Day 297 = December 24, 2010

Ron decided to buy Simon these suction cup bowls to have Simon practice taking things from a bowl to eat. This will be a lot more convenient than having to clean off the table at a restaurant so that he can pick up food from the table… and easier than us having to feed him all the time.

Simon checking out what there is to eat.

Simon playing with his Handy Manny telephone toy from Auntie Vicki. I think it may be too advanced for him just yet but he likes the blinking lights.

Simon Claus spreading some holiday cheer.

Simon was missing Rudolph so he gave himself a red nose. We think he scratched himself with his fingernail since he hasn’t been playing with paper or any other sharp objects.

Our holiday plans this year didn’t work out as planned so we did not have Christmas Eve dinner with our families. Instead, our friends Susan and Ken hosted us at their condo with Ron doing most of the main course cooking. Simon had a good time crawling around their laminate flooring since they don’t have much furniture and no pets so there was plenty of places for him to go.

We had wonton soup as an appetizer so Simon had some pork and shrimp won tons as well. Susan and her friends made them fresh yesterday. Simon seemed to like them and gobbled them up, he almost ate three whole ones by himself. I picked out all the shrimp and didn’t give him all the wonton skin.

For dinner tonight, we had Singaporean chili crab, using a sauce package that our friends brought us from Singapore. I turned out pretty authentic and is the best we’ve had here in the US. We even fried up some white buns like they do in Singapore. We used peanut oil so that it would brown nicely and not burn.

Finger licking good.

Ready to eat.

We had our crab while we waited for the other course, Beef Wellington. We always see this being made on Hell’s Kitchen on TV so always wonder how hard it is to actually make it since the chefs always mess it up on TV. Ron followed Gordon Ramsay’s Youtube video (mostly). It looked beautiful coming out of the oven even though their smoke detector went off right before they took it out.

After resting for 15 minutes, they sliced it up and meat was cooked perfectly. It was a bit salty but otherwise very tasty. It didn’t even need a sauce.

We had some mini tarts for dessert (from Whole Foods) to complete our meal.

Last day of wearing this outfit. I love how the belt buckle sits perfectly on his round belly!

Simon Claus is pooped out from a long day of spreading holiday cheer. We are transitioning him to a second plush in case Pooh gets lost. This is a Zebra made by Jellycat. They also make a tiger (which I didn’t know about) so am thinking of looking for that one online. He has lots of plushies but he only really likes the soft fuzzy ones like Pooh and this Zebra.

Here are some of Simon’s gifts for Christmas morning. Daddy Claus put them next to his crib so that we can open them in the morning.

Although the day wasn’t what we had originally planned and I was a sad, having Simon smile and hearing his laugh cheered me up. Thank you also Susan and Ken for hosting us for dinner.