Cousins, Christmas, and Casinos

We took Avery to the Magic House, the best children's museum we've ever been to:








Avery gave Curious George a big hug!


Avery got to play with cousin Ava on Christmas Eve. She is only 3 months younger than Avery but they are very different in size (Ava wears a size 18 months, Avery wears a size 5T). They both liked playing with Ava's toys, just not together:



Christmas morning was nice. Avery got a big Ming-Ming toy and another smaller Wonder Pets toy, and he was so happy with both of those gifts that he did not care to open anything else.


Carolyn with her brother Donnie:


We went over to the home of Colleen (Carolyn's cousin) to visit with cousins and their little kids, Zoey and Colin, both of whom are just under 2 years old:


The Cousins/ Mamas: Victoria (Colin's mom), Carolyn, and Colleen (Zoey's mom):


My Xmas gift to Carolyn (but really to us both) was a night away at La Lumiere casino:

At Hubert Keller's Burger Bar -- we skipped the $60 burger (Kobe beef with foie gras and black truffles) but really enjoyed the dessert burgers (chocolate on the left, cheesecake on the right):



While Carolyn and I were enjoying our night away at La Lumiere hotel and casino, Carolyn's cousin Cody, 10, came to spend the night with Avery. He showed Avery how to play Wii!

Xmas time in Saint Louis

So far in Saint Louis, we've been to two new places: the Science Center and the City Museum. The City Museum was awesome! It was such a cool place with all these vintage video games and a "beatnik cafe" and tons of fun stuff for kids to do. Avery had a blast, and I'm sure we'll go back before our visit ends:





Avery rode this little train about 10 times. The first time, he held on very tightly and was very brave. After that, he smiled widely and waved like Miss America the entire time around the track. He LOVED it!






Playing in the Water Table at the Science Center:


At the "Discovery Room" at the Science Center, Avery "discovered" a Thomas the Train table and hogged all of the trains for himself. We told him to share, and he was a little too reluctant, so we ended up having a time-out in the hallway. Time-Outs work! Supernanny is right! Avery calmed down, and when he went back into the Discovery Room (after promising to share), he decided to play with marbles instead, assuring us over and over again: "I share Thomas! I share Thomas!"


At the cheesy outdoor Christmas lights show at the Yogi Bear Jellystone park:

Getting ready for the holidays in Westchester

Avery opened a beautiful Hannukah gift from Bubbe and Opa:


We decided to continue our tradition of having Avery choose a Christmas tree ornament from the Christmas Tree Shop. Last year, he enthusiastically picked out a snowman:

This year, Avery was not interested in any of the ornaments, and he rejected each of our suggestions, until finally this silver bird met with his approval:




A pajama day at home. Avery enjoys lounging:

And he enjoys playing with the train table. We finally glued the pieces together so that they don't fall apart, and he LOVES it!:


The Christmas party at Avery's daycare was fun, just like last year. Santa came, with gifts for all of the children (Avery got a car). Before Santa came, Avery was having lots of fun spinning around in a chair with his friends Belencita and Reed. Then when Santa came, it was time to give up the chair for Santa, and Avery was MAD and wanted nothing to do with the party or Santa. Instead, he went into the kitchen and danced by himself to the music on the radio. We had to leave a bit early because we decided to leave that evening for Saint Louis in order to beat the big snowstorm.

It's beginning to look a lot like winter

Avery really enjoyed helping to decorate our Christmas tree. Carolyn is especially trying to teach him about Santa and Christmas. He did enjoy watching "Shrek the Halls" on TV. And he likes to look out the window at "Kwissmiss light!" It snowed a tiny bit, so we walked outside to see. It was more like ice, and Avery enjoyed the crunching noise that his feet made as he walked across the grass. We are excited to take him sledding this year; we didn't try it last year, but he is definitely big enough this year! And there is a perfect sledding hill just a couple of blocks away from us.




Avery made a Play-doh masterpiece! He worked very hard on it, and he found it funny to stick his Thomas trains face-down into his creation. I called his artistic piece "Trouble on the Island of Sodor":





Avery put on his Mom's shoes and walked around our building. He kept looking at his feet and saying "handsome!"