Hello, and welcome back to Toddlerhood. Yes, I know this is a bit
late for Christmas (and the opening is a bit insensitive, too - I have
no idea if you celebrate Christmas, some other winter holiday, or just
say "Bah, humbug" to the whole crazy mess - feel free to mentally
change "Christmas" to whatever ritualized gift-exchanging holiday you
are comfortable with). I've been a bit busy.

As you might recall, I have a toddler and a baby (although the toddler
is almost officially a preschooler now, and the baby is pretty close
to being a todller himself). This was the first Christmas for the
baby, and the first Christmas that my oldest son had to deal with
sharing the lime-light.

The good news is I learned from the previous road trip experience (see
the 7 September installment), and going from New Jersey to North
Carolina to see the family for Christmas was not quite the ordeal it
could have been. Also, my older son has decided he likes the baby,
and doesn't whack him on the head any more without a reason.

The bad news is the distribution of presents. Not only did the baby
get just as many toys as my oldest son, they were all things he (the
oldest son) wanted to play with. Of course, he didn't want to play
with them until the baby started playing with them.... With all the
screaming and carrying on, I should buy stock in Advil.

At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I really think the kids got *way*
too much stuff this year. The loot they hauled in from various
grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins completely filled the back
seat of our van. I *still* have no idea where we're going to put it
all in the house - it's just sitting in a pile behind the couch right
now. I suppose there's always eBay, right?

We didn't drive straight back home after Christmas - we stopped to see
my brother, who lives in Maryland. In retrospect, I probably
shouldn't have warned him I was coming, because his wife ran out and
bought even more stuff for the kids.

My brother has three kids of his own - ages 11, 8, and 4. Considering
how well he wore out my toddler, I'm thinking of borrowing the
4-year-old on a more-or-less permanent basis. The 8-year-old is an
in-your-face kind of girl. She told me "my nickname is 'Annoying
Brat'". I told her that was her given name, and I couldn't repeat her
nickname in polite company. The 11-year-old is quiet and reserved -
I'm not sure how much of that is personality, and how much is pre-teen
angst.

Well, I seem to have run out of ideas for now, so I'll send this off.

Do you have a toddler at home, or remember when you had one? Would
you like to write for "Toddlerhood"? Drop me a line. Oh, and pass
this on to your friends and family.
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