Greeting to everyone.

Rebecca just bought several summer clothing items she found on sale in a Florida shop. Of course, cosmic balance means a snow storm here in Colorado which dumped a significant amount of snow. Enough to close the schools. As a curmudgeonly note: back in my day, snows deeper than today did not close schools.

Excited about the snow day, Xavier woke early. After all, much to do today with no school interrupting the flow. We ate breakfast, then I asked Xavier if he wanted to help me shovel snow.

He ran immediately to get his hat and mittens. In a few minutes both of us were bundled up and ready for action. I stepped out back and got his snow shovel, then both of us put on our game faces and headed for the driveway.

At first, Xavier thought to move the snow near the open garage door from the driveway into the garage, behind the cars. After receiving some instruction and watching Dad move some snow, Xavier got the hang of it.

He pushed a path all the way to the street, a path one width of his shovel wide. He then worked at cleaning off the steps. Once finished there, he cleared off the flower pots, then the patio table.

All in all, very helpful. Alas, after twenty minutes, his hands grew too cold and he begged to be let back it to the house before getting a good start on clearing the sidewalks.

Hello to everyone.

Xavier's second week with Mom away at school went well. He is accepting his new schedule of babysitter, school, babysitter, school, babysitter. Accepting it, but not liking it. Drop offs, even at school now, can be heart-wrenching. His cling-to-Dad-like-a-welded-on-monkey makes things sad when he has to be pealed off so Dad can go to work.

Early in the week, we did get to the lesson of running around the house in a diaper and eating in front of the TV. We often have the TV on while Xavier eats breakfast as he will eat significantly more while watching one of his stories. However, this was eating junk food (animal crackers) while in a diaper and on the couch.

One of the things we've noted these past two weeks (even Rebecca noted this over our Skype connection) is that Xavier is speaking more clearly. We are wondering if Xavier's immersion with other children more these past two weeks might be the catalyst, or if he just reached a new level.

He is also starting to voice his choices rather than pantomime them out. One night I put him in his high chair for another snack. He had not eaten much after getting up from his nap, so I needed to slow him down long enough to recognize he was hungry (which, by the way, is often a standard operating procedure).

He fought being put into the chair; I actually had to use the seat belt to hold him in. He became distraught, and asked for TV. I turned it on and selected one of his favorite shows (one which I can barely tolerate, but Xavier usually prefers watching it). Xavier grew more distraught and started saying something in his frustration.

He repeated it a few times. I thought I understood what he was saying, but I wasn't sure. I moved my ear close to him and asked him to repeat what he said; he had to repeat it twice for me to understand. Though spoken on a whimper, he spoke a very clear choice of what he wanted to watch. It was the whimper that made it difficult to understand.

"Okta-nots" he spoke. My eyebrows raised and I quickly praised him for such precise word usage. After that, I changed the TV from "Little Einsteins" to "Octonauts". I was extremely excited to change shows, not because we could turn off a show I don't well like, but that Xavier so clearly spoke his unsolicited opinion about what he wanted to watch.

Greetings to everyone.

Week one of Bachelor Training for Boys is complete. I think it was more of Single Dad training.

Overall, the week went by quickly enough. By Thursday, Xavier grew tired of being passed off to different baby sitters and school. The routine he has grown accustomed to definitely was not being adhered to, and he began to make a few complaints. His primary complaint meant clinging so tightly to Dad as to become part of Dad's body. I'm telling you, no monkey ever clings to its mommy so tightly. Xavier perfected the art!

I encourage him by telling him how well he is doing in his part to support the family needs and goals. He puts on a good face, but still he longs for the days of yore (which may only be two weeks ago, but that's a very long time for a two-year old).

We have been Skyping every night with Mom. Unfortunately, our big 70" TV does not support Skype. This is a major bummer as we had hoped it would. Now, we are constrained to smaller screens for our nightly Mommy visits.

Starting Tuesday, Dad began needing more frequent visits to the "little boys room." Although feeling well, still the visit frequency increased as the week progressed. I began considering what I may have eaten Sunday or Monday.

Waking up Friday I felt incredibly weak physically and needed the "little boys room" a lot. Drinking a glass of water went straight through me; every ounce I drank was accounted for less than 20 minutes later.

Fortunately, Xavier had a babysitter scheduled so I could make it into the office (Tuesday through Thursday I work from home so Xavier can get to school and speech therapy). It was all I could do to load him up and get him over to the sitter's house. I returned home and slept the day: eight hours, and I nearly could not get up to go pick Xavier up.

I dreaded bringing Xavier home, thinking he was going to want to play and include me in all manner of activity just as he did the previous nights in the week. There was no way I could rise to that challenge; I could barely sit up on the couch (and I am not exaggerating; I was a limp noodle), and I was drop-dead tired.

God has great mercies! Xavier was content to play so long as I was on the same couch with him and paying him attention. Every so often I needed to grunt or say something.

He went to bed on time and easily for me; another blessing. I waited up until I knew Xavier had gone to sleep, then hit the sheets myself. Xavier chose Saturday to sleep in late and let me sleep also. I got up feeling much better and able to move about the house.

Still, I find it amusing that Xavier chose Friday night to get serious about rearranging a room in the house. Our furniture in that room (Middle Earth, his play room) is still arranged for the Christmas Tree (now packed away). Xavier does not like the arrangement; it cramps his play space significantly. He chose Friday night to want to move the furniture back. At one point he asked me to move the couch. When I explained I was too weak to move it, he tried very hard at moving it himself, turning red in the face with the attempt. When the couch would not move, he tried moving the ottoman with the same resolve. In the end, he had to settle for being mad the couch still took up the space for his Hot Wheels track.