Remember Him?

You know, this kid?

Well, he's still around. I'm still around. I'm also writing at an astonishingly slow pace. In theory, I was supposed to have written five chapters of a thesis that would be painfully boring to describe to you, so I won't. In practice, I have revised said thesis to be three chapters and I am now proud to say that I have one chapter that is pitifully incongruous to the almost completed second chapter. Do you note a pattern? The pattern is that it's not done.

Anyway, you don't come here to hear my woes. You come here to see the boy. His life has gone well despite the fact that his mother sometimes doesn't shower these days. Or, that he has learned that clothes don't always come from drawers and that, in fact, you can locate a perfectly good, clean pair of pants from the laundry basket in the hall.

He has had the usual activities. Naked painting.

*Note: He asked Santa for a paint smock for Christmas. I think the shame of stripping to paint may be getting to him. What do you think? And don't worry, he is wearing underwear.

Halloween has also come and gone, as it is wont to do when I don't update the blog for months on end. He was a knight. He was what is known as "Sir 'I'm NOT A PRINCE SO STOP CALLING ME THAT!'"

He wrote a letter to Santa, that he mailed all by himself. The letter was so stinking cute that it melted my heart and I promptly bought him everything on the list.

"Der Santa,
I was a good boy, Ples bring me... (followed by cut and pasted pictures from catalogues)"

*Note: What he should have asked for was the ability to write his "s" forward instead of backward. I know, I shouldn't be critical, since he sounded out all the other words on his own, and the backward "s" is so cute. But, it cracks me up nonetheless. And is "Der" Dutch?

And, we took our annual picture in front of the Disneyland Christmas tree in our Jack sweatshirts. Collin was so sad that Daddy wasn't with us that he didn't want to ride any rides or play at the "happiest place on earth." It was a pretty sad thing to see.

I could coax him into seeing Santa though. However, he was skeptical that this was the "real" Santa because he said that Santa lives at the North Pole and that this is way too far away from there.

Daddy, we miss you and we are glad that this year is ALMOST over. We are moving on January 5th. That means no more "visits" like this one below with Daddy, but living with him once again!

And then, HAPPY faces like this one, all the time!!