Happpy Turkey Day

What a great Turkey day it was. Xavier loved it! He had an audience to perform to and lots of food to eat. Let's see, the Lopez abuelos and Anello grandparents were all here. He also had all his aunts and his uncles in the same room. Aunt Tsubasa's parents and her sister were here too! It was a great potluck effort and went well, minus the fact that the magical great, great-grandmother Lucia's pan cooked the turkey in record time. The 20lb bird was done in under three and half hours!

Oh, wow!

BTW, this is Xavier's favorite new expression. When he sees a bus, a bird or a plane in the air. Thanksgiving morning he looked at the birds at our back window and yelled, "Oh, WOOOOW, what's that!?" It all sounded like one word, but was so clear. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it myself and if Daniel hadn't been there to verify it. He also sounds like he's trying to say yummy, like after he had some of uncle Gabi's apple pie or grandpa's pumpkin pie. Favorite thanksgiving food? Hmm, stuffing and pumpkin pie got pretty good reactions.

We had to take him to his room because he was being such a ham. He just went on with the show when he was in his room.

Another Tooth, Another Worry

For more than a month Xavier has had a tooth number 7 pushing against his gums with nothing to show for it. Until now. Tooth #7 is finally out. And with it more grip when he digs these pearly whites onto someone's arm, cheek or leg. I have it on good authority that this could keep him out of private pre-k... But he's not that bad, right??

Soon after hearing this I went off to pick him up only to hear that he had mauled his tia lala on her first day home for the holiday. It really worried me! How about day care? Will it keep him out of day care!? I, of course, dug out and started reading my dusty "What to Expect.." and discovered that it is totally normal behavior for the majority of toddlers between the ages of 1 and 3. It's actually no different than pulling hair or hitting, which he doesn't do much at all, thankfully. It's a toddler's way of showing frustration at not being able to express himself or it's curiousity about the reaction. So we have to stop reacting, even though sometimes it takes up completely by surprise and makes us shriek. And we have to help him understand that (1) he shouldn't do this because it hurts and that's not funny and (2) he can express his frustration in other ways. Apparently, we have to do this without raising our voices and getting upset! If we don't, how will HE learn to calmly express his own frustration?. OK, but easier said than done...

Connecting the Dots

Not literally, though he has discovered that pens make beautiful markings on paper! Hopefully, he won't discover that they do on walls as well.

No, we're most impressed with Xavier making other connections...between actions, gestures, or words. As his dad likes to say, it's amazing how little he knows...so when he figures something out, we think it's pretty cool.

For example, I usually wave my hand in front of my nose and say fuchi (= yucky) when I change his poopy diaper or smell his feet. So now...he thinks this is funny and shoves his foot in my face as he waves his hand in front of HIS face and says fuuu fuuu. Recently, he finished making a caca in his diaper and the minute he was done he smiled and made the same gesture indicating that his diaper now smelled fuchi.

He knows where his nose is and his father's nose and the pig's nose in his books.

He spins around until he gets dizzy, leading with the arm opposite of the direction he's turning...like he's following it.

He tries to snap his fingers when he sings, dances or just bops to a song.

And his happy dance is a stomping of his feet. We think he's losing some of that rythm he had early on.

Below are random pictures taken during breakfast. We had chocolate chip, oatmeal pancakes, can you tell?

"What?!"

He does occasionally say "what" or "que", but mostly it's "hmm?"

"Come on, mami, smell my feet!"

oops! 14 month birthday came and went...

...with elections! Dems control the house and the senate!...Ok, here are some pics...Xavi has learned to say "what are you doing", well, he just says "doing?" becuase I so often have to ask "What ARE you doing?"...like in this picture.

Plus, we have birds at our window! It's most entertaining to Kiko.