A tide of drool for Yuletide

As is evident by the photographs below, George is almost always accompanied by either a pacifier or a "burp" cloth. In the weeks immediately before Christmas he developed both a natural aptitude and what appeared to be an affinity for "spitting up". It's not really accurate to describe these expulsions as "spit" where terms such as "deluge" and "torrent" are perhaps more appropriate. In any case, these episodes never bothered George and he continued to smile both before, during, and after. In fact, we began to note that when George became particularly active and happy, we should make ready the sandbags. (Sorry, no spit-up pictures. Mom says it's "too disgusting".)

The frequency of these burps and spits in no way dampened (except, or course, in the very literal sense) our excitement about George's first Christmas. The three of us got to spend lots of time together. Daddy especially enjoyed having time off where he could devote all of his energy to being as silly as possible for George's (and probably his own) enjoyment.

We had a great time too, when Grandma and Grandpa Baeth came to spend the holidays. George, although rather prone to spitting up, was going through a very peaceful stage that week and enjoyed nothing more than sleeping while being held. Grandma got her share of George time,

but Grandpa won out the cuddle count, taking several long naps with George.

George seemed to enjoy his first Christmas, even if it was passed (half) asleep somewhere (or anywhere). In fact, George surprised us by sleeping from the time we put him into his car seat, during the 30-minute drive to the church where Katie was playing with the quartet for Christmas Eve services, through the 30-minute rehearsal time and the 2-hour service, and all the way home again. We didn't hear much more than a peep out of him all night. Mom and Dad wish they could sleep that well!

Opening gifts wasn't really a thing for George this year, and I don't think he appreciates much of what Santa brought for him, though I'm sure he will within the next year. But he certainly is getting good use out of many of the new outfits he received, and has wasted no time in spitting up all over them.

It's hard to say, but we think he enjoyed his Christmas dinner, filtered: 3-4 hours after the rest of us enjoyed ours, of course.

One surprise for George on Christmas, was a meeting with someone who drools even more than him! Sadly it was too cold for them to get better acquainted - I'm sure they would have really hit it off.