The McPherson Family Expansion: Preparing for Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Advent this year. Preparing for the birth of Jesus was really fun to share with the boys. They are still too young to learn more than the basics...... but it is great to introduce them to Jesus as a baby and Mama Mary. Maybe next year we will get a nativity set that they can play with.

Recent Milestones (at about 18 months):

The boys are now feeding themselves with silverware. It was a messy transition but definitely worth it to be able to put their food in front of them and walk away to get something else done!
Manners... David & Gabriel can say (& sign) please and thank you. They don't always do it yet and often say thank you when they are the one that should be thanked but it is sweet to see and hear.
Wrestling. So far they mostly love to wrestle playfully with Peter and I and not each other. I think this is for the best.
Recognizing people... They love to look at our picture books of friends and family and are able to pick out people now.
Tantrums. Both boys now throw tantrums. Thankfully they are still short lived. The worst part is they sometimes become very aggressive towards each other.
Ducking... Gabriel has sort of a double smack move where he tries to hit David on the head when he gets mad. David just learned to duck his head and take a step back when he sees it coming.

Favorites

Luvies: David has a bear that he is really attached to that he sleeps with each night. Gabriel has a monkey, however he is nothing but violent to the toy most of the time. Gabriel seems much more attached to his water cup that he keeps in his bed and his tooth brush. I kid you not, they both like their tooth brushes A LOT and it can be challenging to retrieve from their little hands before bed. David has even been found brushing his animals teeth with his tooth brush. Peter finds this encouraging. :)
Food: Breakfast foods seem the most popular right now (waffles, eggs, pancakes, fruit). They also like macaroni & cheese, pizza, cheese, peas, corn, speghetti. They occassionally eat black beans. Recently they tried and liked chili & hummus.
Books: They like The Polar Express & Goodnight Gorilla before bed. Their favorite book during the day is Go Dogs Go.

Some fun things we did during Advent:

Trip to the Aviary
Attended a St. Nicholas Day party
Celebrated Aunt Emily's Birthday
Trip to the Childrens Museum (we learned all about injection molding)

Love his huge belly!

(We only had a #1 candle)

Went to the PPG Christmas Exhibit downtown. They had paintings and santas from all over the world which showed the varying traditions across cultures. They also had trains and a giant gingerbread house contest (which was my favorite part). Maybe in a few years we can participate in the contest, it looked like a lot of fun.