Fun day

After many comments on Xander's black eye we started the day with a really fun session of mainly music.
Nita and Michaela spent the day with us and Xander enjoyed sitting on the couch helping us eat a bowl of popcorn instead of sleeping!

The kids had a great time spinning each other on the desk chair, and then fighting over other toys available.
Very busy now packing for our weekend in Wellington for Opa's 80th birthday, so we will have heaps of news and photos after we get back!

one of those days....

The day started well. Good breakfast, chilling with the Wiggles,

then off to Fairfield College for the Tots and Toddlers class we are volunteering at - Xander got to show off to a bunch of 16 year old girls.
He had a good 2 hour sleep in his bed (not his cot!).

That was the end of the good day.
He woke up really grumpy and refused any food that i offered him for lunch and afternoon tea - except for a biscuit! - after about an hour he gave in and ate a jam sandwich. Having had enough of his antics i loaded him into the car and we went to see Alan in his afternoon break, it was a nice little breather and Xander was happy to see his dad.
We then went to join Nita and Michaela for a walk around the lake, but before we left Nita's house Xander had an accident.
He fell off her back steps onto the bottom step head first and then rolled to the grass. Nice black eye!
He was so excited to see the ducks at the lake, he chased them and loved feeding them bread. Tears followed him being strapped back into the car seat as we had walked past the playground where he wanted to play and it was too late and cold.
He was happy with his chicken nuggets for dinner and was in bed by 7.30.
Whew, what a day!

Independent

Alan has been busy in the garage this weekend with the baby's basinette, and it is awesome, i would love this to become a family heirloom!

Man watching Xander play with his toys these days is really amazing. He stacks and sorts like an expert, and while playing with anything he will gladly point out the yellow "lowa" and "blue" colours! I helped him with a puzzle today and he picks up the right object, eg train and then puts in the right space with the train picture. I hadn't realised that he could identify all those objects!

He loves helping us doing everything. He helped Alan brush his hair, and this morning he rubbed moisturiser into my legs! Really cute is the way he lifts my top and places his hands on my belly saying "bubby" and then kisses it, pulls my top down and continues on his way! Other words he is saying: yellow, blue, uh-oh, bye, banana and last night he said go!

I hadn't realised either that he is very proficient at climbing up on chairs!

early mornings...

For the past week Xander has been waking very early; 4:30 or 5 am seems to be his new wake up time! This is terrible as we are all so tired and grumpy by the end of the day.
He has been sleeping in his bed for about the last 3 weeks and last night when i tried to put him in his cot (to see if he would sleep longer!) he was so upset and kept shaking his head saying 'no' and pointing to his bed! Now i just have to get him to sleep in his bed for his day sleep and then we can pack the cot away.
We are seeing a plunket nurse today to discuss potty training cos i don't know what to do. I am also going to address our dinner time drama which still hasn't gone away - i think this may be why he is waking early, he must be hungry! -, and also will talk about the sleep. But otherwise we are doing very nicely.

Here is a list of Xander's words - he adds a new one at least every two days:
meow, moo, puppy, bubby(baby), bottle, ball, balloon, ta, ta-ta, 'allo, bubble, bath, bed, cot, potty, poo, La (michaela), Ma, Mummy, De(Dad), Daddy, Nanna, kitty, no and this morning he tried toes. His no is very cute, it is very precise and definate, i will probably get sick of this word quickly but it is so cute.
He still signs lots of words, like hungry, drink, butterfly etc, but is trying more and more words.

Wiggly Fun

Xander just loves the Wiggles.
In the morning he furiously does his wiggles sign begging us to put them on, then this continues all day. When it is on, he laughs and dances and has a great time, i can't resist letting him watch it once a day, but no more than that!
He loves the wiggles counting book he's got too and he does the sign for the Wiggles and for Wags the Dog and even the noise/laugh that Dorothy makes. Very cute.

Busy Busy Busy

I apologise for not updating the blog in a week. We have been very busy. Wednesday's we got to mainly music which Xander is now joining in and having a great time! Thursdays we go to a free playgroup at the library, we read books and sing songs and then get to do a craft.

Friday's, despite having Dad home with us, we go to playgroup and play with lots of toys and I get to chat with other mums.

On Saturday we went to the child and parenting expo - this was a mission as we had Michaela and only 1 car seat. Alan and Xander took the bus and Michaela and I met them there. The kids had heaps of fun trying out the children gyms (Xander was very good climbing up the course they had we are going to have to enrol him soon!), eating lollipops and cookies and bouncing on the bouncy castles. We bought Xander a harness/backpack and today he loved how grown up he was carrying his own bag with his drink inside!

18 months old

Where's Xander?

Boo!

Wow what a milestone! 18 months. I'm happy to say Xander is doing very well. He is very independent, feeds himself, can take his own pants and socks off, puts his dishes on the bench or the kitchen floor, identifies animals and objects in books on tv and in real life, and is trying to say some of the words rather than signing it. I could go on and on....

A new accomplishment is drawing. He loves drawing and is constantly asking to do it, and he carefully puts all the pens back in the box over and over again, and fits the lids on perfectly, well most of the time! I was going through the colours with him today and he can almost say yellow and he knows exactly which pen it is! Oh and he weighs 12.5kg and last time we measured him 80cms tall (may not be too accurate).

Choo-choo

Xander has been making his little choo-choo noise everyday for the past week, so today we decided to take him to the local miniture rail for a ride on a train.

He loved it! He rode with me on the steam train and then with Alan on the normal train. He was a bit scared going under the tunnels and even experienced a small de-railment.

You can see in the first photo he is making the choo-choo noise.

spotty baby

Nita and i noticed on friday night in the bath that Xander had spots on his back and then we noticed them behind his ears. He was happy though so he still stayed at Nita's for his first sleep over while Alan had work mates around for drinks, and we got a great sleep in!
In the morning the spots were still there so we decided to take him to the doctor thinking it might be measles. No measles, apparently just a rash so no dramas!

good boy

Xander was such a good boy his dad gave him his very own milk drink which he enjoyed sipping all grown-up like!

Two peas....

We had Michaela around again today, and of course she and Xander were never apart.
They had to share one chair were happy to pretend to sleep in the port-a-cot and weren't happy unless sitting right next to each other for dinner.

We played with Thomas the tank engine and i had one running off with the trains and the other busy trying to pack it all up, over and over again. Need i say who got sick of the game first.

Pants off! Pants on!

party time

Xander and i went to Sam's 3rd birthday party on Sunday. Xander particularly loved the little car and ride on trike thing, that is until he fell off and hit his head, oops!

Then it was out for a stroll to the car. Until he fell and chipped his tooth. What a day!

In a break in the weather Xander and i went hunting treasures in the garden, which we are now drying and will put together to make a collage.