Santa Slips Up

Well, almost.

We had some Christmas "near misses" for Little Brother.

It became apparent this year that he was extremely sensitive about presents. Our dear friends got each of the boys a present. Little Brother's present was a cool Melissa and Doug firetruck floor puzzle.

The only problem was that Little Brother believed it to be a "firetruck costume". (Don't ask, just know that we have one costume-obsessed 4 year-old.)

Fortunately, the ensuing tantrum and crying fit lasted only about 2 minutes until Big Brother opened the box for him and Little Brother decided that the puzzle was quite cool. (They've been assembling it over and over ever since.)

This primed our sensitivities for the following 2 incidents:
1. Every year, Santa leaves the boys a small gift while we're at church. This is usually some jammies or slippers and a new book to read.

This year, Big Brother got a pair of thick Batman Socks, Bab-E Brother some Lightning McQueen slippers, and Little Brother Spiderman slippers.

Despite them being the same length as his regular shoes, the slippers didn't quite fit.

Oops.

Based on the "firetruck present incident" described above, you can imagine Little Brother's response.

After some tears, Mom-E craftily explained that we would leave a note for Santa informing him the slippers didn't fit, and could he please have the elves make a new pair in the next size up. And importantly, Mom-E also explained that Santa wouldn't be able to come back the next night, but that he would be able to "fix it."

Whew! (Thank you, Target.com. No doubt Little Brother will be very pleased to have a package delivered to him with the new slippers.)

2. Since Halloween, our superhero-obsessed 4 year-old had yet another costume on his wish-list: The Flash.

However, it wasn't until about a week before Christmas that Little Brother asked Santa at the mall for this costume as his "#1 present."

And while said Flash costume had already been obtained, it was already in Gramm-E and Grampap's hands for delivery.

With a "Flash" of quick thinking, we gave the grandparents the 4-1-1 on this situation, and in Santa's "thank you letter" informed Little Brother that a. he would get him a new pair of slippers, and b. that his Flash costume had fallen out of his bag at Gramm-E and Grampap's house, and they would bring it to him later in the day.

Fortunately, all tears were averted and Little Brother was content with the arrangements, excepting that he asked "Are Gramm-E and Grampap here?" or "Can we call them (after just calling them to verify that they had the Flash costume)?" every 2 minutes for about 5 hours.

My ears are still tired.

When the costume arrived, he was thrilled, and insisted on trying it on immediately.

In contrast to the slippers, the Flash costume was a bit long, despite being the smallest size available (Little Brother doesn't set the world on fire, height-wise.)

Cue crocodile tears and please to Mom-E to "fix i"t (aka alter it with her sewing machine) immediately.

Of course, even after Mom-E did shorten the legs, he still complained that they were too long (they weren't).

Fortunately, by the next day, Little Brother "gave in" and is now wearing and enjoying the costume.

Here's to the Christmas exploits of 4 year-olds!

See you on Fatherhood Friday,
Busy-Dad-E