SERIOUSLY?!?!

So.... as I stated in a previous post, we are experiencing a whole new life with Xander. He's growing up and doing all kinds of new things. Some things are very exciting, and some are tiring. For example... he is now in the big boy bed, and doing quite well, which is good because that means that when his little brother comes we won't have any fighting over the crib. The bad part about this new development? He can now get out of bed whenever he pleases and his sleeping times have shortened. He now wakes up an hour earlier, and takes 1/2 of the nap that he used to. The latest development that has been quite the trial.... opening doors. He can open each and every door in our apartment, even the front door with the dead bolt (we're going to need to get a chain for the top of the door). So I am constantly on door patrol and sometimes end up sprinting to stop him in whatever act he's about to commit. This especially applies to the bathroom doors. See... he loves the toilet. The good thing about his love for the toilet is that he has now gone #2 in the potty 3 times! He isn't consistent, but at least he's showing some interest. The bad thing...he thinks he needs to play in the water, and of course... the toilet ALWAYS needs a good flushing especially if he's found a dryer sheet that needs to be disposed of. Finally, after a few close calls, and moments where my actions lead me to believe that I was going to have baby #2 that very moment, Zach and I decided it was time to out smart the little guy and buy some door covers. You know what I'm talking about... those annoying little plastic bubble things that make it so kids (and some adults) can't get the door opened. After little Mr. Xander went to bed the other night I made a trip to the local Walmart, bought the goods, installed them, and went to bed with the satisfaction that my toddler chasing would be cut in half the next day. We woke up the next morning and decided to inform Xander of the newest additions. This is what took place:



As you can see it took him all of two seconds to figure the covers out. HE DIDN'T EVEN PAUSE!! At first I just thought that the door wasn't fully closed but after 10 successful openings I realized that wasn't the case. I guess that's what you get for trying to outwit your toddler. To add insult to injury... not only can he still open all the doors but I believe that the covers have made it even easier for him to open the doors. He goes into the places we were trying to keep him out of twice as much as he used to, increasing my toddler chasing three fold. It's almost as if he's trying to punish me for trying to ruin all of his fun. Basically, I must admit defeat, and continue my exhausting door patrol. Parenting. What more can I say?

Yee-haw!!

Xander got into our closet the other day and decided to go country. Even though he could barely move in his daddy's boots, he still thought they were the coolest things ever. Giddy-up!

I'm Just Sayin'

There is this lady that I work with who has smoked for probably 75% of her life and she has this really deep and raspy voice and she has this terrible habit of saying, "I'm just sayin'" after being completely blunt with people. For instance, she says things like, "that shirt makes your neck look fat, Im just sayin." and "shouldnt you look in the mirror before you leave the house, Im just sayin." Its like the modern day version of, just kidding.

So in honor of her, Codilyn's stomach (and in no way do I mean Codi) looks like she will have the baby a lot sooner than December 30th, Im just sayin.

Big Boy Bed

Zach and I decided that before Baby #2 gets here, we should definitely get Xander into a Big Boy Bed. Xander loves his crib so much that we figured we had better have some time to get him used to the fact that the crib would no longer be his. We found this great deal on a twin over full bunkbed and decided that we would go with that so that if we ever had guests they could have a place to sleep as well (Aren't my parents lucky? Come December they will get to go back to their childhood days and sleep on a bunkbed!!!). For two days Zach diligently put together the bunkbeds and when he was through Xander's excitement was hard to contain. He kept climbing all over the bunkbeds just laughing and giggling. I thought "Wow, this whole bed transition thing might be easier than we thought." and ended up jinxing ourselves horribly. Yesterday we spent the day getting all the items necessary to have Xander sleep in his Big Boy Bed for the first time. When bedtime came he even seemed excited to be getting into the bunkbed.

Then it happened....
THE HOUR AND A HALF LONG TORTURE TEST. Yep, he cried and kept getting out of the bed and either opening the door to his room, playing with toys, or begging to be put back in his crib. We did the Super Nanny trick and just stayed vigilant with picking him up and placing him back into bed, and switching off every three turns. At one point in the middle of the whole ordeal we thought we had won until we heard a strange sound. We opened the door to find that he had figured out a way to climb into his crib. The child never tried to climb out of his crib, but put all of his might and effort into finding a way to climb into his crib in the dark.

He finally stayed in the bed and slept through the night, only to sneak out of his room this morning and wake us up early. Cross your fingers for us that this refusal to sleep in anything other than his crib won't last too long. I guess we should have seen this coming considering the fact that any time we returned home from being out of town he happily ran to his crib and "cuddled" up to it as soon as he was placed inside. Oh the love of a boy and his crib.

"Wonder"ing what we did for Halloween?

This year for Halloween we decided to take Xander to the Pumpkin Patch, and trick-or-treating at the Zoo. The Pumpkin Patch had a big blow up slide, a hay hill, a few plastic play houses, a "train", and pony rides. Xander had a fun time with daddy going down the big slide, and enjoyed making friends in the little play house area, but he was especially privileged to have an extra long pony ride all to himself (no other kids were in line when we got there). He was having a great time but we had to head off to make it to the zoo before the big lines started forming. As soon as the pony ride was over and we said we had to go... he began to cry. I thought he was upset about leaving the ponies or the big slide, but he was more upset about leaving the little plastic play houses. Go figure. He just kept pointing to them saying "More", and then signing "please". We got to the zoo with perfect timing and had a really fun time walking through the park. Xander definitely got the love of candy gene from his dad and wanted to shove everything he got into his mouth as soon as possible (mommy ended up holding the candy bag). We ended the night getting dinner at this adorable place called Tally's Cafe on Route 66, and heading straight to bed when we got home. All in all, it was a good Halloween for the Beck family.

"The left side is my good side"

Last Sunday Xander helped me pick out his clothes for church, and was very adamant that he was going to wear his red tie. Although it is much too big for him I gave in rather than put up a fight. Even with the tie down to his kneecaps I still thought he looked adorable and decided to take some pictures of his Sunday getup. After taking the first photo he suddenly turned his body to the right making this adorable pose. He continued on a few more times and I ended up having to redo some of my eye makeup from laughing so hard.