The other day we were driving to and from one errand or another, and from the back of the car, I heard Little Miss tell her brother, “If you’re good, you’ll get presents for Christmas. Not yet. It’s a long, long, long, long time.” It was so cute to hear a three year old explaining a holiday that she herself is really fully grasping for the first time this year.
This got me thinking about all her past Christmases and this year being Mr. Man’s first. Little Miss was 8 months old at her first Christmas, and we were so excited to have a kid to open presents with. Our kid! I researched toys, figured out what she would like best. We set everything up, and anxiously awaited Christmas morning.
When Santa came, it was all about her. We watched her every move, made over-exaggerated faces at every gift she “opened.” We took a million pictures and did a lot of playing. Then we went to my parents’ house where the whole thing was multiplied by about a million with her aunts, uncles, grandparents and great grandparents all acting equally overexcited.
All of her Christmases since have been pretty similar. She is the star of the show. There are a ton of toys under the tree and they are all for her. So what happens this year, now that there are two? It’s funny, but I feel like my whole outlook on Mr. Man’s first Christmas is so different than it was with her. I guess I am a seasoned, or jaded, parent now and while I am excited I can’t help but think that he really has no clue what’s going on anyway.
Of course I have purchased a bunch of toys that I know he will like and I am really excited to see him open them, but I catch myself thinking that I need to do things for him so that Little Miss will see that Santa came for both of them. Where I filled her first stocking carefully considering things she would like, I am filling his thinking, Santa gave Little Miss a toothbrush so he should give one to Mr. Man as well.
Basically even though she is no longer the only child, this Christmas is still very much about Little Miss. Mr. Man will have a great day, and I think he will enjoy his new toys, but he doesn’t know who Santa is and he won’t remember it. Little Miss, on the other hand, is at the age where some of these moments are going to stick and become lifelong memories.
So with Christmas just a few weeks away, I am preparing the holiday for fun for them both, but in very different ways. I suppose it is just another eye-opening experience of parenting two little kiddos.
This got me thinking about all her past Christmases and this year being Mr. Man’s first. Little Miss was 8 months old at her first Christmas, and we were so excited to have a kid to open presents with. Our kid! I researched toys, figured out what she would like best. We set everything up, and anxiously awaited Christmas morning.
When Santa came, it was all about her. We watched her every move, made over-exaggerated faces at every gift she “opened.” We took a million pictures and did a lot of playing. Then we went to my parents’ house where the whole thing was multiplied by about a million with her aunts, uncles, grandparents and great grandparents all acting equally overexcited.
All of her Christmases since have been pretty similar. She is the star of the show. There are a ton of toys under the tree and they are all for her. So what happens this year, now that there are two? It’s funny, but I feel like my whole outlook on Mr. Man’s first Christmas is so different than it was with her. I guess I am a seasoned, or jaded, parent now and while I am excited I can’t help but think that he really has no clue what’s going on anyway.
Of course I have purchased a bunch of toys that I know he will like and I am really excited to see him open them, but I catch myself thinking that I need to do things for him so that Little Miss will see that Santa came for both of them. Where I filled her first stocking carefully considering things she would like, I am filling his thinking, Santa gave Little Miss a toothbrush so he should give one to Mr. Man as well.
Basically even though she is no longer the only child, this Christmas is still very much about Little Miss. Mr. Man will have a great day, and I think he will enjoy his new toys, but he doesn’t know who Santa is and he won’t remember it. Little Miss, on the other hand, is at the age where some of these moments are going to stick and become lifelong memories.
So with Christmas just a few weeks away, I am preparing the holiday for fun for them both, but in very different ways. I suppose it is just another eye-opening experience of parenting two little kiddos.