Edward spent Saturday night at Grandma and Grandpa's house--his first night away from us--and apparently it was a big hit for all involved. They came with us to visit Santa at the mall and then took him home with them while we went to a holiday party hosted by some friends. He thinks it's a major treat to ride in Grandpa's car, so he went off with no objection. In fact the only objection came this morning when he realized he was getting in OUR car, not Grandpa's to come home. He cried until we reached the interstate and then squeaked out "truck?!" through the tears.

He was pretty serene regarding the Santa situation as well--neither excited nor scared. He just sat there while we all danced around trying to get him to register some expression other than, "What's next?" He actually was more excited about the big fish tank he saw when we first came in the door. We had to pull him away to get him headed toward Santa's chair. As we did last year, we opted for our second-tier mall for the Santa excursion and were not disappointed. This was quite a jolly Santa with a low-key staff who let us take our own photos with absolutely no pressure to buy one of theirs. That's what I call holiday spirit!

As mentioned in the last post, we did have an ice storm that kept us home again on Tuesday. It actually wasn't terrible out, but the outlook was very tenuous all day--another degree or two cooler and we might have had more trouble. Many people stayed home, including enough of the daycare staff that they had to close it. John came home mid-afternoon, just to hedge against the possibility of getting stuck out in a deteriorating situation. He took the camera along with the bag of salt he spread all over our walks and captured some of the beauty, which we could appreciate mostly because we never lost power or had any other major inconvenience due to this particular natural event. Others may have seen those ice-covered branches and been cursing the skies. This is one of the bushes in front of our house, which I have decorated with white Christmas lights. They looked really cool shining through the ice.

The day at home plus the storm offered the opportunity for Edward to learn two new words, which he promptly confused. He was making a fuss about something when I noticed the recycling truck pull up out front. I called for him to come quick to see the action and he came racing in. Then he chattered "re-cy-cle" over and over. (He already knew "cycle" because our neighbor has a motorcycle--"Ryan's cycle.") Then the next morning when we went out we pointed out the icicles on the house and trees. "I-ci-cle" he proclaimed. But later when we came home he pointed to the icicles and said "recycle?" So I added "truck" when talking about recycle and I think he's got it straight now. Of course it means one more truck he asks for on every car excursion. The fact that it's only in our neighborhood once a week is beyond his comprehension so he's always on the look out.