"Small Hands": A Very Merry Christmas, Indeed

On Christmas Eve, Leila opened about a dozen fabulous presents from her Dad, Grandma and Grandpa in Florida. We did the whole event on Skype. Two into the Christmas Eve present-opening extravaganza, it was looking like we were all going to be sitting at the computer for half the day - Leila was painstakingly meticulous about how she opened each gift, tearing off tiny pieces of paper and then laying them tenderly beside the present before tearing off another tiny piece. She soon realized that her zeal for discovering the gift inside the pretty paper was much cooler than the process of unwrapping, and we were in business, pulling out beautiful new outfits and cool toys and books. Big thanks! Leila is loving her new outfits (has already worn each of them in less than 3 days) and has put together the pieces of the world several times.

Later that evening, Leila was wound up to the maximum in anticipation of Santa's arrival... Santa, who would reward her diligent efforts to retire her daytime thumbsucking, Santa who would hopefully deliver her the "shiny party shoes" that she's been talking about incessantly. I responded to her last "Mommy, come in here" at about 10:30 that night. And the next morning, with all the practice she'd had the day before, she tore into her presents (and sometimes other people's too, not that 4 out of 5 weren't for her anyway). Here's what Christmas morning looked like...