A Real Update

So here's the state of toddlerhood...

Xavi's decided to do fewer one word grunts and is starting to speak in complete sentences. A lot of it is spanglish, but I'm hoping he'll figure out how to separate the two languages eventually.

Potty training is not going well - at all. Since he can express a lot more these days we've figured out (not that it should have been difficult to figure out) that he just doesn't want to use the bathroom. He likes to wear underwear on the weekends and recently asked to wear them rather than diapers. When I was putting them on I was telling him he would have to use the potty if he wore underwear. His celebration about wearing underwear quickly ended when I said this and he took them off and said I don't want underwear, I don't want pee pee in the potty...and asked to have the diaper put on him instead!

His friend Sarai is now at daycare with him, but there was still crying at drop off. 8 weeks until baby sister arrives, I'm hoping he'll learn to love it by then!

A lot of physical activity, no surprise there, but recently after yelling ready, set, go or 1, 2, 3 he jumps off furniture. No matter what it is or how high and will also attempt leaps from one piece of furniture to another. We should probably head back to gym class.

Xavi definitely has a will of his own and has started to want to wear the same (favorite) clothes day after day. Today it was a new bears jersey he got for christmas - he wore it yesterday, asked for it instead of PJs after his bath, wore it to bed and wanted to keep it on this morning. Thanks Mari. His father was not happy about that and is looking for a niners jersey as I write.

Here are some pictures from last night:

Here's a fun video - a friend gave me the idea to post this. She had her baby in November and had a similar post on her blog. I never did this with Xavi and it's the part of pregnancy that I have enjoyed most. The cat wouldn't budge for the video and the baby moved more when I ate - hence all the stuff around me. I turned the sound off because Kiko purred the entire time.

More Merry Christmas and...

That's what Xavi said everytime there were more presents for him to open - "More Merry Christmas" and this year there was a lot of Merry Christmas. Sorry, no pictures of opening presents in NY. It was all a blur. I can't say it was because of the flight, because the flight out was fantastic. Everyone (all 4 people on the plane) thought Xavi was a perfect toddler...even when he sang Old MacDonald had a Farm and Jingle Bells at the top of his lungs as we landed. They thought it was cute. Trip back, different story. No nap, 2.5 hour delay ON the plane and landing after his bedtime didn't help. Everything else about the trip was fantastic though. I think there are no pictures of the presents because we were excited to hang out with oma and gramps, meet new people and play in lots of snow. By the way, this is REAL sledding...sort of. More real than what we have in the flat midwest, but not real by adult standards. When Xavi is a little older he can go on the crazy scary hill I was dragged out to when I first came to the adirondacks.

Here is the start of some complaining about going back up the hill or getting his mittens wet from touching the snow...this tirade ended in a song. I thought it was hilarious. Here are the new people we met. Cousin Putu (AKA Elena) from Bali by way of CT these days. This is her first year at Wesleyan and since home is so far away we get her for christmas! Xavi loved her on day one. Until his cousin Connor arrived!
This was buddy the rest of the time. They were partners in crime and had a great time together.
Yes, he is saying cheese.

We had a surprise baby shower during our visit so the baby got lots of presents too. Lots of pink clothes so she won't always be seen in Xavi's blue clothes. 8 weeks and counting until we meet this little girl.

Oh...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Chicago Christmas

First we opened gifts at home and then headed to Casa Lopez to see what santa brought. Boy did Santa (AKA the Lopez family) deliver.

Uncle Joey was home from college and tia Gris was home from Indiana.

We also made tamales -yummy!

Then there was the train, which was a HUGE hit. I'm not sure who liked it more...the big kids or the little one? The baby girls also got a gift - matching outfits to come home from the hospital in, one in pink and one in purple. Actually, the train and the gifts for the girls came from the same aunt (Gris).

The other girl is my sister's baby - my sister is due 4 weeks after us!

More X-mas prep

We had a big snow fall this weekend, more than we're used to prior to x-mas. Unfortunately, we left Xavi's snow pants at school! So we used last winter's snow suit. Thank goodness for Gap sizes running a bit big and mom's who buy a size larger (it was 18-24 mo). It fit snug and rode up his legs when he sat down, but it did the trick. We'll have to remember to bring the pants home on weekends and long breaks.

At first he was a bit cautious...Once he decided it was ok, he dove in. Literally. So we decied it was time to sled! If you can call it that...his dad said.

I don't think he knew what to expect his first run down the bunny hill. He looked at little scared at first actually. OOPS. Should have done some introductions.
He caught on after one try.

By the end, sledding was a big hit. He couldn't stop shaking from the cold or asking for more.

Friend Sarai was, of course, an old pro and was glad to have Xavi join her.

And here is the x-mas tree with color lights. Ok, Daniel, you were right. And next to that is a picture of new stockings...Nothing homemade, like our old ones - at least Xavi's old one. Daniel still won't admit that he probably threw them away. We shall keep searching the house. Oh, and that's Xavi's pretend smile. What's up with those faces toddlers make? Where do they learn that?