A Christmas Gift

This is the story of a boy and his Christmas gift. This year he had been mostly good, except for the biting, occasional hair pulling and some holding of his breath while shaking with anger. For Christmas he received a small table and chairs in bright and lovely colors. We could say it came from Santa, but some of us haven't decided if that will cause irreparable damage to Xavier's ability to trust his parents...or screw him up in other ways. Ok, Ok, it came from Santa or maybe the Three Kings or both...

Anyway, he loved it and sat at his table often. He read with his mother and his bear while sitting at the table. He tried to climb the table (of course) and even hugged his bear there.

Then one day his evil step aunt (ok, not really step or evil, just his tia Lala) came over to his table and dared to touch it with her foot!

Then it was on! That's his "it's on" face. Lala knows it well.

Then she left and he lived happily ever after...for about 5 minutes...til she came back! Then they hugged and made up, but I didn't catch that on film...SORRY!

15 Month Stats

Xavier got two shots and a "he looks good" stamp of approval from his pediatrician today.

The stats are:

Weight: 24 lbs (50th percentile)
Height: 32 inches (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 49 cm (95th percentile)

PS The doc told us that these are Xavier's last shots until he is 4!!! Yippee!

Navidad numero DOS (X-mas #2)

And Xavier has a fever and a cold. This hasn't stopped him from checking out the presents at his abuelos house. He sat among them and wowed. That is really getting old...I am trying to get him to say something else. He loved opening all his presents and there were MANY! I'll take pictures of him using some in the next few days.Xavier tries to run off with some that are not his... A new coat and shoes that were supposed to be presents, but his old ones didn't fit anymore.
Tomorrow he has his 15 month weigh in (a little late, more like 15.5 months), I will post results.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas #1

Christmas with oma and grampa was so fun. Xavier got some noisy toys, we are so happy about that, and some not so noisy ones too. He said wowowowowowow as he came down the stairs and saw the tree... Xavier knew exactly what to do with his presents and opened them with little prompting.

First, a puppy that barks and pants...

Then a train from the Black Forest in Germany....

A book and a sweatshirt from tante and uncle Meyers in Arizona...

Then Xavier had to make many trips up and down the stairs...

Adventures in the Adirondacks, part 2

Too much to see and do...just around the corner there are some friendly sheep and a llama...but around the other corner we found some horses and steer (Xavier attempts to moo for the first time). Another day we drive out to see buffalo. Yesterday we went to town and wowed (surprise) over a waterfall and threw rocks off a covered bridge.

Adventures in the Adirondacks

Xavier is indeed having many adventures here and going through some changes. He's either teething or upset about sleeping in a new crib (or excited by his new surroundings) 'cause he's not sleeping so well. He is so excited by the sights and people that he's talking a mile a minute...mostly some strange language we can't understand, but recently more distinct words...(must be the age, all his friends seem to be having jumps in vocabulary) (I'll post more about his new words later) I think he is saying a lot about the outdoors because he is really loving being out in the North Country. It helps that we are having (scary) warm weather. Please note the new scarf, knit by his tia Lala!

Unfortunately, no sledding for Xavier this Christmas...unless we get some white stuff in the next few days. We did get to see some friends. Alaina and her parents are nearby and we finally met Laina after only seeing pictures of her for the last year. They liked each other but aren't fans of sharing with each other. Xavier likes their goldfish (the kind that swim not the kind he eats, though he loves those too and recognizes them in the store - oh the fun). Lots of "oh wows" for them...after climbing on the coffee table to get a closer look. By the way, it wasn't easy carrying these two squirmers.



My sister, tia Lala, and her friend Kris also came for a visit from nearby VT and came along to look for a tree. I think Xavier was amazed and looked on as gramps cut down our favorite. Kris and Lala got some great pictures, which I hope they send copies of! Here's what I got...

Later we trimmed the tree, though Xavi mostly took the same two ornaments and yanked them off and tried to put them back on....over and over.

Stay tuned for pictures from Christmas #1!

Ready for Travel

Our day began with an attempt for an early nap...that didn't end so well. When we heard Xavier babbling to himself followed by a loud thump, we both knew what had happened. He had finally figured out how to climb out of his crib!!! A few days before that he had figured out how to climb IN when the side was lowered, but I never thought he'd be able to climb OUT while the side was pulled up! He did. We realized that there was one more notch left and lowered the mattress down to that last one (should have done it a while ago!)

We ended up cutting his am nap short to get on our way. The plane ride went well, Xavier made friends from about rows 13 to 15, we were in row 12. He was the only baby on board and I thought we were in for it. But he was great. He managed to sit still for a bit and watched a video we had brought along. Then he played peekaboo with this new friends and blew them all kisses. He shook his finger no to them whenever I told him to sit down, as if saying we all shouldn't be playing. He read some books and watched as we landed with a loud "Oh, WOW!"

When we arrived at the Anello grandparents house he had lots of fun with a new bin of toys.

Xavier also got to ride uncle Gabi's old rocking horse, but he didn't yell "hot dog".

Eventually, Xavier went to bed, though at a very late hour and not without a fight. The next day he was cranky and kept pointing to the door and saying "GO!" I guess he had had enough fun in NY and was ready to head back home. So we took him for a long walk to see some sheep and a llama. I think after an hour of walking he expected to be back in Chicago, but we just came back and had some lunch. Xavier used his father's high chair!




It didn't make him happy, but we did figure out how to make the chair more secure...

Missed it Again...15 Months

Hit the 15 month mark this past Thursday and didn't blog. I was commenting to Isa's mom that the three months after September 7, 2006 went by a lot fast than the three months after he was born! She agreed and we went on to comment on all the quirks these kids are showing at this age. Like only wanting to eat what the parents are eating. No more fries for me, I guess, not if I don't want Xavi to have them...We also lamented not knowing what to do with clothes they have left behind. Xavier has started wearing 18-24 months clothes and size 6 shoes. we really believed the books when they said that after one the growth spurts would slow a bit. We have both stopped reading the books! (though occasionally I take a peek when I am confused by my son)

Let's see, Xavier is also now playing pretend. Pretending to eat things off the floor that aren't there and pretending to fly with a cape made out of papi's shirts or his own will do just fine.

He loves to go through the laundry and take clothes to drape over his shoulders.

In the picture on the left, superman hit his head because he was running too fast.

He loves his lion from Poland and shooting up in the air.

Also wanted to say that we won't have the 15 month stats until after the holidays. Xavier's ped is out of town and so we'll have to wait to see how he's grown. We'll keep you posted. Oh, and we're battling a cold this weekend...

A few changes

Things seem busy, though we're not doing much of anything these days. We've had our first snowfall and it is now very cold. Xavier got to use his new snowsuit and boots...he's looking forward to getting more use of these when he visits the Anello grandparents next week.

With the snow came…. a fever and signs of new teeth (maybe molars?), definitely tooth #8 - the last of the four bottom front is now swollen and ready to make an entrance.

…On a related note, he stopped biting! (most of the time) But now pushes people off his elmo chair or his toys or his mom when they get too close! Oh well, one battle at a time.

…We are also noticing that Xavier has realized he can climb furniture, toys, people, whatever…to get to something he wants. This is new. I know Dylan is climbing chairs and tables and that worried me, so I was happy that Xavier hadn’t figured this out yet. Then I saw him climb the toilet paper to reach the Christmas stockings and his potty to reach the sink in the bathroom and the couch to get to the phone. My mom says he’s climbing other things at her house. Still no chairs and no tables, thankfully, though we are sorry for Dylan’s shadow (his mom).

….Xavier may have decided (a little prematurely, if you ask us) that he would like to move to one nap a day rather than his usual two! I was hoping for another three months of 2 naps a day…we’ll see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

...Sings "Happy Birthday To You" - you can just barely make out the words, but he's got the tune. This morning he did it without prompting. Thanks titi Gris! But can you teach him a different song?
…Still asks what people are doing. Now it sounds like “What doin, huh?”
…Wows and points to every Christmas light/decoration he spots
…Calls every four legged animal (except for cats) a dog, including the Christmas decoration reindeer. He barks at them to let us know that they’re dogs.

These are just a couple of pictures to compare how much Xavier has grown. It was so striking when I saw how long his legs were in his high chair.