Poor sick boy

Xander's been battling a cold for 10 days. Yesterday, it seemed to be taking a turn for the worse because he was coughing constantly. He couldn't even take a nap or sleep because of the coughing. The only thing we could do for him was bulb syringe and set up the humidifier. Neither really helped so he and I spent a great deal of awake time in the middle of the night.

We took him to the doctor, who told us that it was turning into a sinus infection/ear infection. We got the good ole amoxicillin antibiotics for him to take and they worked like a charm. Within 24 hours, the coughing is almost gone and Xander is able to sleep again. What's great is that Xander even likes the taste of the amoxicillin mixture. All we have to do is prepare a syringe full of the right dosage, and he insists that he squeeze it into his mouth himself.

Unfortunately, it looks like Daddy is getting sick. Hopefully, he will recover without a trip to the doctor. I'm trying really hard not to follow. I've hand sanitized so much lately that my hands look like they are 90 years old they are so dried.

How did he figure this one out?

Grandpa took us to the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock. Inside, there was a toy kitchen with toy food. Xander pulled this piece out an immediately identified it as yogurt. I'm just wondering how he figured that out without being able to read.

Marshmallows

Everything is bigger in TX except marshmallows. Apparently, marshmallows are bigger in AR. Grandma and Grandpa got these gigantic marshmallows. I've never seen them so big. Xander couldn't even eat a whole one.

Choochoos

Here Grandpa learns about the frustration that is called toy trains. Why can't these tracks be more user-friendly!?! I recall that he told me to through the tracks away when he was done playing with Xander.

Cookiebread house

Grandma, Xander, and I made this Gingerbread house. Well, it really has no "ginger" in it because Grandpa said he didn't like ginger. Maybe we should just call it a cookie bread house. Xander helped mix the cookie dough and stick gummy bears to the roof. I've never made one of these before and it was kind of fun. It may have to become a tradition because I've already started to have ideas about how I can make it better next time.

Happy Thanksgiving

We made the long drive to visit Grandma's and Grandpa's in AR. Thanksgiving Day was incredibly warm so we got to enjoy sometime in the city park. We were blessed with some real fall color which we cannot get at home. Xander had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa at the park. He also enjoyed taking their little dog Max for a walk.


In addition to fun at the park, Xander got to ride and drive Grandpa's tractor briefly before the rain started.



For the Thanksgiving meal, Xander helped Grandma to make the green bean casserole and the mashed potatoes.


His favorite activity had to have been cooking pretend food using all of Grandma's "kitchen stuff" which he dragged out. The sofa end table made for a pretend oven and toy dominoes were his play food.

Different stuff for our daughter

So, I have kind of been nesting, trying to figure out if there is anything we need for our daughter that we don't already have. I've come up with a few things that we're going to get.

1. For some reason, I've got this strange worry that my daughter is going to be a baldy like Xander and no one will know she is a girl. It's kind of weird because I never once worried about Xander being mistaken for girl and no one ever did. So, anyway, I went out and got a few baby headbands with flowers. With my luck, she'll probably hate wearing them.
   
2. We never had a changing table for Xander. We changed him on all sorts of different surfaces: bed, couch, floor, etc. We'd just put a pad down somewhere. This was fine for me, but pretty hard on Dolphin's back. So, we're seriously looking at a changing table this time. Fortunately, there are about a bazillion for sale on craigslist.
   
3. I'm seriously considering getting a play yard or pack 'n' play for our daughter. With Xander constantly strewing toys apart, it seems like it might increase our odds of protecting her from a choking hazard. With one kid, we could just keep an eye out, and well, I'm running out of eyes. Plus, I saw that have some with a vibration option, that looks cool.
   
4. I'm definitely getting a new changing pad. I see these for sale used and it totally grosses me out. I don't care how much you wash it, it's just too yucky.
   
5. I've ordered new crib bedding. This was pretty impractical since Xander's was perfectly fine. However, it was SO cute I couldn't resist. We're reusing sheets, mattress, mattress covers, and crib so I don't feel so guilty about the splurge.
   

There are SO many things that we are able to reuse though, which is good because there certainly is a lot of baby junk.

1. Eating accessories - bumbo, nursing supplies, high chair, utensils, bottles, bibs, all reusable
   
2. Toys - well, at least I hope they are reusable. I'm sure there will be some fights, but really Xander has out grown so much stuff already
   
3. Clothing - I went neutral for all of Xander's newborn stuff so that is all reusable.
   
4. Bassinet - This is the thing I look forward to getting rid of the most because it will mean I'm on the path to getting some sleep
   
5. Infant carseat - Xander has already outgrown that long ago
   
6. Baby swing - Xander didn't much care for the thing, so we'll see how our daughter likes it
   
7. Bjorn front carriers - best invention ever
   
8. Baby bath - maybe we'll get peed on less this time?
   
9. Baby monitor - still works
   
10. And a whole bunch more miscellaneous stuff
    

Advent Calendar for Xander

For some reason, I can't remember why really, I decided to make Xander an advent calendar this year. I was sort of thinking that this would be good for practicing numbers maybe. After shopping around, I really couldn't find anything that I liked to purchase. I also found some patterns for a few cute sewn calendars, but I am just terrible at sewing. Finally, I settled on creating my own design--one that would be something I (the craft-challenged) could make and function for its intended purpose.



I used MS Word clipart to make the 25 tree graphics and printed them out with numbers. I used my handy-dandy paper cutter (very good investment) to cut out the tree squares. I attached the trees to little wedding favor bags and then stuck puffy snowflake stickers on top. Finally, I tied each bag on to a long piece of silver-wired ribbon with red satin ribbon. I'm too impatient (and not a perfectionist) to actually measure, so I just eyeballed to make them somewhat equidistantly separated.

Hopefully, Xander will enjoy a daily surprise as we head into December. He's already told us there are "presents" in there, and he just LOVES presents.

Parent teacher conference

We had our first parent teacher conference with Xander's "Transition" class teacher. Some of the interesting things our teacher said about Xander:

• He's got great language skills and can carry on conversations for a very long time.
  
• He is very task-oriented. That's my boy, taking after mommy on that one.
  
• He's demonstrated understanding of one-to-one correspondence, which I had to Google to understand what she was talking about
  
• He's starting to learn some of his letters, and can recognize the first letters in the names of some of his classmates. He's very possessive of the letter "X" and loves to carry the toy "X"'s around the classroom.
  
• He's very observant and aware of his surroundings. He must be taking after daddy with this skill. One day he saved the teacher by pointing out that she had almost left another girl in the bathroom.
  

I want it!

We were recently shopping for big boy beds for Xander. I saw this bed at Rooms to Go Kids. Isn't it so cute? I want to be a princess and have a bed like that!

Lesson learned: lock the door

I was taking a shower this morning, when Xander pops into the bathroom. Through the glass shower door, I saw him grab my towel and get ready to bolt.

I told him "Please don't take my towel. I need it to dry off." I knew this was the only bath towel in the bathroom. Upon hearing this, he set the towel down. He walked over to the toilet paper, rips off a 1.5 foot piece, and laid in front of the shower door. He picks up the towel again.

I told Xander "No, I need a BROWN towel." Our towels are brown. Xander set down the big towel, ran out the door, and came back with a brown hand towel. He picked up the big towel again.

I told Xander "No, I need a BIG, brown towel."

Xander replied, "No!" This time he ran out of the bathroom for good.

I guess I'm lucky that I had a hand towel to dry off rather than just a piece of toilet paper. Next time, I locking the bathroom door!

Expanding vocabulary

For a long time, I was keeping an eye on Xander's expanding vocabulary. Sadly, I think he's already begun to surpass me in his need to learn new words. He is constantly asking me about different parts of various objects, the more complicated the object the more he wants to know what every part is. A good portion of the time, I have no idea what the parts are called. When that happens, I usually answer something like "well, that's the thingy that goes in there and does such 'n' such." I have a feeling I'm really going to be in trouble when he's a teenager. Thanks for keeping me on my toes, Xander.

Candy Factory

Xander assembled this collection of things in our hallway. Can you tell what it is? It's a candy factory. The colored yoga mat is the conveyor belt, the shelves are ladders, and the poker chips are lollipops. Xander still hasn't explained the towel or pillow, but they are apparently necessary parts.

More on ComiCon

Here are a couple more pictures from Austin's ComiCon. I'd never been to a comic book convention before, and well, I don't think I will be revisiting one soon. I definitely would not have gone if it weren't for the Xander photo op.

There were a few amusing things to be seen in this small, Austin-sized conference. There were plenty of people dressed up in strange consumes. I think the most popular costume that I recognized was batman.

Speaking of Batman,we did see Adam West (the original batman) but more dear to our hearts as a voice from "The Family Guy". We also saw that "Checkov" guy from Star Trek and the Bionic woman (who is still very pretty by the way).

The coolest FAMOUS celebrity for Xander to meet was R2D2 (he moved around and flashed, no cute beeping though). I was really worried that Xander was going to break off R2's little camera thingy. He was obsessed with playing with it.


We saw plenty of comics and comic-related things for sale of course. Some of this stuff is just ridiculously priced. Below, I snapped a shot at one of the strange (in-mint-condition) things for sale:

Xander meet Xander

At Austin's ComiCon, Xander Hawkins got to meet Xander Harris (in real life Nicholas Brendon). Too bad Xander REFUSED to take a nap all day before we went or maybe he would have had more fun. Maybe not.

Anyway, Xander Harris's character is where our Xander got his name. If you are curious, our daughter is not going to be named after any of the female characters in "Buffy" or any other TV shows that we have watched.

Appreciate the little things

Xander's such a great reminder to me to appreciate the little things in life. For him, everything is new. After the day light savings time change, our drive home from his school has been right at sunset. Our drive home is on a raised freeway so we get a really good view.

First, Xander pointed out the window and asked me what it was. Then, all the way home he kept talking about it. When the sun finally did set, he asked where the sunset went. The next day he was pointing it out to his teacher at school when I arrived to pick him up.

The sunsets have been quite a beautiful pink. I wish I had remembered to take a picture.

Busy, busy, boxes

Well, I never imagined this day really, but we received our first Amazon subscription shipment of toilet paper. That's right, we have toilet paper (and Xander's diapers) delivered right to our front door. Dolphin's found a few other bulk items that we can get shipped directly to us and cut out the retail store to save a few cents. What it really saves though is time, which we don't have a lot of these days.

Xander enjoyed making a house out of the toilet paper box. With all the other items that we've ordered online lately, our house is starting to look a little like a box city. At least, I'll be prepared for shipping and wrapping Christmas presents this year.

How to get your 2 year old to take two baths per day

Part of Xander's treatment is 2 baths per day. While Xander loves baths, he sometimes just makes a big deal about getting into the bath in the first place.

Tonight's solution was to have him help give the dogs a shower. The dogs needed to be cleaned too because they can be carriers for infection. After a few minutes of seeing Copper get cleaned, Xander wanted the shower head for himself. Not only did he help get the dogs rinsed off, he also was very good about getting himself clean. Of course, during the whole process, I ended up soaked.

My whole life

A conversation during bath time:

Xander grabs my hand while Dolphin is putting on clean diaper on him
Dolphin: You need to hold mommy's hand while getting your diaper changed?
Xander: Yes, I do this my WHOLE LIFE.

Gee, I hope not!!!!

Need a chop

After a long day at the ER, Dolphin had the great idea of a picnic on the floor (so Xander wouldn't have to sit on his bottom). We picked up some Pei Wei.

After we started eating our Pei Wei dishes, Xander started complaining that he needed a "chop". We really sure what he wanted. After giving up on us understanding, he ran into the kitchen and started digging around in a drawer. We found out that, apparently, he wanted chopsticks.

We have a little trainer thingy that we can put on chop sticks to make it easier to learn. It's still not quite easy enough for Xander because our chop sticks are all really long. So, after a while of trying and failing, he asked us to "feed [him]" with the chopsticks. He thought it was just hilarious to eat rice with chopsticks, and laughed after every bite.

Future Director?

Xander made me some play food, asked me to eat it, and then insisted on taking a picture. I tried my best acting skills at fake eating plastic food while he snapped away. The camera angle is, um, very, um, artistic.

Why you can't trust 2 year old testimony

Today, we spent 6.5 hours in the Dell Children's Hospital emergency room. As we left, Xander said "I love this one. I love the hospital." Dolphin asked him in the car ride home what he did. Xander replied "Played toys." I'm thinking Xander's recollection might have been altered by the mind-altering drugs that he received.

The trip to the ER was all due to something that happened earlier in the week. We noticed a small bump on Xander's bottom. I tried putting various ointments on it, but it only got bigger. By Friday, it was clearly bothering Xander at every diaper change, and he would not sit down at all. So, this morning, I made an appointment at the after hours clinic.

The after hours doctor immediately said we needed to go the ER because Xander needed a procedure done on the bump as soon as possible. He recommended the Dell Children's hospital because they would know how to appropriately give pain medication as opposed to closer hospital.

We packed up a bag of toys and headed to the hospital. It was a typical hospital experience where 20 different people ask the same exact questions over again. We had to undress Xander 4 or 5 times to have various people poke at his bum.

After 4 hours of waiting around, they gave us the choice of putting Xander completely under for the procedure or giving him mild sedation. Going completely under seemed like overkill to me and it would have been an additional 4 hour wait. We opted for the mild sedation.

Xander was a very brave boy as they put the IV needles in. This is in part due to special numbing cream the nurses has put on, part of the special children's care offered as this hospital. He was really heart wrenching for him to go through the actual procedure, but it was good that we got to be with him the whole time.

He was a bit wonky as the pain meds wore off on the way home, but by the time we got him home, he was back to his normal self plus sore bum. We've got a lot of special care to do over the next few days. We've got medicine for everyone in the household (just the humans, I verified we didn't have to do the dogs, too). I hope this puts an end to his suffering.

Got name?

I think we've picked out a name for our daughter, which seemed like a lot harder task that picking out Xander's name. We're still going to wait until she is born to share. You never know...someone we know my use our name and then we'll have to pick another one.

To set aside "orca" fears, our little girl is going to have a pretty popular, common name. Just tonight, I just saw her name in a catalog selling personalized items for kids.

Anyway, here are some of the names that I kinda liked and Dolphin rejected:
Symphony
Serenity
Isabelle (Belle)
River
Sheridan
Willow
Wynne
Hazel
Cordelia
Corinne
Isadora
Veronica
Harmony
Meredith
Zella
Clarabelle (well, I liked it 'til I found out that its a cow name)
Arabella
Adele
Dove
Fern
Blanche
Brooke
Ainsley
Xanti
Blair
Rory
Bryony
Jewel

Come Inside It's Fun Inside

It's the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". That's the answer to the question of what is Xander's favorite TV show. He asks for it every day.

It's one of those shows that has fake interaction. The characters ask the audience a question, pause, and then respond as if the audience answered. Sometimes Xander participates in these fake conversations. His favorite parts of the show are the songs, especially the "Hot Dog" song. Why the Mickey Mouse Club sings about hot dogs on every episode is beyond me, but Xander loves to sing a long.

His favorite character on the show? It's Clarabelle the Cow. She's not on very many of the episodes as far as I can tell, but he sure asks for her a lot. "Where'd the cow go?"

In light of his appreciate for this show, I put a few Mickey Mouse Club books on his Christmas list this year. Some day, maybe he'll get to meet the Disney crew in person.