Merry Christmas!

Christmas is in three days and we are all settled in CA for a traditional Mitchell Family Christmas. We left on Wednesday and Luke did phenomenal on the flight. "He fell asleep on the tarmac and stayed asleep until our descent," said an anonymous source. "Oh, and that mom of his was super-awesome and really cute, too."  Amit and Marinda were also amazing on the packing front, they were ready 15 minutes before our ride came to pick us up!  I mean, who does that? But the real excitement was at the airport before we got on the plane. As soon as Luke got out of the stroller he ran straight for the window to look at the trucks and planes moving around. He would've stayed there the entire time had Amit not wanted to show him the runway (though we suspect Amit really wanted to see the planes take off for himself). He was clearly mesmerized in a way that he hasn't really been with anything else so far.

Being here has been great. The biggest change (especially for Luke) is having 3 nieces and nephews around to play with. Luke has had a great time playing with his cousins John, Mary and Lorenzo. Other highlights for Luke have been the all the new toys. It's almost impossible to get him to sit still to read a book here (except for bedtime) because he's so excited to play with everything. His favorite things in the house are the train and the Christmas tree. Every time he gets out of our bedroom he runs over to the Christmas tree and points at it, saying "eee!" The train set is normally out of his reach, but he still points at it and says "choo choo!" The large train set seems to have inspired a new phase for which everything is a train - even the kid-friendly nativity that Grandpa and Grandma bought for each family.  Marinda and Amit are having a fun time bonding with the family too, with Amit serenading Grandma with his many piano arrangements and Marinda being her bright and shining self inspiring joy and merriment where ever she is.

Luke loving watching gradpa's train.
CHOOOCHOOO!!!!

Cowboy Luke bouncing on his horsey

The three older cousins...and a diabolical looking Amit.

Luke and grandma chillin' by the Christmas tree.

Luke 'playing' in the fake snow at the park.

Before - Luke loving the toddler bouncy house.

After - collapse!

High five on the swings!

Other boy's thoughts: "Woah, are you seeing this? This kid is craaaazy good."

Luke peeking out of the tunnel.

Luke is also showing off his language skills, sometimes in less than fortunate ways. On the night we made chicken for curry for dinner, Marinda mentioned the word 'hair' for some reason or another. Luke is getting pretty good at pointing at body parts, including his hair. So when he heard the word he naturally assumed it was in reference to him (because he's the center of the universe, right?) and put his curry-covered hands on his head. Sigh. He also is getting a lot better at signing words like 'more' and 'please'. He does these pretty consistently now thanks to being in daycare and us trying to push it over the past few months. He is also really good at saying yes and no and nodding or shaking his head when he does or doesn't want something. One day Amit asked him for some of his food and even said and signed 'please', but Luke shook his head and said 'no!' with a giant smile.

On Sunday Luke was in nursery all by himself for a full 2 hours for the first time ever!  *freedom!FREEDOM!!*  His nursery leaders said he did great! He also got some great takeaways, like some pictures that he colored and a foam nativity scene. And yes, he did actually color with the crayons and not try to eat them!

Sunday night we went caroling around the neighborhood. Our little sixtet sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to a few neighbors and dropped off treats. This is the first year we've done it but we hope it'll end up being a new tradition.