Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, March 8th - Sunday, March 14th, 2010)

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, March 8th - Sunday, March 14th, 2010)

Weekly Glance...

Weekly Glance (Monday, March 8th - Sunday, March 14th, 2010)

• Had a fairly decent week at school
• Practicing how to take a deep breath or say "aww man" when he gets frustrated rather than screaming - it worked well at school on Tuesday
• Helped Daddy make dinner most nights and we were able to have family dinners for most of the week
• Alexander has a tendency to try more foods during family dinners
• Sleeping was pretty norm this week - some nights he'd sleep all night in his bed, other times he'd wake around 3am and walk in/climb into our bed
• Bedtime has been shaky because he fights it - he keeps coming out of bed and wants to be tucked in, cuddle, talk to Daddy, etc...we're working on putting him in bed and then letting him cry it out or if he gets back just putting him back in bed.
• Went to Target with Mommy on Thursday and had a VERY good night - listened to Mommy & no running.
  
• Friday night's bedtime was a very long moment because he kept getting out and Mommy kept putting him back in and told him I would take some friends away if he got out again...well he did and he wasn't happy when he lost some friends for the night
  
• Weekend activities were pretty low-key due to the rain
  
• Alexander & Daddy had guys-night on Saturday as Mommy went out with Stacey & Kelley
• Daddy did bedtime on Saturday night with minimal fighting
• Alexander & Daddy went for drives both Saturday & Sunday to help aid nap-time (it worked Saturday but not Sunday)
  

Big Week...

We have a very big week coming up!

Not only is it St. Patrick's Day & Alexander's birthday party but we have Alexander's 3-yr check-up with Dr. M. To top it all off...Alexander is going to the dentist for the first time!

I've been doing a lot of prepping him for both the dentist appointment and his check-up. I've been telling him what Dr. M will do by checking his back, listening to his heart and looking in his ears. And so far he hasn't said "no Dr. M" which is progress. Each night this week that we brush teeth I explain that we have to make sure we have nice clean teeth because we're going to see the dentist next week and he's going to look in his mouth. He seems more excited that the dentist is going to have purple gloves.

I don't know if the dentist does have purple gloves or not...

I'll keep everyone posted on how both appointments go & what Alexander's reaction is.

Weekend Activities...

We didn't do much this weekend due to the RAIN!It was raining pretty much throughout the weekend so it ended up being a low-key weekend. However, Alexander & Daddy did go for a car ride each day more so to see if it would help Alexander nap. He napped in the car on Saturday but on Sunday he must have known what we were up to because according to daddy he just kept asking questions.

Saturday night, Alexander & Daddy did have a guys night (Mommy went out to meet friends for dinner). They boys did dinner and then bedtime in which Alexander did not once attempt to get out of his bed. Daddy may have inherited bedtime...

Birthday Preparations...

Alexander is going to be 3 years old before we know it - next week actually! And to help celebrate, Mommy has started the preparations for his birthday party. This year, we are sticking with a family party rather than starting to go down the kid-route. However this year we have decided to have a much smaller party with only immediate family instead of the 50+ crowd.

Some kids in Alexander's class have started doing class parties and with 16 kids in his class, I'm not ready for 16 3-yr olds running around...maybe when he's 5 or 6.

I'm hoping this will make for less chaos considering how unpredictable the weather has been...and regardless of the weather, I know Alexander will still have a blast.

Drum Song...

Another video of Alexander & Daddy getting their beat on!

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, March 1st - Sunday, March 7th, 2010)

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, March 1st - Sunday, March 7th, 2010)

Weekly Glance...

Weekly Glance (Monday, March 1st - Sunday, March 7th, 2010)

• Had a fairly good week at school (some days were excellent, other days not so good)
• Still screaming & getting angry when he's frustrated
• Sleeping was 50/50 - he woke up once each night but then came into our room and slept again til about 5:30/6am. A couple mornings, Mommy had to wake him at 6:20am.
• Only night he slept the entire night through was Saturday where he woke up at 6am on Sunday (which of course was Daddy's morning)
  
• Very lovey this week
• Did go potty by himself at school on Monday
• Bedtime has been a challenge because he plays games by getting out of bed several times to prolong it
• We had several family dinners this week and he ate well at every meal (loves chinese food)
• Had an excellent day at school on Thursday where he helped Miss Jennifer and they learned about the 5 senses
  
• Went to Target with Mommy and was very well behaved but fought bedtime once home (over an hour of trying to go to bed)
• Rough day at school on Friday (separate post)
• Woke up with Mommy on Saturday where we played a bit
• Went to the Children's Museum with Mommy & Daddy (separate post)
• After the museum, we went to Kelly's Landing - the very first restaurant Alexander went to when he was just 5 months old
• Slept in the car ride home then we came home and wrote out the Rules for Alexander
• Sunday was Daddy & Alexander's morning and the boys had breakfast and then watched old video of Alexander's birthday last year (Alexander thought it was hysterical)
• Enjoyed the nice weather by cleaning Mommy & Daddy's car with Daddy
• Family dinner, tubby & then bedtime...however bedtime was incredibly quick! He was asleep almost as I told him I was going to shut off the lights
  

Things of Note...

A couple things to note from this week that feels a bit more important than to be in the Weekly Glance...

• Alexander has been VERY lovey this week. He comes over to give you a hug and says "oh I love you". The best part about this is not only is it unsolicited but it's frequent & his words are clearly pronounced. Also, when he doesn't think anyone is paying attention he'll pick up Monkey, put him on his shoulder and tell him "Oh Monkey I love you this much". It's very cute. Because of this, we started reading "Guess How Much I Love You". Not only does it love the book because of the rabbits, but he thinks it's funny to stretch out your arms thhhiiiissss much. So now our new thing to say is "I love you to the moon"

• Eating: Alexander is such a good eater (when he wants to eat). He eats things that I won't even eat (but he doesn't know that). He's great with fruit & a lot of different vegetables. This week we had chinese food for dinner and we had a family dinner. Daddy order Lo Mein and Alexander could not get enough! He was eating noodles and before he was done with what he had, he was asking for more!

• New favorite books: Danny & the Dinosaur (excited that he goes to the museum), Guess How Much I Love You, Things that go POP, & Snow White
  

The Rules...

As we all know Alexander likes to run, especially in a public setting. While we've been instilling rules in him for quite some time, Mommy felt the need to sit with him and write them out.

I had Alexander tell me the rules and I would write them down. And then we would put them up on the door so we could go read the rules when he was not listening.

Here are the rules as told, in order, by Alexander:

Children's Museum...

Today we took Alexander to the Children's Museum. This way we could get out of the house & enjoy the nice weather and take him to the Curious George exhibit they were holding. We didn't tell him where we were going until we got in the car and once he found out he was pretty excited. Of course, once there we had to get pictures in front of the legendary Hood milk bottle...but he was a bit preoccupied with the pigeons that were walking around.Once inside, he had a blast. He was playing with the golf balls, going down slides and taking everything in! He was so excited about a circular tube where golf balls traveled down, he could have stood there for hours!
After the first floor, we ventured up to the second floor where there was a "Peep & the big wide world" exhibit. This is a show on PBS that Alexander has never really been into (although Mommy thinks it's pretty cute), except for the fact that this morning he actually wanted to watch a bit while still in bed. So it was cute when he saw Peep at the exhibit.Then we headed over to the health section where he got to see some doctor stuff where he was excited but kept asking to see dentist gloves. After that we headed over to the workshop where he got to put on some work gloves and use a saw. Daddy checked it out and said it was safe to use...
And then how could we resist...
It was time to play basketball & watch Daddy climb the wall...Ooooh, then Alexander found a room with a huge train set! He was so excited...little guy could have played trains for hours because no one was bothering him. Plus he got to get inside the trainset through a whole...Then we headed over to the Curious George exhibit. It was pretty busy in here (so this is where everyone was)...Alexander went down a slide, and got to say hi to George, but he was angry that George wasn't talking like he does on the show. And as we're checking things out, there was a section of foam blocks to move around on a belt. Alexander was stacking them, and we were looking at the belt. Then all of a sudden, we looked down and Alexander was GONE. GONE. I did a quick scan, Daddy did a quick scan and then I told Daddy to start looking - he went one way, I went the other. And of course every little boy was wearing a red shirt so it wasn't making it easy to find him.

I truly had my "lifetime-movie-of-the-week" panic moment. Everyone kept on their merry way and I had lost my little boy. I was quickly freaking out. I couldn't find him no matter where I looked. Now I couldn't find Daddy. Then I went to stand at the entrance of the exhibit...I didn't want to leave the exhibit in case he was still there and couldn't find us, but I wanted to look down the hall. Just then I saw Daddy walking towards me carrying Alexander. Huge sigh of relief...

I took Alexander from Daddy and we took him to a corner with benches. We told him, sternly, how important it is not to run away because he scares Mommy & Daddy & he started to cry. It was the worst 60 seconds and unfortunately I still don't think Alexander quite understands why he should not run away even though he can say it to you, I don't think he understands.

We then headed over to the Construction Zone so we could gather our heart rates again. He saw a bobcat and wanted to sit in that and drive it. He had to take turns which he was good the first time but the second time he was getting antsy.
Before he headed out, we went over to another little area where he could climb ropes, walk up a steep hill using stepping stones and then walk down a bumpy area using the ropes to help him. He did an excellent job and did every single one on his own. It was pretty amazing watching him and how he knew what to do.
Next time I'm bringing a harness & a collar with a bell...

Potty Training...

We've been working with Alexander on potty training at home. It seems as if he does a bit better at school because there are other kids around who are going potty but at home he has NO desire. NONE.
We're trying the pull-up route and even big-boy underwear. He gets excited about the underwear and wearing it too! No matter how many times we asked him if he has to go potty or if he wants to use the big boy potty, he doesn't say anything. And when he has to go, he doesn't tell us until after. Even a wet, full diaper doesn't provoke him to tell us.

So early this evening I decided to do a little experiment...after changing a diaper, I decided to put big boy underwear on him and nothing else. I told him that because he didn't have a diaper or a pull-up on he was going to have to tell me when he needed to go pee and we'll use the big boy potty. He seemed excited about this notion.

Then we were in the kitchen and I was making his dinner and he was standing on the floor and just looked up at me and said "MOMMY PEE!" So I got excited thinking he was ready to go in the bathroom...but as it turns out he had just finished going pee in his pants.

Ahhhhh potty training.....

Rough Day...

Alexander had a pretty rough day at school today. He didn't listen to his teachers, he & Aidan argued with/instigated each other, he had little screaming meltdowns. And when it was time to paint, Alexander didn't want to listen to Miss Sarah and he decided not to put on a smock but paint on his shirt instead. Yup, he came home with his shirt covered in blue paint. At the end of the day Alexander & a friend (turns out it was Aidan) were arguing and the friend bit Alexander.

When Daddy went to go pick him up, Miss Sarah told Daddy about the rough day and that Alexander didn't really want to listen. She also asked how potty training was going at home...I think all this information might have been a bit too much for Daddy because later that night Daddy was convinced that Alexander was going to get kicked out of school.

Rest assured that all 3 year old's have bad days...