Author: Jodi

At thirty-eight weeks, Xander is: chuckling to himself while he’s playing; enjoying getting into the tupperware cabinet and the dishwasher; and sporting the new DaDa-dubbed nickname of “Magellan” for his explorer’s spirit.

At thirty-seven weeks, Xander is: trying blueberries; waving hello and goodbye sometimes (he’s definitely not consistent with it by any means but he floored me at the library the other day by waving when the librarian said hello to him); enjoying playing standing up; finally becoming fairly consistent with his napping routine; figuring out how to go from a crawling position to a sitting position and back again; and loving bath time with his big brother.

In his thirty-sixth week, Xander is: saying his first word (“dah” for “dog”); taking a pilot ride in the shopping cart, sitting up like a big boy; having a blast getting into all of the different toys around the house (his favorite stations right now are: the end table with the wooden puzzles; the play kitchen with the play food, pots, pans, and utensils; and the plastic easel with the Leap Frog ABC magnets); and sleeping through the night (the 7 pm to 6 am kind…yes!!!) pretty consistently, much to our profound amazement and joy.

At thirty-five weeks, Xander is: adorably saying “dadada”, “mamama”, “vavava”, and “bababa”; loving his milk…he can tank it back (mostly hypoallergenic formula with a bit of breastmilk added in, although I think my exclusive pumping days are quickly coming to an end); adding a morning snack to his afternoon snack and three meals a day (the boy can eat…I guess he’s burning off all of those calories by being so active); clicking his tongue; starting to crawl off of his belly on his hands and knees (we’ll have to post a video of him army crawling so you can see how he’s been doing it for two and a half months); and flirting with the stairs (I honestly can’t believe this fascination has started already).

In his thirty-fourth week, Xander is: pulling up to standing; doing his own versions of the signs for “drink” and “milk” (and getting really excited when he realizes we understand); figuring out how to drink from his sippy cup (and smiling and laughing when he successfully takes a drink); giving the most precious hugs in the world when it’s been a little while since he’s seen you; sleeping through the night for the first time (the 7:30 pm to 6:30 am kind…yes!!!); pointing with his index finger to push buttons, tug on your lip while he’s drinking his bottle, and investigate toys (and totally reminding me of ET); and keeping such a steady beat with his leg when he’s happy that I think we might have a little drummer boy on our hands (for real…we were at a picking at the Wingates’ house and he was banging a toy on the floor in perfect time to the music and even kicked into the back beat for a little bit).

At thirty-three weeks, Xander is: sitting up like a champ; doing his own version of the sign for “brush teeth” (his favorite part of his bedtime routine); showing a clear understanding of the words and the signs for milk, eat, drink, book, music, play, change, bath, brush teeth, and sleep; pulling up to his knees (we’ve dropped the crib down a few notches to keep our little wild man safe); becoming quite the independent explorer (he loves to check out Jonas’ kitchen and puzzles); and sharing his big brother’s passion and love for books (we’ll post a video soon so you can see how excited he gets about laying in the floor and reading with MaMa).

Xan-Man learned to crawl before he learned to sit. When given the choice, I know he’d rather be mobile but I still think he likes the view from here.

In his thirty-second week, Xander is: trying peaches and apricots; saying “MaMa” (so far he has only said it once but it was enough to make my heart smile and sing); petting Petra; trying to crawl off the changing table; and sitting up surprisingly well by himself.

At thirty one weeks, Xander is: trying avocados and prunes; laughing out loud over games of peek-a-boo (and other forms of parental silliness); grinning at and grabbing for books; enjoying going to play dates, story time, and music class with his older brother; and continuing to bless us with his wide open happy spirit and ready smile.