Carving the Jack-O-Lantern

Trick-Or-Treat

Neela turned two this year, and what an amazing year it’s been. She’s grown into such an adorable, active, inquisitive, and chatty little girl. It’s hard to believe that only a year ago she was barely walking around. And only six months ago she was saying her first words.

We decided to spread out the present opening throughout the day, and I think it really gave Neela the opportunity to enjoy each gift fully. As Neela has become much more aware of what’s going on around her she’s also become much more prone to sensory overload.

With all that’s been going on lately, we decided to have a much more low-key birthday party this year. Only Neela’s grandparents (plus Aunt Ruthann and Uncle Larry) came over for the party. Spreading out the opening of gifts throughout the day and throwing a smaller party seems to have suited Neela, she really seemed to enjoy herself all day long.

We stopped by the mall today so Neela could get her picture taken with Santa. We had high hopes after last year when there was no line and Neela sat with Santa for 20 minutes while he read her a book. This year it was not to be. While there wasn’t much of a line, Neela was extremely shy about Santa. She just kind of sat there staring at him and looking uncertain about the whole situation. Neela was more than happy to run around Santa’s sleigh and play with the fake snow, but once we got her next to him she turned into a statue.

I don’t think it was that Neela didn’t like Santa, she seemed more overwhelmed by the situation than anything else. Overall I would say she actually enjoyed the experience. It took a while, but we did eventually manage to get a smile out of her with an impromptu game of peek-a-boo.