I'm Going to Need More Ziplocs...

I have a riddle for you:  What's three and a half feet tall and can mentally change seasons quicker than the aisles at Target can have a life-size Santa glowing alongside deeply discounted Halloween goods on November 1st?   Yup.....it's Emery!  And I'm assuming every other post-toddler on the planet?  Or did I just unknowingly over emphasize seasonally driven consumerism in mine?  I mean, this kid was asking about Christmas before he even had the goggles of his aviator costume off after a night spent collecting candy in the most labor intensive way possible; going door to door for one piece at a time.  The same candy that is now safely stashed far above his line-of-sight where my husband and I can eat mini Kit-Kats to our heart's content (so long as we are willing to move some furniture to get at them.)

In any case, it's becoming a tradition in our house to spend November 1st gearing up for the,"What Christmas is really about" speech that needs to be prepped, revised, and solidified for that moment when Emery first lays eyes on the "Big Toy Book" that is bound to be in our mailbox daily from now until December 26th.   Thank you Toys R' Us for that published bundle of joy!  Emery takes better care of that catalog than he does his precious train collection. So as far as the hierarchy of his child-world goes, I'm guessing even Buzz Lightyear would be jealous of the instant rise to the #1 spot in his heart that this catalog commands. I would take it away from him, but this is America and that is his own little version of being sold a slice of hope. I think there might be a good lesson in watching him circle things that "Santa" intends to run out of before he ever lays foot in the Schultz household if he knows what's good for him.  For instance, more than 4 batteries? Not getting it.  20+ pieces?  Not getting it. Makes noise and doesn't have on "off" switch?  Not getting it. Requires me to transform it? Definitely not getting it!

So naturally, you can imagine my surprise that while our house currently remains toy catalog free and a safe zone from the Christmas "I wants" for the time being, Emery still proudly announced the following statement yesterday:

"Mom.....I know the first thing I am going to ask Santa for this year!"

I was just waiting for him to drop the Lego bomb! I've been dreading that for so long because I am way too type A to comfortably make it through 4 years of collecting Legos.  As it stands now, the 6 sets we already have are each separated in Ziploc bags, labeled, and stored with their appropriate instruction manual. I cannot sustain this system  if we start collecting Star-Wars sets and I am required to know the difference between a Clone and a Droid.  It's never going to happen!  But what came out of his mouth was not "Legos" (crisis averted for now!) Instead it was.....

"I'm going to ask for a piccolo!"

Whaaaaaaaaaatttttttt????!!!!!?  A piccolo?  Like a mini-flute?  That's it, Little Einsteins is now banned from my house!  I'll buy every Star Wars Lego set known to man and invite Qui-Gon Jinn to dinner before I buy Emery a piccolo! For a moment I forgot he was 4 and wanted to shake him and say,

"Emery......5th grade band is not cool! I know you think it is because you get to miss half of geography and your friend "Amber" wants to play the flute next to you. But you haven't met the teacher!  He's kind of weird, ranks you by making you sit in certain spots, checks to see if you practiced, and ultimately will ask you (after 4 months) if you can even read music or if you are just pretending? Then your parents will find out that you quit without telling them and will be livid because they spent all of this money on your piccolo and never even got to see you perform at an assembly! If you want to be in music, wait until high school where you can join choir, follow the kid next to you, take extra field trips during the year, and get an A for doing it! Work smarter, not harder kid."

Of course, none of that comes from personal experience....

In any case, I kind of feel like the season has officially begun!  I obviously need to dust off my, "Jesus is the reason for the Season" speech and try and squeeze in Thanksgiving, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that this is easily my favorite time of the year!

Have a great weekend!!

This is the only picture I have them from Halloween Night.  He's not looking and she's cramming a hot dog in her face.  It's a framer!