Day 15 - 25 Days of Christmas

Today Scoot played with a little Christmas Tree counting activity I made for her earlier this week.  I made a chart with the numbers 1-10.  Each number had it's own row and I placed the correct number of velcro pieces in the row next to the number.  I used small foam Christmas Tree cutouts with velcro on the back as the counters.  Scoot put the trees on the velcro in each row as we counted together and pointed to the number. 

It was WAY over her head, but she did like playing with the little trees.  Her favorite was sticking & unsticking them over and over again.  At least it gave us something to do while we counted to 10 a bunch of times.  I figure it couldn't hurt to jump into something that is too hard - especially since I'm sitting right there talking to her about it the whole time.  It will be perfect for next year I think. 

Day 14 - 25 Days of Christmas

Today we went and let Scoot pick out her ornament for the year.  I just *knew* she would pick Elmo, but wouldn't you know they didn't have a  single Elmo ornament in the entire store!  I was shocked!  Of course she ended up picking out a Tinkerbell ornament that they were completely out of.  I think she liked it because of the music it played.  Being the overly accommodating parents that we are, we went to 2 more stores looking for this Tinkerbell ornament that she had gotten obsessed with in our 10 minute visit to the store.  But both of those stores were also out.  Secretly... I was just fine with that!  I ended up "talking her into" getting an ornament that I'm much happier about!  She got a Guess How Much I Love You book & bunny ornament.  I feel like that will have some meaning to her since we read the book often and I tell her that at least 320508365802 times a day.

 (I would have been fine with Elmo since she is actually obsessed with Elmo right now in her life.  But the Tinkerbell just didn't sit well with me since she has never shown ANY interest in Tinkerbell until she saw this ornament that played a catchy little tune.  I really think it was the music that drew her in.)

I also got her a photo ornament with the year on it.  I think that kiddos should have an ornament with the date on it (bought or better yet home crafted) until they are 10 or so.  I just think it makes getting the ornaments out every year so much fun.  Scoot has several with last years date since it was her first Christmas.  I couldn't let this year go by with no dated ornaments!! 

Day 13 - 25 Days of Christmas

Tonight I put together a little game for Scoot to play with.  I took an empty parmesan cheese container and stuck some candy canes inside.  Scoot could dump them out of the larger opening or hang them in the holes of the other opening.  We practiced counting them.   And she even chewed on one.  I took the paper off so she could really try it.  At first she was giving these great big grins every time she sucked on it.  Then she accidentally bit a piece off and got scared.  She did not like having the pieces come off, but she still liked the flavor.  

Day 12 - 25 Days of Christmas

Tonight we finally got our Christmas tree out of the attic and set it up.  Scoot is thrilled with the lights.  So much so that the ornaments are a distraction to her.  At least that's what I'm figuring since she keeps taking them off and laying them on the floor across the room!  Its a good thing we only put about 20 on the tree so far.  This year most of our ornaments are staying safely boxed and only the soft, non-breakable, hook-less ornaments made it onto the tree at Scoot level.  I'm also kinda sorta afraid that she's going to topple the tree over completely, so we will leave it at that.  I can only imagine what our tree will look like next year with a 2 1/2 year old and a 9 month old!

Day 11 - 25 Days of Christmas

Tonight we went to the Yankee Candle store.  On the surface, this doesn't sound all that exciting.  But the Williamsburg store is a flagship store which means it is HUGE and has tons of Christmas stuff out year round.  It snows there twice an hour and Santa is even hanging out.  Of course they have all the candles you could ever want, but they go extra heavy on the Christmas scents this time of year.  They have Christmas trees everywhere decorated in a bunch of different themes.  It is a pretty cool place to visit.  We were excited about taking Scoot since she seems to really like lights and trees.  Surprisingly though, I think her favorite part was the train they have running through all the Christmas rooms on a track a couple of feet above your head.  Whenever it would come into the room we were in, she would YELL "chooo choooo!"  It was the cutest thing!  We didnt stand in the LONG line to see Santa, but she did watch him for a few minutes.  I hope that she won't completely freak out when we take her to see Santa... but we'll see. 

I forgot my camera (even though we had to go back home to get Aaron's wallet after I had remembered that I left it... doh!) so all the pictures are from my phone and not the best quality, but they are better than nothing!

Day 10 - 25 Days of Christmas

Tonight we had some fun with Scoot's dessert.  I made her a funny looking little snow man using whip cream and M&Ms.  I'll be the first to admit it doesn't look much like a snowman, but Scoot loved it anyway.  She's a big fan of M&Ms and whip cream so this was a perfect little dessert for her!  We also read a book about snowmen. 

Day 9 - 25 Days of Christmas

Tonight Aaron and I went to his Christmas work party and Scoot got to stay home and have her own little party with LaLa.  It was not exactly what I wanted to do for our 9th day of the 25 Days of Christmas, but it was a super busy day and we didn't have time to fit anything else in.  To hear LaLa tell the stories when we got home, Scoot must have had a good time though! 

Still trying to decide if we want to brave the crowds, traffic, and frigid temps to go to a parade tomorrow morning...