Me, Myself & I: Santa's little helper

Today we were visited by one of Santa's elves and he's going to be staying with us until Christmas Eve. He's small, wears red and listens to the children and reports back to Santa if they're being naughty or nice. He's an Elf on a shelf.

I heard about him last year but decided Charlotte would be too young to understand the concept. Even this year. she doesn't completely understand the idea of Santa. The Elf, who Charlotte has named Shakey (AKA Micos) sits somewhere in the house each day and watches what's going on. He doesn't talk to children, only Santa and Mommy & Daddy, but Charlotte can talk to him and tell him what she'd like for Christmas. Then, each night when she and Harrison are asleep, he goes back to Santa and tells him the news of the day and if they've been good or bad. He then comes back before they wake and sits in a different place. Charlotte then has to look for him in the morning.

Charlotte is one very excited little girl these days. She's had her world turned upside down in the past 3 months with the arrival of her little brother and she doesn't always listen to everything we say. Don't get me wrong, she's very good most of the time, but we've found recently that she's really testing her limits. I know that's part of being three, but we thought with Christmas coming up and the craziness of the season, this Elf may help her control herself as much as anything. I've found lately that we've been having to talk to her about her behaviour more than usual. We try to reason with her explain why what's she's doing is wrong, but we just seem to be going in circles. I know it's just a phase, but maybe Shakey will give her a different way to look at things.

So far, it seems to be working. Charlotte didn't come upstairs after she went to bed, the first time in a long time. But, it's only been day one.

Let's see what will be happening in a couple of weeks.

Welcome Shakey!