Two and a half

If I could tell you the half of it...

I love this little boy, even with the frustrations of twoness that are added by default

Xavi Speak:
phome = phone
circup = circle
spoom  = spoon
ah = the
ah wacum = you're welcome
What's  'at soun? = what's that sound? - when he hears anything he doesn't know or just to confirm what he already knows

He's such the talker now. Full sentences, the whole bit.
He'll tell you his name, age and birthday and we're working on spelling his name.
Colors are another thing....he knows pink for sure :/

He likes to sing and dance.  You can find him singing songs on his own now
Backyardigans is right up his alley

We are not potty trained though he still likes to go. Just no awareness otherwise. Evidenced by pooping on the floor last weekend during a naked morning - " Look mommy! Xavier poop on ah floor!"

He sleeps all night maybe 4 nights a week. Still in a crib thank goodness
He puts himself to sleep
This transition has been pretty seamless.
I pray with him each night, sometimes sing, but mostly just play music for him...which he sets up on the iPad himself now...lol

He started a swim classes at the beginning of the month, this week is the last week. It's gone pretty well..he's not as afraid of getting his face wet though he still requests "no eyes, mommy!" when he doesn't want to get his face wet

Enjoys fresh/ dried fruits, pizza, chicken fingers, some Indian foods, most veggies, grilled cheese
Happily drinks water and milk with occasional juice
Does not like macaroni and cheese, tacos, spaghetti, burgers

Growing and thriving in daycare
Sweet and polite, remembers his please and thank yous
Says bless you for any cough or sneeze
Currently fascinated with hiccups
No problems making friends wherever he goes

23 months

This kid!
We've moved into not-always-terrible twos quite smoothy!
He's quite the opinionated one right now. He tells you where he wants to go, what he wants to do and when he wants to stop. At times he is quite the handful. When he gets upset (which is for almost anything now - google "why my son is crying" and those pics pretty much sum up our life) he lies out in the floor and throws a tantrum.  Such a frustrating thing really, especially because you want to avoid being those parents. And we try to avoid the physical punishment route so we go for time-outs. It works most of the time. There's definitely a lot of patience required in raising a toddler, especially one as active as ours.

              


He's in daycare again, as of November. It was a huge adjustment for him this time. It took approx 3 weeks for him to get used to being left and enjoying himself while there. He was there for a week and the teacher was saying she didn't know he smiled. He was so traumatized. But we're hoping to move him to a different school soon...somewhere he can learn instead of just being kept.

He hasn't been to the doc in a while...so my guess is:
Ht: 32
Wt: 26.5 lbs
wears: size 18mo-24mo
favorites: fruit - anything, veggie - green beans, carrots & broccoli, tv show - Sofia the First

Sleeping: we're pretty much in the same boat as before. We're staying with my aunt's now so he's still sleeping in the room with us. We have some nights of sleeping all night but other times he wakes up and finishes the night in our bed. This too shall pass... he'll have his own room soon!
Eating: eats pretty much everything, though he has moments where he doesn't eat what he usually likes. He's a huge fan of fruits and veggies, which I'm quite proud of. wEats chicken, and likes sausage.  Overall a great eater which is a huge blessing!
Accomplishments: running, learning to jump, and LOTS of talking. He's starting with the "why?" which is somewhat amusing because I think it's reflexive and he doesn't really care why. His favorite phrase this past month is "Ewwwwww, gwooooooss" which is the most hilarious thing you've ever heard. He's also a little cleaner which I've decided is God's blessing to me to counteract his dad's messiness. As soon as there is a spill he's asking for a "tow" (paper towel) to clean it up. His favorite Christmas gift was his own broom and dust pan, haha! And still no potty training. We tried like 20 months while I was home with him but he didn't care when he was wet so it was kinda moot trying. Daycare will be teaching him soon!

I pray we can control this little ball of energy to allow him to be someone great, a man who loves the Lord. I pray he finds his gift and that we can help him cultivate it. It is definitely a joy and journey watching him grow!

New news

Let me tell you about this kid! A lot has changed in the last 10 months or so.
Eating - He pretty much eats everything. He absolutely loves fruit, especially blueberries. It's guaranteed that he'll eat that if nothing else. But he also eats a variety of vegetables. He enjoys avocado but does not like uncooked tomatoes. He'll definitely try most things at least once. I'm enjoying this while it lasts because I know it'll change as he gets older.

Sleeping - how things have changed since my last post. He used to be a great sleeper, going down by 7, with no peep until 6. Now he wakes up occasionally, wanting to be rocked back to sleep! And we oblige lest he keeps us all up since he still sleeps 2 ft from me. Either we rock him or *gasp* he ends up in our bed snuggled next to me [and kicking his dad out]. I know we need to stop this but it's a hard habit to break considering our sleeping arrangements. Not looking forward to weaning this when we move. 

Accomplishments - Talking talking talking! Running and climbing. More talking!  He says at least fifty words if not more. I'm pretty sure he's saying a couple sentences too. He knows how old he is. He signs only milk, more and please. We're dabbling in potty training. He's peed in the toilet maybe 5-6 times.  If it happens, it's fine. If not, it's fine too. He knows sounds that dog, cow, duck, horse and sheep make. He almost knows them all on sight. 

New friends - He had one friend at daycare named Toni who was his age. They were cute little buddies in crime. Lately Daddy has been his friend as well as Nate but not much socializing with friends since he left daycare when school ended. Soon to change when we head closer to home!  He is starting to show some love to his stuffed lamb (who I started cashing baby sheep" and his bear from Granddaddy.

Some old news

I started this last November...here you go

*wipes dust from ipad*
We'll hello...
Time for an update, no?

Our little Gator - 7 months. This was taken the first day of the season. He still loved screaming at that time. Haha! We're still working on learning the Gator chomp :) Started daycare after a summer home with Daddy. Not caring to eat much...but learning to hold his bottle on his own.  Sleeps through the night like a pro. Smiles all the time :)

Look at this kid! Sitting up like a champ, no crawling just yet. He's a sweet boy, alert, talking a lot. He says da-da, ba-ba but no ma-ma at all. So we're working on signing it. I'm hopeful. He laughs at me when I do it. Sigh. 20.5 lbs, 28 inches. Wearing size 9-12 months. Eating pretty much everything. 

4 months...ch-ch-ch-changes!

 My 4 month old prince!
What a ham he is...
Definitely the most fun month yet....
He's such a good baby, sitting quietly when we visit with others. The babysitter is so happy at how sweet he is, especially when she has to run errands and he goes along. He just sits and observes all that's going on, making only a few appropriate-for-baby peeps. Everyone is always very impressed. He's a happy baby who laughs and smiles alllll the time. He only cries when hungry, overtired, or wants to be picked up. He drools all the time too...maybe teething? But he's been drooling since we brought him home from the hospital so maybe not...



Height: 24.5"
Weight: 15 whopping lbs - you can still wear mostly 3 month clothes though

1st time in the bumbo (baby seat)

Sleeping: No more sleeping through the night...but you are spacing out to every 4-5 hours, which means waking up around 12 or 1am, and at 5 or 6am. This is do-able. Though I do have friends whose little ones are much younger and they are already sleeping through. We push on. My saving grace is your ability to always go back to sleep. We are grateful for these little things. You're mostly getting up to eat (at least I am getting up and feeding you) but I do wonder if you reeeeeally need to eat or just want to cuddle. Sometimes as soon as I pick you up you go RIGHT back to sleep on my shoulder. It's kinda sweet that you just need a snuggle, though tiring if you do this more than once in the night...which happened two or three times. Some say I should let you learn to put yourself back to sleep. I try this. Daddy does not like it when you cry. Plus it's harder when you're sleeping right next to us. I am confident that me picking you up and holding you til you go back to sleep will not scar you for life. You will not be doing this when you're 14.

Eating: ahh the 4th month...usually people start cereals and whatnot but I still see you as my little babe and cannot imagine you being big enough for food yet. You are noticing us eating however so maybe there is some interest on your part. You're growing just fine, so I'm content with just liquid food for now (still pumping though your getting more formula than milk from me. I am okay with this.)

New discoveries: 1)Everything! You're much more alert now. We went outside to walk Nate and you just starting at the trees blowing in the wind. I realize now just how fascinating it must be for you...to see these super tall things towering overhead, moving on their own. Everything is new. 2) your feet...we see you staring at them...I'm sure they'll make it to your mouth soon! 3) your voice. You like to scream. Just for the heck of it. Not mad-screaming but just yelling to hear yourself yell. It's...sometimes cute but you're getting pretty loud....How do you shush a 4 month old?

reading with Daddy

Accomplishments: Still no rolling over yet. But you hold your head up quite well and you're learning to transfer things from one hand to another. You're also learning sign language from me - so far we're working on milk, mommy and daddy. You seem to understand the milk sign though you haven't repeated it really yourself.

Places I went: no where out of state...or town for that matter. Just a busy month. Though you did make a few stops with the babysitter to gymnastic practices, girl scout promotions, 5th grade/8th grade/residency graduations. You're not so bad to travel with so far.

3 months...

Sooooo I wrote a really long post about how awesome he was at 3 months and I come back to find out it never posted...so this is a slightly abridged version of all of his 3 month awesomeness

Height: 23"
Weight: 13lbs 10 oz!
Sleeping patterns: you started out your 3rd month sleeping through the night. As in sleeping from 9pm-7am. I was ecstatic as I'd JUST started back to work and the next day you were sleeping through. Simply amazing. However! This must have just been a growth spurt thing because you went back to waking every 3-4 hours to eat a few days later. *sigh* But you've always gone right back to sleep so I didn't mind as much. Work in progress...

Eating: still nursing...now I'm pumping...There were grand plans to pump at work and nurse at home but gosh it's hard pumping and working as a resident of a small residency. It was just hard to keep up every 3 hours. So we started supplementing with formula toward the end of the month... You took this well, though I didn't as much. I refused to be the one feeding you a bottle of formula and nursed you as much as I could when at home.

New discoveries: your hands/especially your thumb...I think that was the source of those few nights of long sleep. You'd fuss a little then pop you thumb in your mouth and then ::silence::  =)

Accomplishments: reaching for things/holding toys

Places: You started staying with a babysitter this month. I was nervous about the whole thing...but even more nervous about daycare so we decided to have a sitter, at least until summer time.

New friends: your big cousins - Reed, Sanaa and Kam. Pastor Cowart - who came for a visit one day [one of the greatest feelings was having Pastor Coward pray for you the night before he left. It was a such a blessing to hear those words spoken over you. You are a much loved child]. Babysitter Cassandra and her kids Dylan and Courtney

Xavier's Photo Book

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