holiday shopping

Since I'm not working right now and the prospects of job finding in my field for the hours I'm available are slim this holiday season might turn out a little less extravagant than previous years. In a way I think it's good. It will force us to find special, unique and tailored presents for everyone instead of going for quantity. So in the last couple of days I've been doing a bit of research on what would be the perfect gift for our nieces and nephew, 8,5 and 3 respectively.

Hubby found the perfect gift for the 3 year old boy and is pretty clear on what he wants to give the 8 year old since she's his favorite and Godchild. That leaves the 5 year old. I just read this post on Babble and unfortunately it sums her up quite well. Not by intention of course her parents do an awesome job at making sure she's got everything she wants and needs and she lacks nothing. The problem with her is more that she's so easy going and sweet and funny and great that she likes everything you give her and nothing stands out like a perfect gift. She's just happy to be the recipient of presents in a way. On her birthday a couple of months ago we went shopping for her gift the whole family together and she got this play cottage thing with lots of extras and she was just amazed that all those things were for her. Actually come to think of it he case is not very similar to the Babble article after all. She's just difficult to shop for.

For the oldest girl it's easy she's so mature and she knows what she likes, I'm planning on getting her to read the Famous Five series cause I think she'll like it: She enjoys reading and practicing her piano and playing her video games and snowboarding of course. The younger girl doesn't have any real hobbies yet and even though she likes snowboarding too she's more into pretend play and she has this fantastic mind that can just think up the most amazing scenarios. This is a fantastic thing to have since it rarely leaves her bored and she can play anywhere with ease but it's hard to buy something that will... help her with this or make it better or...

I don't know what we'll end up getting her but I think I'll throw at least one Dr. Seuss book in there that she can read by herself cause if there's anything that can trigger your imagination it's a Dr. Seuss book.

As for Wilhelm I just don't know, but I'm sure I'll find the perfect gift for my perfect little man.

I love Dr. Seuss...

...and so does Wilhelm. We read Seuss books every day. Right now my favorite is "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" but it changes from week to week.
He likes "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" too and when we get to the page with "here are some who likes to run
they run for fun in the hot hot sun

oh me, oh my
oh me, oh my
what a lot of funny things go by"

He takes his pacifier out and says meomy meomy and laughs, it's great.

Speaking of the pacifier (or napp like we call it) we've been slowly weening him off it for the last couple of months and right now he only uses it for naps and nighttime. This has been rather easy so far, I ask him for the napp and he gives it to me and we put it on the shelf and wave bye bye every time he wakes up. But now since he's been sick things have been a bit different around here. He now asks for the napp during the day and has full on meltdowns when he can't have it.

Luckily his attachment to the napp is not as strong as the attachment to the blanket. He has a little giraffe blanket I bought for him when he was little and I realized that the big "Linus-blanket" I bought for him was not convenient to carry around everywhere. It used to have dotted velvet on the back but that is long gone now and even thinking of washing it is a no go. He will not go anywhere without it and if you try to put it down so he can eat or something he will cry cry cry until he gets it back. He doesn't have the blanket all the time but he doesn't like it being put away in a bag or in the bed or in the stroller, every time I try to pack it he will promptly unpack it again and if it doesn't come loose when he tugs on it he will cry until it's given to him. It's a real love affair he's got going with that blanket.

Wilhelm loves the blanket, the napp, Dr. Seuss, mamma, papa, mormor, grand-maman, grand-papan, matante and his cousins above all other things.