What's Christmas?

We start out Christmas day by visiting family.  Knowing that she will need a nap, Cassandra visits and exchanges presents with her in-town aunts, uncles, and cousin.  Grandparents will happen after nap time.

Cassandra has not really been around for a present opening.  Therefore, we have to help her.  After opening her locking beads, she relaxes with her new toy.

Cassandra is starting to get the hang of opening presents (once we rip an edge for her to pull on) but is really more interested in the bows.  She started running around the room taking the bows off of everybody's presents.

Here she is trying to gnaw it open because no one has started the opening for her.

Cassandra can't start opening a present without help.  She is really glad there are people around to help her.

Christmas Tree

Here is a picture of Cassandra inspecting the Christmas Tree.  She has done very well with the tree despite her young age.  She occasionally tries to shake the tree to get the bells on it to ring  Also, once in a while she pulls an ornament off of the tree.  Of course, she immediately brings it over to Mommy or Daddy and is smiling the entire time.  She looks so cute doing it but it is becoming a bit tiring.  When we see her doing this, we tell her "No."  She just smiles bigger and does it anyway.

What Is That?

We decided to surprise Cassandra this morning.  We got out Daddy's LEGO trains and setup them up (temporarily) to see what kind of reaction we would get from Cassandra.

We have since moved them from the dinning room table to under the Christmas tree in the living room.  Cassandra likes to play with the controller but turning the dial is a bit difficult for her.  Still, she enjoys running the train every day or two.

She also received a present from Lindsey.  Lindsey stated she was inspired by Cassandra's "Squirmy" shirt.

Post Traumatic Santa Disorder

Cassandra had a rough day meeting that Santa guy for the first time.  She was not very happy with Mommy or Daddy but the scar tissue seemed to be something that could be overcome with the proper application of love and appeasement.

Here is Cassandra trying to guilt us into giving her...something.

Here is Cassandra trying to demonstrate the level of mental and psychological damage.

Her spirits improved with a new toy.  As luck would have it, one of Janice's coworkers got a little music box ladybug for Cassandra.  She loves it and unfortunately, has already figured out how to get the button stuck so that it will not shutoff at the end of a song.  She cheered up so much that she had some fun harassing the camera woman.

Santa Comes To School

Santa came to Cassandra's school today.  She really didn't have a problem at first.  She was happy to be people watching.  Then, with no warning whatsoever, she found herself in the lap of a guy with a beard...and it was NOT grandpa.

Looking around for a familiar face.

Begging her teacher to rescue her.

 There are two funny parts about this.  First, Grandpa Hodges played Santa Claus last year.  It was decided he shouldn't do it again because it might scar Cassandra.  May have managed that anyway.  Secondly, after Cassandra got out of Santa's lap, she walked three feet away, turned around, and just stared at him.

The Staff Has Been Slacking

Cassandra is less than thrilled with the staff.  It has been a week and a half since last her picture was taken...and their idea to catch up is to take pictures of the Empress in her pajamas.

Telling us what she thinks of the idea.

Surprise!

Keeping a watchful eye on the camera.

Home Entertainment

As Cassandra grows, she continues to entertain Mom and Dad.  We enjoy seeing her smile.  Happily, she smiles real big for us when she sees us whether early in the morning or when getting home from work.  Of course, sometime she just smiles because it's fun.

She is also gnawing on things like crazy.  She has eight teeth, half on top and half on bottom.  She has now come to appreciate the cold teething rings.  Previously, she never kept the thing in her mouth long enough for the cold to help her feel any better.

Her hair continues to defy gravity naturally.  We really don't rub her head with an inflated balloon.  I'm glad that as it gets longer it will stay down on its own.