holiday travels

During the week between Christmas and New Year's, we split our time between visiting Aaron's sisters up north and visiting canoe guide friends of Aaron near Alexandria. James was a good traveler, and perhaps more importantly, a good sleeper. We were a little unsure how well he would do sleeping in strange places, and in his travel crib instead of a toddler bed. The most difficult parts of the trip were James-wrangling in places that weren't babyproofed and trying to be quiet in the morning while others were still sleeping.

As we had hoped, James spent most of his time in the car asleep.

After we got to the A-frame, it was time for more presents. Auntie Molly got James a train!

The best part was when the train crashed into different items on the track. So exciting!

Making "tunnels" for the train was pretty exciting, too (James loves tunnels)

Auntie Lindsey got James a turtle that lights up and displays the night sky. James doesn't have many light-up toys, so he spent a lot of time with this one, trying to "make moons"
After James went to bed, there was plenty of time for visiting, playing games, and reading by the fire. It was really nice to get out of the cities for a week and spend quality time with family and friends. Perfect holiday break!

Christmas Eve

James has had some awareness about Christmas but it was hard to tell how much he was understanding. He knew about Santa, and he loved looking through all the Christmas cards we received. And he was interested in the animals from our nativity scene, and the ornaments on our tree. But the real excitement came when he got to open his Christmas presents.

Hurry up, it's present time!

A Llama Llama toy for James.

And off come the red pajamas

"More presents? Okay, yes."

And a new book about Curious George (that we have ended up reading just about every night before bed).

It was fun to see how excited he was, both for opening the presents and at his new toys and books. But perhaps the most exciting part of James' Christmas was the bowl of ice cream he got before bed. He's a little young yet for the traditional family grasshoppers but the ice cream suited him just fine.

A trip to the Children's Museum

We spent a few hours this morning at the Children's Museum in St. Paul. With some birthday money that James received, we decided that a family membership would be a good gift and today was our first trip there. As expected, James had a great time. One of our first stops was at a room of all sorts of water tables.

Next, James practiced his driving skills.

Time for some grocery shopping!

Now he's a postman. There were all sorts of rooms with dress-up clothes relating to different professions.

Upstairs, we went to a nature room.

James had to crawl through the "beaver lodge"...

... to find a slide. (Of course he found a slide)

So much to explore!

Two hours was definitely enough, both for parents and for James. But thanks to our membership, we'll be back soon -- especially for the Curious George exhibit in May. James will be pretty excited to see George.