The New Family Truckster
Greetings to everyone.
On Monday, we became a three car family. Xavier's skills with driving Hot Wheels has grown so tremendously, we decided to get him his own big-boy car to drive around.
This baby's got power windows, power brakes, power steering, power seats. It's got steering wheel tracking headlights, integrated phone, AM/FM stereo with CD player and USB port. It's got heated leather seats, a collapsible third row of seating, front to back climate control. It's got rear-assist parking, BLIS, computer-controlled gyroscopes to help prevent tipping. Everything a growing boy needs in a family truckster.
We've been discussing the need to replace and/or upgrade one of our cars, especially since Xavier is growing long and he needs leg room! He no longer can sit in a rear-facing seat; we turned his seats around a few weeks back. We wanted to have some grow room in the vehicle for family outings, trucking several kiddos (friends of Xavier, not siblings!), hauling sports equipment and lumber and camping tents.
We were massaging the finances to get into a place to afford a car in late February 2016. Something of a necessity given next year's expected docket of travel. We had a plan in motion, but several detail eluded us.
Then, Rebecca crunched some numbers and found a way to make a cash purchase sooner than later (she's become a Dave Ramsey addict). Still thinking of a January or February time frame, she called the dealership and asked about lease returns. As it happened, one had just come in an hour or so before her call. It needed to be cleaned, inspected, etc., so we waited a few days for it to "hit the lot." 2014 XC90s are a rare breed and in both short supply and high demand; Volvo did not produce any 2015's (factory shut down to retool to make hybrid XC90s).
We both took it on test drives, kicked the tires, asked the questions. Did some wheeling and dealing. Xavier explored the inside and got used to how the controls felt and what they controlled. After that, the three of us headed for a nearby pizza place to discuss the machine over a thin-crust pie. It looked like everything we needed, and a fair asking price, plus it was almost dropped in our laps.
After some back and forth with the dealer, we signed over a check and picked it up on Monday. So far, Xavier is quite satisfied with the purchase.
Xavier's Turtle
Greetings to everyone.
One of the things the Turtles (Xavier's preschool class) do is explore various textures, usually as part of an art project. Today, as Xavier arrived (he was a few minutes late), the class was creating turtles.
This consisted of a turtle body cut out of green construction paper, a Styrofoam bowl, two staples and a length of orange string.
His teachers stapled the bowl to the turtle, then let the kids "have at it" with painting the bowl which made the turtle shell.
After painting the shell, a length of string was added to make a leash for the new pet.
When I came home from work, I saw his art work. I thought "how fun and inventive." I would not have guessed this would become one of Xavier's favorite toys.
He walks it outside. He walks it inside. He carries it around so he can walk it some more. Often, he will pick it up, then point at a door so he can take his turtle for a walk outside, especially out front. I guess he learned that from helping walk the dog; after all, that's where Lena gets walked.
Pillow Forts
Greeting to everyone.
Last weekend was Rebecca's Reserve Weekend for September. That, as always, means Bachelor Weekend for Dad and Xavier!
These past few weeks, Xavier has been playing Hot Wheels on the couch in Middle Earth, driving his cars up and down the back and arms of the couch. Saturday night started out the same way, until...
Xavier did not like a pillow lying in his way. He tried moving it, but it proved too cumbersome without letting go of one of his two Hot Wheels. That's when Dad stepped up.
Dad moved the offending pillow to lay across the gap between the couch and the coffee table. That drew Xavier's interest, enough for him to put down the Hot Wheels and climb down the couch to check out the space under the cushion.
He giggled. We added more pillows, creating a cave. Thrilled with the construction, Xavier ran into the other room and returned with a blanket and pillow. The fort/cave was a perfect nesting place!
Xavier also discovered he could "pop up" through the pillow roof and yell "Arrrr!" That, of course, brought a collapse to the flimsy pillow rooftop.
We spend much of Saturday night and Sunday morning improving our fort designs. We found that using a bed sheet or blanket, we could make really large, if not short, forts. Xavier had a time running in and out and being chased back in to his forts.
Now, we have a fort in Middle Earth most of the time. Sometimes it is in tact, other times not so much (Xavier discovered he likes jumping down from above onto the pillow roofs).