Being Sara

Zach, Xander and I had a great weekend. We did a little shopping, helped Zach move into his new office, and hung around the house. Xander was in a wonderful mood most of the time – put up with our endless search for Webkinz, and had us laughing our way through the days.

Zach taught Xander to “sneak” around the house. I’m still trying to catch it on video, and I promise to post it if I do. Xander crouches down and sort of duck walks around with this big grin on his face, like he’s all proud of how stealthy he’s being. You can’t help but laugh at him when you see it.

I taught Xander how to blow raspberries on Zach’s belly. Often in the evenings when I’m cooking dinner Zach and Xander will end up playing in the kitchen. Zach often ends up on the floor after Xander “tackles” him. Xander likes to lift up Zach’s shirt and tickle his belly (which is really just pinching, but the effort Xander puts in makes us laugh anyway, which makes Xander laugh). This weekend I taught Xander to blow raspberries on Zach’s belly as well. Of course, Xander can’t really blow raspberries, so he actually just kind of spits on Zach’s belly, which makes me giggle uncontrollably, so Xander laughs, and Zach groans about his icky wet belly. Then Xander slaps the spit, which makes me laugh harder, and the cycle continues.

When I worked at DCYF I met a 6-month old little girl who was always happy. It didn’t matter that her dad was a drug dealer, or that her mother liked to leave her parked in front of the television while she got high and passed out in the other room. This kid was always smiling. Even though her parents were a mess, she was perfect. She was one of those model kids that we see once in a while that makes us think “I want one of those”. Xander is not always this way, but this weekend, he was a model child. Happy all the time, laughing and giggling. He ate well, he slept well, he listened well. It reminded me of how lucky Zach and I really are – we’ve got a great kid!

parent, parents, parenting, toddler, kid, baby, mother, mothers, motherhood, development, happy child, happy kid, good times

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Xander decided last week that he no longer wanted to be carried outside – he wanted to walk on his own. If I attempt to carry him, he screams at the top of his lungs from point A to point B, and flops and wiggles, making it nearly impossible to not drop him.

This tactic was very effective in letting us know that he is a “big boy” and can walk on his own. So, we’ve started letting him walk to and from the car, into day care, into the house, into stores, etc. It takes us more than twice as long to get places, but Xander is having fun…

The only draw back is that Xander is so easily distracted, by a mound of snow, by a puddle, by almost anything he sees on the ground, so it’s a challenge to keep him walking in the right direction. Oh, and of course he thinks he’s way too big to actually hold someone’s hand while he’s walking, so that’s a constant struggle in a parking lot – grabbing his hand only to have him yank it back again. Often I just resort to holding onto his hood – at least I know he’s not going to dart in front of a car, and he gets to have his hands back. It’s all about compromise…

Very soon we are planning on converting Xander’s crib to a toddler bed – our boy is getting so big!!

toddler, parent, parenting, mother, mothers, motherhood, baby boy, growing boy, developmental milestones, walking, first steps, growing up

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I feel like following simple directions is a milestone in communication with your kid. For a while now Xander has been able to get his shoes and bring them to us so we can put them on. More recently, he has started following other instructions – please help me pick up your toys, please throw this away (that’s his favorite), please help me put these clothes into the dryer, etc. At day care last week they told me “Xander is so smart!” They were specifically referring to the fact that he follows their instructions as well. I imagine that any kid who is willing to pick up after himself would quickly become a favorite

Xander’s new thing is helping to clean – he loves to help clean the tray on his high chair. For about a month now he’s been pretty specific when he’s done eating – everything must be removed from the tray. If you’re paying attention, that’s great. He’ll pick up every left over piece of food (sometimes it takes a while if we’ve had rice…) and put it back into his bowl. If you’re not paying attention, it’s a little frustrating because everything he would have handed to you ends up on the floor…

Xander’s favorite thing to clean is his face (I think it’s because he’s hoping that if he cleans it, we won’t…) Recently he’s started a very cute new habit. He’ll climb up onto the couch, up onto the arm of the couch to get to the end table where we keep Kleenex. He takes one, “wipes” his nose (mostly pats it), then he climbs off the couch, walks into the kitchen and throws the Kleenex away. If we let him, he’d continue doing this until all of the Kleenexes were gone, so I usually hide the box after one trip. It’s pretty funny to watch the whole process, and I’m not sure where this neatness came from, but I’ll take it!

toddler, parent, parents, parenting, mother, mothers, motherhood, following direction, following instruction, development, child development, communication, milestones, developmental milestones

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Xander moved up to the toddler room at day care. There are 4 rooms there, classified by color. The yellow room is for babies, then the green room (where Xander is now) for toddlers. As they get a little bit older, and potentially potty trained, they move to the purple room, and then the oldest kids (just before kindergarten) are in the blue room. The move has been very gradual for Xander – he’s been playing in and eating in the green room for about a month. He was of course the oldest kid in the yellow room, and would often get bored in there with the younger children. Now he’s the youngest in the green room, but he has so much more fun in there – and of course this makes us remember how big he’s actually getting!

In passing a few of the day care providers have mentioned that Xander is a “star pupil”. He listens when they tell him “no”, and when it’s time to pick up, he is sometimes the only kid who will help (not sure why – at home he hardly ever helps…) At any rate, it’s quite the swell of pride one gets when they hear that their kid is doing well. I’d like to take credit for it, but Xander doesn’t exhibit that behavior at home – he doesn’t listen when I tell him “no” – unless I physically re-direct him while telling him. And he only picks up toys if it’s part of a game – lets put all the balls back into the bag, but when we’re done with that – he’ll want to dump them all out again. I am very proud of my son, but he’s definitely not the same kid at home that he is at day care!

child listening, child not listening, child not picking up, child picking up, day care, mother, motherhood, mothers, parent, parental pride, parenting, parents, personality differences, proud of child, toddler

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