The New Way to Tuck Tayshaun into Bed

From the get-go, it's been a process to tuck Tayshaun into bed. In fact now that he's getting bigger and can probably put himself to bed, he still loves the ritual. He'll complain when I tell him to go to bed and he'll say, 'then, who's going to snuggle me in?'....as if he didn't know.

Snuggling entails placing sheet and blankets up and around his body; kisses; star lights on and parting words like 'don't let the bed bugs bite' or 'nighty night' or 'nice dreams'....whatever he can say to stall from having the bedroom light turned off. If he's still stalling and thinks he needs to pee after I've already 'snuggled him into bed', then of course, I'm expected to go through the ritual all over again.

He's always had some type of soft furry blankie - of course, it started with his baby blankies but he's graduated to a dark brown faux fur blanket. So he's ALWAYS had a furry blanket for comfort. I can't say that I blame him - you just sleep better with softies! I have 'em too.

Lately we've experimented with the SLEEP spray which is a Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy that he's convinced helps him sleep. He has me spray the blanket where it is tucked directly below his chin. He sniffs it a few times and then rubs his blanket under his chin - and looks as comfie as could be.

But last night was hilarious!!!! Sasha and Tay decided they were going to watch tv all night long so they set up their bedding on the couches in the family room. Within ten minutes of getting put to bed, Tayshaun was upstairs going pee. Afterwards he came into my room in a whiny voice and says, 'o Mom, I had to pee - so now who's going to snuggle me back in - I can't snuggle myself.' So of course, I get up to do my nightly chore.

So I go downstairs and Tayshaun's already on top of a pile of blankets. So I say to him 'come on buddy, if you want me to tuck you in you're gonna have to get under the blankets'. And he responds, 'no, Mom, I want to be wrapped like a taco.' What?! I started giggling. But he was totally serious. So obviously, he has his mind made up how this "being wrapped like a taco" is supposed to go. So I wrap and tuck the blankets snuggly around his body and he looks at me irritably and says 'Mom, that's not like a taco.' I'm laughing out loud and thinking, 'what the blahblah'........so instead of voicing my thoughts I say to him... 'no, Babe, but tonight you've been rolled like a little burrito instead! Night Night!'.

I cracked myself up and giggled all the way back up to bedroom. My son is a riot!

He's taking a nap right now (pic above)- which reminded me of the taco tucking....

And Christmas day

Eventually everyone arrived with bags of presents. I finally got the FROZEN turkey dethawed and in the oven.

Each family arrived at different times which gave me just about enough time to clean up one mess before the next began. O MY GOSH! The garbage cans are overflowing with gift wrap, ribbon, bows, etc, etc.
Since we're the last ones to get Rock Band, everyone took a turn on the drums, mic, and/or guitar as they arrived. Of course, the kids were the best scoring performers.

Legos were a hit too! Even the big girls tried their hand at building lego concotions.

Mom gave Lisa and me scrapbooks of all our own childhood pictures. She did a great job - and along with the pictures were her memoirs as she remembered and re-told our most memorable events and experiences. I loved the book. It will always be a treasure for me. "Thanks, Mom! Muah!!!"

I ate ALL day long. I can't wait to go on a diet (ok after the New Yr) so I don't feel so yucky. My underarms even feel fat. It was probably all those Rum Balls I ate. Geez, I shoulda had everyone blow for their alcohol content level before they got in their vehicles. I need that recipe for my football party next week.

Again, we sat around the kitchen table making fun of ourselves and re-telling our most embarrassing stories. Lots of stories were told about joy-rides in borrowed vehicles from moms & dads (before the legal age to drive). I contributed to that one too. LOTS of drunk stories...most of those were mine. The day just passed WAY too fast.

That evening we watched videos, played legos, and took pictures. When Tayshaun was asked to get on his jammies, he came out with his jammies over his clothes. what a ding dong!!! Tay got a coooooool digital camera too. It's child-proof and uploads pics to the computer. I'll try posting some of his shots soon.

That was another great Christmas experiencing great times with the family. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

An Early Christmas morning...

Good to their promise, texts started at 5am - but I was asleep until 630am. Maddie did you go to sleep last night? So I started to text Shalyse - requesting Kahlua for my coffee to get myself moving. I was also supposed to have a turkey in the oven by 730am.
The boys weren't up at 7am when the girls arrived (in their jammies - except Maddie who was fresh and so clean, clean).

Even after the girls arrived, voices had to talk a level louder until Tayshaun eventually got his butt out of bed. I guess I didn't make Santa seem that exciting 'cause even after Tay was up - he was more excited about the girls being over the house than he was to look under the tree. Eventually we switched on the light in the living room and the presents got passed around. Everyone took turns opening and admiring what they got. While opening presents, we sipped coffee and wondered why there weren't any cinna-buns. After all presents were opened, the girls went home to nap and tidy up with plans to return at noon for turkey EARLY dinner.

Tayshaun-ee-mon's Christmas Eve

Christmas eve was at Uncle Todd & Auntie Lisa's house.

We had lots of fun eating and drinking;
revisiting old memories;

debating sports; napping by the fireplace (wayyy too much wine); as usual, Mom tried persuading everyone to telling her what they got her for Christmas. She reminded me about the year that she had stolen her Christmas present from my house and how I called her and ripped her a new one for stealing from me. "Mom, you weren't even supposed to have Christmas in those days! You were a Jehovah's Witness, then...and technically wasn't even supposed to get a present. But since I was Santa Claus, you got to play hooky from religion. Boy you were a naughty girl for stealing from Santa...you shoulda got a lump of coal!"

playing Boogie WII

and snapping pictures

Of course the boys were wild...talking about what Santa was going to bring them tonight.

We reminisced about how we started with grand-daughters only - there were many years without boys - it was ALOT quieter then. Now we have BOYS BOYS BOYS BOYS BOYS BOYS. But we Love our little boys!

The girls started off at their dad's first and eventually made it over to finish off the night with us.


I tried to talk them into a sleep-over but my girls are TOOO big now - and don't particularly like sleeping away from their own beds. But everyone agreed they'd be over bright and early to see what Santa brought Tayshaun. Wakeup calls were promised in the morning.

Tayshaun's Santa Wish List

This is the first year that Tayshaun looked comfortable sitting on a stranger's (Santa) lap. And, boy, do I have a dilemma this year.....

As we waited in line to talk with Santa, Santa's helper made small-talk and asked Tayshaun what he was going to ask Santa for. Our visit to Santa was a few days after Thanksgiving and as you know, I haven't gotten into the Christmas spirit until recently. I hadn't even asked Tayshaun yet what he wanted for Christmas.....so I was all ears for Tayshaun's response. So Tayshaun proceeds to tell the Helper that he's gonna ask Santa for a Robot.

So I watch "Santa" lifts Tayshaun to his lap. And they begin chatting and Tayshaun looks semi-comfortable as he interacts with "Santa'. Afterwards, Tay got a sucker and $30 later some DARLING photos were produced!

Anyways, back to the Wish List......so as we walked the mall, I asked Tayshaun about his request. Incidentally last year, my nephew got a Robot for Christmas that stood about knee-hi and I remembered that Tayshaun was spooked by the toy. So of course, I needed to get some insight to what "Santa" needed to produce for this Christmas so we had our little conversation about The Robot Request:

Yvette: "I thought you were scared of Robots?"

Tay: "I'm not afraid of Robots!"

"Last year, you told me you didn't like Zach's Robot."

"Mom, I don't want a Robot like Zach's !"

"What kinda Robot do you want?"

"I wanna a Robot that I can tell what to do, like clean my room, play with me, turn on games for me, spy on you....."

(and this just went on and on)

"Why do you want the Robot to spy on me?"

"So I can get in your purse and get some gum."
"O-yeah! Where'd you see a Robot like that?"

"Wow-Wow Wubbzy - Widget made a robot that looked just like Widget"

"O-yeah! So do you want your Robot to look like, You?"

"No, Mom, he'll look like Wall-e but he's as tall as Andrew and he'll be able to see in the dark."

"Well, I hope Santa knows how to make Robots like that."

"Santa knows how to make Wall-e. One time I went to his workshop in the night-time and opened his door and I saw Santa making Wall-e Robots. Santa wasn't asleep."

O-MY-GOSH! My son is a bigger liar than I am about Santa! Well!

BTW -- Tayshaun hasn't given me another choice - just in case Santa isn't able to build him a Wall-e. "Cause Santa know how."

Looks like We're in the Spirit Now

We have a tree...and a little elf in the house

December 11th - Can I have another WEEK?

O My Gosh! It's December 11th and I don't have a tree up; I don't have decorations up; I haven't bought a single present; I haven't sent out Christmas cards yet (I did buy them, though).

Can I have an extra week?!!??!!! I've been sick this entire week and I'm behind!!! I'm normally a procrastinator but this year I'm ridiculous...and here I am blogging when I could be taking out decorations. Geez I'm running in slow motion this year and I just can't get in the spirit!

This is Tayshaun's 4th Christmas (and he's probably only remembered two). There's only about 7 good Christmases for little guys to remember before Santa packs up his reindeer FOREVER. I have a job to do.......make Tayshaun's 4th - another special memory.

I asked Tayshaun what he thought about using our outdoor spiral lighted Christmas tree that would normally sit on the front lawn - as our tree this year - but he wasn't having it. Well, that would have been a memorable Christmas tree, dontcha think?

Somehow I need to get into the mood of it all. I need to go sing some Christmas carols or something. For goodness sakes, I'm still in Cabo, Mexico, mentally. I'm not ready for Christmas. Well, I guess that leaves only one thing to do....shop; shop; shop; shop; charge; charge; charge; I mean shop; shop; shop. That will probably gets me in a good spirit!

Hopefully my next blog will be of our Christmas tree....up in the living room.