Christmas Placation

Cristin goes into the big city two or three days a week and the long commute leaves me with the kids in the morning and after work.  Luckily, I am not really alone.  I have two helpers: Frosty and Santa.  Despite Cristin’s efforts to eliminate anything holiday related, Phoebe has not given up on Christmas.  I have discovered that if I just sing “Frosty the Snowman” and “Santa Claus is coming to town” while she is eating, she tends to overlook her desire to toddlerize her meal and seems to finish more or less what I give her.  After dinner I ask Phoebe what she wants for dessert.  I don’t really have to ask because I already know the answer:  “Crackers and Cheese”.   I realize that 1)  everybody else calls it “cheese and crackers” and 2) it seems like an odd dessert but I roll with it.  She asks for the crackers because she observes me eating them but she mostly just eats cheese. I then get out my guitar and sing “crackers and cheese” until she is finished, that being the title of the song, the verse, and the chorus.  Following dinner we retire to the living room and stream her music class songs through the apple tv and some dance music and play with her random assortment of percussion instruments while Ellie thrashes around in her activity center.