The Clapper
On a Christmas past my wife bought me a "Clapper"; you know, one of those gadgets that turn an appliance on or off when you clap? This year my wife plugged the Christmas tree lights into the Clapper so we don't have to bend over to unplug the lights.
My daughter has figured out that clapping will turn the tree lights on or off. She can't clap loud enough to activate the mechanism but she can enlist our help by pointing to the tree and clapping. Now, for every electric light she sees she claps and points thinking that it might work the same way as the tree lights. She did this during Christmas dinner at Grandma's house but only Grandma was impressed when we explained what she was trying to do.
New Food
On Christmas day Chickpea got to try out pepperoncini. She made a face but I suspect she would have eaten more had her mother not gotten on my case. [Seriously, let the kid try the damn food. She's not allergic. The worst that could happen is that she falls in love with peperocinis and refuses to eat anything else.]
Music
My wife once bought our daughter a toy glockenspiel but it was out of tune (as in not even close to the 12 note chromatic scale) so I made her take it back. I got some ridicule for this but I don't care. You don't give your children misspelled books and expect them to learn to read properly; likewise you don't give your children crappy instruments and expect them to learn to play (or at least listen to) music properly.
Our daughter now has a keyboard and a percussion set. It's fun to watch her play with them. As a child she has no preconceived notions about music and so figures out her own way of doing things. For example, along with pounding randomly on keys and buttons she'll "rhythmically" turn her keyboard on and off because it makes a weird sound while a note is playing.
She also uses her feet to push the buttons on some of her musical toys while playing another musical toy with her hands in an audio version of spinning plates.
When I'm not jamming with her I'm able to tune out the cacophony. In fact, I welcome the noise since I know she's not getting into mischief.
Conclusion
All in all it was a good holiday. I've never cared for Christmas but having a child and a wife who can enjoy the tradition makes a big difference.
