Ho, Ho, Help...

Brady has officially made Santa's acquaintance, and he was none too impressed. I was hoping for an adorable Brady smile or, at the very least, a hilarious meltdown, but he was pretty indifferent to the whole experience. Although, he was a bit angry because Santa wouldn't let him down to "pay" (AKA: play), and once he realized he was supposed to smile for a photo, he put on his Zach face and just stared. There was one shot I loved because he's facing the camera but looking at Santa out of the corner of his eye, but we opted for this one instead:

Santa was very patient with our boy who, throughout the duration of his lap-sitting, tried to slide down Santa's leg, wiggle away to get to the fake snow, and/or make his body go limp so Santa couldn't get a good grasp on him. He's tried the latter on me a few times and I will say it makes picking him up a bit difficult. Also, he wouldn't address Santa by name; instead, he referred to him as "Ho Ho."

With Aunt Jen and Lani at the Mills Winter Wonderland

So far, Brady has been pretty good with all of the Christmas decorations. He understands that he's not to rough up the tree, but has since figured out that if he throws a toy underneath the branches, he'll have no choice but to get in close to retrieve it. He's done this a few times, staring at us to see what we'll do. I think he's in that "testing the parents" phase. He throws a mini-fit if he can't do something the first time he tries, like opening his Elmo mailbox, and starts yelling, "Hep! Hep!" If we don't come running, he throws whatever is in his hand over the gate and onto the sleeping dog on the other side. Each time we've told him not to throw things, he hurls more stuff. His cup, wooden blocks onto the wooden floors, his toothbrush, etc. have all fallen victim to Brady. Could it be that the Terrible Twos are giving us a holiday preview??

With his newest friend, Morgan!

Remember how, a few weeks ago, I was with my parents and a kind man paid for our breakfast asking that we "pay it forward?" Well, Zach and I did just that last night. We went to a local restaurant for dinner and an older man was sitting behind us. He was whistling along to the Christmas music, playing Peek-a-Boo with Brady, and then eventually started talking to him. All Brady contributed to the conversation was, "Eat. Bread. More," but the guy really got a kick out of him. We learned that he has 11 grandchildren and works at the Pittsburgh School for the Deaf. He saw that Brady signed "more" and was really excited that we had taught him a bit of ASL. Zach asked the waitress to give us the kind stranger's check as well, and while he was at the register paying, Brady and I learned a little more about the man: he owns 40+ acres of land, is this area's largest producer of organic dairy cows, also owns his own catering business, and his wife is our township supervisor!!! Okay, maybe not the best pay-it-forward candidate, but it's the thought that counts, right?!!

Talking on his football phone??