Alexander's Adventures

New address

2010-12-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

I've decided to combine the kids' blogs into one blog. It's easier for me and I've been finding more stories about things they both do that I'm never sure how to separate into different blog entries. So from now on check out here:

http://monkeybusinessjanda.blogspot.com/

Skating by on technicalities

2010-12-22T08:09:00.003-05:00

Xander has been less than enthusiastic about going to preschool the last couple of weeks. His schedule has been inconsistent, which makes it harder for him. Today even the lure of bringing in birthday cupcakes and seeing his pal Joseph couldn't make him agree to wear his bathing suit. Since he goes to preschool at the Y, one of the perks is swim lessons once a week. He prefers the shark bathing suit but I couldn't find it so I tried to pass off his Thomas bathing suit.

No go.

I decided not to fight it, and that I would pack the bathing suit and let his teacher figure it out. "I won't put your bathing suit on," I told him in all technical honesty.

When I went to pack the Thomas bathing suit I found his shark bathing suit already in the backpack he uses for swim lesson. I had put it there last week before his puke-a-thon kept him home on swim lesson day.

Then Xander said, "And don't pack that bathing suit!" referring to the Thomas bathing suit.

"I won't" I said, in all technical honesty.

Then I shoved his small swim lesson backpack into his bigger backpack so he wouldn't see it when we were walking out to the car.

Today's the last day of school before he's off for the next 12 days. I'll let his teacher bear the brunt of his bad temper. Merry Christmas, Miss Dara!
* * *
update: He ended up not swimming because his teacher for some reason didn't see his swim knapsack and I guess since he wasn't wearing his swimsuit, she figured he wasn't going to swim.

I found this out by asking him if he had gone swimming. "No," he said in a grumpy voice, I guess merely at the idea of swim lessons. "You didn't pack my bathing suit."

"Yes, I did," I told him. "Your teacher didn't see it?"

He very quickly picked up on my small betrayal: "I told you not to pack it!"

I was hoping he wouldn't remember that.

Stomach troubles

2010-12-19T08:40:00.003-05:00

There's a grocery store I really like to go to because the prices are much cheaper than almost anywhere else. They recently opened a new store and, nerd that I am, I was actually excited about it and looking forward to going to the new store.

I took Xander there last Tuesday, the 3rd day the store was open for business. We got through the dairy and deli areas just fine. We were about to head into the cookie/cracker aisle when he gave a big belch. We both laughed for a nanosecond and then he threw up all over the store's nice new shiny clean floor. And himself. I was able to dodge the bullet, thank goodness.

So, I took him home, changed him. He fell asleep about 20 minutes before I had to go pick up Jessica from school. I tried unsuccessfully to transfer him to his carseat without without waking him up. I strapped him in. In the approximately 6 seconds it took to close his door, open my door and sit down, he threw up again, all over his coat and carseat. I wiped him down as best as I could but I had to go get Jessica. Poor little guy was so upset.

Fortunately those were the only 2 vomit incidents. I did have to take his carseat down into its primary components in order to get the fabric part off to wash it.

I gave him some pedialyte to get some liquids into him. I don't know how I phrased it when I gave it to him, probably something like, "It's good to drink when your tummy hurts." Somehow, in his mind, that got translated to "It makes my tummy feel better."

For the last 5 days, he's been begging for the pedialyte, saying, "My tummy hurts, can I have some of that drink?" We're about done with the second bottle and then I'm cutting him off. He's definitely all better now.

Just like at Child Watch....

2010-12-13T14:19:00.002-05:00

There was a notice at the YMCA a month or so ago that they were looking for gently used toy donations. I was looking to get rid of some hardly used toys to make room for the birthday/Christmas loot. Now, what I thought I was doing was donating toys that were then going to be resold for fund raising for the child watch room (the daycare for people that are working out).

As it turned out, the toys I donated went directly into the child watch room. So far Jessica, usually a supersleuth when it comes to her toys, has not yet noticed or commented that her Little People Castle in now in the child watch room.

The boy, though, he's pretty suspicious. Two of the toys I gave were duplicate old Hess trucks with the same part broken (the tailgate/bumper piece). Unfortunately, the broken off piece remained in our house.

Xander found one of those pieces the other day and has been pestering me repeatedly to find his "big Jeeps" (which is what the Hess trucks look like) that are "like the ones at Child Watch."

I'm pleading the 5th.....

Next time we'll skip the trip

2010-12-09T17:50:00.002-05:00

I took the kids to the aquarium the day before Thanksgiving. Jessica has always loved the aquariu, since she was even younger than Xander is now. Xander, however, spent much of the time complaining and wanting to go home. Because of that we stayed less time than I thought we would.

Today, we stopped at Petsmart to buy some cat food. Xander loved looking at the fish. I told him next time, we'd skip going to the aquarium and I'd just take him to a pet store instead. Sheesh.

Good and bad days

2010-12-06T08:55:00.002-05:00

There are good days and there are bad days when it comes to preschool drop-off. Good is when he reluctantly lets go, does a tiny bit of fake crying but when I reach the door and turn to check, he's okay.

Bad is like today. He had a killer grip on my coat, I passed him off to one of the teachers, could hear him crying from down the hall. So I snuck back to listen to see if the crying stopped. Not only hadn't it stopped but when I peeked back in, he saw me and it looked like a new wave of crying was about to start. That's when I beat it out of there, to stop making things harder for his teacher.

At least I feel partially cheered up by the fact that his school pictures are awesome! The best of any of the kids' so far.

Reading. Sort of.

2010-12-02T11:17:00.003-05:00

Xander is now pre-reading. He either looks at the pages and makes up what he thinks is going on or he has the words memorized and he turns the pages at appropriate places. It's really cute. We've been reading 2 different car series and we just got home from the library with some more books from them. Since I hadn't read the books to him yet, he had to make up what he thought it said.

Then he informed me, "You can't read it because it has words that only little kids can read."

To go along with his reading skills, he came up with a new phrase: "Once uton a pime." Love it!

"I don't like Star Wars"

2010-11-21T07:43:00.002-05:00

Really? Could this really be my child?

We introduced Xander to Star Wars on Friday. The original trilogy, first movie. Jess had already seen some of one of the movies, so it wasn't completely unfamiliar to her.

Turned out both kids were scared of Darth Vader. Not unexpected. What was completely unexpected was that Xander was afraid of C3P0. He was okay with R2D2 but scared of C3P0. How is that even possible? The most cowardly droid in the whole series and he was scared of him.

And then came the statement, "I don't like Star Wars."

I've done something terribly wrong. ; )

A cup of joe

2010-11-14T23:37:00.002-05:00

Xander came home from church today and had gotten a bit dozy in the car. He lay down in the hall for a minute, pretending to sleep. Then he told me how tired he was.

"Can't I have something so I don't feel so tired, like coffee?" he said.

Ummm....no? The last thing a 3 year old needs is coffee. Maybe when he's 4.

The Sound of Silence

2010-11-03T18:35:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I dropped Xander off at Kidstop at the Y (daycare while I work out) by himself (instead of with Jessica). He didn't cry at all when I left.

The silence was the most beautiful sound I've heard in a long time.

Voting and treats

2010-11-02T18:54:00.002-04:00

I took the kids to vote with me tonight. I had almost forgotten and we were at the Y so I asked them if they wanted to go with me. After a lengthy discussion, we agreed we would go.

"Boat!" is what Xander said. Thinking he was just mispronouncing it, I said, "Yes, let's boat."

So we went and voted. As I was waiting to check out, Xander asked, "Are we going to go on the boat now?"

I can't help but feel I misled him.

* * *

Xander didn't do very well at Halloween. Jessica had been invited to a friend's house for a quick pizza dinner and then to trick or treat in the neighborhood. I tagged along with Xander because she didn't want to go out without me.

Her friend's older brother had also invited some friends. I didn't realize one of them was wearing a scary mask and pushing his face into Xander's face until he was already scared. We got to go to exactly one house and he wanted to go home. Fortunately by then Jessica was having enough fun where she didn't care if we went home. Good big sister that she is, she shared her bountiful treats with Xander when she got home.

After lunch today, Xander was allowed one piece of candy. He agonized over this decision. He kept pulling pieces of candy out, examining them, rejecting them. At one point he took out four pieces and did "meenie meenie miney mo."

I think he put more time into deciding which piece of candy to have than most people did on the election today.

He doesn't miss a trick!

2010-10-27T12:28:00.002-04:00

I have a bin storage system for the kids' toys. On the front of each bin, I attached a picture of several of whatever item goes in it. This started when Jessica couldn't read and Xander can't read yet, so we still need the pictures.

The picture on the car bin was taken a couple of years ago. It has a Fisher Price police car and Parents brand truck. We handed down the Parents truck a while ago, since it's more of a toddler toy. The Fisher Price car I just put into storage a few days ago. Really. He's got a playmobil police car that he likes much better and hardly ever plays with the Fisher Price one.

This morning, he came over to me, holding the picture he'd torn off the car bin: "I don't have this car," he said. "Where is this car?"

So it took him maybe 2 days to discover a toy he never plays with was missing.

Breathing

2010-10-24T09:47:00.003-04:00

When Jessica was 3 and 4, and she got really upset from crying, I would tell her to stop crying and calm down. She would say she couldn't. So we went through this routine where I would tell her I'd breathe with her on the count of 3: "1, 2, 3, breathe!" and we would both suck in deep breaths. After repeating this a few times, she was usually calmer.

I don't remember doing this recently, but I must have because Xander picked up on it. He'll be crying a little, sometimes even fake crying, nothing like Jessica had done when I helped her breathe. Even though he's not crying that hard, he'll say, "I need someone to help me breathe!"

So I go through the routine with him and after one try, he's calmed down from his not-so-agitated state.

A picture says a thousand words

2010-10-01T15:27:00.002-04:00

To make a long story short: long cast (mid-thigh to foot) for 6 weeks. Non weight bearing. Then hopefully a short walking cast for 4 weeks. He can't walk but thankfully he can crawl. Should he choose to, that is.

He either fell off the top bunk or slipped getting onto the ladder. I was right there but I had my back turned. He's been climbing up and down that ladder for 2 years.

My poor little man.

Rotten Egg

2010-09-25T09:01:00.002-04:00

Xander likes to play "Last one is a rotten egg!" Only he doesn't quite do it right. Usually it's when we're going out to the car. He'll call out, "Last one there is a rotten egg!" Then when he gets there first, he says, "I'm a rotten e-egg, I'm a rotten e-egg." Nevermind that he's not the last one there and that being a rotten egg is something you *don't* want to be.

That was easy

2010-09-08T17:49:00.002-04:00

We've been struggling lately with Xander's reluctance to leave the house with Hari when I'm staying home. He cries "Mommy! Mommy." It's not a fun situation. Hari gets frustrated, I get stressed, and obviously Xander gets upset.

This morning Hari took the kids to daycare/school. Xander started crying for me. Then Hari suggested both kids get their umbrellas because it was raining. Xander thought this was the best idea ever. Jessica was outside putting her shoes on while I helped him get his umbrella.

"Dad! Don't leave without me!" he cried, without a second thought of Mommy. He ran outside to join Daddy and Jessica.

Now I'm wondering if I can send him with an umbrella every time he goes out with Hari, regardless of the weather.

Fluency

2010-08-31T08:34:00.003-04:00

It's amazing how kids learning to talk pick up colloquialisms. When we were on vacation, Xander was explaining something to me and after he was done, he said, "Get it, Mom? Get it?" The word "duh" just hung in the air, waiting to be said, but he didn't say it.

However, he still needs to work on his grammar and pronunciation.
"ambliance" = ambulance
"I amn't" = "I'm not"

Lullabyes and bedtime

2010-08-16T18:37:00.002-04:00

Xander's interpretation of "Bah Bah Black Sheep."

"Bah bah black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, 3 bags full
One for the master, one for the James,
One for the little boy who lives down the lane."

(instead of "one for the master, one for the dame")

* * *

At bedtime, we've gotten into the habit of using glowsticks for a little while after the lights go out. Xander is so sweet about it. I'll be laying down next to him, and he'll hand me the glowstick and say, "This is for us, Mommy." Every night.

Double speak

2010-08-03T09:44:00.002-04:00

Xander has always mispoken by doubling up words ("fry fries" for french fries, for example). His latest examples are going to "Grandma and Grandma's" house (instead of Grandma and Grandpa) and "Kemper and Kemper" for our friends' sons, Kemper and Rowan.

He's been alluding to a friend lately named "Weirdo." I don't know if this is the beginning of an imaginary friend. It would be pretty appropriate for him to have an imaginary friend named Weirdo, though.

He also has been using the following phrases with extreme frequency:
"Is that cool?"
"Is that weird?"
"Is that crazy?"

Yes, yes it is.

How'd that happen?

2010-07-25T08:50:00.002-04:00

I have not let Xander chew gum yet. Or at least I hadn't till about a week ago. This proved to be a wise decision.

The kids came home from a friend's house with gum. Jessica was chewing hers but Hari had told Xander he needed to ask me if it was okay. I was reluctant to say yes but he begged so hard and since I was in the middle of packing, I was susceptible to such tactics. I told him yes, but repeated about 10 times "DO NOT SWALLOW. Do you understand?" He nodded vigorously and preceded to stuff 2 pieces of gum into his small mouth.

I went upstairs for about 10 minutes to pack some stuff up there. When I came home I noticed a distinct lack of chewing on his part.

"Where's your gum?" I asked.

He looked down and then pointed to his stomach.

"Did you swallow it?" I know, stupid question.

He shook his head solemnly.

"Then how did it get there?"

He shrugged, as if it was a complete mystery.

He is now back to no-gum status.

* * *

Antonyms

Xander has picked up on Jessica's annoying habit of needing accompaniment to the bathroom.

"I have to pee," he'll say. "Come on."

Then I'll whine about how I don't want to go and can't he go by himself and eventually I'll get up and go with him because it's way better then changing diapers.

Then recently he announced he had to pee. "I need privacy," he said. For a nanosecond, my heart leaped with joy.

Then he said, "Oops, I meant company."

Privacy, company, they're almost the same, right?

Daddy daycare

2010-07-14T17:07:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong as a Mommy. Hari has an infinitely easier time watching the kids than I do. For example, there is far less whining involved when I'm not there, particularly on the boy's part.

Today, I took the van to the dealer to get fixed and Hari watched the kids. I came home and one of the first I noticed is no one running to me saying "Mommy! Mommm--mmmmeeeee."

"Where's Xander?" I asked.

"I dunno."

That actually worried me at first. What could have happened to him that he was so quiet?

Hari got up off the couch and spotted Xander, fast asleep on the stair landing. He'd just wandered over there and fallen asleep.

I'm not sure what bothers me more, the ease with which he fell asleep in Hari's presence or the fact that Hari hadn't even noticed he'd fallen asleep.

At the present time we're just stepping over him if we need to go up or down the stairs.

Uninhibited

2010-07-14T08:45:00.002-04:00

Every morning it's the same thing. I don't bother to take off Xander's diaper (no, he's not night trained yet; he could not be night trained until he's 8 as long as he's day trained) right away when he gets up. Inevitably, after a while, he says, "Mom! I have to pee!" Then, again inevitably, 10 seconds later he says, "Never mind. I'm peeing now."

aside: is the opposite of inhibited uninhibited or hibited? ; )

Splash & Meow

2010-07-03T07:53:00.005-04:00

Xander has been changing a lot lately. For example, his attitude toward swimming and the beach. Remember, this is the kid that had a 9 month bath strike. When he was 20 months old, we went to the beach for a week. Which meant, I went to the beach once or twice and he screamed so much that I stayed in the house with him the rest of the time.

He's now a completely different kid. Hari took him and Jessica to a few nearby ponds and told me how much Xander now likes the beach. But it wasn't until earlier this week that I realized how much he likes it. We went to Indian Lake after camp. I put his bathing suit on and he started walking into the water. He didn't need any encouragement to go right in.

Gradually he went deeper and deeper (I wasn't wearing a bathing suit, so I hovered near the shore). When he got in up to his armpits, I told him that was far enough. I think he would have gone in deeper if I had let him. I'm looking forward to our next beach vacation in a few weeks.

* * *

Meow
One of Xander's favorite things to do recently is to pretend he's a cat. So I used this to my advantage this morning. His nails have gotten really long but he never lets me cut them. So I told him this morning, "Kitty, I'm going to trim your claws now." Worked like a charm.

Definitions

2010-06-22T19:42:00.002-04:00

Xander has been a terribly picky eater lately. It's been really frustrating. We have to feed him bit by bit and he's apt to spit out anything he doesn't like the taste of.

Tonight I was feeding him just the chicken from our chicken stir-fry. We agreed if he ate the chicken, he could then have a bowl of cereal. Even that was a struggle. At one point he said he was full.

Automatically, I replied, "Well, if you're full, I guess you don't have any room for cereal."

He quickly said, "There's two 'full's.'" Then he held up one finger, a second, one finger, a second. "Two fulls. Two fulls." He said it so much "full" turned into "flull."

Hari and I were both laughing. I got a couple of more pieces of chicken into him and then gave him his cereal.

Pictures

2010-06-20T20:17:00.002-04:00

For those of you not on Facebook....

The kicker is the huge smile on his face in these pictures. He's really going to resent me when he's older.

This and that

2010-06-15T21:33:00.003-04:00

Xander has this charming habit when we go grocery shopping. When we're near the meat, and he spots the ground beef (or ground turkey or ground chicken) he says, "Don't buy the worms! Don't buy the worms!"

Today I bought the worms.

* * *

Poor little guy stubbed his toe on a stool that was, inexplicably, in the middle of the floor. He was crying and I said that I was sorry he got hurt. "It's not your fault," he said. "It's its fault." And he pointed to the stool.

Technology

2010-05-21T07:46:00.002-04:00

Xander likes to walk around carrying a compass (pink, of course) and call it his GPS. I guess it's sort of the earliest kind of GPS.

What's on the menu

2010-05-09T10:11:00.003-04:00

Jessica and Xander are pretending they're running a restaurant. Xander asked me if I wanted iced tea or hot chocolate.

I threw him for a loop when I answered, "iced coffee."

Pause. "Iced tea or hot chocolate?"

"Iced coffee."

Another pause. "Do you want hot chocolate?"

Sigh. "Yes, please."

Then Jessica, in a stage whisper, said to him, "Put some ice in it."

"Huh?"

"Put some ice in it."

"Huh?"

"Put some ice in it."

"Mice?"

I'm not sure what I ended up getting.

Compassion

2010-05-02T11:50:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Jessica managed to bang her shoulder and upper arm into the edge of the kitchen counter as she was rounding the corner. It really hurt and she was really upset, just wanted Mommy to hold her.

Xander, in a stellar display of compassion for his injured sister, watched her cuddling with me and said accusingly "You almost pushed me down."

Is that an echo I hear?

2010-04-29T18:53:00.003-04:00

Xander loves to imitate his big sister, what she says, what she does. Well, earlier tonight, Hari wanted the kids to try a garlicky dish he'd make. He asked Jessica to smell it and tell him what she thought.

"Ew, yuck," she said.

Hari then tried to get Xander to smell it but he said "Ew, yuck" before he even got a chance to smell it.

Hari knew Xander was just copying what Jessica was saying. So he told Jessica to smell it and say, "Really great!"

She did.

Without missing a beat (and still without smelling the food), Xander echoed, "Really great."

Perspiration

2010-04-24T14:44:00.003-04:00

Jessica just drew a picture for Xander and ripped it out of the notebook. He then went on to rip off all the ragged parts of the edge.

"Look I ripped off the page," he said.

"Yes, " I said. "You ripped off the perforation."

"I ripped off the perspiration," he replied.

Win-win

2010-04-19T10:28:00.002-04:00

Jessica and Xander were just playing this game Kerplunk. You put a bunch of sticks in the middle of this cylinder, pile marbles on top and try to put out the sticks one by one and dislodge as few marbles as possible.

I was upstairs when the stick-pulling-out occurred, but I would hear a crash of marbles and then Xander's delighted shrieks. When it was over, Xander was all excited: "Mom I got a lot of marbles!" Jessica was similarly excited: "Xander got a lot of marbles!" In their eyes, they both won.

* * *

Memory lane
This is how the mind of a preschooler works:
Last Saturday evening, Hari and Jessica were returning from the Daddy-daughter dance. They ran into our neighbor, Jim. Jim mentioned that he had seen a fox running up in our yard.

They came into the house. They told me and Xander that Jim had told them that there was a fox in the yard.

A few days later, Xander said, "Remember when we saw a fox in the yard?"

Hallucinations

2010-04-17T07:24:00.003-04:00

Xander started running a fever yesterday. Apparently it got worse over the night. I discovered this when, at 3 am, he started shrieking "Spiders! Spiders on your head!" Being, as one generally is at 3 am, mostly asleep, I started running my hand over my head. No spiders. He just kept screaming. I thought maybe it was night terrors, not that he's ever had them before. I turned the light on, thinking that if it was well lit, he would see there were no spiders.

No. He just kept screaming, looking around at the spiders only he could see. Predictably, all this shrieking woke Jessica up. She started crying. Then Xander said he wanted to go downstairs. I told Jessica to go sleep with Daddy. She didn't want to go. I walked her down to our room. Then Xander changed his mind and said he wanted to sleep with Daddy. I thought that was a much better idea than going downstairs, so we all piled into the big bed.

He was still going on about spiders and added shadows to the mix. He lay on top of me, poor little hot body, seeming to fall asleep but every few minutes saying "Shadowy!" or speaking in tongues. Jessica and Daddy went back to sleep immediately. After a while, Xander drifted off. Finally poor Mommy got back to sleep.

This morning, his fever is down and he's lucid, thank goodness!

Good bye curls

2010-04-11T15:42:00.002-04:00

(click on picture to see it bigger)

Big Boy

2010-04-11T10:58:00.002-04:00

Xander's all about being a big boy now and being independent, which we think is great. There are still a couple of sticking points, though.

For example, he still wants to sit in the clip-on chair at the table even though he's kind of too big for it. So, I'm using his desire to be a big boy to try to coax him out of it.

"Xander, do you want to sit on the big boy stool or in your baby chair?" So far, it's a draw but I'll keep trying.

Conversation from yesterday

2010-04-10T08:07:00.001-04:00

We were driving home from the Y after a mad dash to the car through the pouring rain.

Xander: (whining) Take my pants off!!! (They were wet)

Mom: Not while we're driving. Why don't you scream instead?

Xander: AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Mom: (without missing a beat) Did that help?

Xander: No!

Eh. It was worth a try.

Meap!

2010-04-04T09:42:00.004-04:00

Xander's new favorite word is meap. I'm still trying to figure out what he means by it. The word "meep" was banned in a Massachusetts high school. It's also the name of character in Phineas and Ferb, which is where I adopted the spelling from.

He uses it when he's mad, so I'm starting to suspect it's some sort of preschooler curse word. Hopefully some day he will explain it to me.

* * *

We had a lot of rain last week. However, on Thursday, the sun came back out. On Friday evening, we went to the Y for Jessica's art class. Xander insisted on bringing and using his umbrella. Several people laughed when they saw him. Now, if he had been an adult, particularly an older one, carrying that umbrella in the middle of sunshine, people would have thought he was crazy. But being 3, everyone knew that that's just the type of thing a 3 year old does. No questions asked.

* * *

Xander loves to imitate other people. Most often it's Jessica. Last week, I hurt my back and was hobbling around. We were walking from the car to his school and I turned around and saw him hobbling in the same exact way I was hobbling.

Helpful comment

2010-03-20T18:18:00.003-04:00

I made a last-minute throw-together kind of dinner tonight that included boxed macaroni and cheese. In a display of stupendous ineptitude, I knocked over the open box of macaroni and spilled every last one on the floor. The kids were nice enough to help clean it up. After I put some other pasta on to boil, I took out a bag of frozen corn.

Xander looked at me holding it and asked, "Are you going to spill that too?"

20 (thousand) questions

2010-03-19T12:19:00.002-04:00

Xander has been talking up a storm lately. Run on sentences, run on paragraphs and oh, the questions. Well, we were driving in the van today and he was asking questions a mile a minute. I asked him to just be quiet and not ask me questions for a few minutes because I needed the quiet.

"Why?" he immediately responded.

Goodbye and Hello

2010-03-11T13:30:00.003-05:00

Although I get frustrated with Xander's clinginess, particularly at drop-off time at school or the gym, it's more than made up for by the reaction I get when I pick him up.

When I pick him up from school, he gets up or stops whatever he's doing and runs toward me as fast as his little legs can carry him. I kneel down and prepare for a full-on assault hug.

When I pick him up from the gym daycare, where he's behind a half door, he'll look up, see me, and since he's usually done some coloring, he makes a beeline for the table, grabs his paper, and runs over to half door to be let out.

If only I could remind him of how happy he is when I pick him up when he's sobbing as I drop him off.

* * *

Xander's teacher had a great trick this morning. She saw him clinging to me, and came over.

"Now remember," she said to him. "We have one rule here: NO SMILING."

Of course he burst into a big smile at that.

Xander-isms

2010-02-26T13:57:00.003-05:00

Xander likes to use his name in everything. Earlier today he was made "Xander angels" instead of snow angels.

A habit he's picked up from his sister is saying "pretend we're cats (or dogs or iguanas or gerbils, etc) and you're the mommy cat and daddy is the daddy cat." Where Jessica usually says "and I'm the big sister cat," he'll say, "I'm the Xander cat."

* * *

At bedtime I went downstairs to find something without with Jessica could not live, a frequent occurrence in our house, and he insisted on following me. He found his sippy cup of milk, which I had forgotten to put it away. I took it from him and went to put it in the fridge. He immediately started screaming and wrapped his little hand around the door so I couldn't close it. I removed his hand so I could close it and he started crying about some imaginary injury.

Then we went back upstairs and he insisted he needed a band-aid "for when you closed the refrigerator on my hand." I took another look but there was still no visible injury. In the interest of world peace, I gave him a band-aid anyway.

Now, Jessica has been trying valiantly to stop biting her nails and chewing on her fingers. I bought her "chewlery" which is a necklace/bracelet set that is okay for kids to put in their mouths.

After I gave him his band-aid, he started going on about how he needed chewlery.

"But you don't bite your nails," I said. I have to cut his nails frequently because they grow so quickly and so long.

"Yes I do" he whined.

"Show me," I said.

He then just stuck a finger into his mouth, up to the first joint. He clearly didn't even know how to chew on his fingernails.

Jessica & I just laughed. He didn't get the chewlery.

About last night

2010-02-22T11:14:00.003-05:00

Xander's new thing is to refer to every event that ever occurred in his life as happening "last night."

For example, last night (*my* last night, not his) I was putting him to bed. Our conversation went something like this:

Xander: Remember last night when Jessie got a smushmellow?

Mommy: No.

Xander: Remember, when Daddy came to get Jessie and we went home and I didn't get one?

Mommy thought long and hard and then remembered what he was talking about. We went to our town's winter carnival on February 5, yes, February 5th. They were toasting marshmellows over a fire pit. I made one for Jessie, then asked Xander if he wanted one. He said no. I had taken the kids there and Hari joined us later. By the time he got there, Xander and I were both very cold and wanted to go home, so we did and Jessica and Daddy stayed.

Mommy: You mean at the winter carnival?

Xander: Yeah.

Mommy: That was weeks ago. You said you didn't want one.

Xander: Let's go get one.

Mommy: It's not there any more.

Xander: (cries loudly and longly).

Anyway, at least 3 or 4 times a day he references something that happened "last night" but actually happened days or weeks ago. I really have no idea why.

"d"

2010-02-20T08:42:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned on Jessica's blog, she has been speaking in letters lately. Well, baby brother has picked up the habit. After every meal, not just dinner, he asks for "d" (dessert). Just a minute ago, he heard Jessica asking for a drink ("d") and chimed in, hoping to get some dessert at 9:00 in the morning. Needless to say, he was "d" (denied).

More Vocabulary

2010-02-15T12:45:00.003-05:00

This sentence came out of my 3-year-old's mouth today:
"Books about tractors are awesome, Mom."
Awesome. It just sounds strange for a preschooler to use that word. And the way he said it:
awwwwsome.

Critique

2010-02-14T09:14:00.002-05:00

Jessica has long been a food critic, when it comes to meals made by Hari and me. Well, last night I made chicken salad, and I thought it was pretty good. Jessica ate it without complaint. Xander preferred the wheat pita I put it in.

After dinner he started walking around, pointing with his index finger saying something like "from awejodsi." At least that's what it sounded like to me. I kept asking him "From what? From what."

Then I noticed his index finger was pointing down and it dawned on me.

"Thumbs down?" This is Jessica's Roger-and-Ebertesque way of issuing her food reviews.

He nodded.

I then explained to him that if he's going to use the thumbs up/thumbs down review method, he'll at least need to point with his thumb, and not his index finger.

Move over!

2010-02-12T14:02:00.000-05:00

Three times today, I've been sitting at the end of the couch, Xander has come up, climbed onto the arm of the couch and tried to squeeze in, telling me to move over. It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry did the same thing to Elaine.

Just being a Xander

2010-02-11T15:17:00.004-05:00

One of Xander's preschool teachers told me this story:
One day he was just standing there, not saying anything. His teacher asked him what he was doing. His response? "I'm just being a Xander."

Other words from the Xander lexicon:
smushmellow=marshmellow
Usage: "I don't have any more smushmellows in my hot chocolate."

snowprint = footprint made in the snow

pack-pack=backpack

"I Love You" as a weapon

2010-02-05T08:46:00.003-05:00

Xander loves to tell me he loves me. Most of the time this is great. I love to hear him say it. But lately he's been using it as a weapon. He'll be laying down in bed and instead of closing his eyes and going to sleep, he says, "Mommy, I love you" a dozen times. If I ignore him, then his tone gets more insistent: "MOMMY I LOVE YOU" with a bit of a whine to it. I feel like the worst mommy ever when I have to respond, "I know. Stop saying that and go to sleep." But I only say that after he's said it at least 20 times.

(He just ran up to me and said "Mommy, I love you" while I was typing this.)

Fool me once, shame on you....

2010-02-05T07:57:00.002-05:00

As anyone with a small child knows, band-aids are the best thing ever. Regardless of whether or not there's actually a boo-boo.

One night last week, as I was trying to get Xander to sleep, he complained he had a boo-boo and needed a band-aid. He pointed out the boo-boo but in the semi-darkness of the room I didn't see anything. I tried to ignore his request but sooner rather than later, I gave in. When I brought the band-aid into the room and asked him to show me the boo-boo again so I knew where to put it, he gave me a completely different finger to put it in than he'd shown me before.

With this incident in mind, last night he started complaining again. He showed me the boo-boo and again I didn't see anything. I told him if the boo-boo was still there in the morning, I'd give him a band-aid. He got very insistent and eventually produced real tears. I thought, okay, maybe it is a real boo-boo; after all, he's crying. I got up and got a band-aid.

He gave me a different finger to put it on.

Squirrel!

2010-02-04T13:04:00.003-05:00

I've been working on quilts for the kids. I'm a very slow quilt maker. I bought the fabric a couple of months ago, and immediately washed it. Then eventually I ironed and now am in the process of cutting it. The kids have been bugging me incessantly about it lately.

This morning, Xander started up. "Will you work on my quilt today?" This immediately got Jessica's attention. "No! Work on my quilt!" Then I couldn't hear what either of them were saying because they were both saying something to the effect of "Work on my quilt" loudly and at the same time.

Then Hari, genius that he is, pointed out the window. "Look! There goes a squirrel!"

Both kids stopped shouting and ran over to look out the window. It was just like "Up."

Quotes

2010-01-28T07:45:00.003-05:00

"You guys are so busted!" I think perhaps he's been watching too much Phineas and Ferb.

"I can't sleep in the dark." Um....okay. I recently put their "night light" (a string of LED lit butterflies that make the room bright enough to read in) on a timer, thinking they would sleep better in the dark. The verdict is still out on that.

Cat recycling
I recently made the mistake of saying we could probably get a kitten (or two) when Cassie passes away. She's 13 1/2 so this could be soon or it could be 5 or more years. In hindsight, saying that may have been a mistake. Xander recently suggested that we should "throw Cassie away cause she's dead."

Sun protection

2010-01-12T10:50:00.001-05:00

Xander likes to wear sunglasses "so the sun don't see me." = )

Baby's got a new pair of shoes

2010-01-10T09:39:00.005-05:00

The last 3 pairs of sneakers I've bought for Xander were Thomas the Tank Engine sneakers. That's all he wanted to wear. "Want Thomas shoes." I noticed he's starting to outgrow his current pair, so I went to Walmart, the only place that sells the ones he likes, to look for a new pair. While I was there, I saw the Cars shoes.

Cars is his newer obsession. I wasn't sure what to do. I decided to hold off on a purchase till I could take him with me and let him choose.

We went yesterday. I told him he could choose between Cars and Thomas shoes. It was no contest. Cars by a landslide. However, the particular Walmart we were in didn't have the right size. I swore up and down to him that the next time I was in a different Walmart, I would try to get the right size.

That wasn't good enough for him. He proceeded to whine for the rest of time in the store, in the check-out line and in the car. I foresaw a future where all he did was beg and whine for these shoes. I decided to divert slightly and go to a different nearby Walmart.

Fortunately they had the shoes. He insisted I put them on him even before we left the store. I did. He wore them all day, even though we don't usually wear shoes in the house. He took them off for his bath, and then wanted them back on.

He slept in them. Really. I thought for sure he'd get uncomfortable during the night and kick them off, but no, he wore them all night.

He's wearing them now.

But is he smarter than a cat?

2010-01-08T15:48:00.002-05:00

(another potty post)
Xander prefers to use the little potty. For reasons that I probably don't need to get into, I prefer him to use the big potty. Now, the little potty is conveniently located in the living room, where he can stop playing, walk a few feet and use it. The bathroom, on the other hand, is at least 15 feet away.

I thought about moving the little potty into the bathroom next to the big potty. But then I thought about what I did when I moved the cats' litterbox in our condo. I was afraid they (and by "they" I meant "Chelsea") wouldn't be able find it if I moved it and would just do their business in the space where the litterbox used to be. So I moved it a few feet each day until I got it to the new location.

I'm wondering if I would need to use this tactic with my child.

Boomerang Baby

2009-12-21T12:44:00.002-05:00

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.

House-training

2009-12-12T13:18:00.012-05:00

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.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

2009-12-10T07:58:00.003-05:00

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.

Needs to work on his poker face

2009-12-09T10:09:00.002-05:00

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.

Grammar

2009-12-04T16:14:00.002-05:00

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."

Oh, to be almost 3 again. Not.

2009-12-02T08:50:00.003-05:00

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.

Inquisitive

2009-11-11T09:29:00.001-05:00

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.

Good plans gone bad

2009-11-06T10:41:00.003-05:00

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.

2009-10-30T13:34:00.004-04:00

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!"

Back to school Part 2

2009-10-28T15:03:00.002-04:00

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.

Preschool

2009-09-25T10:29:00.003-04:00

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!

A picture says a thousand words

2009-09-07T17:02:00.009-04:00

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.

This and that

2009-09-03T14:39:00.003-04:00

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."

Just like sister

2009-08-25T10:19:00.001-04:00

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."

I can still see you, you know

2009-08-13T21:04:00.002-04:00

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.

Another one bites the dust

2009-08-07T19:44:00.001-04:00

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!"

Heart melts

2009-07-14T15:52:00.001-04:00

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.

I'm losing my leverage

2009-07-13T13:33:00.002-04:00

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.

He makes me laugh

2009-06-15T13:24:00.003-04:00

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.

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

2009-06-08T16:54:00.002-04:00

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.

My current favorite mispronunciation

2009-06-04T15:10:00.003-04:00

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.

Potty training has begun!

2009-05-20T15:10:00.002-04:00

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).

Stinky man

2009-05-17T08:25:00.000-04:00

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.

Huh. How about that?

2009-05-09T13:44:00.001-04:00

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?

Guess what?

2009-05-08T15:11:00.003-04:00

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

Xander is

2009-05-03T17:42:00.002-04:00

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).

I just don't get it

2009-04-29T08:21:00.001-04:00

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?)

A small child's revenge

2009-04-11T08:31:00.001-04:00

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

2009-04-11T08:24:00.002-04:00

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!

He's such a guy

2009-04-07T13:05:00.002-04:00

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)

First 4 word sentence

2009-04-04T18:07:00.000-04:00

"I love you too."

Singing gibberish

2009-04-01T10:25:00.001-04:00

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.

Hats!

2009-03-24T12:35:00.003-04:00

Here is Xander, a man of many hats:

This one isolates just one shot per hat:

I love the collage option in Picasa!

We will not be seeing this

2009-03-23T07:59:00.002-04:00

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? ; )

Must.Have.Pizza

2009-03-22T08:51:00.002-04:00

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!"

2009-03-22T08:42:00.002-04:00

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.

From the knees down

2009-03-21T21:08:00.000-04:00

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.

Could he be ready?

2009-03-15T13:49:00.003-04:00

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....

Sheer laziness

2009-03-12T14:30:00.002-04:00

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.

What I love having a boy after a girl

2009-03-08T17:50:00.001-04:00

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.

Sweet dreams

2009-02-26T17:01:00.002-05:00

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.

Smarter than the average husband

2009-02-18T19:04:00.002-05:00

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.

Preview

2009-02-06T16:22:00.002-05:00

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.

My boy is brilliant!

2009-02-02T13:53:00.002-05:00

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. = )

Peekaboo!

2009-02-01T10:37:00.000-05:00

Mommy vs. Daddy

2009-01-30T19:04:00.002-05:00

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.