OMG

Yes, the blog contributions kind of died off in the last couple of days..sorry about that. You all know how it is in the last few days leading up to Christmas. I had just gotten back into town, lots of wrapping still needed doing, throw in a few errands and sprinkle with dinner parties and you get a bit of a fizzle to the end of our bloggy advent calendar. As it turns out, it mirrors the state of Max's actual advent calendar. I'm pretty sure I popped a chocolate out for him on Christmas Eve and that was #13 or #14...I can't remember. There were too many distractions, nights he didn't eat enough dinner, and nights he didn't deserve a chocolate treat...In any case, as The Count would say "TWO unfinished advent calendars..ah.ah.ah..."

This Christmas has been one for the ages. Pictures are still on the camera, so we'll try to get a few on the blog this weekend...or week. The main events involved: Christmas Eve brunch at work with my colleagues...everybody brought their families so it was a great chance for people to meet Leo and see how he's grown since July, or see Max and see how he's grown since the last brunch he attended when he was 3 months old; Christmas Eve dinner - fine dining featuring a KFC bucket paired with a fine bottle of bubbly provided by our close friends R&J and butter tarts provided by our friend R; Christmas morning, when Max got to finally tear into some presents (meltdown #1: when he realized that Christmas didn't mean that Santa just brought toys for him and that some gifts were actually for Leo...ouch); Christmas brunch at Leo and Max's Nana's place, featuring yummy eggs Benedict; Christmas festivities, including stocking stuffer exchange among the adults, followed by everyone watching Max tear into a large pile of presents (favourite gifts included a ukulele, a remote-control Zamboni, his first suitcase and a magnetic drawing tablet); Christmas dinner with both of Holly's grandfathers, and finally, Boxing Day - a great day to lounge around inside while the freezing rain pelted down outside ALL DAY LONG (meltdown #2: Max was very sad to see the 30-hour parade of presents come to an end. Just wait until his aunt and uncle get here with more!).

So Holly and I are currently in recovery. Thank you everybody for your generosities this year. If Max could spell, he'd take some space here to tell you how over the moon he is with the (commercial) concept of Christmas. Leo, well, he's kind of where Max was a couple of years ago - he generally handled Christmas very well, aside from occasionally seeming a bit overwhelmed by everything. He and I had a bit of a breakthrough this past couple of days, in that I've never been particularly successful before in entertaining him when he was upset BUT this weekend, I think I got more smiles out of Leo than ever before. We had a lot of fun singing songs and rolling around. He's a great kid when he's not upset (aren't we all?).

Tonight is the first night Leo has been put to sleep on his front - not knowing how this will affect the quality of his sleep, I'd better leave it at this and get off to bed. Already, he's maintained his sleep abut 25 minutes longer than expected!

Editor's note: Leo pulled off a 4-hour sleep on his front and over the past few days there's been more evidence that he's ready for sleep in different positions than on his back. In fact, most times, if he's not unconscious, once placed on his back, he'll roll around until you pick him up and put him on his front, at which point he'll settle down considerably.