...And Doing Fine!

Alex just stunned me. He woke a few hours ago. Fever is gone. He's back to his normal self.

He just grabbed a glass from the table and brought it to his desk. Then he took a bottle of water and brought that to his desk. He opened the bottle by twisting the cap off, poured a little bit of water into the glass like he's done it a million times and then closed up the bottle again.

I had no idea he could pour liquid from a bottle so well. I laughed and must have had a look of amazement on my face. He looked at me and smiled a shy smile.

Monday, August 30

Sleeping Off a Fever

Poor Alex ran a fever yesterday. Daddy even took him to the PM Pediatric clinic in town when he hit 102.9 F. No obvious infection was found. None has shown up either. Alex wasn't thrilled about the Motrin, but it was doing its work in lowering the fever.

He had an unusal melt-down after Tumbles today. High sensitivity bringing on tears usually means 'tired' - and he was. I put him down for a nap at around 2. I checked his temp an hour later and it was normal. Orquidea called at around 4 and when I tried to wake him, he cried. I brought him into the living room and he curled up on his chair. I still can't get him to wake completely. I hope this doesn't mean a really late night.

Somehow, I think he just really needs it right now. Sleep tight baby.

Monday, August 30

Trophies Are Nice, But...

Later in the afternoon, Alex heard the ice cream truck's music. A magical siren, it is - this half-midi 'Music Box Dancer'. Daddy went into Dress Alex Emergency Mode (because he was naked again). Mommy went into Emergency Flag Down Mode.

I ran down Hunter Street all the way to Halstead before Billie, one of our neighbors, was able to hold him there for me. He said that he'd come back around to our block. I ran back to the house and informed Daddy and Alex who were waiting outside.

We didn't wait long before Alex heard his magic chimes again. 'He's coming! He's coming!' he cheered.

We bought two Chocolate Eclair bars and had ourselves an outdoor ice cream time. Now, Alex thinks it's a proper celebration.

Saturday, August 28

Two Trophies in One Day!

Alex has slept in his Big Boy Bed at night for three weeks in a row. He's been able to go to bed when told that it's bedtime AND kept Quiet Time for two weeks straight. That earned him a big star for each of the past two weeks in this category.

But the REAL triumph came in that Alex has been using the potty on his own for two weeks now. He doesn't care to wear any pull-ups or diapers, except at night. He doesn't let me put a pull-up on for naps, but he's shown to not need them. He's even stayed dry through the night, using the potty as soon as he wakes up in the morning. These all earned him lots of smiley faces and stars with small prizes and treats. At the end of the weeks, he got a Big Star twice in a row.

That meant he won two more trophies; one for sleeping in the big boy bed daily, the other for using the potty daily. (It also meant that he won Kevin the crane and Hiro, the black locomotive.)

Congratulations Alex!!

Saturday, August 28

Silly Day

Mommy's been awfully tired lately. Today was no exception, even though she didn't go to the gym. We wound up off schedule today, having meals later than usual. Then Alex won some treats for potty and clean-up and Mommy completely forgot to restrict the treats before dinner.

So, Mommy declared it to be Silly Day. Dinner was at Applebee's where Mommy had a nice protein loaded steak with lots and lots of steamed broccoli and Alex had - ICE CREAM!

Alex would like it to be Silly Day more often.

Friday, August 27

Stylin'

Alex has been quite motivated to win Kevin, the land crane. He's already won him for having slept in his Big Boy Bed for 3 weeks. I told him that his award ceremony is on Saturday, so he has to keep up going to bed like a big boy and minding Quiet Time. Alex has decided to put in some extra effort, perhaps in the hopes of making Kevin arrive sooner. Today, he took to pulling up his own underwear after each potty use. That earns him purple smiley faces for dressing himself.

He took his underwear completely off for his last potty use. Normally he needs my help for that. Not this time. He sat down and put them on himself, jumping up to pull them up as if he were pulling up long pants.

Except...they're on backwards. I just noticed it and informed him of this.

'But everyone wants to see the picture on the front!' he argued.

A new style for men? Somebody alert Marc Jacobs.

Thursday, August 26

An Even MORE Big Boy Stuff

Alex didn't nap today, but he did keep Quiet Time anyway. I heard him talking in his room for most of it. He didn't ask to be let out of his room until after I said that Quiet Time was over.

And if that wasn't Big Boy enough...

When he got out of his room, he was dancing around as if he'd had to go potty. He was grabbing the back of his underwear and I asked if he had to do poopies. He said 'In the potty!'. He dashed to the potty, pulled down his undies and used the potty.

THAT was a really, really Big Boy thing.

I tried to give him a special prize for that, but he argued and cried for the new Cars racing puzzle. I tried to explain that it was for Poop Potty several times in a row, but he was really upset and seemed to feel betrayed. I thought better of it and concluded that he had waited until this moment to even ask for the puzzle. I first thought that I could give it to him pieces at a time and that way I would accomplish what I'd intended it for. Then, after I opened it, I realized it would be meaningless to him in pieces. There was no way he could put it together. So I said 'Later' to my cleaning and assembled the puzzle. Alex declared 'I have a new idea!' When I asked what that was he said 'We can do it together! Like teamwork!'

He's a bigger boy than even using potty indicates. We played with the puzzle and its racing cars. I talked him into waiting for Daddy to come home to continue. Then I gave him his big stars on his chart.

Congratulations baby!

Thursday, August 26