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we're going crazy

left: john outhams santa and steals his throne
center: john outhams mama and steals her slippers
right: have you ever seen such a well-dressed little monkey?

hi, there. it's been far too long since i've shared much of anything. nearly every day i think, oh, i have to tell that story about john! and then nearly everyday the day gets away from me and i never share anything at all. and you know who will be the saddest about that? me in 15 years. so. i'm going to jump back on the blogwagon.

one of john's favorite expressions lately is, "i'm going crazy!" this is accompanied by crazy dancing, or running around, or generally acting wild. best i can tell, it traces its roots to 'yo gabba gabba!', where at the end of the dancy-dance segment they say to do whatever you want to and "go crazy!"

sometimes buddy "goes crazy" in the backyard. sometimes we "go crazy" in the living room when there's good music on. but lately, i think we mostly "go crazy" because what the heck else do you do when the holidays are approaching?

to be fair, i don't think our home life is much crazier than usual. but since i work in retail marketing, this is the hay-making season, which means this is the marketing season. which means my days are filled end-to-end with work. it's work i love, but it definitely is work ... and sometimes it makes me "go crazy" too.

take friday, for example. we had a taping for a commercial, where we had a bunch of kiddos out to sit on santa's lap and make it look like the santa photo set was already open. and john came with me to be one of my ringer kids. (that photo above is from the shoot - john wasn't sure what to make of santa, but he was happy to steel santa's seat!) 

all was well except that john also started running a fever that day, so he couldn't go to school after the shoot. i thought he might take a nap in the little office adjacent to mine, so i even brought his pack-n-play to set up for him. he played quietly in the pack-n-play for about 45 minutes, but then i heard a big thunk. i walked into the office and not only had he climbed out (only the second time ever) but he'd also climbed up on the desk and piled his stuffed animals and blanket up there as well!

so ... we packed up and mom worked from home the rest of that day.

saturday we went to auntie c's house to watch the football game, and sunday i took part in the coolest event i think i've ever done here at the mall. with families helping families, a local non-profit, we hosted 22 families with special needs children so that they could visit with santa claus. we turned down lights and music, and it was before the mall opened, so the sensory environment was very low-key for kids with stimulus issues (which is a lot of them). it was amazing, and gratifying, and awesome. the families were incredible, the kids were beautiful, and some of them took photos with santa for the first time in their lives. it was truly a special thing to be a part of.

then sunday afternoon was nap-grocery shopping-dinner-prep for the week and now it's monday again. 

don't know how everyone ELSE is doing these days, but we're going crazy!

and a little crazy time bonus: john jamming on auntie's piano on saturday. you might not be able to hear, but he's singing the alphabet song and twinkle twinkle little star while he plays. look out, world, we've got a star on our hands - ha!


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