He went flying into the family room, anxious to see what Santa had left behind. Ignoring the big boy bicycle entirely, he began expressing his disappointment that Santa had not brought a "life saver" (a/k/a light saber). We quickly pointed out that not only had Santa brought one, but it was leaning against another fabulous gift for him. Again, ignoring the bicycle, he jumped around excitedly with the light saber in hand. Then he remembered the other thing he had asked for . . . a Spiderman toothbrush. We suggested he look in his stocking, and there it was, along with a Batman toothbrush. Once he had confirmed that Santa had, in fact, brought the specific items he had requested, he acknowledged the super-duper cool Spiderman bicycle, complete with training wheels and a helmet. He then turned to Riley's gifts and became enthralled with the ball popper Santa brought Riley. We eventually moved into the front room, where a seemingly endless amount of gifts were piled under and around the Christmas tree.
.
It was much later in the morning by the time we had unwrapped all the gifts. We had even had an intermission so we could eat breakfast. (Riley didn't care there were so many gifts to open. He wanted to eat!) Connor decided to check out his new bicycle a bit more, and even tested out his helmet. Then he informed us that although he was very tired, he needed to watch Kung Fu Panda before taking a nap. Since it was Christmas, that's exactly what he did.
Although we spent most of the day yesterday baking with Aunt Tin and Dre, we saved what I consider the best for last. Peanut Butter Blossoms. Connor invited Rita and her mom to come over this morning to help bake some cookies. Rita and Connor took turns adding each ingredient to the bowl, and even took turns turning on the mixer. Jennifer and I rolled the balls, but Connor and Rita rolled them in the sugar. While the first batch was baking, the kids unwrapped the Hershey kisses. As usual (for Connor at least), for each kiss that went into the bowl, another went into their mouths. 
When they were done opening their gifts, they thanked each other profusely and gave each other a big, huge hug. It was adorable. They continued to run around and play a bit more. Before long though, it became apparent that it was time for naps. We said our goodbyes, ate a quick bite of lunch, then tucked Connor in for his afternoon nap. While he was sleeping, I ran his new sheets through the wash. He was ecstatic when he woke up to find them folded at the foot of his bed, and said he can't wait to sleep with them tonight. Maybe he'll actually stay in bed when I tuck him in tonight!
At this event, you have the option of seeing Santa first or eating breakfast first. Wanting to avoid standing in line for too long, we headed for Santa right away. It went smoothly until I sat Riley down on Santa's lap. I later learned the best way to introduce a baby to Santa is to back them in, so they keep eye contact with you instead of focusing in on Santa. Not knowing this great tidbit of info beforehand, the inevitable happened. Riley screamed and screamed and screamed. I thought maybe having Connor sit down next to him would help. It didn't.
Her daughter happened to be standing in line ahead of us, and shared the info about backing him onto Santa's lap. It worked like a charm the second time around. But it wasn't long before Riley realized that if I was standing across from him, it wasn't my lap he was sitting on. He twisted his body around to see who it was, but didn't seem to mind this time. Connor, on the other hand, looked like he was being tortured. I made sure Connor remembered to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas this time. Santa said, "Yep, a Spiderman toothbrush" as he pretended to shoot a web from his hand. I have no idea where Connor got the idea to ask for a toothbrush for Christmas, but I'm not complaining. Once we were done with Santa a second time, we headed back to our table. 
As I've done in past years, I frantically tried to get the tree up while Connor was down for his afternoon nap. It's a fun surprise for him when he wakes up and gets to help decorate the tree. Leave it to Riley to throw a wrench in my plans though. He woke up from his nap early, and wasn't about to go back to sleep. He was being very vocal, and I was afraid he might wake up Connor. I brought him downstairs and let him "help" me get some of the decorations out. He got ahold of Daddy's Barry Bonds ornament and ended up biting his foot off. (I'm telling you, he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.) When I told Daddy, he said Barry got what he deserved. Well then. I hit gold when I found some Christmas stuffed animals, one of which is a dancing/singing dog. Riley loved it and was entertained long enough for me to finish putting up the tree.
Unfortunately, Rea hadn't been feeling well on Thanksgiving and wasn't able to join us for dinner. After we had the family pictures taken, we ate dinner at a great mexican restaurant, then headed over to Rea's to spend some time with her. She was feeling much better than the day before. I took the opportunity to get a "generation" picture of Rea, Nanny, Julie, and Abbey. Riley had us in stitches when he first attempted to eat Rea's walker, then gave "kisses" to Nanny. His kisses consist of him opening his mouth as wide as he can, then sucking on your cheek or chin, whichever happens to make contact with his mouth first. As messy as it is, it's very sweet. The highlight for Connor, and very probably Rea as well, was when Rea gave Connor a ride down the hallway on her walker. Although we missed having her with us on Thanksgiving, this extra time with her was extra special.
Since Riley is such a big eater, we were all pretty excited to see how he would handle his first Thanksgiving. As of now, the only food he has refused to eat is green beans. However, even with that said, he'll eat them if they're mixed in with something else. When it was time to sit down and eat, we handed over one of the turkey legs to 
Riley. He stared at it briefly, gnawed on it a bit, moving from one end to the other, then set it down and moved on to Nanny's yummy sweet potatoes. He loved those. I think he ended up with 3 helpings. Before he was done, he had relegated the turkey leg to the floor. We all ate until we were stuffed, then lazed around in tryptophanic 
bliss. That night, most of us played a rousing game of Chicken Foot (dominos). Much to his delight, Connor even got in on the action and helped Nanny play. I think he was surprised he didn't have to beg or plead. Of course he had no idea how to play, but he felt pretty special being able to play with the grown ups. 
