I'm Sick

So about two months ago, Austen woke up in the middle of the night sick. We think he had a case of Noravirus which he promptly gave to Tom and me. At any rate, he got to stay home from school and even though he felt bed, he reveled in laying on the couch and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Since then he's been telling me at least every other day that he can't go to school and that he's sick in the hopes of staying home and catching a glimpse of Mickey Mouse.

Recently, we were having this conversation on a Monday morning. I told him that if he's so sick, he can stay home with Adler all day. He looked at me and said "No! Adler can't turn on the TV!"

All that whining wasn't so cute but how he thinks through everything now and comes up with these very logical reasons continues to amaze me.

Austen's Holiday Concert

This year Austen is in the older classroom that puts on a holiday concert. They've been practicing for weeks and Austen has been going around the house singing various Xmas songs and showcasing his choreographed moves. Here is one of his rehearsals at home:



So on Wednesday, I finally got to see Austen sing live. The other parents and I gathered early to ensure we got a great seat to be able to see and tape our kids. Only problem was that last week I had dropped and broke my camera and it was out for repair. Not good timing with the holiday season and upcoming birthdays. My dad was nice enough to lend me his camera but I don't think the Olympus was quite the quality of my Sony so see if you can pick out Austen. Nevertheless, I can't explain how I felt seeing Austen on stage for his first performance. It was surely a mixture of pride and excitement for him. When he got out on stage, he was so excited to see me that he was waving frantically and blowing me kisses. I think for me that was better than the songs he was singing - just the excitement that he got to see me in the middle of the day and he was so happy that I was there. Next came the singing and dancing. He did really well in the beginning but then grew bored about halfway through the hour-long concert. He continued to sing but he wasn't into dancing anymore. Maybe he was too hot. After all, I noticed about halfway through that he wasn't just wearing the black pants I sent him to school in but the black snow pants too! I'm sure he insisted on wearing those!

All I Want for Xmas...

Austen has been making the rounds to all the Santa Clauses in the area. At the end of November, we took our annual trip to a tree farm to chop down our Xmas tree. At the tree farm was a Santa Claus (see video below). Austen told him that he wanted a new toy. His friend said she wanted a reindeer. Austen said he already has a reindeer outside his window (we have two with lights in the front of our house)!

Next, Austen sat on Santa's lap, joined by his sister Peyton at the mall. This was the first year that I was able to get Austen back on Santa's lap since he was 11 months old. The last two years he wouldn't go anywhere near him. I figure next year, Peyton will probably be the same way so this is the one and only shot of them together for awhile. Austen asked Santa for two race cars. One for him and one for his sister. How thoughtful of him that he's now including his sister since she can't ask for one herself. Or maybe he's just making sure she has one so she doesn't take his. Either way it's been really fun to watch Austen get so excited about Xmas this year. He understands Santa is coming and is so excited to see all the Xmas lights/decorations on the houses.

As for Peyton, all she wanted for Xmas was her two front teeth and they came early. They came in about two weeks ago so now she has a grand total of four teeth. She is growing more confident in standing and moving from piece of furniture to piece of furniture. She's pretty good at using a push cart to walk and is really starting to display her feisty personality. Don't take anything away from her or you'll hear about it and if you have something she wants, she'll find a way to get it including your sandwich, crayons and Austen's favorite toy.

Thanksgiving Grace

This year we ventured to Long Grove to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Szurgots. It was nice because Austen (and Peyton) got to hang out with their cousins from California - Brooke and Matthew.

Austen and Matthew (age 5) had a great time using Aunt Maria and Uncle Bob's house as their own personal racetrack. More than once, we were yelling at them to slow down and go run around in the basement!

Peyton was a happy girl, crawling all over the place and flashing her usual big smiles. Not walking yet but she sure is a fast crawler. You really had to watch her as she headed up two flights of stairs or tried to take off down to the basement.

Before dinner, we all joined hands to say grace and Grandma was about to start grace when Austen started talking. Tom, not knowing what he was saying, began to shush him so we could start but I noticed that he was saying the grace he says at school. So Austen led us in grace for Thanksgiving. I'm sure that no one understood aside from a few words he was saying, but he was so proud to lead his big family in being thankful this holiday season.

I wish I could find all the words online but here are the few words that I know from his singing/saying grace.

a fork and a spoon, a family, a community
we are brothers and sisters,
we are what we are
we thank you for what we receive
bon appetit
now you may eat