SANTA CLAUS, THE MALL PLAY AREA, AND SNOW

Hello, this is Kyle. Ethan has had a pretty exciting last few days. Saturday he got to go see Santa at the mall. He would not actually sit on his lap, but he did talk to him. He has wanted to go back and see him ever since.

After Ethan spoke to Santa, he wanted to do his favorite thing at the mall - play in the play area. He had a blast. We snapped a few pictures of all of these things...

As most of you are aware, we got hit with some snow Saturday night (9 1/2 inches is the official measure). After I got back from clearing some driveways and Ethan woke up from his nap, we went outside for about 6 minutes. It was entirely too cold to stay out any longer than that. We asked Ethan if he was cold. He said "yes." We asked him if he was ready to go inside. He, of course, emphatically said "NO!" I made the call when the snot-sicles started appearing (I knew if we stayed out any longer, Ethan would get them too...).

We went out to eat at Cheddar's for Mandy's birthday tonight. On the way there, Ethan kept saying "I WANNA EAT" because he knew that he might get to see Santa again when we were done. Finally, I couldn't take it any longer, so I said "I WANNA EAT" in the whiniest voice I could muster. Ethan, unphased, responded "I WANNA EAT TOO," to which I said "I WANNA EAT THREE." Now, I'm not sure where Ethan picked this up, but he replied, as plain as day, "I WANNA EAT FOUR!" Mandy and I just looked at each other and cracked up.

So, we stopped by the mall again to see Santa after we ate (the mall and Cheddar's are right next to each other). Ethan, although he would not stop saying he wanted to see Santa and ran towards the part of the mall where he was, would not get within ten feet of him at first. Santa was gracious enough to get off his seat and come over to the gate to talk to Ethan, then eventually bribed Ethan with a magnet to get him to give him a "five." As soon as we left, Ethan wanted to go back and see him again, which he was more than happy to tell us...many, many times. I had learned my lesson, however, and did not say "I WANNA SEE SANTA TOO!"