Hanukkah Party

We went to Brian's grandparents house for their annual New Year's Day Hanukkah breakfast. It was my first time attending. Holy crap. I never realized just how big the family was. There were people everywhere. Luckily their condo is laid out in such a way that we weren't all on top of each other.

I've only been in the family a few years and only see people a few times a year at holiday dinners, but its kinda neat seeing how the kids "grow up." The shy little girl now bobs her head with an "oh no you didn't" attitude. Or the little cutie boy that threw a little plastic frog in my drink while at Sader two years back....he's not so little anymore and I'm sure doesn't play with little plastic frogs. Even Carter...its amazing how much he's grown in a year. I told Amy I'm not as impressed with his physical growth as I am with his mental growth. Kids are supposed to grow, that's what they do. But their mental growth is amazing. And most of it is based on who they are around. Last year he just laid around, ate, pooped, and cried. Now he's eating breakfast with Brian and I, signing "more" when he wanted some banana, says appropriate words at appropriate times, listens when you say "no" or "take that out of your mouth," plays catch, but the most impressive of all, I think, is watching how he interacts with others. Its so amazing to me to see how much a child learns in just a few months or years.

Brian's cousin, Melissa, brought her 5 month old baby girl, Shoshanna. I'm actually looking forward to Passover or next year's Hanukkah breakfast to see how much she's grown and all the things she's learn to do in a years time.

I had a blast hanging out with the kids. We played catch and hide and seek, played catch, built things out of blocks and then demolished our "buildings" til the kids laughed so hard I'm sure they peed their Pampers a little. Kids are just so innocent and aren't at all interested about drama or gossip. It was nice to be a kid for a few hours without a care in the world.