Holiday wardrobe malfunction

Spectacular: Meeting Grampa at the airport, in your jammies, on Christmas morning.

Less than scintillating: Immediately before meeting Grampa at the airport on Christmas morning, discovering a hole in the crotch of your jammies.

Peas, Boppa, Peas!!!

While his Grampa teaches him how to shell fresh peas, Emmett perfects the art of eating them. Both shelled and unshelled. His 'Boppa', as Emmett has taken to calling him, takes it all in stride, and eventually, they strike a rhythm. Emmett passes Boppa the peas, Boppa shells them, and Emmett eats them.

Emmett and Grampa's inner child

With his two year old magic and energy, Emmett manages to coax Grampa's inner child to come out and play...

Huh? Yes, that's Grampa in the Hurricane Simulator, at the top of the Calgary Tower. One might ask, 'Where is Emmett? Is he hiding behind Grampa?' Nope, Grampa headed into the simulator on his own. (Emmett clearly has a knack for inspiring childlike behaviour!) More importantly, one might also ask, 'WHY is there a Hurricane Simulator in ALBERTA?'

Irreversible damage

After a few days of barely being able to lift his head off the couch, Emmett seems to emerge victorious from his first illness of 2011.

Emmett's dad, however, notices some not-so-subtle changes to Emmett's response time while playing 'ball'. Dad reviews film from earlier in Emmett's career, and the effects of the seemingly routine daycare cold are obvious: Where once Emmett boasted an impressive save percentage, he can now only muster bloopers for the highlight reel.

(Grampa, it turns out, saw this coming... and outfitted Emmett for a sport that has no net.)

Rugby player in the making?

Emmett gets ready to hit the scrum, play a tackle, and maul a flanker while wearing his new rugby shirt from Grampa and Nana.

(Unfortunately, though Emmett's mom grew up beside a rugby pitch, she still has no idea how the game is actually played. Sorry Grampa).

Home for the Holidays

Emmett's parents dragged him home to visit family and friends, celebrate his first Christmas, and tour him around their respective home towns. The holidays were full of fun, festivities, and many firsts including Emmett's first plane ride. He handled the outbound flight like a champ.

On the return flight, however, he was lucky to not be hauled off by security when just before pushing back from the gate he spat up a smuggled stash of breast milk cleverly concealed in his belly. Fortunately, the volume of liquid amounted to less than 100 mL.

Relatives from the clan Stran eagerly awaited his arrival. His cousins were smitten with the newest member of the family, as were his aunts.

Not sure if Uncle Blair was as smitten, though he eventually started to come around...

Luckily, Grampa and Poppa came to the rescue, giving Emmett some quality armchair time.

All in all, Emmett received more than his fair share of attention and cuddling over the holidays. Hey, when you're as cool a Christmas character as Emmett is, who can resist?

Reinforcements arrive!

Emmett and his parents rose early this morning to meet Nana and Grampa at the airport.

Emmett is currently adding 30-40 grams per day to his already monstrous physique. While sporting this impressive growth rate, it will be some time before he is equipped to properly shake Grampa's hand. Best guess is sometime between 2028 and 2033.