St. Patrick's Day

Earlier this week, I asked Xavier if he knew what holiday was coming up.  He excitedly responded, "Presents?!"  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We made some festive green treats, chocolate covered pretzels with green sprinkles, that started out fun, but later turned into Xavier telling me, "Mommy look!  I make a mess."

Don't forget to wear your green!

Toddler Snapshot - 2 and a 1/2

One of my favorite things to read in my old blog posts is updates on what Xavier was doing at various ages.  I used to do them monthly, then every few months, and now... who can keep track! Since my creativity for exciting posts has dropped drastically since decorating the new house soaks up all the creativity I have, I'll continue with another update on Xavier! I'm sure I won't mind them 20 years from now!  So, here's a snapshot of Xavier at his last milestone, two and a half, and what he's been up to.

Snowflake catching.

First potty training attempt!  He started refusing wanting to go, so we stopped and trying again later this summer.

Aww, this sweet, little baby face.

Xavier is still the world's sweetest, most considerate, charming little boy out there!  He is pretty smart, too.  He knows his ABC's, colors, most shapes, and is working on counting at the moment.  I'm amazed at how quickly he's changing week to week.  His language is developing drastically and at this point he's having real back and forth conversations with us about his day, things we are doing, and he enjoys talking to us so much, we no longer need a distraction (like the ipad) at the table for him to eat a complete meal and it not end up all over the floor, ceiling, or him.


He loves to run over leaves and help cut the grass with his bubble lawn mower, he likes to help me rake the leaves and pull weeds, and he always asks, "What's his name?" when he sees a kid playing outside.  He's making lots of new friends in the neighborhood.  He and Steve like to play "pop its" where they throw the burrs from the tree into the road and watch the cars run over them.  This game keeps Xavier entertained for at least an hour!

We read lots of stories before bedtime.  His favorite books are the "animal book" where he likes to smack and kill the spiders, the "apple book",


He's lately been obsessed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  He likes to hold the sandwich in one hand and play with the giant bubble wand in the other.  He loves food, but PB&J is definitely a new one for him.  He used to see them as a toy, something he could pull apart and stick his fingers in.

The other day, Steve asked Xavier what he wanted for dinner....
Steve:  Buddy, what do you want for dinner?
Xavier:  A sandwich
S: Oh yea, what kind?
X:  A red one.
S:  A red one?
X:  Yea, and gray.
S:  A red and gray sandwich?
X:  Yea.
Steve opens the pantry and Xavier points at the Jiff peanut butter jar.  Oooohhhhhh!!!  The jar is red and gray.  Duh!

Toddler Tales

Xavier is talking in complete sentences, with quite a few funny mispronunciations here and there.  And he loves people, always says and waves "Hi" to new people he meets, check out clerks, baristas, and whenever someone rings our doorbell.  I've never caught myself thinking he's growing up too quickly and always looked forward to the next stage of his independence.  But I think it hit me this month, when I was trying to hold him in my arms like I did when he was a baby (only now his main goal is to escape me), that I realized he is growing up so fast!

Earlier this week, I dropped off Xavier at the babysitter's house, and one of the other kids apparently hit him, because Xavier shouted back to the kid, "No hit!"  They took each other's toys and I left for work.  Later that morning, I got this picture of the two (Xavier on the left):

There are plenty of embarrassing moments for parents when kids start talking.  Earlier this week, we went out to eat and there was a man sitting in the booth directly across the aisle from us that was a bit older and had an impressive, white beard.  Xavier looked over at him, looked back at us, his eyes got big, then he points to the man, and shouts out, "SANTA!!"  He did this a few more times, quieter, but he was convinced it was Santa.

Sometimes you don't want to admit when your kid is exactly like you, like the other day, Xavier was playing with his trucks and lined them all up in a row.  They looked so neat and organized, just how I like things to be.  Then Xavier came running to me and proudly said, "Mommy, lo-o-ok!  I did it!"  We let Xavier take the picture.

I occasionally yell at our dog, Jasper, for making a mess on the carpet.  But Xavier does it much more politely.  When he saw what Jasper had done, he went over to him and said, "Ba-ter, no poo on a ah-pet.  Poo outside.  No Ba-ter.  *Points finger and says forcefully* NO DANK YOU!"

And there are times new words are introduced and mispronounced in such a cute way.  I introduced syrup to him this morning for waffle dipping.  He asked for more "eer-pop".

Xavier absolutely LIVES for a "dance pahty".  These started at the babysitter's house and we've started doing them every night after dinner.  He makes us play Shake It Off (his favorite), Shut Up and Dance with Me, Whip Nae Nae, and Uptown Funk to name a few.  He just learned how to do the robot and it is just adorable!  He's game for any music videos that have a beat and some kind of dance moves he can imitate.

And a little update on Xavier's schedule:  Xavier will be two and a half next month, he wakes up at 7:00 and is still sleeping in his crib. He has a pillow, which he will lay on when we put him down, but he never falls asleep using it.  He takes a two-hour nap right after lunch, around 1:00.  His bedtime is now between 8:30 and 9:00.  We went through a rough patch where it was difficult getting Xavier to stay focused during dinner time, but luckily that has passed.  He eats pretty well during the day.  Most of the time, he doesn't need snacks before bed, but we usually give him a bowl of Cheerios to eat in the "bih bed" (our bed) while we read him stories.

Fall Recap

We've been so busying with selling our house, moving to an apartment while we found the perfect house to buy, finally buying a house, and now unpacking/starting home projects.  Xavier has grown so much since my last post.  Mainly, he's forming more sentences, playing independently (finally!!), and pretending/make believe.

At 2 years and 3 months, here's a few things he has done lately that are so adorable:

1.  He wakes up every morning requesting either a "ih-a-men woll", "wa-full", or "pancake"!

2.  For a snack, he likes to eat Cheerios and share them with me.  He will put a pile of Cheerios on the couch first for me (so polite!), then a pile for himself.  When he sees my pile getting low, he will say, "Want more?", divvy out more for me and say, "Here you go, Mommy."  His little voice is so sweet and high-pitched, I don't ever want it to change!

3.  When I tell him I love him and go in for a kiss, he pushes me away and says, "No thank you".  He's so polite about it!

4.  After playing with his toys, before moving on to something else, he says, "Clean up!  Clean up!  Clean up!" and runs around the room, putting his toys away as fast as he can.  The first time he did this, it was so hilarious because we didn't know what he was doing (babysitter taught him).  It's fun to watch him put in to practice at home the things he learns elsewhere.

5.  Last week, Xavier was getting in to a little trouble, playing with things he wasn't supposed to and not listening.  Steve was on the verge of putting him in time out.  Well then, Xavier managed to squeeze himself in between the chair and end table, looked up at both of us, and said, "Hey Guys" in the sweetest, matter of fact, little voice I've ever heard.  Xavier never got a time out that night ;)

We just wrapped up Thanksgiving and I didn't put out a single holiday decoration.  And the neighbors on our street put up Christmas lights last weekend, thanks for rubbing in how far behind I am!  Hopefully, for Christmas, I find the energy to put up at least Xavier's Christmas tree, and FIND MY FLAT IRON!

Cheers!

More Birthday Fun

On the day of Xavier's 2nd birthday, we made pancakes with sprinkles mixed in, went to Chuck E. Cheese, took a bike ride to get ice cream, spent lots of time outside.  Some presents we got him were a new lift-the-flap book, a talking Elmo doll, and new shoes.  We also got him a KidKraft play kitchen, but with the hassle of selling our house, we haven't gotten around to putting it together.  Someday :)

Xavier has been putting together lots of words and forming sentences these days, which is nothing short of amazing.  Some of my favorites are "Aw May!" (translates to "Aw Man!) when he drops something, "open the door", "put shoe on", "ew, bug", "waffle in my mouth", and for fun we taught him "O-A" (translates to O-H) to which we reply "I-O".

Xavier has become increasingly enthusiastic about reading books, lately!  So much, that he will actually stay put on my lap for a solid 10 minutes before bedtime!  He used to wake up wanting to  watch YouTube videos while we get ready, but now, he wants books.  He likes interactive books - touching, feeling, or rhyming that he can imitate.  Some favorites:

Pout-Pout Fish (Deborah Dieson) - rhyming

Pat the Bunny (Dorothy Kundhart) - touch and feel

Dear Zoo (Rod Campbell) - lift the flap book

Where Is Baby's Belly Button (Karen Katz) - lift the flap book

My First Things That Go (Let's Get Moving) - great visuals he recognizes

P is for Potty (Random House) - Elmo AND lift the flap book, A Little Boy's Dream!

Xavier's 2nd Birthday

So hard to believe our sweet baby boy turned TWO!  We had the best time celebrating with family and a few of his little buddies as well.  We kept asking him the week leading up to his birthday, "how old are you?!" and he's say "two!" and proudly hold out his hand, all five fingers spread out.  The sweetest thing!

We celebrated the Birthday Boy with a pizza party at the babysitter's house.  We had Pizza Hut delivered to the house the Friday before.  We got off work early and took the kids Funfetti cupcakes with sprinkles I made the night before, balloons, and juice boxes.  Not to self, when bringing balloons to a kid's party, make sure there are enough for every kid to have at least one!  Luckily, I brought extras and frantically blew up a few to keep the whining under control!  I thought about making little goody bags for the kids, but decided to keep it a little more simple.  Xavier had a blast!  And, given the amount of work and energy we put into the 1st birthday party, I wasn't ready to have another big party just yet!  I think having it at the babysitter's worked out great for everyone.

After the kids party, we took Xavier to the festival in our town so he could play on the playground and, for the first time, experience jumping in a bounce house.

My family threw Xavier a little party at their house.  We grilled out, picked pumpkins from the garden, opened presents, and ate cake, ice cream, and went out for frozen custard, all in one day!  Xavier loved all of his presents!  He's at the age where he gets really excited to see what's underneath the wrapping paper and it's so entertaining to watch!  Some highlights included a remote-controlled car, a kaleidoscope, hand puppets, and stickers.

I may have teared up a little singing Happy Birthday, he was just too sweet looking at his birthday candles and blowing them out!

23 Month Update

Things are crazy at our house right now.  We are doing a whole house clean and reorganization to make the best use of the space we have.  I wrote this post a few weeks ago and totally forgot to post it.  As I read through it, Xavier has changed so much in the past 3 weeks, I can't believe it!  His vocabulary has increased immensely, he is saying four word sentences, and knows nursery rhymes better than me (haha!).  But, here's what our guy was like at 23 months!

Age:  23 months, the last time we will refer to our guy in months!

Favorite Foods:  pasta, chicken, meatballs, broccoli, yogurt, applesauce, string cheese, green beans, Nilla wafers, waffles, Nutri-Grain bars

Favorite Words: 

Animals and animal sounds, love you, uh-oh, bye-bye c-ya, hello (to every single person/stranger we pass!), hello doggy, “we gih eh go?” (are we getting ready to go?), “na?” (snack), okay, “nee mah uh-oh” (I need my uh-oh, which is his pacifier), “eh poo” (I poo).  And his new favorite word is truck.  He just learned how to make the “k” sound!  He’s putting sentences together now, making it so much easier to understand what he needs.  He can say a ton of words, but understands even more.

Favorite Books: 

All Of Baby’s Nose to Toes – We read this every night before bed.  He loves to follow along and point out his body parts!  After reading it the fifth time in a row to him, I have to take it away :(

Bubbles, Bubbles – I caught him reading this one the other day, saying “Bubble, bubble eh ma noe” (on my nose).

Dear Zoo, My Big Truck Book, and King Bidgoods in the Bathtub

Favorite Songs: 

Wheels on the Bus, The Finger Family, Beethoven’s 3rd, Mvmt 4 (Eroica), Itsy Bitsy Spider, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Johnny Whoops, Five Little Ducks

His favorite shows on YouTube are Sesame Street, Mother Goose Club, Baby Einstein, and Little Baby Bum.  He doesn’t like to sit and just watch TV, which makes these shows a great choice at this age.  He sings along, names the objects, and does the moves!

The One That Got Away by Katy Perry

Want to Want Me by Jason Derulo

Favorite Activities: 

Where to begin!  This little guy is enthusiastic about everything!  He loves to play fetch with the dog, stroller rides, jump off objects up to 2 feet high (while mama cringes everytime!), play on the playground, eat lunch outside, point out all modes of transportation, swing on the tree swing, throw mulch and big rocks, read books, run through the splash pad, swim in his puddle jumper, and cuddle to name a few!

He likes helping in the kitchen by placing all the pots and pans, as well as all contents in drawers, neatly on the floor.  When I tell him to go put his shoes on, he stops whatever he’s doing and runs to his shoes and socks and puts them on top of his feet. 

Washing and drying his hands, he especially likes stepping up on the stool!

Signature Moves: 

This guy is quite the little organizer.  The other day, we were getting ready to hop in the car but he wouldn’t get in the car until we put the trash can back in its spot.  Another time, Steve was putting him in his crib and he reached out and pointed to the changing pad and wouldn’t go in the crib until Steve picked it up.

When I tell Xavier it’s time to change his diaper, lately, he walks right over to me, lays on the floor, and kicks up his feet.  I hope this lasts!!

He also teases us with his food.  We crack up at this!

Giving us hugs.

Throwing balls, coloring, sidewalk chalk scribbles with his LEFT hand. :)