Grown-Up Christmas Party

Ben and I took Dexter to a musician friend's annual holiday party. Again, Dexter was socially fearless, making friends wherever he went. He loved the two Christmas trees in the house (Ben and I felt awful that we still didn't have a tree up at home).

Singing the Hits

Ben, Dexter, and I went to my office holiday party where Dexter was the life of the party playing with the hosts' puppy, throwing out people's used cocktail napkins in the garbage and singing his favorite songs. When Dexter started singing, "I'm going down to Lucky Town, down to lucky town, a surprised party-goer turned to me and said in disbelief, "Is he singing Springsteen?" That's all Dexter needed. He let loose with all his favorite hits including:

"Keep on rocking in the free world." Neil Young.

"I won't back down. No I won't back down. I'll stand my ground." Dexter sings the Johnny Cash version but also likes the Tom Petty version.

"Take me down to a Paradise City where the grass is green and the girls are pretty." Guns-N-Roses.

On the way home from the party, Ben had a Muddy Waters cd in the car stereo and Dexter insisted that we listen to, "Got my mojo working," the whole way home. Before we knew it, Dexter was singing along, 'Got my mojo working, it just don't work on you."

The Aftermath of Santa-Given Ring Pop

Ian's Birthday

Dexter celebrated his friend, Ian's, birthday at a huge party place filled with bouncy houses. Despite Ian's encouragement and enthusiasm, Dexter almost immediately wanted OUT of the first bouncy house he entered. He would only go in with Elissa or Jason who both were wonderful sports as Dexter dragged them by the hand to take him into the ones with slides. By the time Daddy arrived after work, Dexter was a pro slider (still not a huge fan of the bouncing).

Choo Choo Birthday Lunch

Turns out Dexter wasn't crazy to think that he'd be celebrating his birthday again soon. On his actual birthday, Ben and I took him to the Choo Choo Restaurant. A bit of a schlep but totally worth it. It's a tiny burger join that has a working model train running along the counter and a few booths. The train delivers the food and, if it's your birthday, they sing a happy birthday song and give you a birthday cupcake with a plastic train whistle on top. Dexter was in heaven.

Turtle Cake

Birthday Party

Dexter was thrilled when his "Thanksgiving friends" showed up a few days later for his birthday party. It was tight quarters but it was a fun day! Dexter decided he wanted to be a cat that morning so we offered everyone "whiskers" when they arrived so they could play like cats with Dexter. There was an enthusiastic round of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, a "picnic" lunch (I can't believe how well they all sat on the blanket together!), limbo and jamming on instruments in the basement, and, of course, opening presents. He had a great birthday. So great that he was asking for it to be his birthday again the next day.

Thanksgiving Disappointment

After Dexter woke up from nap on Thanksgiving day, even before we got him out the crib he was asking, "Is Thanksgiving here?" "Yes," we told him knowing that the food was ready and we'd be eating in a few minutes. Dexter got a huge smile on his face and ran out into the living room. He stood there looking around confused. "Where are my Thanksgiving friends?" Awww. We felt awful and figured we had confused him by talking about Thanksgiving and his birthday coming up. We told him that Thanksgiving was a special meal in the kitchen. He was not impressed. He sat at the table with us but refused to eat anything except a bite of one of the deviled eggs he had helped to make. As Ben and I were eating, Dexter kept saying he wanted peanut butter and jelly but we told him that we weren't having that today and that he should eat his special Thanksgiving dinner. He was having none of it but continued to sit while Ben and I ate. We were making a big deal about how yummy everything was, trying to convince Dexter to partake. At one point, after taking a big bite of turkey and stuffing, Ben said, "Oh, Dexter, this is really good. You don't know what you're missing." To which Dexter replied (without missing a beat), "I'm missing peanut butter and jelly."

Thanksgiving Prep

Dexter really got into helping prepare for our little at-home family Thanksgiving. He was integral to the mixing of ingredients of the corn bread and the deviled eggs. He loved filling the muffing pans and egg whites. He went right down for nap knowing that we were going to celebrate Thanksgiving after nap.

CCR

Can't Get Enough Dissonance

Dexter insisted on playing Daddy's banjo and his ukulele at the same time.