"tahn-ta, tahn-ta!"

The day before yesterday, Parker was pointing at her Santa slippers...she was pointing at his nose, then her nose, then my nose. Anyway- I kept saying, "Yes...that's Santa." She finally started saying "tahn-ta, tahn-ta". She doesn't say it all the time, but we have gotten her to say it quite a few times. The deal is- she is saying new words...she'll sneak them in when we least expect it, and then to confirm what we have heard, we try to get her to say it again, but then she won't...so we just have to wait patiently until she feels the need to say that word again.


So after she started saying "tahn-ta", I decided to google a picture of the real Santa so that she could see what he looked like to maybe make her recognize him when we went to see him yesterday. I wasn't really thinking that this would help, but it was worth a try and it did get her to say his name a few more times.

So yesterday was the big visit! The first few pictures are ones that I took with my camera. She initially started crying...

...but then stopped momentarily when he started playing with this spinning thingie...

...then she started looking around, "hmmm- what can I touch??"...

Then there was the look- "Help me, Mama!!"

The one stipulation that Geoff put on me when I decided to take her during the week (because he has been working every weekend, and to avoid the massive crowds!!) was that we had to video it because he did not want to miss Parker's first meeting with Santa Claus!!

All in all, it was a very successful day! We went with a friend and her 2 boys and my sister, and everyone behaved so well! Honestly- I was kind of anxious about the whole deal...how she'd act, the crowds, etc., but due to the icy weather, I think that it kept some people away! And also, like I said...all of the kids were so well behaved!!