Christmas number 3 was at Elliott's Nan and Pa's house and was also spent with Aunty Alison, Uncle James, Aunty Nicole, and Uncle Dan. We drove down in the morning and arrived about 9am. The plan had been to leave our house as soon as Elliott got up (usually around 6am) and then have a little breakfast before doing the big present thing... but of course plans are made to be broken and Elliott woke at about 5am (too early to head to the coast), had a bottle and went back to sleep until about 7:30am. So it all kicked off a little later than planned but, of course, no one minded.
This was Elliott's first meeting with a live christmas tree (and the wonderful distinct smell that goes with it). I don't think he noticed it, but in years to come I'm sure he'll develop a fondness for what that smell means. What he did seem to notice was all the beautifully wrapped presents under the tree, and much to his delight a considerable proportion were for him. There was much excitement after opening his new ride-on/walker, trying to work out how to convert the ride-on to a walker. Luckily we had a civil engineer on hand (Uncle Dan) so we narrowly avoided having to consult with the instructions.
Once the excitement in trying to set the walker up had subsided Elliott proceeded to give it a good workoutboth indoors as well as outdoors (off-road). Suffice to say he was pleased with the handling and decided it had better come home with him. You might also notice in some of the action picutres below, Elliott sporting a handsome pair of designer sandal footwear, another present (from his Aunties- Alison and Nicole), these were also a big hit!
After an extended play session with his new toys and gifts, Elliott got in first and had his Christmas dinner, which gave him a chance to test out the new Baby booster seat that his Nan had bought him. As the picture shows, it performed very well and only ended up with a small portion of his lunch spread over it (a portion wa also spread all over Elliott's face with the remainder making it to his tummy). Following his lunch Elliott retired to have a nap, which as mentioned in a previous post coinsided with Christmas dinner for everyone else so again Mummy and Daddy got to eat with everyone at the same time (so considerate)!
Lunch was glorious (as always) and we had a great time playing Mum's new innovation of a little post lunch game (with prizes). Aunty Alison's personally selected jokes were also a hit (as were Uncle James' jokes without notice). Eventually our little man must have sensed we were all having fun without him and so he came out to join the party. He immediately got into the spirit of it all and even breifly put on a christmas hat. However, just like his grandad (Paul) he decided that he was not such a fan of the hat idea and trashed it (I suppose it was a little big).
The afternoon was spent relaxing and playing with toys (as you do on Christmas day) and eventually we had to take the dogs for a walk, to work off some of that christmas lunch and make room for dinner (lunch leftovers, Mmmmmmm). Elliott took it upon himself to keep a watchful eye on the dogs (so they didn't run away) and was fixed on them the whole time, occasionally giggling when they wagged their tails.
Another memorable thing about christamas day was that Elliott developed his "Behold the ball" pose, seen below. The ball was a perfect size for his hand and he'd hold it aloft like he was a medievil sorcerer. It probably helped that he got loads of laughs everytime he did it. In this photo you can also see one of the retro toys (accumulated over four childern) Elliott's Nan salvaged from the garage. To be honest, some of these were probaly the biggest hits over christmas, showing the the formula for a good toys has not changed for the last 32 years (and probably much longer). All you need is an interesting shape, a bit of colour and sound. These days the sounds are in the for of hundreds of tunes stored in solid-state, whereas in my day it was just a dial the clicked as you wound it round (showing my age huh). Anyway, Elliott thought the retro toys were great!
That evening, Elliott turned in for the night and the rest of us watched one of Aunty Alison's DVD's she'd recieved as a present (The Holiday). Half way through Elliott woke up with a bit of a cry and so I went in to settle him back down, but when I picked him up the combination of crying, coughing and the blocked up nose he'd picked up over the previous couple of days was just too much and he spewed up all over me (and him). It was by far the biggest he's done and sure did a good job of covering both of us. Mummy came and helped us do the cleanup and bath and then Ellliott just went back to sleep and slept the rest of the night without a peep.
The next day the girls went to check out the boxing day sales, while us boys hung out and played with our toys a little more. Thankfully the weather had improved (it was overcast and a little cold on Christmas day) so we had our first chance to give Elliott a dip in his Nan and Pa's pool! Elliott had a go of the floaty that his Nan bought him and was very impressed with the chance to swim on his own (though Dad was never far). We also showed everyone how brave Elliott was by doing couple of dunks under the water. No crying at all, though Daddy nearly drowned himself on one of the dunks by going under while he was still counting down (typical).
Finally, after kisses and cudles for everyone, we hit the road for our next Cristmas engagement (Ralph and Tricia's Boxing day dinner).
Elliott's last two nights have been the worst in recent memory! It seems that for some reason, Elliott has lost the knack/desire to settle himself and at the same time re-discovered his brutal lung capacity to belt out a blood curdling cry! Who knows what it is ... teething, a bit of constipation, or something we have not even thought of. Whatever it is, we now remember the luxury of a good night's sleep. Two nights ago he woke at 3am and resisted all attemps to seduce him back to laying Zzzzzzz's. Then last night he woke at about 9pm and refused to take anymore shut eye until a little after 1am, following it up with his usual wake time of 6am.
