Snow Angels and Snow Forts
Greetings to everyone.
We had some snow yesterday and today the weather warmed nicely. When Xavier got up and looked out the window, his eyes widened and he pointed, saying "Snooooow!"
After breakfast, I asked Xavier if he wanted to go outside and make a snow angel. Xavier has not played in the snow much. He has shoveled snow like Daddy and he has trudged through some snow, but never truly played in it.
Mom bundled Xavier warmly and we headed outside. It was warm enough that, after a while of moving snow around, I took my coat off because it was too hot with it on. Xavier was concerned that I took it off and asked me a few times to put it on.
The first order of business was a snow angel. I showed Xavier what to do, then (after adjusting the hood of his coat to keep snow out of his neck) helped him lay down in the snow. A few seconds later, Xavier completed his first snow angel. He was not impressed; he went stomping off to look at the snow covering the lower branches of the Blue Spruce.
He moved to the sidewalk to play because that is where Daddy was. Instead of playing, he obsessed over the fact the Jetta parked there was still covered in snow. I began rolling a large snowball. I tried to get Xavier to engage, but that darn Jetta still had snow covering it. It was after I rolled the second snow ball for the snowman's chest that Xavier grew interested.
Xavier let me roll a third ball and make a head, then he came over and wanted to add snow to the snowman. Mom during this time was in and out taking pictures (she was using the time with Xavier outside to clean and vacuum). Mom reappeared with a carrot.
The snow was not quite soft enough to make things easy; it took us a while to get the carrot to stay in place. After that, Xavier started making his own snowballs and applying them to the snowman.
After giving the man two "top knots" on his head (which we would later call a beehive hairdo), Xavier could reach no higher. He looked to lower areas to put his snowballs. That meant the chest. He turned the snowman into a snowwoman. Eventually, into a mutant snowwoman.
After the snowman/mutant snowwoman was finished, we had enough snow in the yard to make a small fort. I disappeared into the garage, then returned with shovels and buckets. Using our patented strip snow mining technique, Xavier helped fill buckets and Dad carried them off to make the wall.
I tried to get Xavier to help with the wall, but he really liked shoveling snow into the buckets. I let him do most of the strip snow mining. Once the fort wall was up, Xavier found interest in it (maybe because there was very little snow left in the yard).
We stockpiled the fort with many snowballs. We also made a chair for Xavier to sit in and to stand on should he need to make use of his snow arsenal. We played for more than two hours. When we came in, Xavier had soaked mittens, wet pants and a ravenous hunger. All in all, a good morning's play.
Weaned at Last!
Greetings to everyone.
Yes, it's true. Xavier is officially off his bottle!
Actually, he has been officially off his bottle since early February. As this is a chronicle of Xavier Michael's childhood, it would be remiss to leave out the story of the weaning.
As mentioned in an August post we started the weaning in earnest then. Mama was serious about Xavier getting off the bottle. At that time, he had three workable nipples and Rebecca was determined when those had worn out, there would be no more. And, they were wearing out fast, especially when Xavier had teeth moving; he would chew on the nipples at this time.
By the time Rebecca went for her six weeks of training in Florida, Xavier had two nipples left, and one of those had a hole in the side from his chewing on it—it was not long for this world.
Also, by this time, Xavier was down to having a bottle only at night. He took his bottle just before bed. He would rarely finish the whole bottle, and he wanted it in bed with him (if he drained his bottle before going down, we had to fill it again). The bottle became something of a transitional object for him; he used it for comfort. He either cuddled the bottle or he set it in the corner of his crib.
About the second week in to Rebecca's trip it occurred to me why not use this six-week time to transition Xavier off his bottle completely? The idea was so simple and I upbraided myself for not thinking of it two weeks earlier!
I think the idea did not occur to me until I noted that the bottle had become a "teddy bottle." It was more of a comfort item than a food item. Upon understanding this, that's when I thought, "Eureka! Get him off the bottle!"
So, almost cold turkey, I swapped out his bottle with a sippy cup. Of course I kept a nippled bottle in reserve and hidden so I could adjust to any fussiness that would disrupt his sleep (and by implication, my sleep as well). He took to the sippy cup idea readily. He cuddled with it as easily as he cuddled with the nippled bottle.
We had a couple of setbacks during this time. Whenever he got a cup with a straw in it, it made him remember the nipple and he wanted it back. It took a few moments of tough love and some fortitude on Dad's part to get past these setbacks.
Soon, the milk in the sippy cup was replaced with water. Xavier did not seem to mind. So long as he had his cup and it had something in it, he was content. By the way, the filled cup was functional. When Xavier woke in the night, he would drink from his cup then go back to sleep. I learned this the hard way. I took the cup from him as he slept, then went to bed myself. Two hours later, I was up getting Xavier his cup of water.
Today, Xavier drinks from open-top cups and glasses, though we still make him do so in the dining area and kitchen—he is still building his not-spilling skills. Having a cup to go to bed is no longer a necessity, though he still likes one there when he wakes up and wants a drink.
His bottles and what remains of his two surviving nipples sit on top the refrigerator collecting dust. They are on top the fridge because of another lesson learned during the final weaning phase: don't let your child know there are still bottles in the house!
Spring Harvest
Greetings to everyone.
One of the things we wanted to accomplish before heading down to Mississippi was get the yard cleaned up, and to have the garden tilled. Several times we planned on renting a tiller and doing the work ourselves. In the end, we acknowledged we were fooling ourselves.
We hired the same man who dug out the garden from the lawn for us last year. He had a last-minute opening if we agreed to let him do the work today. We made things work out to accommodate his schedule.
Rebecca was in Wyoming this weekend, but said we needed to have the leaves and whatnot raked away from the chicken wire fence so the tiller could get to it. So, Xavier and I, shovels and rakes in hand, marched into the yard.
Xavier contented himself with raking (we have a broom rake which will collapse down to his size; he loves it). As I raked, I found under the leaves onions growing. After poking in the dirt, we discovered them to be nicely sized. Not wanting them to get tilled, Xavier and I dug them up.
We also found carrots and got them out of the ground, although these were less impressive than the onions. The largest carrot we pulled measured about one and a half inches. Still, we pulled them. I thought if Xavier helped harvest them he might eat them also.
Xavier not only harvested these, but insisted on carrying them into the house and washing them. He was very proud. We planned on having some of these for our lunch. We decided on hot dogs for the onions and cooked carrots and mac & cheese as sides.
We did all the prep work. Got out the hot dog buns and the condiments, and boiled the macaroni. We went for the hot dogs, but none were to be found. It was too late to hit the store as the yard guys were to be here soon. So, we sadly scrounged for second choices, none of which included our onions or carrots.