Our Christmas tree went up December 1 during Allie’s first nap period. My only contribution to it was a joking affirmative response when Mr. W asked if Allie’s giant Hello Kitty balloon, which the stepdaughter and her boyfriend bought for Allie’s birthday, would make a good tree-topper. And next thing I knew, there it was.

It’s fun to watch Allie test her boundaries, just a little bit. Mr. W figured we’d just “teach her” not to touch the tree, ornaments, decorations, boxes, etc. I thought, “Fat chance.” Tree, little bright lights, shiny balls, ribbons.

When I brought Allie down from her nap, she saw the tree on her way down the stairs and her eyes lit up. She pointed, delighted. “Ehh?”
“Tree!” I said.
“Bbbbbloon bbbbloon!” She pointed higher.
“Yeah, that’s your balloon!”
I put her down in front of the tree in the living room and let her have a closer look. At her height, she saw all the big boxes and pointed excitedly. “BAH!” she pointed to our prop presents. I hadn’t even known she knew the word for “box” (minus the last consonant sound, as usual).
“That’s right, box! Lots of boxes!”
“BAH!” She walked up to the boxes and picked one up. I let her play with it as I took some photos with the DSLR. And that was the last time she was allowed to touch anything Christmas tree-related.

So she’ll walk up to it once in awhile, and point. We let her do that. And then her finger would draw closer to an ornament, slowly. When she makes contact, we say, “No. Don’t touch.” She pulls away, clasps her little hands behind her back, never turning around. She leans forward, which we let her do. And then she sniffs the tree. That’s okay, so we don’t say anything. She plops down and looks at the box. “Baw?” She reaches out and points. That’s okay. She reaches farther, touches with her hands.
“No, don’t touch the box.” She ignores us. “Allie,” in a stern warning tone. She freezes. She pulls her hand back, standing, staring at the box. And then slowly, tentatively, a foot will reach out toward the box, hanging in the air. “Don’t touch with your foot either.” She pulls her foot back. And then she’ll proceed to forget all about the tree, the boxes, the ornaments, until someone new comes over. Then she’ll point to the tree as if to show them the newest addition to our living room, and sometimes she’ll go through the testing of limits again, gingerly.
Overall, though, she’s a surprisingly obedient kid. Hoping we just skip the terrible two cliche personality altogether. 🙂