All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

Jack has TWO teeth. Bottom two in front; they have barely popped through the gums. This is good news for a couple of reasons. First, this should stop my worrying that his teeth were never going to come in even though he had been "teething" for about four months. Second, there has been a corresponding improvement in his sleep patterns. He will wake up somewhere between 4am and 6am. You can usually just put his bink in his mouth and he will go back down. Or, if that doesn't work, put him in the bed with you and you'll probably get another two hours of sleep.

Bear's behavior at school had improved such that she was allowed to go with her class on their field trip to the movies to see "Bolt." She said she loved it but she hasn't shared much of the plot with me. I'm not liking her chances of getting a gig as a movie reviewer.

Ned sent his team home for the holidays. He was in quite a good mood because this is definitely one of the more laid back times of the year for him. He worked on some of his Christmas shopping and went out for lunch with the diving coach. Yes, you guessed it, they went out for Mexican. I'm thinking about giving Ned a new nickname. . . something like Pedro or Juan. What do you think?

I had to work in Charleston yesterday. My hearing started at 9:30 and I had to do some things before then. So I left the house at 5am. Between getting up so early yesterday and staying up late Monday night to finish my book, I'm running pretty tired. I did manage to pick up a couple of last-minute gifts in Charleston and my co-workers and I went out to lunch at a great Chas restaurant.

Tomorrow is the angel gift exchange at the kids' school. The school has a tree and there was an angel for every kid and every teacher. Each person was supposed to take one angel and buy a little gift for that person. Jack took a little 5-month-old girl in his class and Bear took a boy from her class. I know the kid in Bear's class but not the little girl in Jack's class. Anyway, the girl is getting a baby doll and the boy is getting a board game. Bear and I wrapped the presents this evening. Her gift wrapping skills are suspect but she hasn't picked up on that fact. Therefore, she insists on helping with the wrapping of all presents in the house. So, if you ever get a gift from us and it's got a lot of random pieces of tape all over it, you now know the deal.

Love,
Allie