4th Birthday

Xander's 4th birthday was a week and a half ago but it was a long time coming. He has been asking for a Nintendo DS since Christmas. We would be in a store and he'd see something he likes and I'd remind him to ask for it for his birthday. He saw Curious George making a pinata and thought we should make one. He wanted to invite his friends from California to his party. He wanted chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream and chocolate pizza at his party.

I don't mean to make it sound like he was demanding, he was just excited for his birthday. Of course some plans were changed around. We went with a fruit pizza instead (thanks, Grandma). He decided on a chocolate and vanilla cake while we were at the store, so I bought a marble cake mix and used the penguin cupcake mold. We totally forgot to serve the chocolate ice cream.

I also let Xander pick a theme for some of the accessories. After some debate he went with Toy Story (surprise, since he hasn't been quite as obsessed with Toy Story in the past months). Xander, Josie and I made up goody bags for the kids at the party and for Xander to bring to his classmates in school. There were special Toy Story plates and cups for the kids and I splurged on a (clearance) bubble maker for in the yard. We decided to keep the party small this year since I'm always exhausted.

On the day of his birthday, he was first up and came in to our room so we could sing happy birthday to him. He was very excited to open a few gifts first thing in the morning (I will spare him the future embarrassment of posting the video of him opening Lego Star Wars underwear). After mass and a few hours of prep, the party was on!

Behold! The birthday penguin!

Blowing out the candles was easy (once we moved the cake close enough).

It passed the taste test!

The weather cooperated so after the sugar fix we sent the kids out to exercise.

Xander was all excited to get a special Sheriff Woody birthday hat. He wore it for all of ten minutes.

He received a plethora of clothes (which he needed) and board games (which he loves and wants to play every night). Then there were a few other gifts that he loved, such as the slippers.

Of course, Josie was in charge of Quality Control.

Chris loved that Xander completely forgot the remaining gifts to be opened and sat looking at the maze book until he was reminded what he was doing.

Like a good son, he pretended to love the clothes I picked out for him.

Josie was very good about waiting until Xander had opened a present and set it aside before she swooped in to check it out.

Now, off to take care of thank you cards!

First Day of School

Way back in the day Chris and I figured that we wouldn't send Xander to school until kindergarten. We weren't too hip with preschool especially since I can teach things at home. Then kindergarten became full day and I became a little nervous about going from no school to full day school with no stops in between. Then Xander became kind of smart. Granted, as my oldest I don't have other children to judge him against. However he is incredibly social with other kids and parents have occasionally commented about his speech, memory, etc. So we figure he's on the way to rocket-science-ville.

Therefore we decided to enroll Xander in prekindergarten this year. After hemming and hawing I settled on the afternoon class that meets for two and a half hours four times a week. I was, and still am, nervous because Xander is a 'young 4' meaning he turns four after the school year starts. I really think he will be ready for kindergarten as a 'young 5' so into pre-k he goes. While in California I met many a parent who was overly concerned about what age to put their child in school (as well as what school to put them in), I think it rubbed off on me a little.

We let Xander know that he'd start school this year and that announcement was met with excitement. So today when he woke up he told everyone "Today is school!" at which point I reminded him that school was after lunch. After lunch he proclaimed "Time to go to school!" and I had to rush off to change my clothes (I'm actually teaching while he's in school and Josie is with a sitter). I managed to get a few pictures in to commemorate the moment before we left.

Super excited!

Ok, I told him to look smart and maybe put his hand under his chin.

Josie is excited for Xander to go to school (and leave her alone).

Notice the nice little bruise on his forehead? He got that by running into the couch a few hours before school. Typical.

When we pulled up to the school I pointed out a mom and daughter and said that the girl was probably going to be in Xander's class. When I helped both kids out of the car, Xander raced after the girl shouting "Wait for me" and I then had to race after Xander while carrying Josie.

We went through the routine of putting his bag away, checking in and going to the restroom. At this point we were waiting in the hallway with all of the other parents and students and siblings when Xander actually became a little distraught that he wasn't in the classroom. "But Mom, I really want to go to school!"

As soon as that door opened he was off like a shot to play. I could barely get him to hug me good bye and I gave up and left. I wasn't one of the teary moms but when I got to the car I suddenly became nervous that I left him in the wrong classroom. There is only one classroom yet I somehow worried it was the wrong one.

When I picked him up at the end of the day, Xander very happy with school. When asked what he did today he replied "I drank chocolate milk!" Good to know.

Have You Heard the News?

Chris Clone #3 is on the way!

We found out in June, while we were still in California. I've put up some of the posts we made along the way, you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

I want to say the kids are excited but that isn't necessarily the case. When I first tried to explain to Xander that we'd have a new baby he misunderstood and thought we were going to get rid of Josie so we could have a new baby. Even now if we ask him if he's excited about the baby he won't answer but will take an adamant stand to keep Josie. However, if you ask him what we should name the baby he will have a ready answer. Right now he will say some made up version of Alexander such as Alejeho. There was a week that he wanted to name the baby Krista Elmo.

If you talk about the baby with Josie, she will insist that she is a baby and will want to pretend sleep in your arms or be burped. I'm not quite sure how to handle it but will look into ideas a little later.

By the way, the due date is officially February 19. Place your bets now!

Here are the previous posts:
Trio
She Didn't Believe Him
All the Cereal I Can Eat
Which Trimester is This?