Being Sara

This morning and yesterday morning Parker and Xander have ended up on the couch watching a few moments of Little Einsteins.  I assumed that Parker, in his post-sleep stupor was mostly vegging out on the couch with a bottle, which for a few crazy moments in the morning is just fine with me.

This morning though, while I was trying to talk Xander out of his pajamas and into his clothes, Parker raised both hands over his head.  I thought, “hmm, that’s a little random” but when I turned around to see what he was looking at, it wasn’t random at all – he was following the directions.  In every single Little Einsteins episode (I say this with confidence because I have seen every single episode) when they take off in Rocket the have this little take-off routine that they want your help doing, and the routine ends with “blast off” and hands over your head.

I don’t know when I missed that, but apparently Parker is perfectly able and willing to follow directions these days – I guess I’m going to have to start giving some!

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For about a week and a half after I returned from my conference Xander was all about Mommy.  Mommy needed to help him with everything, and play with him, and read him books, and help him get dressed, etc.  And I was happy to help – I had missed it for a week!  During all this time we were spending together, Xander was incredibly sweet to me.  One morning as we were all getting ready to go to work/day care, Xander ran upstairs to get the pillow from his bed.  I helped him carry it downstairs, and then tried to get him settled on the couch to watch an episode of Little Einsteins while I showered (yes, we use the tv as a babysitter on occasion).  Xander asked me to sit with him, and I was about to protest when he told me “I got this pillow for you Mama, for your back” (I don’t have back problems, but the thoughtfulness was great)! How could I say no?  So I sat and cuddled my little boy for a few minutes, and then with some hesitation, got up to take a shower.  Xander was also eating a few coco puffs that morning (a special treat for staying in his big boy bed all night).  As I got up to leave, he told me, “I save some coco puffs for you Mama” – again with the sweetness that could melt your heart.

We’ve since settled back into our typical toddler power struggles, but I really, really did enjoy that sweet cooperative boy while he lasted!

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I swear we really don’t watch much television with Xander.  Parker only catches glimpses every now and then – we’re still trying to limit his viewing intake before he hits two.  With Xander, he often watches one episode of Little Einsteins or My Friends Tigger and Pooh while Zach and I are getting ready for work.  Depending on what is going on after work (grocery shopping, baths, dinner prep, etc.) he might watch 1/2 an hour or so of a movie (he’s been really into Monster’s Inc. lately), but many nights he gets distracted playing outside, or with toys inside and we don’t turn on the television at all.  As a baby, Xander loved to chew on the remote (I think he liked the feeling of the rubbery buttons) and for a while he insisted on “helping” us start whatever show we were playing from the DVR list, but he hasn’t asked to do that in months.

So last week when we told Xander it was time to get dressed and he responded, “Ok, I pause it” and then picked up the remote control and paused Little Einsteins we were a bit shocked.  The following day Zach left him watching Tigger and Pooh.  When he returned, it Xander wasn’t watching it anymore.  Zach asked him what happened to Tigger and Pooh and Xander responded “I stopped it, I’m watching Handy Manny“.  Apparently it’s time to set up the parental controls on the television…

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Xander in his castle

So, this happened just before Halloween, but I got so distracted by Xander’s recent fears that I decided to put off the post about his tumble.  However, it was rather monumental as far as tumbles go, and in the interest of keeping a relatively accurate account of Xander’s life, I didn’t want to miss it completely.

We have a pretty solid morning routine.  I get up first and get ready for work.  About that time, Xander wakes up and watches a cartoon in bed with Zach (lately he’s been addicted to Little Einsteins).  When I’m done getting myself ready, I retrieve Xander, and we go downstairs, make his chocolate milk (another recent addiction – we’ve resorted to Ovaltine to at least add a few vitamins in the mix…), and then change his diaper and get him ready for the day.  Once Xander is done, he helps me wake up Dad, and then we finish his cartoon on the couch while Zach gets ready for work.  Then we all pile in the car and I drop everyone off before arriving at work myself.

For a few mornings prior to the big fall, Xander had been asking to turn on the light at the top of the stairs (as with most stairwells, there is a light switch at the top and bottom, and Xander likes to flip them both).  Given his recent fears, I’d been indulging this request, and lifting him up to turn on the light.

This particular morning, he told me wanted to turn on the light, so I paused at the top of the stairs to pick him up.  He must have changed his mind, because he started walking down the stairs in front of me.  I should mention that Xander has been walking up and down stairs since about 16 months – we removed the gate from the stairs and allowed him to do this by himself around 18 months.  So, walking down the stairs is not usually a big deal.  However, since Xander also recently became convinced that “bad guys” are going to get his feet when he sleeps, he’s been wearing socks to bed.  The combination of sleepy, and stocking feet and dark were apparently too much that morning, because about the third stair down Xander slipped.

It was a bit of a slow motion moment.  I remember reaching out for him, and thinking I could almost catch a limb, but then wondering if pulling on a limb would be worse – dislocating it, etc.  At that point, he somehow twisted sideways, and his poor little body flopped down the rest of the stairs.  When he finally reached the bottom, his head smacked hard against the wood floor.

I of course flew down the stairs and scooped him up, and the comotion brought Zach out of bed in a hurry as well.  Xander cried for a few minutes, probably both scared and sore.  I felt awful – I should have been in front of him walking down the stairs, not behind.  I’m sure at some point this fall was bound to happen, but I still feel terrible that it happened on my watch.

Luckily, Xander seemed fine.  He had a small scrape on his knuckle, a bruise on his side, and a lump on his head.  He mentioned bumping his head several more times that morning, and again in the evening.  We of course let his day care know so they could keep an eye on him during the day to make sure there wasn’t some sort of more serious hidden injury.  He was fine, but that image of his little body tumbling down the stairs is one that I have not been able to shake…

On a more positive note, Xander got his flu shot this week.  He was amazing!  He sat in his own chair (didn’t want to sit on my lap), cried for maybe 30 seconds after he got the shot, then hopped off the chair and was ready to go.  We didn’t have any pacifiers with us, so he didn’t use one of those, and he didn’t ask for a hug from me when it was over, he just held his Curious George stuffed animal, and apparently that was enough.  What a tough little guy!

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I try very hard not to be one of those parents who brags about their kid all the time. I don’t think I’ve ever said “Xander said/did the cutest thing…” Zach and I of course agree that our son is the cutest, most adorable, smartest kid in the universe, but we don’t ever push this theory onto others.

That being said, I’ve been so impressed with his speech lately! At our last doctor visit, he said that as long as Xander could string 2 words together by the time he is two, then they won’t be worried about his speech. Well Xander is already stringing 3 or 4 words together. Granted, it is in Xander-ese, so for people who don’t live with the little native, it sometimes takes a little interpretation. For example, “a squirrel go?” really means “where did the squirrel go?” or “a Grandpa no working” really means “Grandpa, no more working!” He has the two word commands down though – “Dada, sit!” “Momma, eat!” “Ready, go!” For the most part, the words that he does say are pretty intelligible. Though there are times when we just have no clue what he’s trying to tell us, and we can see that it frustrates him.

He’s also quite good at identifying animals (and the noises each animal makes) – not with any detail, he couldn’t tell you the difference between a Sperm Whale and a Killer Whale, but he can tell you that they are both whales. What impressed my mother-in-law (the third grade teacher in the family) the most is that he is starting to identify emotions in books. When he sees a character looking sad, he gets upset, says uh oh, and seems to want us to “fix” the sad person. I’m not sure when that empathy thing is supposed to start, but Xander is well on his way.

The only drawback at this point is that he sometimes still uses a pacifier. Mostly when he sleeps, and sometimes if we’re watching a cartoon (he’s only got three available to him – Curious George, Little Einsteins or Phineas and Ferb). However, once the new baby arrives, if he or she also uses a pacifier, I can imagine that Xander might regress a bit with his pacifier use, which would bother me a little bit, as at that point it may actually start to interfere with his speech development. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes… So that’s it for bragging, but every parent has to brag once in a while, right?

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