Christmas With a Toddler

This year was a first for us. 2015 marks the first year that Little Man has any concept of what Christmas was, who Santa is and how this whole thing works. This was our first Christmas with a toddler and it was chaotic, fun, crazy, wild, overstimulated and oversugared. There weren’t enough naps, there was too much to do and there were Christmas decorations every where you turned. 

In other words… it was fun. 

I have seen a graphic going around Facebook, and to be honest if I could credit it to someone I would. My husband had posted something similar on Facebook after watching our nieces and Little Man go nuts on Christmas eve. It said. 

I used to think that being a kid at Christmas was the best thing ever… Turns out, having kids on Christmas is.

There is nothing I could say that would be more true after seeing Little man over the last few weeks. There has been so much excitement, so much anticipation and so much discussion leading up to Christmas. I thought for sure he would expect it to go on for months. In a way it has gone on for at least one month. 

It has taken me a bit of time to process everything. Part of me can’t believe Christmas is already over and part of me is excited to play with Little Man and all of his new toys and books. Christmas with a toddler was definitely more fun than I ever could have imagined and we have had fun creating new traditions as the month has gone on.

Things I Learned From Christmas With a Toddler

1. Space It Out. We pretty much made the entire month of December some sort of Christmas celebration. There are a lot of things we have tried to cram into the week of Christmas in years past but we spread it out. Cutting down the tree, making cookies, seeing Santa, making a Gingerbread house. Everything was so incredibly exciting that it was nice to have a few days to process in between events. 
2. Dance It Out. Christmas dance parties became a regular activity in our house. The only Christmas song that Little Man is willing to sing is Jingle Bells so we made sure to get our favorite music in the mix by having a dance party…almost every single night. 
3. Light It Up. Christmas lights and decorations became a favorite activity. Not only did they show up at our house almost weekly but Little Man and my husband had so much fun decorating. I’m not sure what he’s going to do now that we have to take them all down. 
4. Santa Gets The Credit. It doesn’t matter what the tag said, Santa brought it. At this stage in his life, I’m completely okay with it. He even picked out a bracelet for me and told me Santa brought it. Short term memory? 
5. Vitamin C All Around. The inventible happened. Little Man woke up on Christmas Eve with a fever and a cold. It is that time of the year and there is no stopping a toddler when it comes to germs. 
6. The Oddest Present Will Be The Favorite. This year my friends and I all shared presents with each other’s kids. I had sent them all books and Little Man got presents in return from his “friends” (I use that term loosely because they haven’t really played together in awhile). Ironically, he will not leave the room without his Spiderman Motorcycle that they sent him. A tiny little toy very quickly became the fan favorite. 
7. Don’t Try and Figure Out What a robo truck Is. For the last two months Little Man has been telling us Santa is going to bring him a robo truck. The internet directed me to a Robo Gang Truck, but we knew that it was something he had found at daycare. Based on a survey of friends, daycare and lots of research we finally settled on a robo truck being a transformer. I found a transformer for his age and was pretty convinced we had nailed it. Christmas morning came and he told us Santa didn’t bring him a robo truck. When we asked him what the Transformer was he told us it was a transformer… not a robo truck. Later on he told his Grandma that Santa DID bring him a robo truck.

You win some, you lose some. I might not ever figure out what a robo truck is, but for now we have a pretty cool transformer to play with. 

Do you have any idea what a robo truck is?
What lessons have you learned from Christmas with a toddler?