Christmas spirit

Maybe this post is meant to be a little cheering in the wake of everything that happened last week, and indicate the completely irrepressible awesomeness of kids.

One of the things that comes along with the holiday season at the boys' school are a lot of concerts. This picture is from one Jamie did at a senior living facility nearby, where they were much appreciated. He also did a couple of concerts at school. We went to the one during the day, and they had brought the kindergarteners in to sit on the floor and listen. Since there are a lot of concerts and performances at school, one of the things they work on is sitting still and quietly and listening and the kids were doing a great job. Until they played Jingle Bells. As they got to the chorus, there was a quiet, but insistent sound of 5- and 6-year-olds singing along. The teachers laughed, but very nicely told them to just listen. It was all for naught though. They just couldn't stop themselves. They knew the words and they were singing along and having a great time of it, especially with "laughing all the way (HA HA HA!!)." By the end, even the kids in the orchestra were smiling.

The State of Santa

Well, Christmas approaches with much anticipation in the Costello household. Connor, in his sweet way, is happily expecting Santa. Sarah did this thing where you can get Santa to send a personalized video greeting. Connor was a little anxious until Santa told him he was officially on the "nice" list, to which he responded with his signature arms-raised "YES!" exclamation. Unlike Jamie, who began pressing for the practical details of Santa, and testing the logical flaws of the whole thing when he was four, Connor has no inclination to question Santa at all.

Jamie, meanwhile, has gone back into full belief mode. As I have mentioned, last year in the lead-up to Christmas he cornered me outside, away from Connor, and asked very directly for the truth about Santa. Unlike the other times, I sensed that he really wanted to know this time, and he handled it fine then. But this year, when we were visiting the cousins in Austin, we all watched Elf. A great time was had, but after the movie, I found Jamie crying in his room alone. I asked what was wrong and was horrified to hear: "I wish you never told me about Santa!!!" Bad daddy!!! Bad daddy!!!

So after that he has basically decided to forget that I did tell him and is back in full-on Santa mode. I think playing it up for Connor helps with this as well. So, ho-ho-ho it is!!

Mr. Compliment

So Jamie and Sarah were reading a book he got from school about  Navy SEALs. He was very impressed by the rigorous training program they undertake. He marvelled at the fact that they run 200 miles over five days, and said "Mommy, you don't even run that far!" She agreed, but then they got to a picture of a SEAL, or would-be SEAL I guess, grimacing as he pulled himself up a rope obstacle. Jamie was less-impressed, "Mommy, you're tougher than that guy. You wouldn't make that face if you were doing that," he informed her.

Sarah wasn't quite sure this was true, but she didn't say anything. Given what's happened in the last week, if Jamie feels his Mommy is tougher than a Navy SEAL, he must feel pretty safe, so we'll take that.

My favorite things

A few days ago, prompted by absolutely nothing, Jamie sat down to make a list. He made three columns, headed "I like," "Things that smell bad," and "I don't like". I reproduce them here unedited, save a couple of comments:

I like
1. baseball
2. video games
3. books
4. TV
5. soccor
6. Barack Obama
7. LEGOs [he also added a "trademark" symbol]
8. P-51 Mustang
9. World War Two
10. Guinea Pigs
11. Medevil times
12. My house
13. My family
14. My friends
15. Cats
16. dirt
17. Christmas
18. My birthday
19. the cello
20. candy

Things that smell bad:
1. The compost [one of his chores is taking out the compost]
2. bannas
3. garbage [another chore]

I don't like:
1. haircuts
2. the zoo
3. Mitt Romney
4. school
5. Barbies
6. the hot
7. Massacres

Life lessons

Just a quick snippet we overheard between the boys just now:
Jamie: Let me give you some advice, Connor. About night-time battles.
Connor: OK.
Jamie: Never carry a torch.
Connor (Look of non-comprehension)
Jamie: Because it allows archers to see you. And shoot you down.
Connor: OK.