Two Christmas Miracles

On Saturday, we took Lilya to the children's museum. There is an ice skating rink and fake snow made out of white confetti, arts and crafts, and many toys to play with. Santa Clause was there too. This was the third time we have seen him. We saw him at the mall for Thanksgiving; she only waved from a distance. We saw him again at the mall about 2 weeks ago. She went to see him then but wouldn't speak and sat on her daddy's lap. Yesterday, we let her see Santa all on her own. This Santa had candy canes; Lilya is easily persuaded with candy. It took about 30 minutes or so but she finally got on his lap. Great Christmas card picture, just a few weeks late. We then went to let her ride the carousel at the mall, always a Lilya favorite. She rode the spinning cup of course with our friend Ali, then she decided to get on with her daddy for 3 more rides. Let me explain this one too. Lilya does not ride the animals at all, only the spinning cup or the bench. I was sitting on the bench waiting for Lilya and Roger to come around and was pleasantly surprised; Lilya was on a horse. I found out that Roger told her that she could be a big girl like Oscar and ride a horse and then we would send him a picture to surprise him. Apparently that's all it took. My child grew up to be a big girl all in one day.