We spent Thanksgiving at my parents’ house. Eric always has fun when we visit Grandma and Grandpa D. Everyone was there this year, except Uncle Jeff who was sick and had to stay home. We missed him. We arrived shortly before dinner was served with just enough time to fill up on snacks and hors d’oeurves. Eric ate almost everything that we asked him to eat. He has just come out of his “refusing to eat” phase. He ate mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, pickled beets, and cranberry sauce. He really liked the cranberry sauce!
Friday morning, we drove home. Eric napped in the car on the drive up and on the drive back. Aunt Deborah was riding in the back seat with Eric. They both took a nap on the way home. After we settled back into the house, we started decorating for Christmas. We started by putting up the Christmas tree. Eric was glad to help. Eric, Mommy, and I unpacked the Christmas tree and fluffed up the branches one at a time as I snapped them onto the tree. After the tree was up, it was time for Eric’s nap. He was so excited about the tree that he did not want to go to sleep. Once down in his bed, though, he fell asleep shortly. Mommy and I continued putting out decorations, but we saved the tree for last after Eric got up. Eric was very helpful. He put several ornaments on the tree.
Again, I was out of town all week for business. I returned on Thursday afternoon, so I was home for dinner on Thursday. Eric missed me, and I missed him. I was very busy all week, and I was not able to get on the webcam to see Eric and Mommy. Friday was my vacation…three-day weekend!
Friday morning, I was ready to give Eric a bath before breakfast. Mommy was fixing French Toast! I filled the bath with water and bubbles, got Eric undressed, and asked him if he was ready for a bath. He said, “Okay Daddy, sir!” I thought this was very amusing. I wonder where he picked up such a phrase?
Mommy went to visit with a friend on Friday afternoon, so it was just me and Eric for a few hours. We had just enough time to fix Mommy’s car and get dinner started. Mommy’s car had a dead battery, so I had gone to the store to buy a new one while Eric was napping. When I got home, Eric was up, and Mommy was ready to go. I hurried to get Eric bundled up, so we could go outside to work on the car. It would be getting dark soon, and snow was expected on Saturday, so I really wanted to get this done today. Eric was very helpful, he held all of my tools for me while I worked. I lifted the old battery out, and as I lifted the new battery, I commented that it was heavy. Eric said, “Is that heavy for you, Daddy?” I replied, “Yes, very heavy.” Eric reassured me by saying, “You’re a strong boy!”
This morning, we woke up with at least 2 inches of snow on the ground. Mommy and Eric were up first, but I soon followed. Mommy mentioned that Eric was already talking about building a snowman. We ate breakfast, and I bundled up to go clear the snow from the sidewalk and driveway. It was still snowing, but I thought it a good idea to stay ahead of it. As it turns out, it did keep snowing, but the daytime temperatures were just warm enough to keep it from accumulating any more on the concrete. When I finished clearing the snow, I made a quick little snowman and set it on the front porch. It is probably no more than 12″ tall. I found a cup in the garage for a hat, broke some chalk into pieces for the face, poked a small twig into each side for arms, and found an old rag to use as a scarf. When I went into the house, I called Eric to the front door to see the snowman that was on our front porch. He came to the door and looked. He was very excited and asked, “Did you make that Daddy?” When I answered that I had, he said, “I want to make one!” I was not ready to go back out just yet, and he was not dressed, so I promised him that we would go outside to build another snowman later.
After a while, Mommy suggested that we had better go outside soon to build our snowman, because we had to take Eric over to Grandma and Grandpa G’s house to spend the night. Eric’s cousin Tyler would also be spending the night. So, we began the process of bundling Eric for play outside. Mommy insisted on snowpants, coat, hat, mittens, and plastic bags inside his shoes. The poor kid could barely move with all that stuff on, but he was guaranteed not to get cold! bundled up, we went outside. Eric ran around through the snow and played. I started building another snowman, this one a little larger than the first. There still was not enought snow to consider anything near life size. Eric showed a little interest as we started, but soon wandered off to walk through the yard. I finished the second snowman and this time, we had brought a cup from in the house for a hat. I found another scrap of a rage to use for a scarf, some small stones to use for eyes, and twigs for a nose and his arms. I thought the snowman looked pretty good. Eric really liked it! I moved the first snowman from the porch down into the yard next to the second snowman.
