Sunday, December 27, 2009

Leading up to Christmas

Christmas is now two days past, and I feel like I should be writing about our day and how everything went. But before the big day is of course, the month of anticipation starting from Thanksgiving.

Every year, Christmas gets a little better. By that I mean each year, Tgirl realizes a little bit more about what is going on and starts to expect what will happen next. It's one thing to see your typical child anticipate and get ready for the big day. It's something else completely different to watch the other child going through the motions of the season. For sure, she has always enjoyed the typical traditions, I mean who wouldn't like chocolate candy in their stocking and seeing the endless array of new stuff that magically appears.

The first year we really did Christmas with the kids, she didn't even realize she was supposed to open a present and quite frankly, she didn't know how. But each year she puts a few more pieces together and starts to expect, anticipate and react more appropriate to all of the goings on. Like when we decorated this year and watched her carefully find and pull out each Santa and then arrange them on the end table. She had never done that before, but it seems after a few years of seeing the routine, she knew just what to do.

This year, Tgirl starting very excitedly signing "Santa" whenever we starting talking about Christmas. She signed more and more every day right up until Christmas Eve when she ran around almost all day chirping and signing Santa. It was really cute to see her and realize that she knows Santa, even if she is afraid of him whenever she sees him.

The real challenge is shopping. It's not that Tgirl is hard to buy for - clothes, shoes, cars - she definitely has her preferences. The problem is mine. It is absolutely heartbreaking to walk the aisles of the toy department and see all of the toys one "should" be buying their 7 year old daughter. For years, I have walked by the princess toys, the baby dolls, the Easy Bake ovens, the Barbies, the Littlest Pet Shop and on and on. Many times, I have shed a tear or two standing there looking at the things that every other mom is buying for their little girl.

She also loves toys that make noise. For a while this year, I was debating buying her a Tag reader; I wasn't sure if she would be able to make it work. While standing and looking at them one day, I had a mom start talking to me while she was debating buying some Leapster thing or another. She went on and on about how her 4 year old twins were born early and how one had really struggled but was now reading and doing all this wonderful stuff. She was actually debating if some 3+ toy would be okay. I am happy of course, that this woman will never live in Holland, but it wasn't a good time for me to hear this when I was going through all of my present-buying angst. My little delayed, struggling girl will never read.

After all of these years, Tgirl is finally getting into dress-up and imaginary play, and stuff like that. Unfortunately, all of the neat dress-up clothes are for much younger girls - try finding a princess dress to fit someone her age. It's a good thing her head is so very small, as I was at least able to get her a tiara that fits! I also found her a nice tutu, but again, as it is made for a much younger child, it barely fits her. But she loves it, so I am happy.

In the end, I had a nice assortment of gifts for her, including the requisite car (although it was a Barbie sports convertible - my attempt at getting her something roughly age-appropriate).

Another present buying season come and gone, and I can relax again until her birthday.

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