Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Santa

Janie came home in September 2009. She loved, loved, loved Santa. The picture from that year she is smiling and tickling his beard.

Fast forward to 2010...the picture is the same for Lexie but the exact opposite for Janie. Lexie met Santa by herself and was a happy little girl. Janie would not sit on Santa's lap by herself so the picture of the 2 of them is HYSTERICAL. Janie is screaming at the top of her lungs, mouth wide open and ters streaming down her face. Lexie is looking over at her like "What is wrong with you?"

Now fast forward to Christmas Season 2011. Lexie seems to really like Santa. Whenever she sees an image of him or when we go to the mall she smiles and waves and says "oh, oh, oh"---her sweet version of Ho, Ho, Ho.

Janie...well that is another story. To put it mildly...Janie is not a fan of Santa. Of course she will tell you what Santa is bringing her for Christmas (another post in itself) but she will have NOTHING to do with him at all. You see, Janie is extremely verbal. I have been told that she is actually verbally advanced for her age (which is funny b/c she won't speak to people at first--acts shy). But she is not shy to tell me how she feels about Santa.

We have watched every possible Barney/Sesame Street/Dora/etc episode with Santa...and she is fine with that...but in person, a completely different story. I even showed her the picture of her in 2009 happily sitting on Santa's lap...nope, not gonna happen.

Last time we were at the mall we walked over to the area. Lexie was smiling and happy but Janie immediately tensed up. Her poor little body became so stiff and she had this little fake smile on her face. When we walked away, she told me "Mommy, I didn't cry" I told her I was proud of how brave she was but then she added "I don't like Santa"

Janie will tell you all the following things about Santa:

"I don't like Santa", "Santa scares me", "I am afraid of Santa", "I don't want to see Santa", "I don't want to sit on Santa's lap", "I don't want Santa to come to my house", "I don't want to wave at him" and my personal favorite: When she knows we are going shopping she always says "Mommy, I have a question for you. Is Santa going to be there?"

The issue is that while Lexie loves Santa, she follows Janie's lead and then acts afraid and begins to cry too. So I think I will take Lexie alone to see Santa this year. Not sure if I will even try with Janie.

A few weeks ago we went to the Christmas Open House in a local shopping area. Santa was there and we tried. Tried being the key word. Here is what we got....

Lexie:
At first she was ready and seemed really excited. Then Janie began to scream so Lexie would not go to Santa. She did let me hold her though....although check out the grip she has on my shirt.

Janie:
Well, Santa offered her a lollipop and she REALLY wanted it, so she leaned in and did grab that (through the tears).



I am hopeful that Janie will eventually outgrow her fear. I know many kids are afraid of Santa. So my question to all you mommies out there: Do you make your child sit on Santa's lap (even with the tears)? It almost seems like emotional abuse to me? What do you think????

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