The holiday happenings

We had a bit of a rough start to our holiday preparation last week, as Mom, Dad and the babysitter all came down with the flu the kids had been passing around. Jeremiah spent Wednesday with a sub sitter. The sitter was also closed on Friday so John and Jeremiah spent the morning getting things ready to travel, while I went to work. After getting our bearings, we hit the road on Friday afternoon.

We arrived in Lena in time for a pizza dinner - one of Jeremiah's favorites. The holiday celebrations began on Saturday with my immediate family. Then, we headed over to Papa and Ma'ma's house to spend the night. We had intentions of going to church there but after a little snow and a whole bunch of wind, we were drifted in and church was canceled. With a little help from Papa's tractor, we loaded in trucks to go to the extended family celebration. Unfortunately, because of the weather, we gathered without Great Grandma this year. She wasn't comfortable coming out in the blowing snow. However, during our drive to and from Hanover, Jeremiah made very friendly with Aunt Sandra's mom, who is visiting from Costa Rica. He was enamored by her voice. It also helped that she fed him. When the driveway was drifting shut again, we decided it was best to spend another night and travel in the daylight.

Christmas eve - we got back to G&G Todd's a bit before lunch. We spent the afternoon helping with a few tasks, relaxing and getting cleaned up. We had a fabulous dinner and Jeremiah sat through the whole meal, culminating with his very own sugar cookie and peppermint ice cream. The whole Todd family went to church together and Great Grandma Z. was so proud to announce to her church that her whole family was in attendance together. Jeremiah danced his way through the service, finding great delight in "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "Silent Night". After arriving back at the house, we participated in what we hope to make one of our holiday traditions. We sat as a family to read the Christmas story from the Bible. Then it was time for Jeremiah to go to bed so Santa could come.

Christmas Day - Jeremiah woke up to find a Little People Garage under the tree. Santa must have known how much he has been practicing his vroom sound. He delighted in opening his presents and helping others with theirs. It was a bit chaotic but he did pretty good. Later that afternoon, he became a bit confused when Ma'Ma and Papa came to G&G Todd's house to hang out. We all partook of yummy snacks and they played games. It was really special that he could spend some time with all his grandparents on Christmas Day.

We headed back on Wednesday and we've been slowly busting in to his news toys, reading new books and spending time giggling, relaxing and snuggling.

I fought the wall...

...and the wall won!

On Sunday morning, after spending part of the night sick, Jeremiah has a run in with the corner of the wall between our living room and kitchen. He fell over his own feet and hit the wall hard enough to split his skin. After a consultation with the patient advisory nurse, it was decided that we needed to make a trip to the E.R. Leave it to our son to have impeccable timing because we had just received approximately 7 inches of snow and central Illinois was dealing with wind gusts up to 30 mph causing bad drifting. We're extremely thankful that we own a four wheel drive truck. Jeremiah is now the proud sporter of 3 stitches in his forehead. Hopefully he won't have much of a scar but only time will tell. He was a real trooper for the stitches, being very still and not at all whiny.

In other news, Jeremiah is excited that his dad is done with class. Here they are at Dad's graduation.

And his latest infatuation is with climbing in things. He has a "new" used toy box that is his newest hideout. Tonight I watched him carry a toy from the living room to his bedroom, put it in the toy box and then get in the box to play with it.

A new cute thing

I had to add this to Jeremiah's blog before I forget. Last night, I had class and John was getting Jeremiah ready for bed. They brushed his teeth and went to sit in the chair, which is the normal routine. Jeremiah DID NOT want to sit in the chair so John let him down. He walked back to his bedroom and stood next to his bed. John picked him up and put him in his bed and he went to sleep. So much for needing to snuggle before he goes to bed.

In other news, he's taking some more breathing treatments and oral meds to try to knock this cough/cold/congestion thing that he's got. He had the lovely experience of getting a chest x-ray on Wednesday but already seems to be doing a bit better with a huge amount of meds. (For this experience from my point of view, you can visit my blog).

Tis the season

Here are a few quick updates on the life and times of Jeremiah:

- Last Saturday Jeremiah met Santa Claus at the fire station in Fisher. He also enjoyed climbing in and on the fire trucks. He wasn't too excited about sitting on Santa's lap but we think he was there long enough for the photographer to get a shot. We're waiting to get it back.

- We also put up the Christmas tree last weekend. Although we arranged the room to block part of the tree from his access, he has been very well behaved about it. He has two or three ornaments that he likes to take off but he knows they go back on the tree and brings them to us to put them back on.

- Grandma Todd gave him a countdown calendar and each morning we've been putting that day's magnet on it. These magnets have been spotted in various locations throughout the house but, again, he knows where they go and does his best to put them back on the calendar, which is hung at his height, when he is encouraged to take them back.

- He's fighting a little cough again so we're back to doing nebulizer treatments. Hopefully they are short lived.