Christmas 2006!

To summarize:

1. Birthdays for the Christmas Kids: Ridley turns 2 and his Mom ...um... suffice to say that she's considering a bulk discount for hair colour.

2. Trucks! Cars!

3. Ridley had a great time at his Grandma Pearl's as he engaged in a prolonged wrestling-match with cousins Ethan and Emma. No children were harmed during this spectacle, though I suspect one cat was deeply traumatized by the ensuing noise.



4. Trucks! Cars! TRAINS!

5. Within one-hour, Ridley learned both the word and concept of "present", as in "Christmas present". Any wrapped box or decorative bag that crossed his path was enthusiastically greeted with a chorus of "Out! Out! Out!" (the word "open" has yet to join his vocabulary).

6. The fact that Ridley is obsessed with all toy vehicles with wheels -- be they cars, trucks, trains -- was widely circulated throughout the family as he received enough of these to open his own mini-car rental agency. You need some Hot Wheels? He's got 'em. Thomas the Train? No problem.

7. Never leave a box of chocolates within reach of a toddler. Really, just don't.

8. The stop-motion animated version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" that I watched as a kid (the one from the 1950's with the in-the-closet gay dentist elf) is actually quite frightening to a 2-year-old. It was the Abominable Snowman, and not the aforementioned gay elf, that caused Ridley to cry with alarm.

9. If our next child is a boy, we won't have to buy him any trucks. If our next child is a girl ... she's gonna hafta like trucks. ;-) (No, we didn't inquire after the gender of the baby during the ultrasound). The irony that an individual such as myself, who is very cognisant of gender-stereotyping, should become parent to an über-mensch such as Ridley has not escaped me. Further proof, I suppose, that genetics play a major role in shaping personality and preference.

10. No matter how many toys, books, etc., a child receives for his birthday or Christmas, he will always exhibit a much greater fascination for the laptop computer.