At forty-one weeks, Xander is: eating more finger foods (like diced bananas and avocados) and loving it; trying to climb the stairs; and proving to be very tender hearted when it comes to correction (he’s sensitive to looks and tones and will pucker up and cry when you say “no sir” and won’t go back near what you’ve asked him not to do/touch…my mom tells me he reminds her of me when I was a child in that way…little buddy).
In his fortieth week, Xander is: trying broccoli and zucchini; starting to hold on with one hand and let go with the other one when he’s cruising; winning the wiggliest-baby-during-a-diaper-change award; turning the pages in board books; and peacefully putting himself to sleep for naps.
In his thirty-ninth week, Xander is: trying and loving mangoes; starting to cruise a little bit; and entering the bumps and bruises world of busy little buddies.
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.
What a BIG week for Xan-Man!!! In his thirtieth week, Xander is: trying pears; champing out with his first finger food (sweet potato puffs); cutting two teeth on the bottom; rocking back and forth on his hands and knees; sitting up unassisted for short periods of time; communicating with what appear to be his first two signs (“milk” and “change”); and making us smile with his first consonant/vowel combination (“DaDaDaDaDa”).
At twenty-nine weeks, Xander is: trying bananas (hesitant at first which amazed me but loves them mixed with rice cereal) and apples; getting up on his hands and knees (I have a feeling it won’t be long before his army crawl becomes a full blown off-the-floor crawl and then…look out world); working through his first cold and on what might be the beginnings of a first tooth; and exploring his world with the same investigative fervor as his big brother.
At twenty-eight weeks, Xander is: trying green beans (not a huge fan) and peas (likes them, surprisingly enough) and putting the turbo on with his army crawl (he can pretty much get to anything he sets his sights on).
Here he is with his first favorite toy…
At twenty-seven weeks, Xander is: trying and loving homemade organic baby food (sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and carrots); enjoying trying to hold and drink from a sippy cup of water; getting really good at holding a bottle of milk; and continuing to take a keen and smiling interest in the signs for milk, eat, drink, more, all done, change, sleep, dog, music, book, bath, massage, and get dressed.
In his twenty-sixth week, Xander is: full on army crawling; protesting when favorite toys are taken away (he pretty much protest cries every night when bath time is over, and it’s time for the red cup I use to rinse him off with to be put back on the side of the tub); and sleeping like a champ (he naps for one to two hours at a time and kicks off his night time sleep with a seven to eight hour stretch…glorious).
At twenty-five weeks, Xander is: adding a toe push to his forward lunge, which makes me think he’s going to be an army crawler; developing a fascination with the soft and silky tags on his toys (blanket teether, rattle, and stuffed animals); and getting just as excited about reading books as he does about eating and taking a bath (which is REALLY excited).
At twenty-four weeks, Xander is: sleeping for longer stretches during the day and night (kicking the 30 to 45 minute nap up to the occasional 1 to 2 hour nap AND knocking out 7 to 8 hours straight at night…YES!!!) and starting to lunge forward instead of push backwards when he’s up on his knees (I think we have a crawler on our hands).
At twenty-three weeks, Xander is: pretty much crawling backwards (getting his knees up underneath him, pushing with his arms, and scooching himself backwards); enjoying longer periods of awake time between naps; and trying out and loving his farm animal exersaucer.
