Not afraid of storms

Xander is not afraid of storms. You think he would be after going through the hail storm that he and I went through last year while driving. We had a nice, brief storm today at dinner time. Daddy explained what thunder was. Xander thought it was really cool and kept asking for more to hear it again.

Elmo's tired

From his Auntie and Uncle, Xander has a talking Elmo toy. It talks, dances, tells stories. It has an automatic timer in it to conserve batteries. If you don't play with it for a while, Elmo makes a yawning sounds and announces (in his referring to himself in the 3rd person way) that he is going to take a nap.

When Elmo made his nap announcement today, Xander put a little stuffed dog into Elmo's arms and put a blanket it on him. That's what all the kids at school get when it is nap time, their stuffed toys and blankies.

The things kids learn in school these days

It was a hot day today in Austin. The temp was in the 90s, which is about normal for this time of year. At school, Xander's teacher told me that she had poured some water on him too keep cool while they were out on the play ground. Xander loved it of course.

After hearing that story, I should have expected what happened tonight during his bath. He took a 16oz full cup of water and poured it on me. I sitting at the side of the tub, but turned away to pet Coppper. That's when he got me.

Incapable of empathy

I read somewhere recently that people are not capable of empathy until about 6 years of age. I think we had a good demonstration of that this morning. Today, I woke up very ill. I had a headache and nausea. At one point, I had to use the bathroom to throw up. Xander followed me in (no privacy in this house), and was literally laughing at me. Apparently, seeing his mom throw up is the most hilarious thing ever. So, there you go...toddlers have no empathy.

I'd almost say that my dogs have more empathy than Xander right now. My dogs may not actually be empathetic, but at least they are nice to me if I'm sick. Nothing like a big furry dog to cuddle up to when you are not feeling well.

Oh...I thought I'd add one more aspect to this story. Apparently, a lot of the adults that I work with are not particularly empathetic either. I made the mistake of getting online to our internal chat system. Instantly, I received several chat messages of "I know you are sick, but..." Sigh...I guess some people never grow up.

Cleaning machinery

Xander's favorite toy this week is our Bissell Spotbot. As soon as we get home from being out, he runs to the closet where it is stored. I suppose it is sort of cool. It's got water, noise, movement, and buttons. What more could you ask for in a toy!

He likes the regular vacuum as well. Although, he wants to push it around and gets easily frustrated that it is too heavy for him. I'm fairly certain that he won't settle for a toy vacuum, unless it is exactly like the real thing.

Dirt, trucks, and defiance

Today, I explained to Xander that dump trucks carry around dirt, rocks, or other things in the back and them dump them out. That inspired him to take the truck outside and put dirt and rocks in it. At least, this time, he kept the mess outside.

Earlier in the day, he was taking handfuls of dirt, putting his hand inside the doggy door, and dropping the dirt on the carpet. When I told him "no, no, dirt is for outside," he just laughed and did it again. I eventually closed the doggy door to get him to stop.

This laughing while testing limits is a new things. Just this week, he has started laughing when we say "no" or tell him not to do something. He'll stare directly at us and then doing whatever it is again while smiling. It's quite possible that I have "The Omen" child. I still love him though even if he is the devil incarnate. He better hope he stays this cute though.

Happy Mother's Day

Here is a gift from Xander for Mother's Day this year. He decorated it himself. Thank you, my sweet boy!

Growing Vegatable Soup

We picked up Growing Vegetable Soup
at a used bookstore a few months ago. It's one that Xander has enjoyed many times. He particularly enjoys the cooking part of the story where the harvested vegetables are turned in to soup. He has quite an interest in cooking. He enjoys playing with the home center at school, his play kitchen at home, and everything in our real kitchen. He's always dragging a chair up to the counter to get a good look at what we're doing.

Splash pad

We had a blast again at the Brushy Creek splash pad today. It was crowded with tons of kids. Xander had a good time running around and getting wet.



In the clip above, Xander didn't think it was nearly as funny as I did, but he got over it really fast.

Practicing for a sibling