Motivation

Oh how big brother always has the coolest toys. Perhaps, this will be the thing to get Aria moving.

'Speriment

Xander is just fascinated with water experiments, which he calls "Speriments." This is a picture of the first one that Daddy did with him. They put those milk storage bottles to scientific use by putting colored water and celery in them. He also has "pothesis" (Hypothesis) about what happens when you put drink flavor tablets into water. Almost every day at school, he comes home with some leaf or stick that he wants to put into water to see if it will grow.

Today, he was all upset because the bamboo shoot he put into a cup of water didn't grow all the way up to the ceiling. I told them that only magic beans or seeds did that. Of course, he wanted to know where to get magic seeds as I informed him they do not sell them at Target. I guess we'll have to keep an eye out for some magic beans. If only we had a cow to trade for them...

Pulling this way and that

Nothing like a big box of toys for motivating Aria to pull up. She's really starting to use her hands in an attempt to pull her self around. She oh so wants to be mobile, but just can't quite get it all figured out.

Finger Foods

Little Aria is starting to get better with finger foods. A good portion of them make it too her mouth and stay there. I have give her puffs (a little like soft cheerios) and little crumbs of whole wheat bread. It's entertainment and food all-in-one.

Halloween Preview

Xander wanted to decorate for Halloween. I couldn't find the store bought window stickers that we bought and used last year. So, we made our own. Pipe-cleaner webs, cotton ball ghosts, and a sheet of orange construction paper with stickers. They are "Thomas the Train" stickers so we're calling it a "haunted ghost train". Oooooooo...scary!



Dolphin and Xander were at Target and picked out this costume for the year. I'm a bit relieved it's not a super hero.

Who's the Boss?

Remember the old 80's sitcom starring Tony Danza and Judith Light? In the last couple of years, there is a remake of this sitcom called "Melissa & Joey", starting Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence. Both "Who's the Boss" and " "Melissa & Joey" are perfectly ridiculously predictable sitcoms. They are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. Sometimes predictable plot lines and stupid jokes are a nice alternative to the high-stress of my work day.

At home, we're having a bit of a "Who's the Boss" dilemma. Xander just loves telling everyone what to do. "Daddy, tell Mommy thank you for making dinner". "Mommy, you need to sit in that seat and eat your food." "Aria, hold on to this toy." It's a never ending stream of demands.

I find myself saying too often "I don't take orders from you. I'm the mommy! Mommy's tell kids what to do. That's how it works."

Show and Tell

When Xander was in the 2 year old class, Show-and-Tell was much more simple. Usually, there was a theme: something round, something red, etc. However, his current pre-school leaves Show-and-Tell completely open. Xander has a lot of stuff for his short 3 year lifespan, and that means a lot of choices.

Some of the things he has brought thus far:
His turtle nightlight
Talking Buzz Lightyear
Talking Spiderman
Talking Thomas and Percy
His talking alarm clock
His musical birthday card from Grandma Jo
His quilt from Grandma Carla

Everything on the list is electronic and makes noise save the quilt. Poor, poor, teachers. I really wish we could convince him to bring a stuffed animal or a book, but these things above are the things he likes.

VW

We decided to check out a new park and ended up running into a VW classic car show. Bugs and busses were all over the place. Aria wants this one except she wants it fully converted to solar.

No pictures please

Xander is a mixed bag when it comes to getting his picture taken. Most of the time, like in this video, he doesn't want to be caught on film. If you haven't seen a lot of pictures of Xander on the blog lately, it's not due to my lack of trying to capture his cute face.

Fall

Finally, fall is upon us. The weather is no longer blistering and has cooled down to near perfect. While my work continues to threaten to make everyone work through Thanksgiving and Christmas, we managed to get some time this weekend to enjoy the weather. We spent some time at a nearby park shaded by very, very old live oaks. It was fabulous for both kids. Aria had her first experience with a swing, and Xander has his first successful (yet assisted) flip on the monkey bars.