Big Bro's room gets a makeover

Xander, quite possibly, has the most toys of any kid that I have ever seen. We have so many gifted and hand-me-down toys. It's insane and really a hazard! I've heard those stories of hoarders dying under piles of collapsed debris. I am choosing not to die by means of toy suffocation. So, while Xander was away at school one day, I went through all of his toys. Some, I moved to his sister's closet. Some are going to goodwill. I tried to organize and find storage spaces for everything else.

Here's the new Spiderman bed with the most favorite stuffed animals.

I put together this new closet organizer. I think Xander liked it because they have similiar storage at school. He even attempted to find the "right" place to put away some toys last night. It's hard to remember which space is for which toy so maybe I should label them with pictures.

So, wish us luck. Hopefully, we can keep this place clean and organized. That is a big wish, I know.

Baby girl's room is almost done

I feel like we got a lot accomplished over our holiday break. We're mostly done with preparing our little girl's room. I really think this bedding is beautiful. We still need to hang the valance and get a new pad for the changing table. Aside from that, I think we're good to go. The closet is full of all of Xander's old stuff plus a few new pink things.

I had contemplated getting chandelier for this room. I've seen them in some magazines for girl's rooms. I think a nice black chandelier with crystals would look pretty awesome. However, I think we're going to have to wait on that a while. I had no idea how much chandeliers cost, and I'm not feeling THAT great about the economy yet. For now, I'll keep on searching for a good deal on craigslist.

Twilight Turtle

So far, Twilight Turtle is a huge win. Xander received this preset from Mommy and Daddy this Christmas. I had found it online a few months ago and had almost bought him one for his birthday. He loves to put it into a dark room and look at the stars and moon.

Tonight, he wanted to have a Twilight Turtle bath. It's a very luxurious request, I suppose, for a starlit bath. While it was a little challenging for me to do his bath by starlight, he just loved it. I thought I was never going to get him out of the tub.

Wake up, Grandma Jo

We had a lovely visit from Grandma Jo for Christmas. Like most people that Xander doesn't see everyday, it took him a while to warm up to her. We knew that he had finally warmed up enough this morning when he woke her up super early. Usually, he reserves that lovely behavior for us.

Xander has become an EXPERT at waking people up. He yells "WAKE UP" over and over, pulls the blankets off, starts opening and closing doors to make loud noise, and turns on the light (we have one that has a remote he can reach). You would think we were super lazy parents or something, but he does all of this in a span of a few seconds.

Doggy interaction

Anyone who has been around Xander lately knows that he is SUPER bossy. He likes to tell everyone what to do including our dogs, Copper and Peanut. Occasionally, the dogs listen to him, but most of the time they only respond to Dolphin or me.

Most of Xander's bossiness is focused on Copper. I think this may be because Copper is a fairly well-trained dog so we are always telling her what to do. Peanut, on the other hand, is half-kitty and often ignores us. Bossing Peanut around is somewhat futile. At dinner time, Xander usually yells at Copper "out, out, out" at least once during the team to get her out of the kitchen.

I noticed that Xander is pretty good about making sure the dogs don't get accidentally shut into any rooms. He really likes to close doors, but he always makes sure to get the dogs out first. He yells at them "let's go" or "come on" and waits for them to exit.

He often plays with the dogs, but only on his terms. He loves to chase them when they have a toy or bone. However, the opposite is not allowed. He absolutely hates it when they chase him when he is running or carrying a treat. He loves to give them hugs, but they are not allowed to enter into his personal space with a head on the lap or snuggle up next to him.

I wonder if some of this is a preview of how Xander will interact with his sister. Will he be the bossy older brother? Will we be able to teach him to be gentle with her?

Potty training update

Well, it's entirely possible that Xander may learn to read before he is potty trained. OK, that's an exaggeration, but he is doing really well at recognizing letters. He can recognize the first letters of all the kids' names in his class at school. His potty training has taken a turn for the worse.

He went from a kid who would sit and go multiple times in a day to one who refuses to sit on the potty. I'm not certain where the set back came from, but it seems to align time-wise to the illness that resulted in his trip to the ER. Since then, he just doesn't want to do it even though he and we know that he can. That whole ER experience would make me not want to use the potty, too.

It's really not just the potty training, but diaper changing and hand washing are often a battle as well. Most of the time, I've gotten past the diaper battles by suggesting he bring some toys along. I have an idea on how to make hand washing more fun. I'm still looking for/pondering ideas for how to make the potty experience exciting again. If I can figure out the motivation factor, I think we'll be set.

I have hope though. I mean, he'll definitely be trained before he's a teenager. No teen wants to read his mom blogging about his potty habits, right?

Temporarily unbaby-proofed

Xander's not a baby. I mean in SO many ways. The least of which is that a lot of baby proofing stuff is unnecessary or ineffective.

This month, I finally took Dolphin's homemade baby proofing off our fireplace. He had basically taken clear packing tape and taped the doors shut. This was primarily to prevent Xander from getting pinched fingers from opening and closing the doors. Now, he's old enough that he listens when we tell him not to touch things. If he pinches his fingers now, it's a life lesson.

We have yet to burn a real fire in this fireplace. It's never been cold enough. I did light up some candles this month though.

Creativity

Xander is at such a creative and imaginative age. I love it! In this picture, he's making "begetable" (vegetable) soup. He dug up the vegetables, which were actually rocks, and put them into a bowl (really a deflated volley ball). Who needs fancy electronics or plastic when you have dirt and rocks?

He loves to play versions of chase where he pretends that monsters or bears are chasing him. He (and who ever he convinces to play with him) sneaks over to where the invisible beast is located and then runs away screaming. It's very good exercise for adults by the way.

Merry Christmas

Santa was very generous this year. It took us an hour and a half to open presents, and that was with me cracking the whip. Everyone enjoyed each present so much that we had a hard time moving on to the next. Some of the very favorite things Xander received this year:

Spiderman sheets and bed spread - which he loves
An Edible Arrangement - you know how much he loves fruit
Dancing Mickey - which is both cool, and a little scary
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters and book
Pretend doctor set - and he's treating everyone in the household, of course
Playdough - the largest collection of different colors we've EVER seen

We got him a whole bunch of new books. The books are also kind of gifts for mommy and daddy because we get tired of reading the same stories.

Merry Christmas Cuisine

Oh so stuffed! We started off Christmas Day with homemade cinnamon buns. I very loosely followed a recipe and they turned out great. It may have to be a new holiday tradition.

Then for our Christmas feast we made WAY too much food for 3 adults and 1 child. We had a Rudy's BBQ smoked turkey, asparagus Carprese salad (a Dolphin tradition), mashed potatoes, stuffing with pecans, gravy, and fresh cranberry sauce. Everything was really tasty and we have tons of leftovers. Xander just LOVED the gravy and kept asking for more. I finally had to cut him off so he would eat some of the other food.

It's a box

Xander opening his Dancing Mickey from Auntie Laura and Uncle Chris:


The box from Dolphin's present turned out to be pretty cool, too. It was so big that Xander put all of his toys into it and got inside with them. Then, he asked me to tape it shut with him inside. Tempting, but I wanted to spend the rest of Christmas with my little boy.

Christmas Eve Trees

We had a nice, quiet Christmas Eve. We finally made the Christmas Tree cupcake kit that Xander picked out from Target. It was a really strange kit. There was a frosting mix that required that we add butter, powdered sugar, and milk. If I can make frosting with those 3 ingredients, why do I need a mix? They were not works for art, but they did taste good.




In the evening, we loaded up the car for a tour of Christmas lights around our neighborhood. Our last stop was the Cedar Park Christmas tree. The tree is not the expected "cedar" but a gigantic live oak.

Austin Zoo in Winter

The last trip that we took to the Austin Zoo was back in early October, when it was still rather warm. Today, Grandma Jo, Xander, and I got to see what the Zoo is like in winter. It was a totally different experience.

First, all the animals were out and active. The last time we went, there were a lot of cages that just seemed empty. Is there really an animal in here? Not this time! With the nice cool weather and overcast skies, every single animal was out there. We even saw the prairie dogs and monkeys, which I've never seen on any previous visit because they are always hiding.

Xander still had a lot of fun this time feeding the animals. Although, he had an allergic reaction to something. I'm not really sure if it was an animal's saliva or the animal food, but he ended up with hives all over both arms up to his elbows. Oddly, even though they looked terrible, the hives didn't seem to bother him that much (no itching). Fortunately, they went away by the time we got home. Is there such a thing as llama allergy by any chance? We really should get him tested.

Early Christmas

We've been doing really good at waiting until Christmas to open presents. However, we decided to give Xander one of his presents early and then it turned into two. His new bed had arrived earlier in the week, and we had managed to keep it hidden in his sisters room ok.

However, this week, for some reason, he had taken to going to bed on the floor. So, we figured, if he really didn't like his toddler bed that much (that he preferred the floor), what a great time for the transition to the new bed. So, I kept Xander occupied while Daddy moved everything.

Xander's first reaction to the bed was one of excitement. He got his own stool so that he could climb up into himself. He was jumping on it, and excited to be almost able to reach the light switch. I showed him how we could read books on the bed together and how the dogs could get up the bed. We also piled all of his animals on the bed and was nice that there was still plenty of room.

Next, I went to go get some sheets to put on and realized that, unlike I had thought, I didn't have any twin size sheets in the linen closet. So, that is when present two came in. Sorry, Grandma and Grandpa, we had to open the spiderman sheets early. Xander was absolutely crazed about the Spiderman sheets. I could barely get them on fast enough for him. He had to show them off to Dolphin of course. The excitement of the Spiderman sheets made it a little hard to get him to sleep. He just kept sitting up, and looking down at the spiderman pictures and smiling.

I dared to sneak a picture after he had fallen asleep. I wasn't too brave or I would have gotten a better picture from a nosier, yet better low-light camera. He was happily snoring away finally. He's curled up with his banana that his cousin won for him at the Texas State Fair.



Hopefully, he continues to enjoy his new bed and sheets. For mommy and daddy, hopefully, we can hold of on Christmas just one more week.

More gingerbread

Well, not real gingerbread this time either. You might remember our previous attempt at a cookiebread house. This time, Xander's school holiday party had a graham cracker building activity. At first, the kids were totally into the crafty aspect. Them someone mentioned to the word "eat" and all of sudden they all realized that it was candy. It was quite a fun party.

I'm blaming pregnancy brain!

As I am about to enter into my 3rd trimester, I'm definitely feeling very pregnant. Some of the stranger things that have been happening:

- I crave hamburgers. I never eat them. I never crave them. Dolphin wondered if I had been attacked by body-snatchers. [BTW, so far this time, no craving for almond extract flavored food, which is the one that I had with Xander].

- I'm starting to forget random stuff. The other day, I couldn't remember where I had hidden some of the Christmas presents just 2 days after I had hid them. Doh! I eventually did find them for Xander's and Dolphin's sakes.

- My sleep schedule is all screwed up. I fall asleep early and get up early.

- I'm have lots of episodes of unusually intense emotions.

For the most part, I'm doing ok and not sick of being pregnant quite yet. I am guessing, I'll probably hit that in about 4-6 weeks.

Fast forward, mommy!

Uh-oh, Xander has figured out the whole concept of the DVR. We pre-record "Yo Gabba Gabba" for him. He only likes the parts of the show with the costumed characters though. When we get to one of the scenes with kids dancing or one of the psychedelic music videos, he always tells me "I don't like this one." So, I started fast-forwarding through those parts. Now, he's figured out he can just ask me to fast-forward. I didn't even have fast-forward when I was his age...such a lucky boy.

Cute stuff is hard to repeat

Sometimes it is just really hard to capture the cute things that Xander does. Today, he grabbed a plastic funnel out of the kitchen drawer. He ran around the house yelling into it like a bull horn "wake up, wake up, it's time to get up."

Later, I tried to get him to show Dolphin what he was doing with the funnel. Instead of repeating his cute little drill sergeant impersonation, Xander puts the funnel into a bottle and proceeds to actually demonstrate what a funnel is really used for. So much for cute tricks on demand.

Cute things Xander says

A conversation in the car this weekend:
Daddy (As we pass the Ferrari dealership): I'm sad. How come no one ever buys me a Ferrari for Christmas?
Mommy: Awwww...Poor daddy. [rolling eyes]
Xander: You need a hug, Daddy?


A conversation while playing with playdough:
Mommy(Straining to use one of the tools): Ehhhhhhh
Xander: It's OK, Mommy. You can do it. You're OK.
Mommy: Thanks for the words of encouragement, Xander.

Such a big boy

Xander is growing up so fast. Here are some of most recent milestones. Recently, Dolphin introduced him to taking showers. He absolutely loves them. Showers means more time for playing with toys and less time getting clean. They save a lot of time for Mommy and Daddy, too. Of course, baths with lots of bath toys are still fun, too.

This weekend, we picked out a twin bed for him. He's been doing pretty well in his converted crib toddler bed. Rather than buy another crib, we opted to move him up so the baby could use the crib. I was surprised to find it hard to find a good twin mattress on craigslist so we had to buy new. Maybe on the local college students snatched them up. We'll see how the transition goes. I have a feeling that the Spiderman sheets from Grandma and Grandpa are really going to help motivate him. Plus, we'll be able to actually read his bedtime stories while laying in bed with him, which we weren't able to do with the toddler bed.

One of the best pets in the world

Oh poor, poor, poor Peanut and what he puts up with. Really sometimes, I wish he wouldn't put up with it quite so well. The other best pet in the world is Copper who loves to play chase with Xander, and who diligently helps to clean up all of his food messes...sometimes before they even hit the ground.

Yo Gabba Gabba

This weekend, we took Xander to see the live "Yo Gabba Gabba" show. He spent most of the first half just staring. It was a lot of loud noise and bright lights to take in. After intermission, he seemed to loosen up an enjoy the show more.

As for me, I think most of the show was pretty annoying, but I really did enjoy Biz Markie's portion of the show. Not only did he do some really cool beats, but he did some cute stuff with the kids in the audience. He got the biggest cheers from the audience when he did a sample of his hit "Just a Friend."

Happy Feet

At Target, here is a picture Xander helping to feed a baby penguin. Last weekend, we took him to see a free showing "Happy Feet". He did pretty well. Since we went to the Alamo Drafthouse, there were lots of snacks to keep him busy. About half way through, he had to take a bathroom break, and he fell asleep during the last 20 min. He made a lot of commentary and asked a lot of questions during the movie. So, I'd say he's ok for kids shows but not ready for prime time movie watching yet. He would probably annoy other people in the theater way too much.

Checkmate

You have to start early if you want to beat the next generation super computers. Xander's strategy probably works better with humans. He sings "Old MacDonald" to distract his opponents.

Xander-made Christmas cards

This card will be going to one of Xander's teachers at school. He quite enjoyed making the card. When finished, he placed it under our Christmas tree. Hopefully, she will enjoy it at least as much as he enjoyed making it.

Advent update

Xander has been enjoying the advent calendar that I made for him. Each day, we start counting from 1 up to the day.

His favorite items out of the calendar have been the Spiderman temporary tatoos and dried fruit bars. Dolphin put on a couple of the tatoos on Xander's arms and I was just amazed at how long they lasted. I eventually had to scrub to get them off.

He's only tried to sneak a present out once and he was successful. I'm not really sure how he did it because it doesn't seem like he should be tall enough. He managed to get a match box car out of day 20. I guess day 20 will just be empty when we get to it.

Pink update

We just received these super cute booties and bonnet from Great Grandma Margie. Yay, pink! Aren't they so cute?

Grandma Carla also gave us some gigantic swaddling blankets with pink trim over the Thanksgiving holidays. Yay, more pink! These big blankets should come in handy if our little girl comes into this world near the size of her brother. Xander was big that it was hard to find blankets big enough to swaddle him.
Our little girl is doing well and measuring right on track so far. She has taken to some increasingly strong kicking. She is quite a mover, like her brother was, building muscles to take on the world.

Xander likes to talk a little bit about the baby in my belly. Sometimes he gives her kisses or hugs. Today, he used his toy thermometer to take her temperature and a toy stethoscope to listen to her. He decided she was sleeping because she was so quiet.

So much for Santa

My work hosted a holiday event for the kids this year with live music, bounce houses, food, petting zoo, and Santa. Xander was all smiles waiting in line for Santa, ready to ask for "lots of presents", which is what he told us.

The sight of Santa brought some dirty looks.

No sitting on Santa's lap this year, just standing next to him.

All fear vanished when we got to the petting zoo. He loved to pet all the animals.

More Xander Photograhy

I gave Xander free-range with the digital camera again. Here are some of his shots.



And my favorite...