September

 

Ready for our Mexican Independence Day Celebration!

¡¿No se ve guapisismo?!

(Thanks Aunt Elena for the shirt!)

 Working on rolling over

  Spa Day with Isabela Mae!

My handsome little (tender-hearted) muscle man.  

Isa and her Monita.

(Isabela is sitting here with input on what I should write for her captions. This one is supposed to say "Happy Birthday because I love you!")

First Hair Cut

(Daddy got one, too!)

 After!

 Sad little boy! But isn't his cloth diaper the cutest?

 And Chauncey loves his jumper!

Mostly he loves chewing on it.

 Isabela dressed Chauncey... I had to help a little with the buttons.

Isabela's caption: "He looks handsome."

A definite favorite!

I can't get enough of this little guy.

My favorite thing he does:  If I am holding him, and he gets excited, he will grab my face and give my cheek a big open-mouthed kiss!

 

 He only sucks his thumb when he is tired.

Coming home, and getting ready for our....

 ...PICNIC!

 .All snazzy for our jazz concert at CMC!  They danced at the back of the room--ballroom and ballet style--for over 2 hours of music!  A few of their friends came and joined in, too.  I wish we had more pictures.

 A true thumb sucker... even with his binkie!

(Another favorite of mine!)

 Having a sleepover.

 The parade in New Castle with Emmet

Chauncey wasn't big enough to fit in the wagon yet.

 Rockin' the Shades at the parade

 "Look, Mom.  I made me a hammock!"

 Putting sweet Elmo and Xander to bed.

(Do you like the ipad-cover blanket?)

Box Town

 Tatum and Xander cruising in their cars.

Don't you love Xander's sunglasses upside down?

They are still a little big and really do stay on his face better this way. 

9/4/13

Two nights ago, Xander refused to lie down to change his diaper before bed.  He kept saying “No! Other one!”  In my confusion, he finally pointed to his cloth diaper (which I have only ever tried on him 3 times… I don’t really want to wash out toddler pooh).  I padded it extra (I really didn’t want to wash sheets as well).  He couldn’t even put his legs together like normal.  I asked if he wanted to switch back.  But, nope, he LOVED it. 

In the morning, he still didn’t want me to take it off.  Finally, we had to.  Then he did want his disposable back on again.

Today, though, he wanted his cloth one back on again.  I can’t believe my two-year old is cloth-diapering himself.  I am not opposed.  Maybe he will start to potty train sooner (Although, we have started already, with no pressure on him.  It has been slow-going, but I think he really enjoys sitting on the toilet so far, even though nothing has ever happened aside from reading stories.)

Jus Wuv Pats

When Brandon hugs Isabela, he sometimes pats her back or her bottom.  She would be furious, and yell, "Don't hit me!"  Brandon would reply, "They are just love pats, because I love you.  I am not trying to hurt you."  Soon, though, it became a game.  They would "pat" each other, and say, "Love pats!"  Only their pats were more like hits.  So Isabela started this game with Xander. She would hit him, pretty hard sometimes.  He would yell.  She would reply, "Love pats!" and run away.  So it began.  I have tried to stop it when it is just mean, and the other one is not having fun.  Then we have tried to teach that "pats" are soft, not hard. 

Today in church, a little girl came over to Chauncey in his carseat and touched him ever-so-softly.  She grinned and was so happy to play with a baby.  Xander sees her, walks over, and slaps Chauncey on the face.  To my surprise, Chuancey didn't cry, but he was stunned.  I grabbed Xander away (wanting to explode since he just hit my 2 month old baby), and explained calmly but firmly, "Xander, you CANNOT hit the baby."  Xander proceeds to grab my face, and look directly into my eyes. "Mom."  (He removes his hands and uses them to gesture and emphasize every word.)  "They. Jus. Wuv. Pats!"  (Mind you, the sacrament prayer just started.)  Now I don't know what to do.  Laugh. Cry from laughing so hard.  Or smack Brandon in the face since this is all his fault.  I opted for holding my two month old baby who was all smiles in all but 5 seconds after the incident.