Saturday, December 3, 2011

New Thing #79: A Friday of Many Surprises and Fun!

Friday marked a very, very big day, both for our family and this blog. It was the last day of maternity leave. On Monday I will return to work. I think I'll write more about that in a different post. This one is just about what we got into on our last day.

I had thought of doing something big and grand to commemorate the end. Due to a scheduling switch, the LP ended up doing a 3/4 day at daycare on Friday instead of Thursday. This isn't the worst thing in the world because it will help in their adjustment to next week. I knew it would be too much to pick them up and go gallivanting all over the place. Fortunately, things came to us.

The mailman delivered us a large parcel and two letters. More on that in a moment. Sometimes I bring our daycare provider a tea when I pick up the LP. As I was getting her tea today, I noticed gingerbread timbits are available right now. I thought this would be a treat the LP would enjoy. I bought two of them and once we were home, they each had a timbit with a cup of milk as their after-daycare snack. They thoroughly enjoyed them, too. I wasn't sure if I had scarred them for life after Gingerbread House Debacle '11 but it appears that they do still have an affinity for it.

Once the snacks were finished and they were getting antsy, we opened the parcel. Their Great-Auntie P and Great-Uncle D live out West and they are two of the sweetest, most thoughtful people we know. I wish they lived closer because I always enjoy them and I love it when they visit. They are two very interesting, insightful people. They send the LP gifts and they are always well-chosen, lovely things that we know they put much thought and generosity into selecting. Truly, they spoil our LP. And this parcel was no exception. Last Christmas, they adopted a symbolic animal for each of the children from the World Wildlife Fund. They received a soft, plush animal and a certificate of adoption. I thought it was a great idea. This year, they have done it again. I wasn't sure if these were intended for Christmas presents and should be set aside but given that they came on our last day at home together and I knew the LP would absolutely love them, it felt right to give them to them now. A snowy owl was adopted for LP1. As soon as she saw it, she took it immediately, gave it an enormous hug and declared "IT'S SO CUTE! I JUST LOVE IT!" She named her owl "Nobi" (I have no idea why) and promptly began loving it up. The owl was taken all over the house, tucked into soft blankets, pushed in a stroller, sat down beside her for dinner and shown all of her favourite things. It probably comes as no surprise that Nobi was snuggled with her in bed all night and is with her now during her nap.

A baby jaguar was adopted for LP2. His eyes lit up when he saw his and he reached for it to give it a big, slobbery kiss. He tucked it under his arm as he did his Frankenstein toddle across the kitchen. He would sit down, touch its eyes and whiskers and giggle when I ran the tail over his face. LP1 also took a liking to it, but I had to explain that this was LP2's. When asked what we should name it, she decided that "Baby Jaguar" was the perfect name. Baby Jaguar has also been given the loving treatment. Once again, Great-Auntie P and Great-Uncle D have brought much joy to the LP. There will be a picture and a note on the way to them soon.

After the excitement over the parcel had faded a bit, I showed the LP the two letters that had come in the mail for them. Do you remember how we wrote to Santa last week? Well, Santa wrote back!!!!! We sat down and I read their letters to them. I won't go into all the details, but LP1 was impressed by some of the things Santa said in her letter and was definitely delighted. LP2 didn't really understand his letter, but enjoyed the pictures on the stationary. I am proud to note that both LP have made the "good" list and have even been invited to the North Pole to visit Santa and Mrs. Claus, enjoy some cookies and, if they are gentle, give Rudolph a pat on his red nose. I don't think we'll have time to take them up on their kind offer this year, but maybe we'll go see Santa and thank him.

After some pizza for dinner, we all played together as a family before it was time for the LP to have their baths. Snuggles and night-night soon followed. It felt to me like it was a great end to a Friday where we were all showered with love and some Christmas joy.

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