I've been a bad, bad blogger

Wow. Wowee-wow-wow, has this ball been dropped. (Oof! So heavy!) Say! Instead of reiterating the reasons why I haven't been tending to your needs (I'm sounding suspiciously like my ex) why don't we pretend that I've been off doing something awesome like healing children with the power of laughter or deprogramming Suri Cruise! Trust me, that's way better than what I've been up to these last few weeks. Matt's flu morphed into a little something the doctors call "bronchitis" which is a fancy term for "Wife, you're on your own". I escaped that particular bit of viral nastiness only to end up with a stomach bug that left me hovering near the loo. So far Little Dude has managed to avoid the awfulness (fingers crossed, crossed, crossed) but I'm keeping a close eye. Did I mention he's the one who didn't get fully inoculated? Oh, the irony!

So my sweet baby boy is now a full-fledged toddler. I always thought that term was reserved for those who were actually toddling, versus my young'un who has only now started tippy-toeing while holding on to the couch, but apparently "toddler" is the proper term for those older than 1 year. (Which begs the question, When are they considered children? My vote is 3, or whenever they start getting particularly pesky.) His birthday was a bit of a rag-tag event, lacking much in the way of presents (from his parents, at least. Grandma and grandpa took up the slack) and guests (I sense a lifelong issue, his birthday being so close to Christ-mukkah) and mostly notable for my disasterous attempt at making a healthy birthday cake (that ubiquitous carrot cakey job every mother seems to have cribbed off the internet). Luckily he didn't have anything to compare it to. Plus we offered a distraction in the form of his first balloon. Boy oh boy, was that a hit! (Once he got over the disappointment of not being allowed to pinch it.)

Cover it with enough frosting (organic cream cheese + plain, whole milk yogurt + a touch of powdered sugar = surprisingly tasty stuff) and anything is edible.

Requisite face-in-cake shot. Always a winner.

Then - CHRISTMAS! We got a bit of a late start (well, with the gifting part. The actual start was the usual bright and early) and it was fun and adorable and this and that, but I cannot WAIT until the boy is old enough to come tearing into the room. As cute as it is to have a baby around for Christmas it's a touch anti-climactic to hand over a present, only to get blinked at. But really, it was great. We ordered Chinese and watched "A Christmas Story" and felt terribly cozy and cosmopolitan until I got the stomach flu and bleagh.

But I have a toddler, a little apricot of a toddler! (And a birth story to finish. I'll get right on that.)