due to sleep loss. Prayers that Lexi teaches herself to sleep through the night soon, for everyone’s benefit.
I’m trying to pick out presents for my 2 year old grand-niece, and i want something that will last. Which of these does Lexi still play with the most (after 2 months?). Her presents were kind of a bust though huh, car smooshed, tent taken away, rollerblades scared her, guitar doesn’t sound right. I’m sure she loves her ipad thou. Lol.
Lol no I wouldn’t say they were a busy. All were greatly enjoyed for the time she had them except for the guitar which she picked up only a few times. Rollerblades she still loves despite of being worried about balance. They just a bit too big.
And there were a ton of earlier presents that I have no pictures of that is obsessed with. I wrote about them in previous posts.
Anyways to answer your question, the number one thing she plays with the most from her Xmas presents are her Daniel tiger plush toys. She doesn’t part wit them. And that’s considering she has never played with plush toys.
Sorry I can’t share about the traditions and food of our Christmas Day. We don’t have any. A part of not remembering what we did was that we didn’t do anything special aside from dinner and opening adult presents. We are yet to invent our traditions.
Where are your pajamas from? I love them.
Garnet Hill 🙂 They are the comfiest long john’s I’ve ever had.
You’re right about toddlers having intense interests! My 23-month-old is going through a crazy music phase right now and wants to listen to and play music all. the. time. In fact, on a friend’s advice, we just enrolled DD in piano lessons which are going great. We hear A LOT of her playing Hot Cross Buns but it’s worth it. Lol. And thank god for books! I don’t know what I’d do if she didn’t love to read. Books are total lifesavers for us like they are for you guys. Curious George helps me to cook a home cooked dinner every night! Lol!
I saw in the comments that Lexi likes Daniel Tiger plush toys. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but who or what is Daniel Tiger? Is he from a book?
It’s started as a spin off show of mr Roger’s neighborhood and featured 5 different relatable and fun character that live in the neighborhood. AND They JUST introduced books. Though I don’t know how good the books would be without the show.
I would highly recommend Daniel tiger episodes. They are instrumental in helping kids learn the robes of their new toddler world from potty training to sharing to getting angry. It’s great to have some help that reinforced these concepts that we as parents teach them.
You stated in an earlier post you wanted to downplay the commercialism of the holiday season and not overwhelm Lexi with gifts…yet it seems as if she opened many gifts before actual Christmas morning (at least one per day starting a few weeks beforehand, I believe you said?) plus everything we see here. That seems like a lot! Given all the gifts she received and the fact that you say you have no other Christmas traditions, do you feel your goal of a “less commercialized” Christmas was achieved?
I never spoke specifically of commercialism. I didn’t want her to open a million presents on Christmas Day discarding it one after another. My goal was to have her enjoy each present and spend time appreciating it before running off to open another and it WAS achieved. What she opened on Christmas Day were minor gifts, the rest were distributed throughout about 10 days before Christmas and were minor as well. The iPad was her big gift.
I’m not at all against commercialism. I love to buy her things she enjoys or can somehow gain experience and joy from.
I have 2 1/2 year old twins and a ten month old, so I love reading your posts about what your daughter enjoys. I can’t believe however how quickly your readers tear everything apart! It’s crazy. I know I, as a parent don’t have time for it. Everyone is different, and everyone parents different, not right or wrong! On the Daniel Tiger front, my boys love the series (and app) too! I recently found a small trolley and miniature figurines of all the main characters from Target, maybe something to look for if you don’t already have them!
Lauren,
The people that pick at the littlest things? I wouldn’t call those people readers. Trolls, stalkers, insecure, obsessive, many other names – definitely not readers. They just love the fact that I don’t trash comments that aren’t outright rude (even when they are questioning or differing or underhanded because I give them the benefit of a doubt) 🙂 My ACTUAL readers… them I love.
I saw the trolley and figurines, I am just concerned about the plastics and paints in it, it seems like they are VERY cheaply done and I can’t find info on what they are made of anywhere. And Lexi still puts things in her mouth, so it’s still a concern 🙂
Thanks for pointing them out though 🙂
My son has taken over my old ukelele and he LOVES it. It is one of the simplest real instruments to learn. He and his dad play their guitars together every night.
It is a real ukelele, not a toy, but it was still only $50, and they had decent real ones for $30. I just liked the tone of the more expensive one better. We have not had good luck with toy instruments, so we switched to buying real ones. We bought a toy harmonica, for instance, and it barely makes noise and is so frustrating for him, so we are replacing it with a real one since he can easily play the real ones.
I would highly recommend going to an actual bricks and mortar music store to pick out instruments rather than ordering it online. It would be a fun experience for Lexi, too, especially since Daniel Tiger goes to visit Music Man Stan!
I am a huge believer in buying real instruments instead of toy ones. We have a real violin, drums, maracas. Toy wind instruments but they seem to function like real ones minus the effort it takes to blow into them.
So yeah you’re right, I am silly for trying to buy a toy ukulele, especially considering the great luck we had with our real violin.
My only problem with buying adult instruments especially with metal parts is lead and other toxins.
Can you link to the real ukulele for me please? I want to possibly get it for Lexi?
P.S. trip to a music store is on our to do list (or now experience scavenger list)