Moments like this....

... make me wish I had a voice recorder.

Daddy's at home with the kids this week while I slave away at work. I just called to ask what they are going to do today:

Daddy: We're about to eat breakfast, then Rooster is going to take a nap, and then later we'll go to the P-A-R-K. (He spelled it out so Sarah wouldn't get excited and want to go right NOW.)
Sarah: (who is bouncing on the bed) No Daddy. We can't go to the P-A-R-K. We have to go to the dragon park!

(She calls it the dragon park because the slide is a dragon.)

Daddy: (laughing) Oh! Is there a difference?
Sarah: (still bouncing) Yeah! We have to go to the DRAGON park!
Daddy: Hehe. Okay.

Bigomy

Sarah took her Dora the Explorer in the purple dress into the bathroom while Daddy was in there ummmm.... let's just say he wasn't going anywhere for a bit. I saw her put the tutu on Dora's head - it's made out of white crennelin. I was in the bedroom with Cloostifer when I heard:

Sarah: Daddy, you have to marry Dora. (the tutu on her head looks like a veil)
Daddy: I can't marry her, I'm already married to Mommy.
Sarah: No! You need to marry Dora!
Daddy: But I can't.
Sarah: Yes you can! You have to marry Dora!
Daddy: (laughing) Okay, what do I need to do?
Sarah: Stop that (meaning the laughter). She runs to me and tells me the same as I'm laughing too.
Daddy: What do I need to do to marry Dora?
Sarah: You need to marry her.
Daddy: Okay, we're married.
Sarah: No! You're not doing it right! You have to marry and dance with her until she has a baby!
Daddy & Me: (laughing til we cry)
Sarah: Stop that!
Daddy: Tell me what I need to do.
Sarah: You wipe your bottom and then you're married.
Me: (at this point I bust out into uncontrollable laughter).
Sarah: You stop that Mommy!
Daddy: (laughing)
Sarah: Daddy stop it!
Daddy: Okay, I wiped my bottom. Are we married now?
Sarah: No, you have to stand up. Now bend over like this and take her hands. Now dance.
Daddy: Okay, we're married. Now take her to the dungeon!!
Sarah: No!
Daddy: But that's what I do with all my wives. Take her to the dungeon!
Sarah: Daddy, that's silly!

I suppose I could share him with a doll. And this isn't nearly as disturbing and when she tells us that when Christopher grows up that she's going to marry him.....

So, she was a good girl

After all the hissy fits, tantrums and sneaky things, Santa decided Sarah was more good than bad over the course of the year and brought her lots of goodies.

Sarah was very excited that Santa brought her what she wanted - Dora the Explorer in the purple dress. For those of you who are not familiar with this, Dora is, of course, wearing a purple "latino" type dress. When you press on her necklace, she dances and sings. By dancing I mean that she has a wheeled base instead of legs and twirls around. She shakes her head from side to side and moves her arms up and down. She sings the "Everyone can dance dance" song. She also has a tutu and when you press on her necklace while she's wearing this, she "ballet" dances. Sarah dances along with her.

Another thing Santa brought her was the Barbie & Me doll - the plush, poseable Barbie. Sarah calls it the Barbie Andy (guess that's what Barbie & Me sounds like to her). Barbie can also dress up as a ballerina. She dressed both dolls up, got her ballte gear on and has been dancing all over the house.

The one thing I thought she would really go nuts over was the bicycle. She was excited, but not overly. Oh well. But she did want to take it outside immediately and ride it. She put on her helmet (thanks Leslie!), Daddy put on his shoes and took her on a tour of the driveway.

She also got a Littlest Pet Shop set, some games, puzzles, a cookbook, a new nap roll for school and some movies. All in all, she racked up.

She's sitting with Christopher and me in his room, playing with his toys. :-/

Waah! Santa forgot me!

I was holding off putting presents under the tree because I wasn't sure I could trust Sarah not to open them. But the tree looked so naked without them, so the other night I wrapped a few and tucked them under the tree.

Sarah didn't even notice them until Sunday morning when Daddy said excitedly, "Look! There are presents under the tree!"

Doh!

Naturally Sarah thought that Santa had come. She peered through the presents and began to cry. "Santa didn't bring me the Dora the Explorer with the purple dress! I want that Dora! Why didn't he bring it?! WaaahhH!"

I was still in bed after staying up with the Rooster earlier that morning (2:00am to be exact). Sarah came pounding up the stairs, wailing at the top of her lungs and grabbed my arm. "Mommy! I want Dora! Santa didn't bring it!"

Me: Honey, it's not Christmas yet. Santa hasn't come yet.
Sarah: But I want Dora!
Me: I know. But Santa hasn't been here yet. We still have 7 days before Christmas.
Sarah: Santa is supposed to bring me Dora and he didn't!
Me: (sigh) Sweetie, I bet you Santa will bring you Dora. But he won't be here until next Sunday.
Sarah: (sniffle) Why?
Me: Because that's when Christmas is.
Sarah: Can we open presents now?
Me: No, baby. We have to wait for Christmas.
Sarah: Why?

Oy! She did settle down after I finally convinced her that it wasn't Christmas yet and that Santa had not passed her by. We went downstairs to look at all the presents under the tree with her asking, "Is this one mine?" for each one. She gathered hers and looked at me with a sneaky smile. "Do not open those. You have to wait for Christmas." "Yes, mommy."

She hasn't bothered them for a few days so I think we're safe. But I sure could pinch Daddy!

Breakfast with Santa

I love Christmas, I just do. The memories I have of decorating the tree, visiting relatives, wrapping presents, and the jittery excitement of discovering Santa had come are warm and wonderful. And I want my children to have the same kind of happy memories of their Christmases.

One activity we've decided to include is going to see Santa. Last year, we rode the North Pole Express. I don't think I've ever seen Sarah so excited! She wanted to ride the train again this year, but unfortunately we were too late to buy tickets - they sell out quickly. I racked my brain trying to find something else we could do. I know! Breakfast with Santa at the zoo! That should be fun, right? Right?

But how was I going to break the news to her that we weren't riding the train?

I bought a Strawberry Shortcake Xmas card and wrote:

Dear Sarah,
I hope you are being a very good girl for your mommy and daddy. And because you are, I would like to invite you to have a pancake breakfast with me this Saturday and the zoo.
Love, Santa

(Sarah, if you read this in the years to come, I hope you'll understand.)

The Thursday before the breakfast, Pete had received a package in the mail. Sarah wondered if she had gotten anything.

Me: "Hmmm, I think you got a letter!"
Sarah: "A letter? For me?!"

I got the card out of my bag and read it to her. She was so excited that I made Pete get the camera to take a picture of her face (to be posted later). Of course, the question of "Why?" followed for a couple of days, "Why are we having breakfast with Santa?" and "Why is it at the zoo?" Afterwards, I think her question should have been, "What the hell was that?"

Now, I know the zoo tries hard to have fun activites for kids. But in this instance I think they could have tried a little harder. They've been doing the breakfast for a few years so you'd think it might improve with age. But I forget - it's the zoo. And if you know the zoo, then you know what I mean.

When we arrived at the zoo she asked about his reindeer and sleigh, and asked a few more "Why" questions. There were about 15 families with various amounts of children there. Upon entering the zoo we were ushered to the cafe in the Children's section. Pete took the Rooster to find a place to sit while Sarah and I got the food. Her plate consisted of one pancake (more than likely from a box) and one sausage link. The adults had 3 pancakes and 4 sausage links. To drink were little cartons of orange juice (mostly frozen) and coffee.

Santa's chair was sitting in one corner of the cafe surrounded by "presents" and a tree. There was little excitment from the kids there. None of the employees were psyching them up to see the fat man. They were prompt in laying down the rules, however. First you had to eat your breakfast, then you could sit on Santa's lap, etc.

While we were eating, the fat man appeared. I waited for Sarah to jump out of her seat and do a little happy dance..... nada. She sat there nibbling on her cardboard pancake and peered at him out of the corner of her eye as he made his rounds to say hello to all the kids. When he reached us she mumbled to him, a sure sign of either disinterest or shyness. Cloostifer seemed happy to see him, though, giving him a gummy smile around the pacifier.

Sarah was the first to finish eating so she sprinted over to Santa, sat on his lap and told him she wanted a Dora the Explorer in the purple dress. Finito. Now I know she wants WAY more than that, but she just wasn't that excited to see him. He practically tossed her off his lap, someone shoved a little toy monkey & candy canes at her and the line moved on. I asked if we could take a picture with the Rooster, "Oh yeah, sure." We left.

Needless to say, we were very disappointed and I think Sarah was, too. There wasn't that kinetic excitement like there is on the train ride - no sense of anticipation. The Santa here was just so... blasé. He didn't even try to get the kids revved up. All in all, he was a crappy Santa, it was crappy food, and a crappy "present." Sure, it was a little cheaper, but you get what you pay for. Wait, let me correct myself: the zoo overcharges for everything, so you don't get what you pay for there.

Sarah hasn't talked about it this trip at all. Last year, all she could talk about afterwards was the train ride. So next year, definitely going to get tickets for the North Pole Express.