Zack had his Christmas party at day care today. The party was at 3 and all the parents brought in food so we had a big snack and then we did a parent/child craft. Lisa and Jennifer (Zack's teachers) started the party by having the kids all sit down and they shared with us the Christmas story. Zack was so cute. He knows that Christmas is Jesus' birthday, Mary had a baby, the inn was full, the manger was behind the inn, there were donkeys in the manager, stars were in the sky and the angel Gabriel came to visit. When Lisa asked the kids what other animals were in the manager, Zack yelled louder than all the others "Bears"!! The parents all started laughing and Lisa politely said, "Bears are one of Zachary's favorite animals." He is so cute. It was neat to listen to all the kids as they answered the questions as most of them knew all the answers but they still all had their own unique way of saying the words.

After snack was over the kids got to paint their wooden cross. Although they were supposed to have finished their food before starting to paint, Zack still had a half eaten cookie in his hand as he began painting. He was so cute and very meticulous in what he did. He knew just what color he wanted to go where and how much he wanted to use. By the time we were done painting, he had more paint on his cross than any of the other kids. After most of the other kids left, Steve and I sat there and let Zack play with Cale a little longer while we talked to Lisa and Jennifer. Zack kept going up to Lisa and giving her great big hugs. It was so nice to see. I know that Zack is well cared for at day care and I see how happy he is most of the time when I pick him up (no one has a good day every day) but it was wonderful to really see him interact with Lisa and Jennifer for longer than 5 minutes and how much he loves them. It is so much easier to leave him knowing both how much he is learning and how much he likes being there!

After the party, Zack and I went shopping. When I asked him if he wanted to go shopping with me, he says "go shopping buy Mommy presents"! What a kid and I didn't even prompt him to say that. When we got to the store I got him out of the truck and we started walking toward the building. He saw the long line of carts outside the door so he tells me, "no cart Mommy. Yachary stay in Mommy's arms". I carried him for a little bit longer but then had to put him in the cart so I could pick out what we needed. It is so hard at times not to let him always get his own way!!