It's Been Another Week!

Well, it's only been a week, but I feel so behind on the blog. I wanted to write about so many things, but I've forgotten so much.

Last time I wrote, it was the day after AJ's meet and greet at Preschool.

AJ's First Day of Preschool
On Monday, AJ had his first day of preschool. It was only for an hour, but he had big fun. Surprisingly, my shy little boy had no problem being 'dropped off' at preschool. He headed right in, past me, and over to the wooden driver's seat complete with gas pedal and everything. He was too cute in his 'indoor shoes' and his back pack. Starting next week, I'm even supposed to pack him a lunch! How super adorable is that?


Anyhow, when I came to pick him up, he was sitting on one of the teacher's laps with 'cry face'. I thought maybe he was missing me, but no; He didn't want to stop playing for storytime. Interesting. I hope he doesn't make a habit of that!
He's really excited for school. He's been asking to go to 'big kid school' when he sees the kids at the playground. Awwwww.



Brother Picture Session
So, I thought that every summer, I would make it a tradition to photograph the boys together in a 'brother picture'. They're both a half year older come the summer, so it seemed a good opportunity, since I otherwise will only take their pictures once a year after 'infanthood'.
I was in a pretty bad mood that day and nothing could make me happy. So, it was inevitable that the boys would both have snotty noses, Dexter was drooling, and they just weren't doing what I wanted them to do.
Luckily Richard (yes, he really is ALWAYS amazing) was snapping pictures at lightning speed. When we came home and looked at all the pics, I realized it was a wonderful picture session. The pictures turned out great. We've printed off our three faves for the grandparents and great grandparents to hopefully get around to mailing off, and will print off about 10 of my favourites for framing at home. Look for them soon on our picture site!


Dexy Cries
For about 4 nights or so, Dexter was doing this horrible blood curdling scream off and on between 7pm and 11pm in his crib. He was literally inconsolable. Teeth? Separation Anxiety? Learning to crawl? Learning to pull himself to standing? Who knows. I give up trying to figure it out. More importantly, he's stopped doing it, and not only that, but he's also sleeping right clean until 6:30am without the usual paci-plug at 5:00am. AND, he just starts playing when he wakes up, instead of me coming in at 6:30am or 7:00am, plugging him, and turning on his kick and play piano while I rest for a few more minutes. That's been really nice. Except for last night, when Auntie Kim and I didn't go to sleep until around 1:00am because we were pricing things for my very first Kid Swap Meet next weekend. I've got stuff to sell, and we're all done having kids (cross fingers), so it's time to clear things out!!
Update since I started writing this entry. Dexter's stopped doing the screaming entirely and I'm not hearing a peep out of him from 7-7. Nice.

Guitars and Drums
AJ really is into guitars and drums even more than before. He wants to play them, buy them, take them! He's very 'fine arts' right now. I wonder if he always will be or if this is just who he is for the time being? Anyone thinking about Christmas... I don't know whether to recommend drum set or not. Hmmmm, nurture his mind or keep mine? Tough call. Speaking of Christmas; With AJ's new found 'we need to buy this tomorrow' mentality, I've found myself saying to him, "Well, maybe you should ask for that for Christmas." Does he even remember what Christmas is?

Scooters and Bikes
Clearly a tricycle is not good enough for this kid. While he does love his tricycle, I have to do everything in my power to stop him from stealing other kids' bikes and scooters. He's seen a lot of 3 year olds riding 2 and 3 wheeled scooters and one kid let him use his the other day at the park. Whoa! He was in seventh heaven. My goodness. And bikes!? Can't get through Walmart without AJ begging to ride the bikes with the training wheels and taking off down the aisle.

Really Coming Out of His Shell
Whether he's rolling down his power window to yell, "Can I please have a sticker" to the Starbucks Barista, or he's asking a kid if he can borrow his bike "Just for a little bit", AJ's really coming out of his shell. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be excited that my son is talking to strangers.
Also, the climbing and jumping. My goodness, the climbing and jumping. He's all about the climbing and jumping now. He's mastered the swirly climbing thing at the park that he never quite understood before, AND he can climb the big, like 8 or 9 ft high rock at the local park!!! When did this happen? I actually had to ask him to come down because there was no way I'd be able to get him! YIKES!

AJ's First Day of 3 Hour Preschoo
AJ had his first day of real preschool on Monday. AJ's the youngest one, and shy, as you all know. Also, the other kids all go 2 or 3 times a week (and some 5) and AJ only goes once a week. So, on top of his shyness, he's only his second day when the rest of the kids have gone 3,4,5,and 6 times.
How did it go?
Well, good, but he's "that kid" so far. You know, the one who cries every time there's a transition...
Okay, time to clean up - wahhhhhhh
Okay, time to eat - wahhhhhhh
Okay, time to play - wahhhhh
Super. Hopefully this passes as he gets more comfortable with everyone, and/or hopefully we can afford to bump him up to twice a week in a little while. We'll see.
Otherwise, he loved preschool. He had lots of fun playing. He thinks the teachers are nice. And he was happy on the ride home talking all about his day. I packed him a little lunch, but of course, as usual, he didn't eat it.
I'm waiting for his first 'scholastic order' to arrive. How cute is that?

What Does Dexter Do While AJ's in School?
Normally Dexter will have a music class at 9:00am down the hall from AJ's preschool class, then Dexy and I will head for some non-perishable grocery shopping to ease the burden off of Richard's shopping trip on the weekend. Maybe I'll take Dexter for a walk too. Not sure.
This week, since Dexter's music classes hadn't started yet, we headed to the grocery store, bought groceries and more, of course, then headed to Starbucks for Dexter's morning snack and early lunch (he was hungry that day!) and my coffee. We sat and talked about the crazy couple next to us who were obviously on the blind date and girl was nutso. Dexter laughed, I laughed; it was big fun. Then we went to Canadian Tire and looked for cuttable freezer packs and gosh darned.... we found them!!! Afterward, we drove to pick up AJ and Dexter took his nap in the carrier again.

Some Cute Phrases
AJ hates the sunshine (EMO, dark worshipping, artsy mod in training). He likes to wear his sunglasses in the car, and he likes to roll up his window when the sun in glaring in his eyes.
The sun was flashing through the trees and instead of saying his usual, "Hey Mommy, the sun is blinking at me!", he said, "Hey Mommy! The sun is playing with me!" Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.
The next one needs some pre-story:
When I flick a bug away or shoo a bug or let a bug free, he used to ask, "Where is the bug going?" I would say, "He's going to go find his family." Now he always says, "Is he going to find his family now?"
We were at Starbucks with Jen, Makenna, Emerson, and Jaxon (more on this suicide mission later), and he accidentally knocked down his hot cocoa with his elbow. As the hot cocoa puddle started to form a river and dribble away down the sidewalk (we were outside on the patio), he said, "Is the hot cocoa going to go find his family?"

Dexter Milestones and Boy Are There Lots
Rocking on all fours, oh yeah. But still wasn't crawling earlier this week. He makes his way all over the place, but it's usually back wards or just kind of moving. Then a few days ago, he was going from sitting position to crawling position (still not crawling) and the next day, was going from laying to sitting. Today, he crawled. It's kind of a lame-puppy style. One leg is folded and the other is a propped up peg leg pirate kind of deal, but he's using it to move forward, so I'm counting it as crawling.
He's really getting efficient with his pincer grip. My favourite is when he picks up something with his left hand, and then uses his right pincer grip (thumb and forefinger) to take it out of the left hand. It's super cute.

We Went to the Zoo Again
Oh my goodness! Has it been that long since I posted?
Had fun. As usual. I'm not going to get into details. We've been so many times. What was cute though was that it was time to head home and AJ specifically requested to see the "Radical Raptors Show" (the bird show). He really loves that. No train ride that day, as per his request.



Shots Have Been Postponed
Dexter had a cold, so I postponed the shots.

Food Intros
No, I can't do this anymore. I can't keep writing every food he tried and when. Why did I do this with AJ. There's so many things I wrote and kept for AJ and I'm looking back thinking, "That was silly." I'm sure Dexter's not going to look back and say, "Oh wow, will you look at that! I tried corn on September 16th."

Happy 8 Months, Dexter!!!
This is self explanatory.

Auntie Kimmy Stayed Over
Auntie Kimmy stayed over and helped me price things for my very first kidswapmeet this coming weekend. As usual, the boys were excited to see her, and she didn't leave empty handed. She went home with their cold.

Cousin Shauna, Auntie Brenda, and Uncle Al
They came for a visit. Cousin Shauna's having a baby soon, and she needed to stock up on the good stuff before I got rid of it all at the swap meet. I took a brave step forward and sold her my swing and bouncy seat. My heart is racing just thinking about it! We're excited that Dexter will have a relative so close to his age!!!

Bento Lunch
So, as usual, to entice AJ to eat his lunch, I pack it 'bento style' nice and pretty. I have this strip of paper grass that acts as a divider between let's say the grapes and the cheese. When we got home and it was time for him to eat, he picks up the grass and says, "This is for edordation, right?"
Decoration. Cute.

Well, I think I'm missing some stuff, but let's post this. Wanted to post pics, but I just can't figure it out. I may try again tomorrow.