Tyler is all about Santa Claus or "Ga Claus" as he calls him. He's had three face-to-face encounters with the jolly happy soul: Once at the mall, last weekend at the Stonelake Clubhouse, and Tuesday night at daycare. Parents say they have no pictures of their kids with Santa when the kids are 2-3 years old. I can see why. Tyler went way out of his way to avoid any possible eye contact with Santa last weekend at the club. He would talk about him, but couldn't look in his direction. This was an open forum where you could eat lunch in the same room as Santa. Tyler had no appetite. Eventually, Daddy got Tyler convinced it was ok to sit on Santa's lap but much to our chagrin, the Polariod camera ran out of film so we have no proof of this event. It would have likely been a picture similar to the mall-Santa picture, stone-cold serious Tyler sitting stiff as a board. The things we do to this poor kid.

He appeared pretty loosened up at daycare Tuesday night. This was his element, surrounded by his friends, teachers and with his parents. Tyler kept telling everyone Santa Claus was there. He established eye contact and didn't get scared. We asked him if he wanted to say hi to Santa and he said yes. So we stood in line. This ended up being a long line which we somehow ended up at the very end of, as Tyler kept procrastinating his turn. It came down to Tyler and Santa, alone, no other kids were left to let go in front of us. Tyler said no to sitting on Santa's lap. He said no to giving Santa a high-five. But he had no problem taking a candy cane. Ever since then, whenever he sees a picture or symbol of Santa (we dressed Baby in red and white fluffy slippers today and Tyler made the connection), we hear "Ga Claus. School. Lap." Maybe next time.