Christmas Party

A couple of Saturdays ago was the annual Castillo Family Christmas Party. I always look forward to these parties, and not because Santa’s going to be there, but because I’m pretty sure I have the greatest family ever. Calvin gets so excited to be with the other kids and it was so fun to watch him run around with them too. It was not fun to keep saying “Get down from there!” “Put that back!” “Turn the lights back on!” Why’d you take off your socks?!” “Who’s Coke is that?!” “Leave the door open!” “Who’s Pepsi is that?!” “I said ‘Leave the door open!’” “Who’s Mountain Dew is that?!” “Get over here right now and sit on Santa’s lap or you will not get any presents! EVER!” Apparently he sees me as a total pushover and is no longer threatened by my words. It was quite the fight to get him to sit on Santa’s lap and even once I finally got him up there he wouldn’t look at him. But he didn’t scream in his face or pee in his lap so I view this as a success.

Ali on the other hand was so cute! She smiled for her 1st picture with Santa and put in her request (via Mom of course) for her own room. I just think this is something she’d want. Now, I’m not quite sure how the big guy will pull this one off; Does he want to finish our basement? …Find a new family for Calvin? I’m just not sure. Nonetheless, we’re counting down the days and although Calvin still doesn’t understand what this “Christmas” thing is we’re all talking about, he loves all the lights and snow, and asks for toast made from gingerbread every morning for breakfast!

I also had a very proud moment last week. We were sitting on the couch and Calvin turned to me and said, "You shoot your eye out kid." My work is done.

Sometimes he's cute

This little post is only here to precede the what some might call "negative" one I just wrote. Calvin has been doing and saying some funny things lately, so I just thought I’d share…

A couple of weeks ago the home teachers stopped by. Calvin opened the door, told them to “Come in!”, shook their hands, and then asked them if they wanted to watch Indiana Jones with us! After they left he shook their hands again, shut the door, then said to me “They were nice guys!”

We were at ShopKo and this old man wearing a hat came up to Calvin and waved and said hi to him. Calvin just stared at him and never said anything but he had a look on his face that I’ve never seen him make before. When the guy walked away Calvin turned to me with his eyes lit up and said “Indiana Jones!”

Calvin now sings the Alphabet Song: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-Hardy-L-M-N-O-P….Now I know my A-B-C-D-E-F-Gs, Next time won’t you sing with me!

I bought a little votive candle centerpiece thing, and when I put the red candles in it Calvin said, “It’s so pretty! Like Jell-o!”

Other than that, Calvin continues the daily routine of curiosity and cruelty.

We're still here...

I can’t believe it’s already December! I’ve been neglecting the blog lately, but not because I don’t have anything to talk about. In fact, a lot has happened and I have plenty to say. I’ve been more excited about Christmas this year than I have been in a long time and I think it’s because Calvin seems to have more of an understanding and I think he’ll grasp it completely this year, and also because now that our family is complete I was finally able to let my mom buy us stockings from Pottery Barn! Currently, Calvin has found yet another way to attack my heart. By climbing over the baby gates, installed for his safety and our sanity, he now has access to the kitchen, basement, and outdoors. The kitchen floor has been the victim of half a box of crunched up cereal, a pitcher full of water, a couple of fruit bowls worth of peaches, and broken eggs. At least he threw the carton away after he broke all of them, and I guess I should be thankful more damage hasn’t been done, but I’ll be sure and let you know when he does it. He hasn’t really done much destruction downstairs, I just worry about what he could get into such as laundry detergents, the randomly exposed toilet, rolls of insulation, paint, and computers. So until we have a spare hundred twenty dollars laying around to buy the extra high gates, we’ll really see what he’s capable of. If anyone would like to donate to our cause we accept cash, checks, and money orders. My aunt has also opened a Save the Boobies Fund due to the recent weight she’s lost. I find this to be a worthy cause, “Mary-Kate and Ashley” shouldn’t have to suffer on behalf of better health! (PS you look awesome Cindy! Way to go!) Anyway, since our last session Calvin knocked over our floor lamp at the perfect angle for it to barely hit the tile and shatter it. He threw his shoe at the table centerpiece and shattered the vase. I’m not too upset over that one since the vase came from our wedding and I have like 10 replacements. However, as time continues I may have to take back the ones we gave away as party favors. He fell off of the bookcase that he shouldn’t have been climbing in the first place, and he also shattered the glass in a picture frame. I’m seeing a trend… I tend to doze a lot (obviously and for obvious reasons) and I was quite amused to wake up to a hysterically laughing Ali while Calvin was in the kitchen standing at the fridge throwing Kraft singles in her direction like Frisbees! Also in recent news, we had to replace the motor in our heater. I love the holidays!