A Few Little December Things...

• Max is a master manipulator.  If he wants to get Sam in trouble, he quietly pokes him or whispers "Baby!" and Sam starts wailing and gnashing his teeth and gets in trouble.  If he wants to get something from his parents, he pulls out his "puppy dog eyes" and flutters his eyelashes at us--or he tries to glare us into submission.  (Neither tactic is effective.)  Good thing he's a pretty good boy over all. Our neighbor told me the other day that he's always very polite around them and always says "Yes, ma'am" to her and helps her son with his chores.)

• Sam has lost both of his top two front teeth (and one on bottom) and he really does sorta lisp when saying "Cwith-math"  It's pretty darn cute.  (Max helped expedite the expulsion of one loose tooth by punching Sammy in the face.  After that Mommy tied floss around it and it fell right out.)

• In other Sam news; Sam said today, "Soooo, when we're teenagers, you guys are going to be pretty old and then who's going to take care of the baby?"

• Gabe's favorite new word is "peacock".  Someone (three-year-old buddy Isaac perhaps?) told him that "peacock" is a si-yee (silly) word so now he shouts it--at random--multiple times a day.  He uses it as an insult and as a compliment and he shouts it in greeting and as a farewell salutation.  I.e.  "GOODBYE PEACOCK!!!"  "YOU SI-YEE PEACOCK!" or simply "PEEEEEEECOOOOOCK!"

• In the latest gross and disgusting news, I recently had a little work done...on both of my big toes.  The sides of my toe nails were cut off and then (gently!) ripped out.  Then the assaulted area was dabbed with some sort of potion (poison?) to make the nail never grow back.  Needless to say, I waddled a little for a day or two and my most frequent refrain these days is "Don't step on my toes!" or "Stay away from my toes!" and all too frequently  "GET OFF MY FREAKING TOES!!!"   Before the procedure, I had to promise the doctor I wouldn't blame him on my blog if I hated the results.  So I'd just like to say for the record, my toes look ADORABLE and I highly recommend the pedicure services of Dr. F!  (Seriously though...I'm just looking forward to never getting in-grown toe nails again.  Cute toes be danged!)

Since I've mentioned most of the fam, may as well round things off:

• Doug:  Still job hunting.  Possibly going back to the states for a quick job-search-related trip in March.  Also, the little red dots on his arms?  Not mosquito bites.  Psoriasis.  It runs in the family.  My mom has it too.  (I kill me.)

• Gray:  Adorable as ever and still super smiley.  He has four teeth now (ouch) and inchworms or scoots wherever he needs to go.  I've tried to tell him crawling is more efficient, but he's content with the way things are.  Everyone loves him and he loves everyone.

And that's about it for us.

Happy Birthday today Faezer!

Merry Christmas everyone else!!!