Pete's Thirty-Seventh Week, December 3 to 9

lifewithpete
Dec 11, 2015
3 min read

We got a Christmas tree, in an effort to provide Pete with special Christmas memories. He will of course not remember the Christmas tree, but things do seem more fun with him around. For instance: we went to the Opelika Holiday Parade on Saturday because of Pete. He seemed stimulated, but as Mat says, he is stimulated by a strip mall, so we probably didn't need to go to the Christmas Parade, and it is something we never would have done pre-Pete, but so many things seem like an option, now that Pete is here. He might be making us more earnest?

The Christmas Tree: first, I bought a cheap tree from Wal-Mart (I know, I know!). It looked, as Mat put it, really, really janky, so I returned it. Well, we returned it (Pete in tow). And to replace it we bought a real Christmas tree, which took an hour and a half. It would have been funny had it not taken so much time. The sun set as we waited for the Xmas tree guys to affix the tree to the top of our car; the guy who had been in charge just kind of disappeared and then a new guy came up, looked at the tree, and said, "How far are you guys going?" My answer: "Not far, but give us the good tie."

Then we bought lights with a white electric cord instead of a green one. Again, the tree looked really janky. So we took them back (trip three to Wal-Mart) and bought lights with a green cord and shatterproof ornaments (thank you, cats) and finally, we had a non-janky tree. Pete seems to like the tree, but why wouldn't he? It is adorned with a combination of his favorite things: lights and electrical cords.

Pete is obsessed with lights. As soon as we get in the car he finds the dome light and makes the light sign. In restaurants he locates all the lights and reports them to us, via the light sign. Sometimes he looks up at the sun and makes the light sign. There are a lot of lights in this world. Pete is telling us about all of them.

And, finally: Pete waves! Not consistently, but he says hi and bye to people.

Our janky Christmas tree

Ready for a walk! His sitter Harley sent me this picture. Sometimes I think he loves his babysitters more than he loves me and Mat--he weeps, mournfully, when they leave.