Christmas Morning 2008

Lois woke up in her own house on Christmas morning, but Santa had left her gifts at Aunt Martha's. So we packed up the bean and some blueberry muffins and headed across town. Big things were happening on Castlebridge Road. Santa brought Maggie a gift she'll never forget. One she has asked for every year since she learned to talk.


Meet Vanilla. Vanilla Sweetums Monroe. The newest member of the zoo. My grandmother - the original Lois - was an animal lover and passed that particular affinity onto my sister and I. Both of us have had - and will probably continue to have - a plethora of animals sharing our homes. I can guarantee you we did not inherit this animal love from Pops. He used to kick our cat down the stairs and claim that she jumped on his foot.

Andy was a happy camper to find that Santa brought him Mario Cart. (Did I spell that right, Pooper?) I tried my hand at racing a little, but guitar hero is still my one true love. I can really jam out to Weezer. Just try picturing that for a minute without laughing.


Santa brought Lois a toy drum full of musical instruments for her to beat and bang. She's quite a gifted banger. Just ask Auntie Gina who almost laughed herself off a chair at Red Lobster where Lois decided to bang a metal bread basket across the table. There were stares. Lots of stares. She gets those little drum sticks in motion and I can just imagine her counting out the beat for Aerosmith.


Lois has changed so much in the past several months, I'd be remiss if I didn't' fill you in on some of her most resent accomplishments. At the beginning of December, she bestowed a consonant sound on us. We've been waiting for what seems like an eternity - worrying that her constant, unresolved hearing issues were holding her back. But one day, Lois let out a dadada and then a bababa and a nanana and a yayayaya (she's a smart girl). She whispers them and screams them, and every time I hear them my heart sings. Just like every other developmental milestone I've wrung my hands over, she did it in her own time and in her own way. Which makes the celebration even sweeter.


I don't think Lois is ever going to crawl, and that's OK with me. I'm sure it stems from the early months of her life when her mother never put her on her belly. I'll take full blame. But I just thought lying on your stomach with a giant tube hanging out of it wouldn't be very comfortable. It really has set her back - made things like rolling over really hard to master. I won't make the same mistake with #2. But the damage is done, and Lois literally looks like a fish out of water when lying on her tummy. It's just not her thing. She is, however, starting to take her first wobbly steps. YaYa and Pops bought her a little push cart for Christmas and Lois stands behind it while I move it forward and off she goes. It's not fast. It's not pretty. She babbles and does her weird coughing laugh the whole time. But it's the beginning of Lois's independence. And frankly, it's scary as hell.