And so it begins...

It's been coming for a couple of months. There has been cruising along the furniture and pushing his toys around. There's been hanging on gates and leaning away from what he's hold just to drop and crawl. There has been clinging to your fingers and pulling /steering you around the house.

Yesterday Xander started walking.

He was pushing his truck and it ran into the couch. I said "Hey Xander, come here" and held out my arms. He took three steps to me with no signs of wavering or falling. I proceeded to pick him up and cuddle him and kiss him until he yelled.

Ikkin visited later and we spent a good 20 minutes of sitting on the floor playing "Walk to Mommy" and "Walk to Aunt Ikkin." And Xander did.

People kept saying "Just wait till he starts walking, you'll be so busy trying to keep up." It was hard enough trying to keep up when he crawled, so I'm a little nervous now.

Xander's Uncle's Wedding

Xander handled the excitement and bedlam of the wedding weekend fairly well for a one year old. He was watched most of Saturday by my youngest brother's girlfriend (thank you!) and various relatives since Chris and I were both part of the wedding party. Here's a few quick notes.

1) Hotel rooms are not babyproofed. I had to use a coffee table turned on it's side and the pack'n'play to block of the desk and it's cable and outlets. And I had to move the luggage rack and luggage in front of the mirror. That took care of the worst of it.

2) One year olds do not understand sleeping in. Xander was up at 6 am on Saturday. I took him in the bathroom and let him play in the bathtub while trying to let Chris sleep in a little. Fortunately, he was so tuckered out Sunday morning that we were up before him.


3) After the clock strikes 8, only Mom and Dad may hold the little guy. Everyone else causes crying. A great uncle and cousin will even cause cringing away. It got to be a running gag that my cousin would sneak up behind Xander and pluck him out of my arms to try to catch him off guard, but Xander would always start crying.


4) Guys of any age look good dressed up.

Recent Pictures

Breakfast of Champions

Practicing Walking

Getting Dressed Up

After Partying Hard

thank God for Cheerios

I took the day off of work on friday and was playing around the house. At some point during the day the wife was getting ready to feed Xander. I came in the back door from working in the yard and he's ready and waiting in his high chair. Amanda gives me a bit of a guilt trip to get me to feed him, so I grab the Cheerios, open up the box and pour some on his high chair tabletop. At which point I stop and proclaim "Look at me, I'm feeding Xander. I'm a great Dad!"

So that's my new trick now. If Xander is hungry I put him in his high chair with Cheerios in front of him and let him go to work.

At some point I hope he learns that when he feeds himself he doesn't have to stick his entire hand (along with the Cheerio) in his mouth when eats. He's just a bit gross. But hey, he's quiet and getting fed, I'm not going to complain.

And we just went to a wedding yesterday and Xander was all dressed up in a little tux outfit (minus the jacket) and looked real sharp. We'll put some pictures up eventually.