neutral santa

Aiden asked to go see Santa today. He literally said, "I so excited - let's see Santa" about 50 times between the point when we decided to hop in the car until we were at the Santa line. We thought he had lost his mind when he started asking to see him and telling us he was going to tell him he wanted "caaarses for ciisssmas!" Was this the same kid that for the last couple weeks if you even mention Santa he would say "I donot like that guy?" He would balk if we even walked that way in the mall and freeze up like we were leading him to Crazyville. Instead, today he practically raced down the hall in the mall to see Saaanta! It wasn't until after we'd checked out all the wintery animals and the lady was asking what photos we'd like that he said - "uh, all done, i don't wanna" and tried to run off.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we ran out of the house so quickly once he was asking to see Santa that I didn't have a camera, so I have no montage to share. Instead, I'll give you a rundown.
He was tempted back to check out the full scene around Santa and then let me hold him and walk up towards Santa as he looked off into the distance in silence. He stuck his lip out occasionally and tried to politely say "Bye, I walk away now" a couple times.

Here is the play by play:

Santa asked what toys he wanted, he gave no response = Santa minus one.

Santa guessed that he wanted cars and he glanced towards him quickly (wondering how he knew!) = Santa plus one.

Then Santa started talking about Playdoh and Aiden actually cracked a smile = Santa plus one.

Then Santa asked if he wanted to eat turkey and celebrate, Aiden says "no like" under his breath = Santa minus one.

Santa asks when was your birthday, Aiden perks up and makes eye contact with Santa = Santa plus one.

Santa brought out some jingle bells and Aiden stuck out his lip trying to ignore the temptation = Santa minus one.

Santa asked me what day it was, starts muttering about it being Nov 22 and that he only gets the date from reading the newspaper (um, crazy drugged Santa, it is the 25th?), Aiden is bored = Santa minus one.

Santa brings out a coloring book, Aiden promptly grabs it and says thank you = Santa plus one.

If you're keeping track, Santa comes out even = 0 score. All in all a neutral Santa experience.

Aiden wouldn't let me put him down to even stand next to Santa, so we ended up with our stone cold baby face boy and mildly amused parents in our 2009 Santa shot.

Same Santa from 2008 - more tanning, less red rouge in '09: