Santa, not so jolly...

Last night was our Mended Little Hearts Christmas party at the Heart Hospital! It was a great night with all of Gavin's heart friends. Dr. Kimberling (Cardiologist at PCO) came and spoke to us about the new children's hospital and the new pediatric cardio/thoracic surgeon. We enjoyed yummy food, cookies and Santa... most of us did... all of us but Gavin. It was bad, really bad. Full on hyperventilating, red face, sweat, rapid heart beat and hard breathing. Not the best scenario for a child with a heart defect. Adam had to take Gavin out in the hall until Santa left. He wanted nothing to do with him. Gavin is not scared of anything. Needles, IV'S, blood, doctors, nurses, water (we are talking about the ocean people!), getting a bruise, scrape, nothing. He hardly cries! However, when it comes to costumes...he HATES costumes...when he met Elmo and the Cow at Chick-fil-a, he was scared, really scared and he cried. When he had to wear his Rooster costume at Halloween, he cried and barely moved in it. Something about those costumes!

Here's how it went: As soon as we said "Santa is coming" and Santa's bells started to ring, Gavin flipped out and squeezed my neck. "Home, Bye-Bye, Now, Gone, All Done, Home, Now, No Santa"... these are just a few of the words that Gavin repeated over and over.

We bribed him with a cookie to get a "picture" with Santa. The best we could get was this: Santa was so small you couldn't even see him! We are going to have to make up a code word for Santa. You say his name and Gavin comes full force to your neck. We might have to skip the whole cookies and milk thing this year. I want a full night of sleep!

(The above picture was taken after Santa had left. Mommy was trying to explain that Santa went back to the North Pole and you don't ever have to see him again... he was still upset)