Xavier - Age 7 and a half

 Xavier has finally returned to all in-person school.  He is getting used to going full days, 5 days a week, as he's never done that before.  He was sent home for COVID during half-day Kindergarten, so full days is new for him.  So at around the 1 year anniversary of COVID, he has returned like normal (although still wearing masks).  

Xavier loves being back in school.  They had alternated between hybrid (going in person 2 or 3 days a week, home the other days) and fully remote learning since the pandemic started.  He's staying busy with hockey (through parks and rec), and both lacrosse and baseball start in April.  He was signed up to play basketball through UA Optimist this past winter, but at the last minute, it was cancelled.  We were so bummed because that program was really great last year.

We have been into movie nights lately.  Some movies we've watched as a family, along with ice-cream sundaes or Papa John's pizza to make it more fun, are Mighty Ducks 1 and 2, Beethoven, Cheaper by the Dozen, Uncle Buck and Mrs. Doubtfire.  These are all movies that Steve and I grew up with and they are still big hits!  I'm looking forward to hopefully starting a TGIF routine, like I had as a kid, where we watch Full House, Family Matters, and Step by Step.  These were shows I looked forward to on the Friday night line up and watching with my family growing up.

Xavier's reading has improved greatly since the beginning of first grade last fall.  He went from reading Elephant and Piggie books, that had just a few words on each page, to reading chapter books.  And he's not even through with first grade!  I still read books to him, too.  He's currently into Berenstain Bears, Arthur, Fly Guy (though he's almost outgrown these), and we just started the Stupids series.  He's picked up the Eerie Elementary series books from the library at school and I read those to him.

We've started taking the kids to nicer restaurants.  For Valentine's Day, we took the kids to Lindey's in German Village and the kids got to experience valet parking (so fancy!).  It has become Xavier's favorite restaurant (good taste!) and he keeps asking to go back.  We also like going to Hyde Park in the short north.  He likes the red velvet cake (it's almost a foot tall!) and the big chandeliers.  For birthdays, his favorite place to eat is the Japanese steakhouse because of the fanfare of the singing, birthday pineapple, and sombrero picture.

Xavier is the best eater.  He likes california rolls, edamame, meatballs, broccoli, almost all fruit, but his most favorite food is plain pasta noodles with parmesan cheese on top.  

Audra's 3rd Birthday!

 Happy 3rd Birthday to our sweet, baby Audra!

We celebrated three years by having a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese with our immediate family (due to Covid still being a factor with other family getting together with us).  We played games and the kids exchanged their game tickets for giant lollipops and toys.  We then came home to open presents, eat pizza, and have some Frozen themed cake.  Some presents received were money and a puppy playhouse from Aunt Cindy and family, Play-doh and shapes from Xavier, a Peppa Pig play house from Shelby, some pennies for her piggy bank, unicorn jewelry box, new shoes, and a mermaid tail to name a few. 

At Audra's 3 year appointment, we discussed with Dr. Jen that Audra needed to get rid of the night time pacifier (so we stopped using it that night).  It only took 3 nights before she completely stopped asking for it.  We also discussed kicking up potty training.  Audra has been introduced to the Elmo musical potty, but she's not really used it.  She sits on it with her pants or diaper on.  We started really using that potty the following week (more on that in a separate post).  And finally, we discussed her diet needed to change since she was eating so much peanut butter, sometimes for lunch and dinner.  Going forward she's only allowed one serving of peanut butter a day, and she has to eat more variety of fruits and meat.  She eats Dino nuggets and fish sticks, but she doesn't really eat the foods we eat, so we have to start making her eat our dinners.  She does great with milk, 1 cup at breakfast and 1 cup at dinner, but we need to start having her eat a serving of yogurt or cheese each day.  We also had to start giving her a Flinstone's chewable vitamin.  We started mixing a crushed up vitamin in applesauce for her.

 Audra's 3rd Birthday stats:

Height:  36 inches

Weight:  36 pounds (at 40 pounds, she can get out of her carseat and use a booster chair!)

Favorite Food:  peanut butter crackers, cheese crackers, strawberries, pears, popcorn, Pirate's Booty, Veggie straws

Least Favorite Food:  anything green, any meat we eat, most new things (haha)

Favorite Activities: jumping on the trampoline, going on walks and stroller rides, playing with Jasper, reading books in Mommy's bed, art class, gymnastics, play-doh

Least Favorite Activities: going down for nap, leaving the house unless going to art class or gymnastics class, trying new food

Signature Move:  pooping in her diaper and then sticking her booty out, saying "na, na-na, na, na" while showing us what she did.

Audra's favorite books at the moment are mostly ones that I grew up with.  We like to read:

Caps For Sale (she loves saying "Caps! Caps for sale! 50 cents a cap!")

Imogene's Antler's

Imogene Comes Back!

Clifford's 1st Valentine's Day and other baby Clifford books (she likes him as a little puppy)

Little Critter books

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub

Our little Audra, the sweetest, smartest 3 year old we know.  We wish you the best 3rd year and can't wait to see you grow and learn new things!

Happy Fall!

 Ahhh, Fall, my favorite time of the year.  Xavier finally went back to school this week (a few weeks late due to COVID) after being in quarantine since March.  I've already made homemade chicken noodle soup in the dutch oven, complete with homemade noodles.  We've been reading Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf and made the bird feeders at the end of the book.  Audra likes reading Leaf Man and Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch.  I've got the front door decorated with purple and white mums and lots of pumpkins with long stems, my favorite!  We just got back from our annual trip to Hocking Hills and the weather couldn't have been more perfect; cool, crisp mornings and warm evenings for making s'mores/hot dogs over our campfire and perfect temps for Xavier's favorite, hot tub time.

Steve and I have been working from home 100% of the time since we started quarantine in March.  Shelby still nannies for us during the day.  I've caught up on reading my Real Simple magazines, Barefoot Contessa cookbooks, and doing a mini-remodel of the kitchen.  I got the idea from my magazine.  It all started with the idea to redo the countertops from the 1990's style of brown granite to the current style of white marble look-a-like.  From there, we redid the drawers and cupboards to make the more functional, and are re-doing the backsplash to pull it all together.  We are also getting our fireplace converted from wood burning to gas.  It'll be completed just in time for the holidays.  How I would love to have a fire going when we are opening Christmas gifts and drinking hot Wassail!

We've picked out Halloween costumes; Xavier will be Ghost Face from the movie, Scream.  He's been wearing his costume outside and it looks so scary!!  Audra will be a dinosaur because her favorite thing to do now is to pretend she's one and to Roar! really loud!

And of course, no post is complete without an update of the kids!

Audra - 2.5 years old

Audra loves to read and imagine she's in character.  Whether she's a doggy, monkey, dinosaur, she's always got the sounds and the walk to go with it.  She doesn't like hugs and snuggling unless they are on her terms.  She tells me to "Go Away" (with corresponding point of her finger on where to go) about 10 times a day! haha!  Audra loves going with me to Target to browse the toy aisle.  She's drawn to every single stuffed animal, and the small ones she pulls up to her face and says "Mmmmm, I love her."  She also finds a toy she wants and says to me "I need that.  Put it in the cart."  She's not a fan of new things, especially new sleeping arrangements or new things at the playground.  Although, now her favorite thing is going down big slides!  Her favorite books are There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Duck in a Truck, Duck on a Bike, Hop on Pop, the Little Critter book, Just a Baby Bird, and the National Geographic book on Tigers.  Audra adores Xavier and always looks up to him on what to say and how to act.  She has started saying "One more minute" when we ask her to pickup her toys!  Her favorite stuffed animals are her purple/pink doggy and her rainbow Carebear, though she still sleeps with the other 20 or so in her crib!

Xavier - 7 years

Xavier is as popular as ever and he loves going to school.  He is super sweet, kind, smart, and so funny.  He is always creating a game to play.  He's started getting into Nickelodeon shows such as, Victorious and Sam and Cat.  He started playing the piano during quarantine and is so good!  He especially likes making up his own songs and playing songs he knows by ear, like Baby Shark, Jaws, and Beethoven's 5th.  Holidays are something he looks forward to so this is the best time of year for him, just like Mom.  His favorite sports are golf, t-ball, and tennis.  Xavier loves math and is getting so good at reading books!  I love how creative Xavier is; he likes to make things out of construction paper like little books, masks, etc.  And last night, I came home and found him painting a large picture of space!

Sibling Snapshot - Xavier 6.5 yrs, Audra 2 yrs

We are in the middle of COVID-19 quarantine, which means we are stuck in the house, homeschooling Xavier, and any social activities/camps/shopping are not happening.  Luckily, the kids' nanny is still available to come over every day and work her normal hours.  Most people I know don't have daycare at the moment and are juggling kids being home and working at the same time.  For the first time ever, state of Ohio employees are working from home.  So you know this is serious!  I bought a piano, painted it, and have started teaching Xavier to play.  We will pick that up in full swing once things are more back to normal.  I've also created a reading nook in Audra's room and thought about updating the kitchen with a more current backsplash and countertops.  Pretty much every drawer in the house has been organized and sorted through at this point!

Here's some tidbits on the kids...

Audra

We have enjoyed listening to Audra talk like a pre-schooler.  The things she says are amazing.  She can quote entire scenes from Trolls, whether it be while she's sitting on the bottom step in the foyer, rocking back and forth, or in the middle of the night in her crib at 4 am (yes, this has happened!).  She loves jumping on the trampoline with Xavier, brushes her doggy's hair with her Wet brush (so cute!), thinks nothing of pulling on my shirt and telling me to "get out of the way" when she wants my spot lounging on pillows on my bed, and loves to talk to people and ask how they are and say "See you later".  I was just reading the update from about 6 mo. ago and her talking has skyrocketed.  She is not speaking in complete sentences and paragraphs.  She still is an avid book reader - most activities she does, like playing in her room with blocks with Xavier, usually ends in her reading her books.  Her favorites right now are Xavier's books he brings home from Kindergarten to read, Elmo Pops In (with the push buttons that make sounds), Baby Einstein's Amazing Animals (more push buttons and sounds), and Room On a Broom (her favorite page is the one where the witch rides on the broom through a cloud).  We enjoyed listening to her talk about Curious George at the Museum because when George is on the dinos neck she talked like he was sliding down the slide.  She loved this book and telling us all about the slide!  She loves to color and paint.  Audra's signature move is when we walk away from her and she wants us to stay, she will say "Wait, I need something for you." haha.  She's in 3-4T clothes, hates all green food, and is still a super picky eater, mainly only eating peanut butter/crackers, Daddy's meatballs, oranges, veggie pouches, and lollipops.  She's been through her first and only haircut (which was extremely tramatic), hates the vacuum ("I don't wike duh vacuum.") and goes into full panic if she sees someone carrying the leafblower.  She's a doll and we can't wait to see what the next year brings as she learns even more words and becomes more independent.  

Xavier

Xavier is still the most social kid we know, always knowing the right thing to say in all situations.  He seems to be very popular at school and is such a sweet boy, always considering other's feelings.  He's very smart in school and other kids' parents tell me they can't believe how well he can already read words.  He's such a star in math and it's his favorite subject.  He's really into Star Wars and just watched the 9th movie with Steve.  He participates in school, stays active jumping on the trampoline, always gets excited for the next holiday, and has quite an imagination.  We usually find him acting out his Granny game or humming the tune to the Ice Cream game.  He created a Rod Stevenson helmet out of a diaper box and wear it outside pretending to be Rod!  It's hilarious.  Xavier is protective of his sister and always looks out for his best interest.  If she's in danger of getting hurt, and taking something away will make her cry, he will say "take it away even though she will cry."  Xavier loves family outings, such as hikes in the woods, bike rides to see the tulips at his school, or walks around the block.  His favorite foods are Nutella and pretzels, Daddy's meatloaf, McDonald's pancakes, and yogurt.  He learned his first piano song, Hot Cross Buns.  Sports have all taken a break, but he recently was involved in basketball, t-ball, and we hope the the pools open soon so he can swim this summer.

We love watching these two grow up together!  It seems from each update to the next on here, they have grown so much.  We love watching the two play together in the bath, outside, and under the fort in the basement.

Audra is Talking, and it's the Cutest!

Audra is no one and a half and she has gone from baby babbling to copying everything we say.  Although she doesn't quite understand what it means to count to ten, she still has it completely memorized and points her little finger on the table when she does it!

We took the kids on Audra's first boat trip last weekend!  We rented a fisherman's boat, which is way scarier than I ever imagined!  Talk about being close to the water.  Especially with two kids.  Luckily Audra sat in my lap most of the time, not wanting to let go of me.  And when I put the kids on the bench, they both sat well together.  We had a nice 1 hour boat ride at Alum Creek!

She's also working on her ABC's and almost has it perfectly; even the "now I know my ABC's" part!  She inherited Xavier's old V-Tech laptop computer that sings the ABC's, Row Row Row Your Boat, and many other songs.  She's picked up the words to every song.  

Her vocab skills are impressive!  She repeats almost every single thing we say to her.  Here are some of the cutest words, and imagine all of her "s" sounds with a slight baby lisp (so cute!):

ba-nah - banana

gasses on - glasses on

dake ew weh-come - thank you welcome (with no pause!)

oran-iz - oranges

iPad - iPad (spoken perfectly, go figure!)

bisses - kisses

thaw-bayz - strawberries

au-duh - Audra

oh-piss - open

No no baby. 

Hi baby. 

Dake ew baby. (thank you, baby)

her favorite thing is to sit on the bottom step, rock back and forth, with her doggie!

Other things Audra's been up to...

Audra knows her nose, mouth, teeth, ears, hair, etc.  In one of her Sesame Street books, Ernie opens his mouth and shows his tongue.  I'm teaching Audra to show her tongue and she puts it on the top of her mouth, showing us the underside of her tongue, then sticks a small bit of her tongue out of her mouth.  Funniest thing ever!

Audra loves playing house.  She loves to put socks on her feet, clothes on every part of her body, take shoes on and off, and recently, pretending her doggie is her baby.  She calls "mommy" when she wants me to unfold the changing pad, puts her doggie on it, I strap a new diaper on, she grabs the diaper cream and puts it on doggy's head (like it's her detangling spray), and then puts her doggie in the walker and walks him around the house.






"gasses, on"

Audra gave me a pretend bath the other day.  She rubbed her hands together and washed my hair, then put her fingertips on each of my feet going up and down them, saying "foot".  That's exactly what I do to her when giving her a bath.  Steve said she gave him a bath too.

And, finally, as Audra would say with a cute wave of her hand, "Bye, Bye, Baby."

Sibling Snapshot - Xavier 6 years, Audra 18 months

It's been a while since I've been on here for an update of the kids.  Audra has changed so much since her first birthday!  She's copying everything we do - putting everybody's shoes on her feet, she tries (and often succeeds) putting her leg through every piece of clothing she finds laying around, she repeats every word we ask her to.  We constantly are told "she's the happiest baby!"  Xavier started Kindergarten last week and we are all adjusting to the new routine having a nanny in the house with the kids full time.  Xavier just stopped taking naps when K started.  He had a busy summer with two weeks of Safety Town and three weeks of summer camps at Wellington (polar opposites, time to get messy where he cooked and played in mud, and space camp).  He will tell you he had two girlfriends this summer, Collins and Emily.  :)

So let's get to it!

Xavier

Age:  Just turned 6 years old two weeks ago!

Clothes:  Boys small/medium.  Favorites are clothing with super heros, space, Mario Bros, and Under Armour.  He also loves funky socks pulled up as high as they go (which actually is the fad!)

Favorite Foods:  chicken nuggets, broccoli, lettuce (we have to take it away from him!), Daddy's instapot carrots, pizza, oranges, grapes, apple and peanut butter, fig newtons, oatmeal cream pies.

Favorite Games:  Monkey in the Middle, Candy Land, Uno, Don't Step In It, any Mario video game, and any game where we have to keep score.

Least Favorite Activities:  Writing, coloring, drawing, and reading.  He says these activities are boring, which makes sense coming from a guy who is so active! haha!

Xavier is Mr. Social.  He can make friends faster than anyone I've ever met.  Watching him interact with others makes us so proud.  He's polite, caring, and kind.  Also funny and quick witted, always up for initiating a game.  There's never a dull moment with Xavier around.  He talks a lot and even says to me "I'm a talker".  The other day he told me "I literally cannot stand silence." haha!  His Kindergarten teacher says he's "an amazing student" and his pre-K teacher told us she's "going to miss all of his stories."  Everything is more fun with Xavier around.  Even if it's a trip to the grocery.  We have our best talks on the way to our Saturday morning breakfasts at Fox in the Snow.

Xavier is into video games, loves playing basketball, tennis, t-ball, gymnastics and most other sports.  We are signing him up for boy scouts this year, basketball through the school, and soccer in the spring.  He loves staying active and social.  Xavier always asks me if I wish I was a kid again because he has so much fun.  He also told us that his 6th birthday party at Wendy's gymnastics was so good that it wiped out all his bad dreams and good dreams.  It's my goal to raise happy, confident, sociable kids.  I guess we are doing something right!

Audra

Age:  18 months

Clothes:  Wearing mostly 18-24 month and 2T.  She is wearing size 4-5 shoe and is loving taking everybody's shoes and putting them on her feet while she says "foot" or "soo".  She pulls random things off the floor (socks, her pants) and puts her foot through them.  She does a great job and can always get shorts up to her hip!  Lover of playing dress up.  Just yesterday, I introduced her to mittens and she cried when I took them off of her.

Favorite Foods:  blueberries, oatmeal, string cheese, goldfish, oranges, fish filet, chicken nuggets, pizza, Daddy's signature meatballs, most Italian food that isn't heavy on noodles.

Least Favorite Foods:  Anything green, all vegetables except sweet potatoes, pasta.

Favorite Words:  "oat. meal. pize" (oatmeal pies), "soo" (shoe), "noce" c sounds like c in nice (nose), mommy, bubble, doggy, oh boy, aw man, uh-oh, bye, hi (the most cheery greeting when we enter a room). 
Favorite Songs: ABC song (Dr. Jen said she's never heard another 18 month old recite the alphabet, but Audra can!), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row Your Boat

Favorite Activities:  Oh where to begin!  She likes standing on the bed or couch and falling down while screaming, stacking blocks, reading her books while baby babbling the story, opening cabinet doors, playing with food in her kitchen and pretend washing her hands.  We rarely turn the TV on for her, but she loves the music to SpongeBob and Mother Goose Club.  She's also super anal about putting things back in their place (ooh, do we have ourselves a little auditor in training?!!).  Putting on shoes and crawling around the house (cutest to watch).  She loves to dance to music and throw her food down to the dog when we leave the room.  Rebel!  Audra for the most part is very careful and a rule follower.  When she wants to reach for the outlets, she goes for it, then stops.  Same with other things we've told her "no" for.  She also has learned how to turn her body around and go feet first off the couch!  I only showed her once!  She loves to play like big people, especially cards.  She is so careful around a deck of cards and does not destroy the deck.  She carefully places each card back on the deck, or holds a few in her hand... at 1.5 years old!  She also is careful to put everything back in its place, books and toys back in the basket, etc.


Prefers People magazine to the tablet. :)

Favorite Things:  Right now, she mostly copies what Xavier is doing, but she also loves her baby doll and all stuffed animals.  If she hasn't seen it in a while, she always gives it a hug and pats its back.  So cute!  When she hugs us, she always pats our backs.  She loves to dance to music, put on stickers, read her books, and is starting to try drawing with crayons and sidewalk chalk.  She loves plowing head first into the couch pillows. 

Signature Moves:  When she stands up in the bath, she looks at me, waiting for me to tell her to sit.  Then she repeats "sit".  Giving hugs to her brother on demand.  Patting our backs when she hugs us.  Giving her toys and snacks to the dog while he's in his bed.  Always speed crawling to see who's at the door, stopping, and greeting us with the most enthusiastic "hi" when we get home from work.  Laughing when we laugh.  Handing us her book when she wants read to.

Milestones:  Audra has started not liking being strapped in to her high chair and stroller and wants to be free!  She can count to 5 perfectly, and to 10 with a little help.  She says "poop" when she stinkers and goes in her diaper.  She's also very curious when I use the potty, always investigating to see what I'm sitting on!  Uses a brush to brush her hair, stands up on her own, and eats with a fork.  She likes to put the shapes through the cut-outs in her toy picnic basket and does a great job with it!

Audra's Favorite Things at 13 months

Little Audra is changing so much!  One weekend to the next is so different for her at this age.  She is such a sweet, little girl and is developing the cutest personality!  I always look forward to our weekends together!  We can't help but compare her to Xavier at this age.  The two look so much alike...

Audra on the right in both pics!

But they have such different interests.  So some of Audra's favorite things at 13 months:

Being read to:  She seriously gets such excitement from us reading her books and she could listen to us read all day long.  Her favorite book at the moment is Hop on Pop.  She picks up the book and reads it to herself (saying "ba, ba, ba, ba" in perfect rhythm), then hands the book to me to read to her.  She also really likes when it goes off rhythm with "you must not hop on pop"right

 then gets back on rhythm with "walk, walk, we like to walk..." She always laughs at that part!  Out of her big stack of books, this is definitely her favorite.  She loves to flip from page to page, and when we get to the end, she flips it to the front to start all over.  Last night, we read Hop on Pop for 20 minutes (not even kidding!) until I hid the book (bad mom, I know!) so she'd explore other books.

Books:  Some of her other favorites are the Sesame Street Bubbles, Bubbles (she loves to point at the big eyes), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (that has a push button that signs the song), the In My Roost book that has the finger puppet, and all the books with pictures of real life babies or doggies.  These are the books she spends the most time reading and reads (or I read to her) multiple times in one sitting: others she will pick up, flip through a couple pages and put them down.  The other day when she was babbling in her high chair, I made out her singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Cutest thing ever when I pick up on things like this!

Being Social:  Last weekend, she started Music Class at a church in town.  This was the first time I've exposed her to other kids her age.  Karli watches Xavier and Audra during the day and she doesn't get exposed to other babies the way Xavier did at the day care center and then at Jessica's where she watched 5 other babies at the same time.  I was so curious how Audra would handle other babies but she was such a star!  First, she's so curious that she crawled from person to person to see what was up.  Then, as the teacher finished a song with her "Yaaayyyy!" encouragements, Audra always, always, always, looked at her with the biggest smile and laughed so loud!  She has the class of 5 other moms/babies cracking up!  Every "yayy!" was followed with an Audra belly laugh!  By the end of class, everyone knew her name.  Little Miss Popular!!

Sweet Potatoes and Greek Yogurt:  When she sees the orange food on her plate, she flaps her hands and kicks her legs!  Also, when I start feeding her greek yogurt, she can't get enough and always holds her mouth open wanting another bite!

Looking out the car window:  Oh this is one of the sweetest things.  I'll look in my rearview mirror and see through her mirror that she's quietly taking in the outdoors.  She just stares and is at such peach when looking out the window.  And she will do this for so long!  And I forget she's back there!  She loves it so much.

Imitating our actions:  So she loves to try putting on her shoes, socks, and last weekend she tried putting on a diaper over her clothes!  She knows where all this stuff goes and it's so interesting because she still can't talk, but has absorbed so much.  She puts all clothing over her head and crawls around with it dangling from her neck.  She also loves to try putting on her hair bows and barrette and often will give me her barrette and look down so I can put it in her hair.  So sweet!

Staring at Xavier's Fibber game box:  This one is the most unique.  From across the living room, she saw something on the bookcase that caught her attention.  She crawled quickly over to it and grabbed it off the shelf.  Then she held it up and stared at it for 10 minutes.  She put it down then came back to it and stared at it again.  Steve wasn't home but said she is obsessed with this game box!  Haha!

Giving out hugs:  She will hug me, Steve, her stuffed animals.  It's the cutest!  And when she hugs us, she grabs onto our shirts to give us the biggest and tightest hug.  She didn't do this until a month ago, so we are taking in all the hugs we can get from her.  We are happy she's showing us feelings (haha) cuz for the longest time, she pushed us away.

Get ready for lots more posts about Audra!  I think this is the time I posted a lot for Xavier too.  The personalities really take shape and I want to remember these days forever!  And I'm sure she will enjoy someday reading about them too :)