This kid wants to crawl so badly. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks and when that doesn’t work he gets angry and starts yelling.

He is so close to getting the hang of it. Yesterday he used his feet to push off the floor, almost like jumping, toward a toy that he wanted. It worked and he got the toy – for about 3.5 seconds and then Adam decided he wanted that toy and stole it away.

It’s tough being the little brother.

This pretty much covers it.

Also, Dave is not allowed to help Adam with spelling anymore.

This is not how we spell Luke.

Yesterday the boys and I spent the morning at the indoor playground near our house. I knew Adam would have a good time, but I wasn’t sure Luke would get too much out of it.

Boy was I wrong. Luke had the best time playing in this little red car. His legs could just barely touch the ground, but he was able to jump up and down in it. The steering wheel lit up and made noise and he thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Adam had a blast too. He jumped in the bounce house, slid down the fireman pole (with help), and climbed the rock wall. We will definitely be going back soon.

On Friday Dave took the day off from work and we had a nice lazy family morning. Then in the afternoon we packed the kids up and rode the Polar Express to the North Pole.

Most of the children (and some of the adults too) wore their pajamas on the train.

I couldn’t resist getting the boys matching jammies (which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that knows me). Adam insisted on wearing his fireman boots (again). That kid has a pretty fantastic sense of style.

There were elves on the train that accompanied us to the North Pole. A couple of them tried to interact with Adam on the way there, but he was not at all interested. He would tell them “train going” and turn and look out the window again.

Luke charmed a few of the girl elves though. The ladies love The Duke.

At the North Pole the elves got off of the train and when they came back they brought Mr. C with them. On the train ride back Santa stopped and talked to each child.

I could not believe that Adam got so close to Santa. He told him he was a good boy and wanted new crayons, a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toy, and m&m’s for Christmas.

Luke didn’t say much, but he did give Santa a nice smile.

It really was a lot of fun and we all had a great time. Hopefully we’ll be able to do it again next year. I am sure Adam won’t complain.

Today was pretty much perfect, until about 20 minutes ago when Adam got an emergency bath and a lecture on why we don’t touch poop.

Be thankful for the lack of pictures.

This morning Adam came up to me wearing a colander on his head and told me to go make mac and cheese.

Yeah, I didn’t – but nice try buddy.

The day before Thanksgiving Luke started sitting unassisted. He can’t get in to that position by himself (yet) but it didn’t take him long to master the whole not toppling over thing (most of the time).

He’s also been showing signs of trying to crawl. He will get up on his hands and knees and rock, but hasn’t shown any controlled movement yet.

I am not pleased. He was not supposed to grow up so fast.

Last week while listening to the radio in the car I came across a station playing nothing but Christmas music, I quickly changed it.

This past weekend I complained to Dave that a good portion of the homes in our neighborhood not only already have their houses decorated for Christmas, but have also been turning their lights on nightly.

It seems like we barely get past Halloween and the stores start playing Christmas carols and advertising holiday sales. It’s much too soon for my taste.

However, that didn’t stop us from going to the mall Monday night to get the boys’ picture taken with Santa. I rationalized it by telling myself we’d avoid the lines and I’d have more time to get copies of the photo to include with our Christmas cards. But truthfully I was like a little kid at, well, Christmas, and couldn’t wait.

I honestly wasn’t expecting Adam to want anything to do with The Claus. He approached him hesitantly, told him his name and that he was a good boy and wanted a Hot Dog (Mickey Mouse) toy and some new bathtub crayons. Then he even gave Santa a high five.

We asked Adam if he would sit on Santa’s lap. We could tell he wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but he did it without complaint. Luke stole the show by charming all the ladies in a 15 foot radius and giving the biggest smiles.

We bought a CD with the picture on it, and when we got home from our trip I popped the disc in to the computer and was not pleased when I realized it was blank. I tried calling the mall, but the Santa station had closed half an hour earlier.

I called again the next morning and left a message with someone in customer service at the mall, and then ended up driving out there anyway. I was afraid they’d delete the photo from their system and knew there was no way that Adam would pose with Santa again.

Thankfully they still had the pictures they took and burned all three of them (instead of just the one I paid for) to the disc and gave me some printed out wallets of our favorite photo as well to help make up for the inconvenience.

As soon as we got close to Santa Adam laid down and hid in the stroller. He wouldn’t even give the jolly old soul a wave. The Duke really digs the man in red though and didn’t complain at all when he asked to hold him. It took them about ten minutes to get everything sorted out and at one point Luke put his head down against the furry part of Santa’s jacket and started to fall asleep. It was adorable. I asked if I could take a quick picture with my cell phone (which is not normally allowed) and they said it was fine. Unfortunately Santa shifted and Luke popped his head back up.

I have a feeling both boys are on Santa’s “Nice List” this year. I know they’re on mine.