3 Year and 15 Month Progress Reports

Before we left the good ole midwest, I took both kids in for a well check with the doctor. I had originally scheduled Xander's 3 year and Josie's 15 month at the end of September. However, since it would require an entire day of air travel to make the appointment, I rescheduled.

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Xander is suddenly huge. Everyone has always said he looks big but the measurements were always in the 50th percentile or so. I chalked it up to broad shoulders. It didn't help that for the past month I made him wear clothes that were just a bit too small for him. I had sent most of the 3T clothes to California and figured the 2T would be fine until we left, then I just left the 2T there. It was a good plan, Xander just looked a little uncomfortable. Anyway, his latest stats are:

Weight: 39 lbs - which is just off of the percentile chart
Height: 3 ft 3.5 in - 90th percentile
Weight vs Height - 90th percentile

He doesn't look too tall or too chubby, he's just a big kid. In fact, you know those 3T clothes that were waiting for him here? Yeah, they just fit him. Luckily, most of those were donated from friends so it's not like I spent a lot of money on his wardrobe that he'll outgrow in a few more hours.

Xander has come a long way in many ways the past year. He knows the alphabet, both saying letters and recognizing upper and lower case letters. He can count really well, how high depends on the day but he made it, with a few errors, to forty the other day. He is at the stage where he remembers and repeats the most obscure and embarrassing things. He especially gets commercials like "Meijer, lower prices" (which there are no Meijer here, so that one is falling to the wayside) or like today he said he wanted to drink V8 (we have V8 Fusion) then he proceeded to walk around saying "V8, what's your number?" And of course when he's getting grumpy he might grump "I'm tired of this" and then stalk off. Not that I do that. Well, I don't do the stalking, you can't stalk away from a toddler.

The potty training keeps getting almost done and then having a set back. The current set back is that the kid's room at the gym doesn't have a bathroom, so I'm not comfortable leaving him there in underwear. He also takes naps in our bed and I don't want any accidents there, so there is another time for pull-ups. Xander knows he can do his business in pull-ups and I think he forgets what he is wearing because there have been more accidents lately. One thing that has worked out is that he is very regular. If we tell him it's time to go to bed, he'll need to go to the bathroom. Hey, whatever works.


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Josie had her 15 month check up, which still strikes me as an oddball time for a check up. She is little. Not so little that she's off of the chart, but little enough that the winter clothing I've stocked up on might be too big. Of course, the appointment was half of a month early. Hmm.

Weight: 21 lbs 13 oz - 30th percentile
Height: 29 in - 25th percentile
Head: 17 in

She is now spending most of her time walking. That has caused a little problem with all of the cold, hardwood floors in the morning. The socks had some grippers on them so she didn't fall but I bought her slippers. Of course she slipped and fell in those right away. The poor thing keeps bonking her noggin lately, the bruises are all turning a nice purple-to-brown color right now.

Josie is talking lots but we still aren't getting what she is trying to tell us. I've figured out "mas-sh" is more. She makes the appropriate noises for "Thank you" and other little prhrases.

What is cute is that she is trying so hard to be like Xander. She wants to do his puzzles, instead of the nice, easy wood puzzles. She wants to wear a backpack, so she uses Xander's when he is not or she gets Chris's old college bookbag and drags it around. She wants to play in the potty. Not that Xander plays in the potty, but she knows he uses it and obviously the water is for splashing. She is starting to 'read' more books on her own.

What is not so cute is that Josie is becoming much more Mom-centric. She has to know where I am, see me and has to be held most of the time. Especially if I am trying to do a chore such as make dinner, pay bills or even look at the computer. I think part of it is the anxiety of all of the changes that have gone on. I also think it is partly that I am around almost all of the time since I am not teaching, so she expects me to be here.



The really good news is that the kids are doing a great job of sharing a room and we have a nice routine going on. At night time, they get ready and we read two books. Josie goes to bed and Xander takes care of any bathroom trips he needs. At naptime, Josie goes down after lunch and within 15 minutes Xander is in our bed so they don't wake each other up. I lust wish they could sleep im a little in the morning, but the house is too small and any little noise is enough to wake them up.

Taking Xander to Chuck E Cheese

Since we are kicking it on the west coast and have no relatives or friends to visit Xander for his birthday, we decided to take him to Chuck E. Cheese's as a special birthday treat. Chris was surprised that Xander knew what CEC's was but I assured him that Xander had only heard it as a sponsor for PBS Kids and has no idea of what goes on there.

None the less, Xander was excited the entire ride to CEC's and was convinced, when he saw the building, that Chuck lives in a castle.

We tried to eat first but Chris had to keep yelling for Xander to eat his pizza. It was noisy, he had to yell. We were almost worried because Xander loves pizza but would barely turn for the flashing lights by the stage area to take a bite. One thing did get his attention though.

When we did finish eating and were all cleaned out, Chris leaned down and asked Xander if he wanted to play games. "Yeah!" was the enthusiastic response complete with jumping up and down in excitement. It's a good thing we put him in a pull-up.

Let me put in a side note here: no one told me that the dress code was mini-skirts and low cut shirts so I felt a little overdressed.

Anyway, Xander had a great time playing all sorts of games. Sometimes he got what to do:

Sometimes he had no clue what to do, but tried to win with great exuberance.

But with Dad's help, tickets were won.

Our prizes included a rubber duck, a silly straw and two Tootsie Pops.

I was a little disappointed that there was no ball pit for the kids. I know, they are disgusting and dirty. That wouldn't have stopped me from tossing the lights of my life in. There wasn't much for Josie to do, we mostly walked around. She did freak out a little when Chuck came by but didn't actually cry. Josie did ride plenty of the vehicles and Xander joined her for one last ride.

Look at their expressions, it cracks me up.

There was birthday cake when we arrived home, so everyone went to bed happy.

Happy Birthday Xander

Today Xander is 3! We woke up at 7am and opened presents.



First was a Diego backpack, which fits just fine.



And a T-ball set...


...which is loads of fun!



We then went for a morning hike with our new backpack loaded with books.



Now off for our first Chuck E. Cheese trip.

Story Time goes bust

Xander has loved going to the library and to Story Time so that is one of the first things I've looked into here. It would have other kids for Xander to interact with and maybe I could find some moms to pal around with (there seems to be predominately nannies and grandparents because both parents have to work to afford this area). I discovered that there is actually a Children's Library here so I was all excited.

We arrived Wednesday morning just before the library opened at 10. Well, Story Time also starts at 10. As we waited the entire yard of the library filled up with nannies, grandparents and even a few moms, all chasing the little ones around the strollers parked everywhere.

I did think that Xander looked a little older than most of the kids but since he is bigger than the average 3 year old (more about that later) I didn't concern myself with that. I was concerned that he said he had to pee and the library still hadn't opened. As soon as the doors were unlocked I was second through the door asking directions.

After the rest room we headed into Story Time, which is in the picture book room. It was packed! Parents and kids everywhere! I nudged Xander and told him to head up front and I looked around for carpet space for me and Josie. Normally Xander would race up front, hug the librarian and have a seat. Since Story Time had already started ("If you're happy and you know it...") I hoped he wouldn't hug the librarian.

In an unexpected turn of events, Xander burst into sobs and latched onto my legs.

Let me tell you, Xander has no 'stranger danger' (which is something we are working on). He says hi to everyone, he hugs the kids in line at the store, he will join in any game already in progress - including grown men playing soccer.

So I stood there for a couple of beats, completely shocked by this behavior. Then I remembered that there was a room full of people still singing ("...stomp your feet.") So I picked Xander up and hussled him out. Which is hard to do when holding Josie and a diaper bag and Xander is limp and sobbing.

He sat on a footstool and calmed down. And he adamantly refused to go back into Story Time. I can only guess that he was surprised by it being different and so full of people. So we wandered around and got the lay of the rest of the library. We headed out to the car, buckled up and, as I put the key in the ignition, I hear "Mom, go to Story Time."

We'll try again next week.

On a side note, the ages for the Story Time here are very different from home. I didn't even think to check. Toddler Time (which is what we went to) is 18 months to 2 year and PreSchool Time is 3 to 5. So Xander is on the border, which is why he seemed so big. This almost makes me nervous about going to PreSchool Time because it is for children a little older than him. We'll give it a try and I will let you know.

Flying

If you are all caught up, you know we just arrived in California this weekend. We've been trying to prep Xander and Josie for the big move. Well, Josie doesn't really get it. She knows things are different and she knows she doesn't like it and she knows the best way to communicate this is to scream. However, I can have two-way communication with Xander and took steps to help him adjust.

One thing that I did was talk up the airplane ride. We had it marked on the calendar and for the last two weeks we would count how many days until we flew to California. Xander already loves airplanes (and trains and helicopters and fire trucks) thanks to Hard Hat Harry, so he was very excited by the idea of going to the airport and getting on the airplane. He would walk around with his arms out and beg to go to the airport.

On the big day we were fully prepared with a bag of new toys, most of which did not make noise. There were sippy cups and Goldfish crackers and little cups to hold the crackers. I did forget the bibs, but the world didn't end so we moved on.

We arrived at the airport in time to enjoy breakfast looking out the window at one particular airplane. Xander spend breakfast standing in his seat saying we need to go on THAT airplane. He did start to get upset when the airplane left, but we talked him down by explaining there was another airplane for us.

When we boarded the plane, Xander was allowed to step into the cockpit and say hi. He was so excited when he sat down, but Chris and I were too busy trying to figure out who would seat where. The first flight was a 2 seat-aisle-1 seat plane. Xander took a window seat, Chris sat next to him and I sat across the aisle with Josie (who still had no clue what was going on, but Mom was holding her so it was okay). We were then informed the baby could not sit on that side because there was only one oxygen mask. So Chris held her and I sat all by myself.

You can not imagine Xander's grin when we took off. We were going "really, really, really, really, really fast."

Josie's short attention span became even shorter after take off. We were actually letting her sit in the aisle and Chris would pick her up whenever someone walked by. It soon became apparent that she needed Mom again, so we did the great seat shuffle and trusted a nearly-three-year old to sit by himself. We proceeded to go through every book and gizmo in the arsenal to keep Josie happy. By the end of the flight she was just exhausted but would not fall asleep in our arms.

She fell asleep as soon as we were off of the plane and had her in the stroller. We went and ate and headed to our next flight hoping to get seats switched. Two seats were together, the third seat was several rows back on the 3 seats-aisle-2 seats plane. We arrived at the gate to find that they had already boarded nearly everyone. So we had to ask the nice lady in our row to move (and she had already moved, I had guilt).

The second leg was definitely harder. Josie's nap wasn't long enough and she would go from happily playing Peek-a-Boo with the people behind us to needing to be walked up and down the aisle in a blink of an eye. And I won't even go into all of the diaper changes. By the end of the flight even Xander was squirming and whining because he didn't get a nap in either.

When we arrived we were happy to see all of our luggage and quickly strapped in the kids' seats to the car and set out. They were asleep within minutes. So Chris gave me the tour of the town and we headed to our temporary home.

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