Birthday Toys

This first one is from mommy and daddy. It's a serious of fold up rooms and tunnels that connect together. Xander's already ventured through it a few times,. It is nice that it folds up into a small little bag.

Dolphin seems to have found another use...perhaps a Halloween costume.


In this next picture, you see a mouse and keyboard from G-Jo. We plugged the mouse in and it lights up...way cool! The puzzle is from Grandma and Grandpa T. Xander likes to point at the all the animals as I saw the names. Sometimes, he tries to say the animals, too.


Xander also got a cool dress play pirate doll, books, a shape puzzle, crayon holders and big paper to draw on, money, and a cool toy that comes with a hammer (watch out, Copper & Peanut!). He opened all his presents in his birthday suit...why not? He really wasn't as in to the paper as as we thought he would be. It might be because he has already been there, done that with packages that mommy and daddy have received in the mail.

12 tooth

Xander's 12th tooth, and 4th molar is coming in. He was in such a poor mood today, whiny, whiny, whiny. All he wanted was to nurse and be held by mommy...oh, and occasionally bite mommy while nursing...ugh. Anyhow, the teething gel worked for like 15 minutes as do teether toys. I think we're just going to have to suffer another day or two of this. Then, hopefully, he will back to his normal chipper self.

He did have fun today playing with some of his birthday presents. He also wore a new shirt that he received from G-Jo. I think it is pretty funny. She found this at Think Geek....I love that store.

FRONT


BACK

Happy Birthday, Xander!

Strange potty behavior

The past two days, Xander has had some strange behavior. After his bath, he kind of plays around in the bath tub for a while and doesn't want to get out. Then, while he is in a squatting position, he does a #2. Besides being really eww, I am wondering if this is just a timing thing or something else. I don't think he is ready for potty training, but if he keeps doing this, I might try sitting him on a potty or something..."capture the behavior" if you will. I don't exactly want him to associate the tub as THE place to go. I suppose that I should be happy that he is doing it in the correct room of the house.

MORE!

Xander appropriately used the sign for "more" today. We were sitting in the living room and he noticed a little plastic container of yogurt bites. These are one of his favorite treats. He will eat them even if he is not hungry for anything else. He signed more to me and then I gave him one. He was so happy that it worked. We've been practicing more for a LONG time so I was so excited to see him use it finally.

One thing I wonder about is if he knows the general meaning of "more". It's one thing to know that "more" applies to food, but does he know that "more" can be used generally. That still remains to be seen.

He's also previously used the sign for milk, but I realized that he was using kind of for the wrong thing. At day care, they always give the older kids solids first then a bottle. The older kids sign for when they want the bottle and they get to leave the table to drink it. Xander associated the sign with leaving the table instead of the bottle. So, he used to always sign milk to me when he wanted out of the high-chair.

So, anyhow, he's not an English scholar yet, but my little boy is definitely communicating more and it is SO exciting!

New car seat

Xander's testing out his new, big boy car seat! Doesn't he look so grown up! Next, he'll be driving. BTW, he absolutely loves sitting in the front seat and playing with the turn signal and windshield wipers.

Possible reaction to cow's milk

Xander got his second introduction of cow's milk today at school mixed with his usual breast milk. By the time that I picked him up, I noticed a red rash around his neck. Two weeks ago, a sub teacher accidentally gave him straight whole milk one day. That day, he had an even worse rash on his neck. I think it might be an allergic reaction. I'm going to have to check with his doctor next week.

He's been fine with cow's milk cheese of which he eats some almost every day. He's also been fine with whipped cream and milk-based forumla. So, hopefully, this is just a mild thing.

Sneaky, sneaky

This little boy just found some of his birthday presents. I guess I didn't put them up quite high enough! He tried to unwrap one of them. Not yet, buddy!

He did enjoy riding around the wrapping paper tube like a horse. It was really cute. He also tried to use the paper tube to get to stuff that he normally cannot reach...smart boy!

Utensil Mania

Xander is totally into utensils this week. He likes to have a utensil in his hand even if he isn't using it. In fact, he threw a fit at a restaurant last night until he could hold my fork and eat off my plate. (He liked the salad BTW.)

He also practiced eating with a spoon this afternoon. He had pulled a plastic spoon and a small lid out of the kitchen. He sat scooping some air into his mouth. He flipped the spoon over in his mouth just like he does when he uses it to eat.

Birthday Shopping

We went shopping for Xander's birthday present today...with Xander. I think it will still be a surprise for him. Anyhow, while Dolphin was paying, Xander and I checked out some things at the front of the store. There was this little tricycle that he tried pushing around. It was SO tiny. Then, I sat him in this firetruck in the front. I didn't have quarters to turn it on, but it was still fun.

BTW, we ended up getting Xander this fold up fort set. It is made up of tunnels and rooms that he can crawl in. I hope he likes it.