Monday, December 21, 2009

Boomerang Baby

Today's was Xander's preschool Christmas show. Not much, just someone playing piano and the kids singing along (or just standing there, or wandering away, etc). I knew there was a significant chance that if Xander saw me in the audience he wouldn't want to stay on the stage.

What I didn't expect was when the kids walked into the room, from the back, that when he spotted me, he would immediately detour out of line and come sit with me without ever making it to the stage.

But that's what happened. Then he insisted that I hold him the entire time and begged to go home, instead of staying in school for the rest of the day, as planned. Then I listened to him cry pitifully after handing him off to one of his teachers.

....why did I go again? Oh, yeah, to see my little boy in the show. Good intentions, I guess.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

House-training

Warning: if you object to any of the following 3 P-words (pee, poop and potty) do not go any further.

Xander's been potty training in earnest over the last week or so.

Day 1
He did great! It wasn't a full day, as we were out for a few hours in the morning and he was fully diapered. About lunchtime I put him in pants (no diaper, no underwear) and he had only one accident and went in the potty a bunch of times. More encouraging was that at least 3 or 4 times he said, "I'm peeing" but it turned out he wasn't actually peeing but was about to pee and then went successfully on the potty.

Day 2:
A few accidents so far (pee only, thank goodness). Plus he's gotten greedy with the M&M's, demanding a fistful (or two) every time he pees and pitching a fit when I say no. Need to think about whether to continue with candy bribes. Have not given in to diapers yet.

I put my foot down about the M&MS and now he pretty quietly accepts what I give him, after I threatened to withhold them completely. He continued to have a couple of accidents, but did much better in the afternoon.

Day 3:
He woke up, still wearing a diaper for overnight. It was 5:30 and I didn't feel like pressing the issue and seeing if he was dry. But after about an hour he asked to take off his diaper and a little while after that he went and peed on the potty.

Daddy is taking them out to church and for a magic show, and didn't want to risk having him sans diapers. I put him in a pull-up and explained it could be pulled up and down like underwear. Just before they left, he said he had to pee, and went to the potty. I helped him pull them down and sure enough, he used the potty. I'm feeling optimistic right now. I think I'll send him to preschool tomorrow in underwear and cross my fingers.

Day 4:
He out and out refused to wear underwear to preschool, so I put him in pull-ups. Daddy picked him up and forgot to ask if he'd used the potty. He used it when he came home, so that was good.

Day 5:
He used it again this morning. I'm going to consider him house-trained. Literally. He will reliably use the potty in the house. So far, attempts to get him to use the big potty and any potties outside of the house have been unsuccessful. And I'd really like him to use the big potty because that little potty is really grossing me out.

Still...baby steps and forward progress. I'm not complaining.

Day 6:
Got him to pee on the big potty with the potty insert.

Day 7:
Got him to pee on the big potty without the potty insert.

Day 9:
Took off his diaper despite his protests: "I want my diaper." Yeah, kid, and I want a million dollars. Turns out his diaper is the only thing holding up his pants. 15 minutes later he peed and pooped (or, as I said earlier "pooed and peeped") on the little potty. I think my work here is done.


Thursday, December 10, 2009

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

Hari often accuses me of being the garbage police. It's true. Nothing enrages me more than seeing a glass container (glass is so easily recycled into more glass) in the garbage. Not to mention all the compostable stuff he throws out.

Well, yesterday while cleaning the kids' room I stumbled on a mini pumpkin from Halloween. It's decomposable, it was starting to mold and I decided to throw it out. I was a bit concerned one of the kids might see it, so I thought I sort of covered it with something else.

Later in the day, "Mommy, why is pumpkin in the garbage?"
* * *
This morning, I was vacuuming the living room and I turned around to see my little man vacuuming right next to me with his little toy vacuum (matching Hoovers, even).

Apparently the apple is close to the other apples as well
Jessica has the very cute habit of saying, "I have good news" or "I have good news and I have bad news" and then she shares whatever news it is. The other night, Xander said "I have good news."

"What's your good news?' I asked

"I have bad news," he replied.

Okay. "What's your bad news?"

We went through several iterations. It turned out he didn't really have any news at all but just wanted to copy his sister.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Needs to work on his poker face

Xander just told me, "I want my stuff back."

He was standing in the kitchen, so I asked if he meant his kitchen stuff, and he said yes.

See, the other day, he took the big bin full of plastic food that sits next to his little play kitchen and dumped everything out. Then he refused to clean it up. I told him if I had to clean it up, it was going into the basement for a couple of days. He still refused. I started to clean up, then, predictably, got distracted. While I was distracted, he dumped the things I had already picked up back on the floor.

I put it in the basement.

So now he wanted his "stuff" back.

"If you dump it on the floor again and I ask you to clean it up, will you?"

"No!" he immediately replied.

I mean, come on, at least lie and pretend you're going to.

"Then I'm not going to bring it up."

"I clean up, I clean up!" he said. Then, as a good faith effort, he picked a few toys that had migrated into the kitchen and took them into his bedroom.

I gave him back his stuff.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Grammar

Xander's vocabulary is expanding nicely but he's still got some work to do on his grammar. For example, I thought he had mastered "already" when he said, shortly after his sister had left for school, "I miss Jessie already." However, this was followed, maybe 10 minutes later by "I miss Jessie already again."

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Oh, to be almost 3 again. Not.

Xander was so sweet--and sad--this morning. Usually he walks to the bus stop with Jessica and Daddy. Today he stayed home. On the days he "voluntarily" stays home, he usually starts screaming the minute they leave, "I want to go with Daddy!" Today, he sat quietly in my lap after they left and said, "I don't have a family anymore." I quickly assured him that just because his daddy and sister had left the room, they were still his family.
* * *
Mommy quote of the day, "Stop taking boogers out of your nose." This after he pulled a few out of his nose and said, "I have a booger" which meant I needed to dispose of them.
* * *
Xander's new nickname: Stitch. Enough said.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Inquisitive

I don't mind (that much) a million questions in a row. What I do mind is the SAME question a million times in a row.

Like "Where Daddy go? Where Daddy go? Where Daddy go?" (you get the idea). I mean, really, there are only so many times I can patiently answer, "Daddy's at work." "Daddy's at work." "Daddy's at work."

And then sometimes answering a question just segues into something like "Why Daddy go to work? Why Daddy go to work? Why Daddy go to work?"

Then there's what appears to be either a hearing problem (doubtful since he had his hearing thoroughly checked at age 1) or a comprehension problem. This results in *me* repeating myself over and over.

To continue with an example from above:
Xander: "Why Daddy go to work?"
Mommy: "So we have money to rent our house and buy food and clothes and toys."
Xander: "What?" (or, even more annoying, "Huh?")
Mommy: "So we have money to rent our house and buy food and clothes and toys."
Xander: "Huh?"
Mommy: exasperated sigh. "Did you not hear me?"
Xander: "Huh?"

I'm ready to sigh just writing this.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Good plans gone bad


Xander's a pretty smart guy. He knew that he needed to get higher to reach the pumpkins full of candy on top of the fridge. He didn't expect to still be 3 feet away.

What I really like is the pained expression on his face:

As any good parent would do, when I saw him I immediately reached for the camera.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Sometimes I think Xander is on the Atkins diet. This kid loves meat and disdains carbs. Well, except for fry-fries and wheat fins (thins). I used to try to send him salami sandwiches for lunch and he would pick the salami off the bread and just eat the salami. So now I just tuck the salami into a tiny tupperware. This afternoon for lunch he had a drumstick. No potatoes.
* * *
Last week Xander came up to me. "I go to doctor."

"Why?" I asked. "Are you sick?"

"I coughing."

"I don't hear you coughing."

He then let out several very fake coughs.

I didn't take him to the doctor. Hypochondriac.
* * *
So, Xander is a bit like the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Sometimes when we're going to sleep, and I close my eyes, he'll say "Open your eyes, Mommy! I can't see you!"

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Back to school Part 2

Last night was Xander's preschool back-to-school night, which consisted of a chance to talk to his teachers, look at his work and leave some surprise messages in his journal.

The first page of his journal: some scribbles and the teacher's notation of what he told her it was: "The spider is squashing the bug." Fabulous.

Then his teacher was telling me about potty time. She said she always asks him if he wants to sit on the potty when she changes his diaper. His usual response? "When I'm older." I have no idea where he got the idea he wasn't old enough. Not from me.

It reminded me of a few months ago. I didn't realize I was doing it but apparently I was telling him a lot, "You're too small" or "you're too young" when he wanted to do something Jessica was doing. Then he started saying "I too small" and it was slightly heartbreaking, so I tried to stop doing it. In fact, there have been a few times when I've told Jessica she's too big or she's too old to do something and I make a big point of telling Xander the size/age thing works both ways.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Preschool

My "baby" started preschool today, the first day he could according to MA law, at 2 years, 9 months of age.

He did great!

I must admit, I was little worried. He still cried every time I dropped him off at daycare, though I suspect they were crocodile tears. Hari took him for an orientation session last Thursday, where they hung out for an hour or so and Xander was apparently kind of clingy.

When we got there, as we went up the stairs, he asked, "Why going to Jessie's school?" It's the same preschool we sent Jessica to for 2 years, so he certainly recognized the building. "It's your school now," I told him.

Once we got there, he was clingy. I sat with him for a little while. We played with some playdough, then took out a monkey puzzle. When it was Circle Time, I had to leave, because, as we told him, Circle Time isn't for parents. I handed him over, crying a little (him, not me), to one of the teachers. I hung out in the hall but didn't hear any crying, so I left.

I called a few hours later and they said he was doing really well. He hadn't cried and he was laughing and playing with the other kids. I got the full report when we picked him up in the afternoon. He did much better than any of us expected. At one point, he told one of the teachers, "This is my school now." He took his rest time without any trouble. He talked to lots of people, teachers and children. He far exceeded my expectations. And he had a huge smile on his face when Jessica and I got there to pick him up.

He's my big boy now!

Monday, September 7, 2009

A picture says a thousand words

We had a pretty disastrous trip to Six Flags today. How can a trip to an amusement park be disastrous? Well, it's supposed to be fun, right? However, a certain, very short, male person in our group did nothing but whine and complain and cry pretty much from the moment we got there to the moment we left.

Oh, except when I bought him a gigantic (billed as "small" yet still outrageously expensive) ice cream cone. It's hard to cry when you're drowning in ice cream.

The kids ate their cones on the way out. As I was walking alone, pushing the stroller, I saw a few people look at Xander and smile. I thought it was just because there was this little kid with this enormous* ice cream cone. At one point, we passed a woman who said, "He's so cute."

I thought, he probably does look pretty cute. I should take a picture. So I got out the camera. When I walked in front of him to take the picture, I found out why everyone was smiling at him:






Jessica fared a little better:




Oh, and for those of you that aren't on Facebook, here's a cute picture of the kids from yesterday. Can you guess what they were eating?



*Note to Nutan:

Look! I managed to use both "enormous" and "gigantic" without resorting to "ginormous." It can be done.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

This and that

Xander has reached what a friend once described as the "charming" stage of speech where he puts out a constant dialogue of what he's doing. Examples: "Mommy, I put my shoe on." "I picked flower." "I rode in kayak." "I helped Daddy's police car." Better late than never!
* * *
One of his new tricks is the way he responds whenever you ask him what color something is. First, he always says blue first, no matter what color the item is. Second, he always says, really fast, "I don't know, blue?" so that it comes out something like, "I dunno, blue?" Then when you tell him it's not blue, he'll respond with something like, "I dunno, geen?" I think this is just a game, because he can sort items into groups of color and he's correctly identified pink and orange, so I don't think it's random guessing.
* * *
There's been some disagreement between his parents about his hair length. Daddy would prefer than Xander have the same haircut he does--about a quarter inch. I like it long. Little boys can get away with long curly hair. Although we saw one boy this weekend, about 2 years old, practically with ringlets. I'm not sure I would go that far.

Anyway, I've been polling everyone I see, asking for their opinion. Most people agree it's okay, even adorable, for him to have it long, though some (cough, cough, Uncle Eric) won't do so in front of Hari. His two daycare teachers really like it long, so much so that they are trying to teach him to say to his daddy "No haircut."

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Just like sister

Even though Jessica is gone for the week at Nanamma's house, her legacy lives on. I just gave Xander some cinnamon chips, which we're trying for the first time. He gave me "thumbs up," just like Jessica does when she approves of the food I'm serving her. Although he said "thumbs up" but actually gave me "forefingers up."

Thursday, August 13, 2009

I can still see you, you know

Twice today when Xander needed a diaper change, I told him I was going to change him, and then went into the bathroom to get a clean diaper. Then, when I got back into the living room, he was on the couch, "hiding" behind one of the couch cushions. Perhaps he thought this was such a superb hiding spot the first time (even though I "found" him), he hid there again the second time. Different couch cushion the second time though.

* * *

I tried on a new dress today. Xander came up behind me, looked at me and said, "Pretty." I knelt down so we were closer in height, thanked him, gave him a hug, and he patted me on the back.

At two, he's already more considerate and sweet than many men.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Another one bites the dust

Xander's reached that stage of speech where he's just exploding with words, adding lots of vocabulary, expressing more complete thoughts in longer sentences, improving his pronunciation. It's really great.

But with that, goes the slow disappearance of the very cute mispronunciations. The most recent favorite of mine to drop off is "Jecca." Sister is now referred to as Jessie.

Everyone will be pleased to know he's still saying "No way!"

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Heart melts

Xander told me several times last night "I love you so much" (unprompted) and kissed me on the cheek. However, at first he was saying "I miss you so much" until I asked, "Do you mean 'I love you so much'?" and it turned out he did mean that.

Monday, July 13, 2009

I'm losing my leverage

Bedtime is always a trial in my house. We (and by "we" I mean "Jessica and Xander") got spoiled at bedtime while we were on vacation, staying in bed with Mommy every night. Last night I had promised they could stay in our bed because it was our first night back.

Well, Xander just wouldn't calm down and go to bed. I resorted to my usual threats, "if you don't lay down, you have to get out of bed, I'm going to put you on the floor." Nothing. Then, "if you don't go to sleep, I'm going to leave."

His response? "Leave." Then, more insistently, "Leave, Mommy!"

So, I left. I knew there was pretty much zero chance that this meant he was going to lay down and go to sleep.

And I was right.

Within minutes, he had gotten out of bed, walked to the door, opened it, and was looking for me. We went through several rounds of this, each one ending with me leaving and then him getting out of bed.

Finally, I decided to just go to sleep myself, figuring he would go to sleep too, eventually.

He got pretty mad at that. "Leave, Mommy!" he said. My two-year-old, trying to evict me from my own very comfy bed. It boggled my mind.

I can no longer use his alleged need for me as leverage to get him to go to sleep. Okay, the kid gloves are coming off. Tonight, I am not staying in bed with him at all. I just have to figure out a way to get him to stay in bed.

Monday, June 15, 2009

He makes me laugh

I've been kind of down today but little man is doing his best to cheer me up. First is his new expression "No way!" Then he took the little soft guitar from Build-A-Bear (meant for use by a 16" bear), put the strap around his neck so it hung just below his chin and proceeded to "strum" it while singing songs from Music Together. Finally, he asked for a tissue because he's got a bit of a runny nose. Why is this amusing? Because when I tell him to blow his nose, he sucks it in instead, all the while I'm saying "blow OUT, blow OUT."

Thanks, buddy.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Proud....and not so proud moments ; )

Xander pooped on the potty today! Any parent that has potty trained a child knows this is a big thing. It was completely unexpected too. He's been saying a lot lately that he wants to pee on the potty, and of course I completely encourage this. A lot of times he gets on there and no pee comes out but it's the effort that counts. Last night he said he wanted to, and I was busy doing something else and kind of doubted him, so I told him to go into the bathroom, take off his diaper and pee in the potty....and he did!

Today, he said he wanted to pee. So off we went. When he got off, there was poop (sorry for being graphic). I'm telling you, if I hadn't been afraid of ripping my abdominal muscles, I would have turned a cartwheel. I've frequently read that positive reinforcement when a child exhibits positive behaviour is much more effective than negative reinforcement when they do something you don't want them to. Poor Jessica, I didn't know about this when she was younger. So I praised the heck out of him and gave him a reese's peanut butter cup.

The other thing we did today? I bought him a doll. Not just a doll, a Barbie doll. Not just a Barbie doll, but a purple mermaid Barbie doll. Jessica has a couple and he's been feeling kind of sad that he doesn't, so I bought him one (this was even before the pooping on the potty). It kind of amuses me that my son wants a Barbie doll, so I've been hearing myself say "your doll" this and "your doll" that more than I would refer to any doll Jessica has. ("William wants a do-oll, William wants a do-oll").

Right now he's playing with motorcycles, so I doubt this will have any negative effect on his long term mental health.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

My current favorite mispronunciation

This one isn't exactly a mispronunciation, but it's cute anyway. Here is an example:

Mom: "Xander, say 'french fries.'"

Xander: "Fry fries."

Disclaimer: this is all theoretical and of course Xander knows nothing about what french fries actually are.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Potty training has begun!

Sort of. Twice this week, after a diaper change but before the new diaper was put on, I've asked Xander if he wants to sit on the potty and both times he peed. After it happened today, I put a pair of Thomas underwear on him and told him Thomas didn't want to be peed or pooped on. I've heard of success stories with similar tactics. It didn't work with him. After he wet himself about a half hour later, I stripped him completely and let him run around outside with nothing on. Then he decided to try on his sister's new boots. What a photo opportunity:



(Last time I tried to put a nude or semi-nude picture of my child on their blog, it got removed, so this has, obviously, been edited).

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Stinky man

Xander had his annual evaluation for the Early Intervention program last week. He qualified again for speech, but just barely, primarily because he was too shy to speak more than one word at once. I'm sure that if he'd spoken the way he really can speak, he wouldn't have qualified, but I think it's nice for him to get the services. It can't hurt, right?

Anyway, they evaluate everything, not just speech, including cognitive ability and motor skills. What I found highly amusing is that he was evaluated at the 15 month level for toileting skills because not only does he not show any interest in potty training, he will willingly sit in a dirty diaper without wanting to be changed. In fact, I reported to the woman evaluating him that he actually turns and runs when I suggest he needs a diaper change or when I come at him with wipes and diaper in hand.

I bring this up now because there is that oh-so-familiar stench wafting over to me from little stinky man.

What he doesn't realize is that his diaper days are numbered. My #1 goal this summer is POTTY TRAINING. I've been changing diapers for 5 1/2 years. I'm really ready to be done. I don't care what his stance is.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Huh. How about that?

Xander's napping has generally (knock on wood) been getting better. He--reluctantly--will go down for a nap most days (compared to his sister who fought it every day of her life), and for only the last month or so, actually sleeps 1.5-2 hours without waking up at all. Still, the initial going down part is still a struggle.

Today, I just didn't want to spend an hour begging him or forcing him to go to sleep. Late naps are just as bad as no nap. So, after about 15 minutes, I said, "Okay, if you don't want to nap today, you don't have to."

"No!" he said.

My hopes rose. "You want to take a nap?" He nodded, with a grumpy expression on his face.

Interesting, I thought. "Well, you have to lay down and be quiet if you want to nap." Shockingly, he obeyed.

He popped up a few times, and I repeated that a nap was optional, and soon enough, he was asleep.

Reverse psychology actually works. Who knew?

Friday, May 8, 2009

Guess what?

I know this may come as a startling revelation, but Xander likes trains! Specifically Thomas the Tank Engine.

Things I have bought in the last few months with Thomas' image*:
sneakers
jacket
books
blanket
knapsack
trains
pajamas
and, in a moment of insanity, underwear

I will also most likely be buying a Thomas bathing suit, when I come across one.

Train related things I have bought;
diaper covers (okay, that was more for me than him)
puzzle

And then there's the huge set of trains and tracks we have on long term loan from Kristin.

Gooooo trains!

*this doesn't even count all the Thomas stuff he got at Christmas, per my suggestion

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Xander is

2 years, 4 months and 9 days. Only 7 months and 22 days until he's out of his terrible twos. Until then, God help us all.

(conveniently ignoring the fact that most parents agree 3's are worse than 2's).

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I just don't get it

Why is it that little boys find it so much fun to take a toy car, run it along some surface with their hand and say "vroooooom"? Doesn't the fun wear off after, oh, a million times? (or, in my case, once?)

Saturday, April 11, 2009

A small child's revenge

To keep Xander busy and occupied while I wrote this post, I let him peel one of the Easter eggs we dyed yesterday. The result was that it looked a small blue egg bomb had gone off in his corner of the kitchen. I had it halfway cleaned up when I thought, I should have taken a picture. I'm somewhat obsessed with pictorially documenting the kids' childhood mishaps.

It's so easy to fool small children

Xander is on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich kick. All PB&J all the time. He'll happily--and insistently--eat it for 2 meals a day. The way he asks for it, since he can't say "peanut butter and jelly," is to walk over to the refrigerator, whine until I open the door, then point to the jars of peanut butter and jelly in the door. Lately, he's taken to pointing to Hari's jam, which is this expensive Trappist Monk manufactured blueberry jam. If I take out just the standard Welch's grape jelly, he'll grunt and continue to point at the Trappist jam.

At first I made him sandwiches with the Trappist jam. Then I remembered how easy it is to fool small children. Now, I take out both jars, the jam and the grape jelly, to placate him. Then, when he's not paying attention, I just make the sandwich with the easier-to-use (squeezable) and less expensive grape jelly. Everyone's happy that way!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

He's such a guy

He's only 2 but he thinks burping and farting are hysterical. That and propensity to like trains must be part of the same gene.

Mispronunciations
This morning we had just woken up. Well, the kids and I had. We decided to wake up Daddy. I told Xander to poke Daddy to wake him up. He crawled over and poked Daddy, then crawled back to me to report: "I poped. I poped." (Pope=poke)

Saturday, April 4, 2009

First 4 word sentence

"I love you too."

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Singing gibberish

Xander loves music. He loves to sing. He's currently singing one of the songs from his Music Together class. The problem is although he knows that melody, he can't really say the words to the song, so he just sings random syllables. It's like listening to someone singing in a foreign language. I'll try to get a recording of him singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in gibberish.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Hats!

Here is Xander, a man of many hats:




This one isolates just one shot per hat:



I love the collage option in Picasa!

Monday, March 23, 2009

We will not be seeing this

I just saw a commercial for a show I will never be buying tickets for: a live Thomas the Tank Engine show. I am not a big fan of the animated Thomas shows. Xander, of course, loves anything and everything that is Thomas. I think I would rather have bamboo under my fingernails then attend a live Thomas show. Anyone else want to take him? ; )

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Must.Have.Pizza

Xander loves pizza.

He gets excited when he sees a picture of pizza. We have a book on shapes and one of the examples for triangle is a piece of pizza.

His teacher from Early Intervention was over one day, around lunch time. Hari was making these sauceless onion and anchovy pizzas. He said something using the word pizza, and Xander jumped up, and ran from the living room where he was sitting with Alexis, straight into the kitchen. Alexis said she'd never seen someone move so fast upon hearing the word pizza.

He can't even say it properly: "peee, peeee" he says.

Mommy knows what he means.

"I do, I do!"

Xander is two. That really says it all. Yes, we are in the terrible twos.

His lately thing is independence. He wants to do *everything* himself, whether or not he's actually capable of doing it. And I'm all for him trying to do things. But it always seems like the times when he's insisting on putting his shoes on by himself are the times we're running most late. And don't even get me started on him trying to buckle his carseat straps. The worst thing is the frustration. He gets mad if I try to help him and he gets mad if he can't do it. Poor little guy.

He also loves to do everything his sister does. It's so cute. For example, they were taking a bath the other night. They each have this little plastic wind-up dolphins. Jessica, as usual, was cleaning hers because it had something it needed to do tomorrow and needed to be clean. Xander then tried to grab hold of a piece of soap and wash his dolphin.

Now, holding a piece of wet soap can be tricky for an adult; it's nearly impossible for a 2 year old. He got mad because he kept dropping it and he got mad when I tried to help him. Finally, I came up with a solution: they were also playing with my bath pillow, which has a terrycloth surface. I showed him how to put the soap on the pillow, the rough surface held the soap in place and he rubbed his dolphin up against the soap. Problem solved.

Now I just need to figure out how to teach him to fasten his carseat buckle.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

From the knees down

There's a classic Calvin and Hobbes cartoon of Calvin at the zoo, grabbing hold of some woman's legs and being astonished when it's not his mother because all mom's look the same from the knees down.

I had first-hand experience with this when we went to the Science Museum a couple of weeks ago. We were with Kristin and her boys. At one point Xander didn't see me and ran over and grabbed hold of Kristin's legs. At first, I thought since he couldn't find me, he figured since he knew her, she was a good substitute.

The expression on his face when he looked up and realized she wasn't me was priceless. Such astonishment!

10 minutes later he did again with a complete stranger.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Could he be ready?

I've been thinking for a while that Xander is almost ready to be potty trained. Today, after he got home from his grandparents' house, he complained he was poopy. "Do you want me to change your diaper?" I asked. He nodded. I went and got wipes and a clean diaper. He started to run, which is what he usually does when I want to change his diaper. But he didn't run away; instead he ran into the living room, laid down on his back and lifted up his legs, assuming diaper-changing position. That's much easier than chasing him around.

Now I have to work on the screaming on the potty issue we've had in the past....

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Sheer laziness

If you want to see some cute pictures of Xander, including his new haircut, follow this link to Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010924&id=1595412041&l=254ce

I am feeling too lazy to upload the pictures twice.

If it doesn't work, feel free to email me and complain. Or if it does work and you want to email me and complain about something else, that's okay. Go for it.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

What I love having a boy after a girl

Watching him wear pearls while pushing his toy truck.

Although he may be psychic because as soon as I typed that, he took off the pearls. Even better, he put them away in the exact right place.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sweet dreams

I had a very nice bedtime last night. We were all laying down (that is to say, Jessica, Xander and I) and Jessica, as she always does, said, "I love you, Mom." Then a little voiced piped up "I too!" I'm pretty sure he meant "I love you, too."
* * *
Newest verbal acquisition
"Maa cah."
At first I thought this meant "my car." What it actually meant was "Mario Kart." He found a toy with Mario on it and when I saw the picture of Mario, I realized when he meant.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Smarter than the average husband

Or maybe just less lazy.

I've been struggling with a new bad habit by Hari lately, in that he refuses/forgets to throw away his used tissues, and they pile up on the kitchen counter or table.

But his boy is so smart. He likes to put things in the garbage as a general rule, even though we keep the garbage can up high so he can't get into it. He can, however, stand on his tip-toes and drop something in.

The other day he had a runny nose and asked for a tissue (that is to say, he said "nose, nose"). I gave him a tissue. He wiped his nose. He put the used tissue in the garbage.

The only problem was his technique in wiping his nose, which resulted in quite a messy little face. But I can deal with that.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Preview

I'm currently being subjected to a preview of Xander in teenager mode. He's got his Music Together CD and every song that comes on he turns LOUDER and LOUDER. I suppose it's better than a typical kids CD. Although not at 50, which is the highest level the volume goes to. In typical 2 year old fashion he threw a hissy fit when I tried to turn it down.

On the plus side, he's singing and dancing too, which is almost worth the hearing damage I'm incurring.
* * *
Xander has reached a challenging stage. He's now tall enough to reach the edge of the kitchen counter and his little fingers are always reaching up to grab whatever he can. While I instinctively just move things towards the center of the counter, he's also discovered the magic of step stools. He's all over moving a stool over to the counter to help him reach more stuff.

Monday, February 2, 2009

My boy is brilliant!

I took Xander to his Music Together class today. There's a part during every class where the kids can pick percussion instruments and use them while listening to a song. I noticed that Xander was sort of beating in time to the music, sometimes with the beat, sometimes not. And it wasn't just me that noticed. The teacher singled him out for being able to kind of keep time. And he's one of the youngest in the class! I'm sure in no time he'll be playing violin and piano. = )

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Mommy vs. Daddy

Lately Xander has been in a Daddy mood. "Daddy" "Daddy" "Daddy" is all I hear all day long. Although it's a bit of a nice break from "Mommy" all the time, it does make me feel a little sad.

Well, tonight I decided to "let" Hari put the kids to bed. He's been at it for about 5 minutes and Xander is sobbing "Mommy, Mommy." I guess he still needs Mommy a little bit, after all.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Potty training opportunity?

I know everyone wants to hear about Xander's potty training. In fact, I'm sure it's been keeping some of you up nights, wondering what's going on with that. You're probably eagerly anticipating the first time in over 5 years that I don't have to change diapers.

Or not.

Anyway, for about the upteenth time this month, I changed Xander's diaper and he immediately pooped in his clean diaper. At first, I was annoyed. But then I got to thinking, maybe instead of putting on a new diaper, I should plop him on his potty and see if he'll go there instead. However, considering that the last time I put him on his potty sans diaper, he cried like a baby, so that may not work.

Worth a shot, though.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Monkey

Xander wants to do everything Jessica does. For example, Jessica says "ow!" every time I comb her hair. Yesterday I was combing her hair, after dousing it with detangler spray. Xander came over and pointed at the detangler spray, which he frequently does. So I sprayed some on his head. Then he wanted me to brush his hair. So I did. Then, while I was brushing it, he started saying "Ow, ow!" Now, he's done this before, but I thought I was actually hurting him. He's got such little hair (compared to Jessica) and it's fine that I knew it wasn't tangled and that I wasn't hurting him. Then I realized he was saying "ow" because that's what Jessica does.

On a related note, he's developed this somewhat irritating habit of saying "owie" when he's upset. I think he realizes he gets more attention if he says that because we think he might be hurt. But it's reached the point of crying wolf. Now when he says ow, I don't believe that he's hurt, even if he is.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Terrible twos

I'm not really enjoying the terrible twos. Xander moved into them just before he turned two. It's a little new to me because Jessica didn't really have terrible twos. This is not selective memory; I remember thinking when she turned three, oh, the terrible twos weren't that terrible. Her terrible threes, however, were truly awful.

One of his "fun" new habits is this extreme independence. He doesn't want help with anything, like peeling the cover off a lollypop (which, of course, are eaten extremely seldomly in our house. Not.). He screams if you try to help him and then he screams because he can't get it off. There's no winning with him.

Then there's his language. I'm the typical Mommy interpreter, which is also new to me. Either because Jessica spoke earlier and more clearly or because I worked full-time when she was 2 so I didn't have the same exposure to her early language. He's talking a lot more these days, only even the Mommy interpreter can't understand a lot of it. And that frustrates us both to no end. I just want to be able to help him and he just wants to scream.

In summary--a lot of screaming.

Only 349 more days till he turns 3. I'm sure because his twos are terrible he'll let up a little when he turns 3, right? (If this is not true, I don't want to know about it).