Tis better to give?

We've decided to start a new family holiday tradition.  Every year around the holidays, we are going to pick out a handful of toys to donate and make sure the kid(s) help in the activity to teach the importance of helping others.  The problem is, with a three-year-old, this is a very hard lesson to teach.

Riley's favorite part of Hanukkah was the presents - go figure!  He helped to light the candles and tolerated the blessings, but really lit up when he got to open his presents.  Now, try to teach him the art of giving and cue a tantrum.  I tried to explain by asking if presents made him happy?  And if he didn't get any presents, wouldn't he be sad?  That is why we are going to get presents for kids who won't have any, and he kept saying "for me??"

Throughout the process, Riley could not wrap his head around the fact that the gifts were not for him and when it was time to make the donation, it was done so with a handful of tears, a few stomps of his feet and with an overall begrudging attitude - so I ask you - does he look like he believes that it is better to give than to receive?

Maybe over the next few years he will understand the meaning a little more and get into the holiday spirit of helping others - I hope!

Hanukkah's a Happy Time

Every year, the JCC puts on a Hanukkah show to let the kids show off their Hanukkah cheer and sing their songs.  We can always tell what the song is a few weeks before, because all of a sudden, a new song is added to Riley's repertoire and we have a feeling it's the one they are practicing at school.

In the past, as soon as Riley sees us, he has decided not to participate in the song and really wants to run to us, but this year, he sang with his friends and made his candle hat look good!  There were 8 classes performing and the whole show lasted all of 14 minutes but it was very cute and was something we all looked forward to seeing.

A special thanks to Bibi and Zee for coming to see the performance as well!

(Hint: Riley is towards the end of the line wearing a light gray shirt)

30 weeks

Well, with less than 10 weeks to go, we are in the final countdown of getting to meet Matzo Ball!  Although people tell me that I look small, I don't believe any of them, plus, Chris says that they are all lying...

Some days, I feel him moving around just making himself comfortable, and other days it feels like he is moving around all the furniture and re-decorating the place to make things more feng shui.

I am now at the point where I have doctor appointments every two weeks and each time I go, they say things are looking and sounding good.  We have an appointment set to take a tour of the hospital and have someone coming to order new windows for the nursery too so we can have a nice toasty baby when he gets used to his room.

Next steps after that?  Painting his room and picking his name!