Parties and visitors

I think every parent would agree that toddlers are at their best when they are confined to small spaces, off their schedule and over tired. So in that spirit, this weekend we took David on long car rides to go to parties at times when he would normally be sleeping. He, in turn, fought very very hard never to nap. It went swimmingly.
Friday night David and I battled traffic to go to my office Christmas party. He was a little slow to warm up, perhaps recovering from our 1 hour 25 minute ride there, but eventually had an excellent time trashing the restaurant with Evie and Maya. They particularly enjoyed shredding the tissue paper from the gifts and throwing it up in the air. When it was time to go, the kids were very good at helping pick up their mess.
Saturday we drove out to Dekalb for Adam's Christmas party. We needed ice skates to maneuver through the parking lot, but once we were inside we had a very nice time. David loved the candy train Adam had set up around his tree, and he loved it even more when he realized that it was carrying dozens of chocolates that tasted delicious and made beautiful hand prints on my pants.
Here are David and Laura checking out the candy, David pulling off a Santa hat like no one else can, and David with baby Logan, who is such a happy little man and whom David found terrifying for some reason. The last picture is courtesy of Leah, our good friend and blog enthusiast. Thanks, Leah!

Today everyone enjoyed a special guest appearance by Dr. Steve who was in town from Kansas City. David showed him how to water the Christmas tree, the appropriate face to make when have your picture taken (or when taking a picture of someone else...really doesn't matter) and how to have a tantrum when you are denied a second snack since breakfast.
The first picture is one David took himself with minimal assistance from me and then a couple of cute ones of David with Steve.