Sansey Trilogy and Trail of Lights

Sebby and I have had the chance to check out a plethora of Sanseys (Seb's way of saying Santa) this holiday season. These Santa experiences might be to blame for his recent cough. I'll take the trade off! Nothing can stop me from getting these treasured photos!  Seb's first Sansey experience occurred right in front of our house. Our neighbors to the left, Corey and Jimmy have a life sized Sansey that Seb is absolutely obsessed with. Each day he asks to "touch, touch" but I remind him that he's not our Sansey and we can look but not touch.

I watched Leo and Carla the evening after the Gingerbread House Party of 2012 while both sets of parents went out for a date. I survived and it really went well! The kids all sat at the kid table together eating their pizzas and enjoying some fruit juice. We hung out outside and even said hello to Sansey. No one had a poopy (Thank the baby Jesus!) and there was no hitting, scratching or toy snatching. I think I can do this again!

After that Sunday, it's been a whirlwind of Sansey experiences. First, daddy, Seb and I caught the last hour of the Lighting of the Tree at The Triangle. He was super excited to sit on Sansey's lap. We were outside and there was quite a line but nothing stopped Seb from getting to sit on Santa's lap!

Closed eyes again! Santa looks like a creep, don't want to look!

Then it was off to Highland Mall for a Santa story time.  Sebby was not the least bit interested in the story!!! There was NO Santa appearance during the story time so we quickly jumped ship and walked around the desolate mall. This place was D-E-A-D! Really, it was rather sad. This mall is known for its rather interesting establishments and places I haven't ever heard of like El Palacio de Quinceanera or Hair 4 Daze. I think there's a dollar store in there as well. It's probably a good thing that ACC is snatching this place up now before it completely goes down the crapper. Phew! What an experience!  We did manage to find a train track but it was not in operation so Seb decided to pretend he was the conductor and chooo chooo his way around each caboose. 

Huh?!

Go go Sebby!

Then we found a little .25 cent train that moves when you put your money in it. I was able to scrounge enough money to get this thing moving but the minute it did, Seb screamed, NO OFF NO OFF and so that was the end of that!  

Immediately after that, I saw black Santa walking past us. Seb screamed, Sansey, Sansey. So, I thought, great! We'll take a pic. As I managed to get close to the Santa photo booth Seb began to scream and cling to me with his man hands. I couldn't pry him off. I had all intentions to get a screaming Seb on Santa's lap but no dice. This kid was NOT letting go of me! So we left. With no pic....so onto the next story time......

Voila! Enter Northwest Rec Center.  Seb was SOOOO excited when we were waiting on Sansey. I kept telling him all morning that he was going to meet him and get to sit on his lap. He kept screaming, Sansey, yeeeeeeah!!!

"Sansey yeaaaaah"

Examining my cookie

I'm excited!

Waiting in line with Niva and Mr. Snowman and some random dude

So, I thought for sure he would be thrilled to sit in his lap. After story time and some cookies and juice, Sansey busted through the doors. Again, Sebby screamed and jumped for joy. Yeah, Sansey! Yeah! We waited in line for about 10 minutes. We got close....but as you can see, sitting on Sansey's lap was the last thing my child wanted to do:

Ahhhhhhh!  Noooooo!

Oh! I had so much fun getting this shot! Blackmail for life!

And lastly, we managed to walk the 2012 Trail of Lights. It's been on hiatus for the past few years so we were thrilled to hear it's made a come back. Well, so were the other 700,000 people that live in Austin. It was paaaacked. However, we got there early enough to get a decent pic with another Sansey. This time Seb was all smiles. My boy learns so fast!  I'm proud of you! The Trail of Lights was a blast! Another Maki Tradition is born!

I really hope this Santa isn't a creep...look at my child's shirt! It's hiked up! What the what?!

In other news, Seb continues to enjoy closing his eyes for the camera. It's funny that I remember doing the same exact thing as a child too! I remember my mom constantly telling me to stop squinting.  I wonder whether that's some kind of gene that gets passed down. Here are some pics:

Seb has begun learning his ABC's and 1, 2, 3's. I think its rather funny that he enjoys reciting the spanish version of his 1,2,3's more than English (he says each number after I tell him to). He literally says each one of them in Spanish but refuses to say the number one in English. Why I wonder??!?! 

Remember the work bench daddy made for him? Well, Seb screwed in two screws ALL BY HIMSELF without any help from daddy or me. I'm serious! This child picked up a screw, then the screwdriver and screwed it in. Wow! The hand-eye coordination boggles my mind! He then looked up with a smile and screamed, DRILL BIT! What? Drill bit?! I didn't even know those two words went together until I was well into my 20's. It's amazing to me that he knows most of the names of his tools. I include them here: ammer (hammer), piers (pliers), srew (screw), drill, nail, saw dust, saw, wrench, screwdriver and sander. He's talking more and more each day. He's stringing two words together: I did it, hold it, Hi Sansey and No more. Ha! Of course he would know that one.  His mind is expanding so much everyday. It's sooo much fun to watch and I can't wait to hold a real conversation with him some day!

Gingervitus?

Seb stocked up on his sweet tooth for a whole year in a two hour span today. I'm not kidding! Our dear friend, Auntie Anuva had a special party today, The Gingerbread (Graham cracker) House Making Party of 2012!! This will now become a tradition in our crew and I can't wait for next year - minus all the candy.  Here are some pics from a great party play date:

Smiling because he knows all that candy is waiting for his little hands

Eating, not decorating

His favorite thing to do now: close his eyes for the camera

Im on a sugar hiiiiiiiigh

Can we get down now?

The masterpiece is finished

 AND THE AFTER PARTY:

Seb was the last kid to leave

He's very much into the swing right now

Good job pushing, Fafa!!

Swiety Mikolaj and Happy 10th!

Today marks a Polish Christmas tradition that I intend to continue from my childhood. Every December 6th, Swiety Mikolaj (Polish's version of St. Nicholas) would visit the homes of people in the village, dressed in his bishop's robes. When Sw. Mikolaj visited the children, he gave them a gift for being good and to remind them of the gifts given to the Christ Child by the Three Kings. Celebrating the feast day of Sw. Mikolaj remains popular with Polish people living all over the world.  In my family (and in many Polish families) parents fill their children's shoes with treats the night of December 5th. You never really get a gift, just a bunch of sweets! So this morning, whilst I was dressing my little man, I surprised him by showing him his shoes. He screamed gleefully, "kinga!" (candy). Oh! He was sooooo excited for his breakfast:  twizzlers and candy cane hershey kisses. Of course, he would NOT stop asking for candy even after having 4 pieces! So then we had a little tantrum....

I think it's rather ironic and pretty cool that I met my best friend turned hubby 10 years ago on this day as well...Sw. Mikolaj brought me a little more than some sweets in my shoe that day. Love you Pat! Thank you for my beautiful bouquet of flowers and Starbucks coffee! You're the best husband anyone could ever have!

Christmas, here we come!

Seb had a fun filled post Thanksgiving pre Christmas prep week. Dad, Seb and I put up lights on Thanksgiving weekend and bought a Christmas tree from Walmart. Yeah, that's right. We get our tree from Walmart! It's actually THE prettiest tree I've ever had. AAAAAnd it's real! I went Griswald this year and bought 7 reindeer and a Santa sleigh to put in the front yard. My neighbors inspired me because their house has a real life Santa in it that waves and sings to passerbys. We've had so many cul de sac drive bys, it's scary....literally. In fact, Pat "heard" something outside around 10:30 pm last night and ran so fast to open the door that he forgot the alarm was turned on! Low and behold it was a passerby.  Next year, we'll be putting out a tip jar.  Can't wait to see my electricity bill!

The reindeer haven't been set up in this pic yet. More pics to come!

Seeting up the tree

Poof!

Seb has been all about Christmas this year. He absolutely LOOOOVES our neighbor's "Sansey" (Santa) and demands we go and say hi to him everyday. Here he is busting a move:

I caught him taking down Christmas tree decorations the other day....

Our friend Josie and her little girl Carla invited us to the Jewish Community Center to learn a little bit about Hannukah.  It was a blast! There was free playtime for about an hour and then a man with a HAT came in to see Hebrew songs about Israel and how cool it is to be Jewish. Ok, I'm sure they weren't about that but I really couldn't understand a word that came out of his mouth. Either way, it was really fun and educational. Afterwards, Seb enjoyed a snack of blessed hallah bread and juice with his pals. It's impossible to get a good photo of these kiddos!

The JCC has a great playground!

Later on, Seb practiced his singing skills:

There have been so many Christmas events around town. We have a new Maki Family Christmas Tradition: Chuy's Children Giving to Children Parade! It was soooo much fun. There's a bunch of local celebrities, schools and clubs that partake in the parade along with some blow up Sesame Street characters that pass by on Congress Avenue in Downtown. Everyone brings a gift to give to a disadvantaged child and puts in a truck at the end of the parade. I think this is a great way to teach Seb to give back and also help others. Our friends Anuva, Niva ("Fafa") and Kraig met up with us and a fun time was had by all!

It's Abby from Sesame Street

He was really excited!

Seb put the gift in the truck with help from dad

Seb's been talking up a storm lately. Here are some hilarious things that have come out of his mouth:

Seb and I were at Costco the other day and I was asking him questions:  "Seb, what do you want to buy at Costco?"  He responds, "A puppy!"  Mommy says, "what would you call it?"  Seb screams, "FAFA!!!!"

I was attempting to change Seb's diaper with no success so I asked him if he was going to be a good boy as to which he responded: "Candy!"  Ha!  No more bribing with candy, mom!

Gobble Gobble!

We travelled to Dallas for our Thanksgiving Feast. Little traffic, a one hour nap, and a 15 minute pit stop made the trip wiz by. Seb kept yelling poop, poop! So we decided to see if he'd poop if he got out of the car. Fat chance! Here he is tricking us:

Somewhere in the middle of central Texas I made mom and dad pull over!!!

Seb chasing me in the middle of a construction zone

Little Zeekers looks soooo big already and he is almost back to his birth weight. He's eating like a champ. I fed him Friday and he gulped chugged down 3 oz within 5 minutes! You're ready for college, son!

2 weeks and 2 days old

Ending the night happy

This was the best pic I could get of the two cousins. Seb was soooo squirmy!

Ciocia Agnes daydreaming of her own little one, one day

We spent Thanksgiving with Cioca Agnes, her boyfriend Jeremy, Ciocia Anka, Cioca Evone, Uncle Gavin, Zeekers and Babcia Monika. What a great visit. We all made something for the table. Chocolate pie was a hit once again.  And I even made my own stuffing this year!  Pat absolutely loved it so I will try to perfect it next year. Pat and Gavin smoked a real fake Cuban that Pat and I smuggled across the Mexican border during our Playa del Carmen excursion.

Jail free!

Also, Gavin had a 30 year old scotch (bottled in 1996) he was holding onto to bust open with his late dad. It was a gift from his mom and was distilled and casked when Gavin was born. Since Grandpa Roger died a few years ago (prostate cancer) he decided to share the celebration with Pat and Jeremy. Half the bottle was gone before the end of the night. Although Seb didn't drink any, he sure is acting like it in this pic:

I can't see the camera!

1966, that's no typo!

About dang time!

Seb is officially done with the play pen. Or should I say, we're done with it. He woke up Thursday night at 4 am and wouldn't go back to sleep. Oh Brother! So we took him into our bedroom and put him in the toddler bed. He finally fell asleep around 5:30 am. We decided to try the toddler bed out again on Friday night. He slept through the night like a champ and didn't wake Pat or me up!  Bye bye play pen!!!  Just another little thing that makes me feel bittersweet about my baby growing up.

Seb had way too many sweets, AGAIN. Babcia spoils him rotten. The minute we walked in he asked for a pop pop (lollipop). I have her to thank for introducing him to those. I even put away the candy bowl and he threw a tantrum (these are occurring more and more frequently each day now) because he knew it was in the drawer. Sheesh kid. You're getting too smart! Speaking of smart, when we got home he was asking for Djuice (juice). I told him that we didn't have any so instead of tantruming, he walked to the pantry and pointed to the peach cup. He's so clever! He realized that there was juice he could drink out of there! Can you tell how proud I am of my problem solver?

That's me! 

When we returned, Daddy made Seb a little work bench for him to play with while in the gaaaarg (garage). Oh! He was so excited and it kept him busy for a whole hour!!!

Dad, a real aaamer (hammer)!!!!