Santa! I not cry...

Jackson has been very interested in Santa Claus this year - which kind of surprised me.  He's only two, so I figured he would be pretty freaked out by him.  My mom has the pictures of my kids with Santa from the past couple of years up on her fridge.  The last few times we were at her house, Jackson has enjoyed pulling a chair over to the fridge so he can climb up and look at the pictures.  He always points out this picture from when Adam was 3 years old, and says "Adam crying - I not cry". 

So, I thought maybe seeing Santa for Jackson wouldn't be quite as traumatic.  We braved the mall on the afternoon of black Friday, like we've done for the past 5 years.  The mall was more crowded this year, but once we made it to Santa, there was no line.  There was a little girl sitting on Santa's lap, so we had to wait for a few minutes.  Jackson stood there smiling and waving at Santa, and acting very excited about getting to see him.  Then the little girl left...  We tried to get Jackson to sit on Santa's lap, but he wouldn't go anywhere near him.  As soon as we started walking towards him, he freaked out and started crying!  Adam went and talked to Santa, and told him about school, and that he wanted a Beyblade Arena for Christmas.  Still, Jackson stood there and cried!  We decided to get everyone else ready for the picture, so I handed one-week old Kate to Santa, and Adam sat on his knee, but what to do with Jackson?  He finally calmed down and stopped crying, but he still didn't want to get near the guy in the red suit.  I'm not sure how we did it (good thing Grandma AND aunt Tiffy were with me this year), but we finally coaxed him to stand next to Santa's knee, near Adam.  The picture takers were so nice, and they took a whole bunch of pictures (another benefit of going the day after Thanksgiving when no one else is there).  We did get a smile out of Jackson, and a weird sort of smile out of Adam (this is his normal smile for pictures lately - head tilted up and clenched teeth). 

Here is the best picture we could get... 

Now, when Jackson looks at the pictures, he still talks about the picture of Adam crying, and then he says "I cry too."  At least you can't tell from the picture.  Maybe he'll do better next year...