Sunday, December 28, 2008

Most Wonderful Time of the Year



Well, as another Christmas season passes us by and we close the books on 2008, things are pretty active in the Swanson household. We spent the last five days in Minneapolis visiting with Lisa's family. Cullen got to spend some quality time with his grandparents, great grandmas, aunts, uncles and cousins. He wowed them with some of his new skills, most notably, his new found ability to walk behind a push toy and continuing attempts to break the language barrier. The house was abuzz, as Cullen tried to communicate with everyone through a variety of da da das, and dit, dit, dits. While we are excited about this continued development, I am also aware that we are that much closer to back talk.

Lisa, Cullen, and I want to thank our family and friends for making Cullen's first Christmas such a memorable one. You're the best.

Monday, December 22, 2008

9 Months and the Swanson Family Christmas



We started our Christmas celebration by spending a wonderful day with Bob, MaryAnne and Grandma Ione. Cullen didn't really "get" the present thing. Not that we expected him to, but we had heard of babies loving bows, wrapping paper and boxes. Not Cullen - he just kept crawling away - too enthralled with all of the other fun stuff to climb on at Grandma and Grandpa's house. However, once we took the toys out of the boxes, he thought they were pretty cool. Thank you to Grandma, Grandpa and Great-Grandma for your generous gifts. Cullen has definitely brought the magic back to Christmas - and there's only more to come!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Snow Daze



Here's an update on some important "firsts" for Cullen: his first sled, his first trip through La Crosse's Rotary Christmas lights and his first belly-up-to-the-bar experience. We took a handsome cab ride through Riverside Park to view the lights and Cullen loved it. Afterward, we waited for our pizza to-go at Big Al's and enjoyed a beer at the bar. No, we are not encouraging beer drinking for minors, it's just that Cullen insisted upon hanging out at the bar. Like father, like son...