Open mouth, insert words

Before I get too much feedback about being a grinch, as I fear I might after that last post, let me take a moment to share the fast evolution of Christmas practice in our house as of today.

It went like this...
Owen:  [wailing suddenly]  Oh NOOOO!  Mommy and Daddy I forGOT!  I forgot to tell Santa what I wanted him to GIVE me!  He doesn't know to bring me a PRESENT!  [continuing to be most distraught]
Mommy and Daddy: [flailing]
Mommy:  It's OK, Owen, Santa was so busy today that I guess he forgot to ask you what you wanted, and I thought you told me you were too shy to want to talk to him.
Owen:  But I WASN'T too shy after I got near him.  I FORGOT!!
Daddy:  Well, I'm sure he knows what you want!  What did you want to tell him you wanted?
Owen:  I needed to tell him I wanted a block set! [block set=legos that he saw his friend Nathan get for his 4th birthday last month]  But can Santa get a block set?  Will he go to the mall to the block store?
Mommy:  Oh, I don't know if Santa goes to the mall.  But I bet you will get a block set..no need to worry!
Daddy:  How does Santa get toys?
Owen:  He makes them.  Can Santa make blocks?
Mommy: [realizing that the point of no return seems to have flown by a few miles back]  Yes.  I'm sure Santa can make legos.  [shocked at the fact that despite having only ever referred to the 'story' of Santa, her child has quickly assimilated a trusting belief in his reality.  Also considering that he must be quite muddled on the matter as evidenced by statements such as, "I don't like the mall Santa.  I only like the Santa we just saw."]
Owen:  But I forgot to tell him!!
[While conversation and reading with Daddy continues, softhearted mother goes to write a note to Santa on Owen's behalf with connect-the-dots letters for the words LEGO BLOCKS and OWEN, so that he can trace them.  Stickers, addressed envelope and stamp are taken to child.]
Owen:  [much relieved, completing letter to Santa]  I will go put this in the mailbox by MYSELF in the morning!  [pause]  But how will Santa know that I want the blocks that make the hospital?
Mommy:  He will know, don't worry about that! 
[Daddy takes picture]

And so, don't consider me cruel.  I still don't like living with this dishonesty.  I don't like imagining Owen looking at me in a few more years saying, 'You LIED to me??'  Ask Reuel, he calls me the compulsive confessor.  I don't like the lie, even if it's for fun!!  But I'm also softhearted, and Owen made his own conclusions...so, Christmas has been Santa'd.  But the minute Owen asks me if he's real, you probably won't find me fibbing any more!  ;)

Also of note for my record-keeping (brought to mind because of Owen's comment about putting the letter in the mailbox by himself tomorrow morning), this week was a very significant one...the first time Owen has come out of his room by himself in the morning :}  I know that's shocking to many, but the kid has stayed in his bed every morning and waited for us to retrieve him.  He also never gets out of his bed at bedtime.  Some may think that he is an abnormally compliant child, but no!  I think we are abnormally enforcing of rules surrounding sleep times :P  But 3.5 was the magic age where he wondered to himself what would happen if he left the bed, and he tried it.  Two mornings ago he came downstairs to the living room to find Asher and Reuel playing together, and this morning he came to our bed and woke us up.  That felt very bizarre, but sweet.  I quickly made a new rule...when you come down to our bed, the rule is that you have to snuggle with us for a few minutes until we wake up, not stand at the foot of the bed demanding breakfast!

A couple of other weekend pix:

Owen insisted that Daddy decorate the gingerbread house with him.  This may be because as I was initially 'helping' him put the walls and roof together yesterday he commented at one point, "Mommy, this is supposed to be fun for kids!  You need to stop doing all the parts and let me have fun!"  Ah, too true.  Owen and I compete for control of crafts :}