Cooking, and santa, and reindeer... oh my!

Monday night we stopped at Target.  I saw this antler headband and put it on Bennett over his hat.  Then he took it off, took his hat off, and wanted me to put the antlers back on.  Ok, twist my arm.  But you better believe I was going to take a picture.

Bennett ate salad again!  Ok, so most of his consumption happens while standing at the kitchen counter helping prepare dinner, but it's better than nothing. I guess we're just going to have to have him help more.

He also helped take the pancakes out of the frying pan.  Unfortunately he also reached out with his other hand on the first try and touched the frying pan.  Ouch!  But he had such a delayed reaction that at first we weren't sure if he was crying because he was yelled at for touching the hot pan, or if it was from a burn.  Turns out it was a burn.  Cold water and an ice pack seemed to make things better.

Sunday we went to church and he saw the Beep! (Sheep) in the office.  He even tried to climb on top of it, but that didn't work out so well.

And the other excitement for the week... we saw Santa! Earlier in the week I had been at the mall with Bennett picking up our family portraits.  We had another visit with Santa which went like the others- squirming like crazy trying to get out of my lap, ok giving high-fives, but then wanting to get away.  And as soon as we got up to leave, and all the way up the staircase near Santa, Bennett would walk a few steps, turn, yell "bye Santa" walk a few more steps, turn, "bye Santa".. repeat.

So yesterday we really weren't expecting a lot.  We were trying to decide if we would rather have the picture of Bennett screaming in Santa's lap, or if we wanted Mummy or Daddy to be in the picture with Bennett, and still maybe with less than stellar results.

We met up with Awesome Auntie Mel and her son Alexander.  They ran around for a couple of minutes and then we got in line.  I think the assistants were busy doing something so Santa walked around for a couple of minutes saying hi and giving high-fives.  At first Bennett was nervous but then he gave a high-five.  And he was doing pretty well.  When we got up to the front of the line he went and hid behind Daddy's legs.  Uh-oh.  This doesn't seem good.

Alexander had his pictures taken and then it was Bennett's turn.  Alexander hopped up into the chair so Mel could take a couple of pictures, and I think this worked perfectly to help get Bennett a bit more comfortable. 

In the end, he certainly didn't look happy, but he wasn't screaming.  So we're calling it a success!  Maybe next year he'll smile for us?

After visiting Santa we stopped in another store.  Bennett stuck his hands in his pockets (he's been doing this a bit lately) and started walking around.  Super cute!  Luckily he still hasn't figured out that things other than hands can go in pockets, but I think that pretty soon we're going to have to remember to check them before pants go in the wash.