Rudyisms

After spending a few hours at the mall, getting pictures taken and waiting for tires to be put on the car, Rudy was very cranky as we drove home. As he negotiated about bedtime when he got home this is what we heard:

But I love you, Mommy. I don't want to be away from you. I want to stay with you all night.

He frequently uses I love you as his reasoning for doing or not doing something. And often offers to give us presents or be our friend if we do what he wants.

"My brain can't remember the one that goes ' don't cry' ". He wanted to sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

Gato now has a family to keep him company. Kitten (which he got for Halloween from Grandmom and Gram) is the baby. Gato is Kitten's Mommy and Beary is Kitten's Poppy. A few other dolls are sometimes recruited to be a brother, a sister or a cousin, too.

"When I grow up can you get me a dress and a cape like Batman?"
"Sure."
"And glasses."







"Does your radio work or did I put money in it like Poppy's?" (See this post for the story of the money.)
" Mine works."
"Why did I put money in there?"
"I don't know why did you?"
"I thought it wasn't real."





Rudy has been telling us how he and Grandma Sheila used to do things together in Guatemala. Most recently he said they watched a movie with a witch but he wasn't scared because Grandma Sheila doesn't do dishes or check her email during the movie.




Out of the blue after dinner: "First of all, I love Mommy. Second of all, I love everybody in the house. Except Smokey. Because she growls at me."

Home Vacation Fun

Since I am off this week, we told Rudy we would be on vacation. He immediately wanted to know where we were going. So we told him it was a home vacation. He has been pretty happy with this idea; I'm a little concerned how he's going to do when we have to go back next week. Today we decided to go to the aquarium. We saw on the website that there was a Rudolph and friends display, which Rudy was very excited about. As usual, when we got to the aquarium, Rudy zoomed through the displays in record time. I think we could have left after 45 minutes and he would have seen everything. Fortunately, there was a movie I had tickets for, so we had to stay around for that. We also got to see a show about the Bumble lighting the Christmas tree (if you don't know this reference, go immediately and watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer).

After seeing one of the ares of the aquarium, we finally found the Rudolph display where Rudy wanted his picture taken with all the characters.

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As I was getting tickets for the 4D movie, Rudy found a friend.

A brief moment where Rudy stood still long enough to take a picture.

Thinking about the power of the throne, I think.

The show required some audience participation and Rudy's hand went right up. He also had no problem doing what he was asked (well, as well as any of the other kids did). He had a sign that said "Red-Nosed Reindeer" and when the elf said "Rudolph" he was to hold up his sign and the audience was supposed to say "Red-Nosed Reindeer". He didn't look happy doing it, but later could tell me what all the signs were and what character they referred to.

Look closely and you can see the Bumble hiding behind the pillar.

The Bumble putting the star on the tree.

After the show, greeting the Bumble.

Getting ready for the 4D show. See how happy he looks? That would soon change.

The show was a movie called Earth, that Rudy has seen parts of in other movies. It was 4D so occasionally there was water being squirted out from the front of the seat, and air being blown from behind. As soon as it started, Rudy was not happy and told me he wanted to leave, then said he wanted to hide behind me. I held him in my lap and he made it through the movie just fine. I managed to put my foot over the spray in front of us and when he was sitting on my lap, he couldn't feel the air from behind us, so he was happier. But he didn't like the sound of the air coming out and wouldn't wear his glasses for the movie. I would imagine the picture was pretty blurry without it, but he enjoyed the movie anyway.

Christmas Chaos

Our last big Christmas celebration was on Saturday with my family. Since there are more kids involved with this one, it is usually more chaotic, but also a little easier because Rudy has kids to play with.

Upon arriving at Bill & Renee's Rudy joined Max who was already attached to the Wii.

Batman also joined us. Lucy felt the need to wear a mask too, so she took this piece of cardboard and was holding it over her face.

Gifts were a big hit, of course. My family has always taken turns opening gifts starting with the youngest. This year, fortunately, there were not a lot of gifts for the adults, so the kids didn't have to wait too long in between opening gifts. Lucy just kept standing by her presents saying "my turn to open a present, Kathy?" over and over until it was her turn again. But the kids did a great job waiting.

My aunt has started a tradition of sending hand made gifts for the kids. They all got hats and scarves and then had to pose and show them off.

Lucy kept her hat on for quite a while. She had many choices on which shoes to wear to match her hat.

Max got a Wii for Christmas so he is somewhat of a pro at it already. Rudy is still a little young and doesn't quite get the concept, but Max did an awesome job of telling Rudy what the instructions on the screen said and showing him how to do it. It is just awesome to watch these cousins together. The jealousy and annoying of each other has almost completely gone away and they play so well together and love each other so much.

And then there is our Goose - Lucy - who isn't yet ready to fully play with the boys but loves to have her picture taken and to be held. The most common phrases heard last night were "take my picture" and then she wanted to see it, and "hold me".

As we were preparing to get in pjs and go home, Rudy turned on these singing cats and sat next to them - a perfect photo opportunity - although this is the closest I got to getting him to look at the camera.

It was a wonderful way to end our Christmas celebrations - lots of good food, fun times with family, and a relaxing day.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve day was spent running around getting ready for guests. We went to church and then came home and finalized everything for dinner.

The first guest of the night, Sean, was lucky enough to get to entertain Rudy for a while. Typical artists - they didn't want their pictures taken.

Music was the theme of the night. Rudy recruited everyone he could to sing and play with him at some point.

Uncle Tom even brought his own guitar for the festivities.

It was a late night. Rudy went to bed around 10:30 and was up by 7am.
Discovering what was left under the tree and in the stockings.

The bets gift of the day - a 'scooper trash truck'. He spent the most time playing with it.

Pretending to rest.

Santa left a great gift - a Batman costume.

Batman playing with the trash truck.

Even Lou got a gift - a new toy. 5 minutes after these pictures were taken, Lou chewed the toy enough to pull the stuffing out, so the toy went into the trash.

Such a patient dog.

My dad came over around 9am and we had a big breakfast and then exchanged a few gifts with him.

Playing with Legos. He copied all the pictures off the box- a house, plane and car.

Batman trying hard not to be photographed.

As busy as Christmas Eve was, Christmas day has been much more laid back. Paul, Dad and I played a card game and Rudy jumped from toy to toy playing with all of them for a while. We are starting a new tradition tonight with my dad of going out for Chinese food for dinner. That should be a great end to a great day.

Recent Videos

This is really grainy, but it is Rudy showing off his moves on the dance floor as he grooves to The Chipmunks Christmas Song.

And here is Rudy (with Paul accompanying him) playing guitar and singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Christmas Events

During the past week we celebrated Christmas a few different ways.

While home bound during the snowstorm, we decorated our tree. If you look closely at the window, you can see the snow piled up on the spruce outside.

Friday night (pre-storm) we went to 'Mithmille' to see the Christmas lights and do some shopping. The lake has all these Christmas trees that are set to music.

Of course, Spiderman joined us on that outing. We also rode the train (very cold when you sit in the front of it) and Rudy rode the carousel.

Paul's company had a Christmas party on Thursday night. Here is Rudy refusing to have a picture taken.

And here he is happily dancing with, K, the daughter of one of Paul's co-workers. Rudy only sees her twice a year at company events but he loves playing with her and she looks forward to seeing him. It is nice for us to have a babysitter so we don't have to amuse him the whole time.

Rudy took this picture of Santa at the party.

I think this is about the 3rd Santa picture we have from this season. This Santa had bells and when the kids sat with him, they were able to jingle the bells, which was a hit with Rudy.

Displaying his gifts from Santa - a bear he named "Pinky White" since he's got a pink hat and scarf and is white, and a Spiderman memory game.