Davis's Blog

Photo with Santa

Okay, so fast-forwarding for a moment from the Halloween pics…

Today I took Davis to Stonebriar Centre in Frisco for the annual photo with Santa. During Davis’ first Christmas season, we were shopping at Stonebriar, and saw Santa there (in his workshop clothes, rather than the all-red costume with hat), and we thought, What a great Santa! So Davis’ first Santa photos were taken with Workshop Santa, and they have been taken with him since.

The plan was to get up like we were getting him ready for school, only Dad would take him to the mall first for the photo, then get him to school well before lunch time. So while the little guy was eating his breakfast, Dad used his car battery-powered compressor to put some air in the tires of the Pilot. (The two front tires were really low, much lower than Dad had expected.) Only Dad was stupid. Dad didn’t crank the SUV. Using the compressor wore on the battery something fierce. The Pilot wouldn’t start.

I asked my neighbor Neal if he could give me a jump, and Neal said he’d do one better, he’d loan me his battery charger. I pulled out the extension cord, hooked the charger up to the Pilot’s battery, then plugged it in to the extension cord. About ten minutes later, whatever loss of charge which had prompted the Pilot to shut down was restored, and we were back in business.

So we were off, and because it was just after 9:30 in the morning, there shouldn’t have been much traffic.

Except.

There.

Was.

Slow, crawling-along-at-less-than-ten-miles-per-hour sort of traffic. (In The Colony, where they’re doing all of that Highway 121 construction. Locals will know to what I refer.) I called Kelly, who had a 9:00 am meeting this morning, and thus would’ve been unable to come back home to help out with the aforementioned dead Pilot, and left her a message that it seemed like someone really didn’t want our son to get his Santa picture today.

Thanks to my short-lived career as a courier, however, I knew the back channels through The Colony, and managed to shave some time off our drive by taking them at the earliest opportunity. Pretty soon, we were “going fast”, the mantra Davis had been saying repeatedly while we had been crawling along at less than ten miles per hour. (“Let’s go fast! Let’s go fast!”)

So we get to Stonebriar. I park outside Dick’s, because Santa’s Workshop is in the mall foyer just outside Dick’s mall entrance. Has been for the past four years. Davis is getting really excited now. “I want to ride in my stroller!” he declares, which is a big relief to Dad, who had already planned to do exactly that, since it makes it much easier—and faster—for Dad to get around the mall when the little man is rolling along.

So, the little phisch is in the stroller, Dad’s pushing him from the parking lot, in to Dick’s, past the collegiate apparel, the workout clothes, around the climbing wall, out in to the mall, and…

No Santa.

Deep breaths, Dad, deeeeeep breaths.

Dad sees the sign with Santa’s smiling face. Santa photos are being taken just outside Sears.

On the other side of the mall.

Dad offers a quick prayer of thanks to God that Davis insisted on riding in his stroller, and we set off. Dad calls Mom and tells her that there really is a conspiracy afoot to keep their son from his appointed photo with the Jolly Elf.

Davis is excited, constantly chatting during the walk/ride from one side of the mall to the other. Dad is hoping the little man’s good mood will hold while they wait in what will now surely be a long line.

Then, as they pass by the ice rink, then the Build-A-Bear, approaching the children’s play area, Dad spies Santa’s Workshop, and the Tensabarrier™ human corral system in front of it.

The human corral system is empty.

Well, not completely empty. There are two families waiting while a third is in the Santa meet-and-greet, photo-taking process, but other than that, there is no one waiting.

Glory, hallelujah!! Dad is screaming. In his head.

We pull in to line, and I let Davis out of his stroller. He rushes over to the short, golden fence which rings Santa’s Workshop, watching in anticipation as a sweet boy of two in a red jumper gets his photo taken. When the family in front of us moves in to the workshop, Davis suddenly goes apprehensive, saying he doesn’t want to be next.

I pull him to me, telling him there are people waiting behind us, so we have to go next, since it’s our turn. And to sweeten the pot, I tell him Santa is going to give him a present after they take a picture together. (Said present is a button with Santa’s smiling face and the caption, “I Saw The Big Guy”, and a six-page coloring book.) This mollifies him, and when it’s our turn, Davis doesn’t hesitate to move toward Santa.

Santa helps him in to his lap. I stand next to the photographer, we get his attention, ask him to smile…click!

And now that you’ve experienced the odyssesical length of my morning from reading this entry:

Click to see a larger version.

Halloween!

Yeah, I’m aware it’s December…

Click the candy-obsessed lad in the photo above to see all of his Halloween photos.

The little guy really isn’t in to going trick-or-treating on Halloween. He likes to see who comes to the door instead. He went to a few houses this year, but had much more fun at the Halloween party at Mom’s office, and the costume parade at school.

For those who may not be able to figure it out, he was Diego.

Fun at the fire station

In honor of National Fire Prevention Month, each October the Flower Mound Fire Department hosts an open house for the Town at Fire Station One.

Click the photo to see the entire set.

Davis’s school is across the street from the station, so we pass it all the time, and he’s always talking about seeing the fire trucks and ambulances. He was in hog heaven…

Now he looks like he has attitude, too

Dateline: October 10th, 2006
Location: Cool Cuts 4 Kids
Mission: Haircut
Status: Success, with bonus of hair-gel infusion.

Click for a larger version.

The only thing I’m not sure I like about his hair styled this way is that it makes him look older than he is.

Barney? Yes, Barney...

You make a donation to PBS, and they foist free Barney tickets on you. With four tickets, but only one child, we invited Carson, Davis’s friend from school whom we shared a birthday party with, to see the concert with us back in September.

Click on the photo to see the entire set.

Before the concert, Davis took a tumble down the concrete stairs outside the venue, due to his goofing off and not listening to Mommy and Daddy. I was able to catch him after he had slid down about ten stairs or so, and it scrapped up his face along his nose ridge. It was soon forgotten by the little one, though Mom fretted about it the rest of the day.