Christmas Weekend

We had a nice weekend with John's grandparents and extended family this weekend. It was a little odd spending Christmas day at a motel swimming pool but the entire family no longer fits at Grandma's house and the aunts that live up north are remodeling their houses right now. The kids loved swimming around in the water. Aleksa took a long time to warm up to the idea, but by the end, she was loving it too. Looks like swimming lessons are on the horizon for this summer!

The kids did well with the crowd of strangers, and I was tickled pink when Aleksa could not be coaxed onto Great-grandpa's lap because she was "scared." It sounds silly to be giddy about that, but boy, has she come far with her response to strangers!!! She smiled at everyone and was the typical "Sunshine girl" that we know at home, (everyone commented on how much she likes to smile), :O) , but she was just very hesitant to go to people she didn't know. *does a cartwheel here*

Adam enjoyed playing with all his cousins, and got a little wound up a few times, but he quickly gained control of himself and well, I was really proud of him. He still has a tendency to think that all grown men are his playthings. Still working on that. (Adam loves to tickle and wrestle and climb, etc.)

Liana was very quiet and shy in the crowd of people, (fine with me!!!) She did great as usual.

Several people said they worried that they were worried the kids were overwhelmed, but I was actually happy that they looked that way. A few months ago, they would have been everyone's best pals going from person to person climbing on laps and acting like they knew everyone forever. I was really happy to see them act like a normal kid would, though Adam, of the three, showed the least reserve, and enjoyed the attention and the extra people to play with. Not sure I saw anything alarming though. Just a nine-year-old boy who likes to play.

The most alarm I got was when we went to sleep. The girls slept with me, which was wonderful, since they're both great cuddlers. They both ground their teeth *loudly* all night, however. I've never heard them do this before - just a few times here and there, and it was mostly when they first came home. I'm hoping this was just because of the stressful situation of being away from home with strangers all over, but I'm going to have to check and see, now that we're home, if this was a one-shot deal, or if this happens all the time without us knowing it.

Sunday morning the whole family went to church. John's grandparents' church has a shaking hands time between two of the hymns, and while John and I were doing so, we didn't notice Adam getting into this too. When the next song started and it was time to sit down, I gasped when I noticed that Adam was NOT in the pew next to us anymore. He was off shaking Auntie Mary's (and who knows who else's) hand several pews back, and thankfully, she sent him back up with us. I'm so glad I didn't have to get out of the second pew from the front and go looking for him.