A blog is a blog is a blog

After a hectic but successful move, the three of us are settling in to life in southern California. One of my friends who helped us move told me unpacking was harder than packing and I'm finding it is true! I think this is because you finally just got all your stuff to fit somewhat nicely into the boxes and into the truck and it seems silly to undo all of your hard work so quickly. So a lot of boxes sit there waiting for you to decide if they are important enough to get opened. In our case, most of our things went into storage so that made the unpacking easier to manage.

Xavier is loving life at Neema and Grandpa's house. This is such a great way to transition to whatever life brings us next because X has been here many times before and was comfortable and excited from the start. Occasionally he mentions something about "mom's house", meaning our old apartment, and was very excited when he saw pictures of it, so I know he misses it but he has been very calm about all the changes. He did have one night where he woke up disoriented, saying that we were in the "wrong bed" but otherwise it has been a pretty easy adjustment. Now that it has been a week, he is even making some headway with the two big dogs here. Normally he climbs up as high as he can on the closest adult until the dogs are put outside, but tonight it was raining so the dogs were in the house. X really wanted to play though, so as long as the "big dogs" weren't in the room or were visibly sleeping he stayed on the ground. Yeah for progress!

An added bonus this week was that his close-in-age-cousin ("Z") was sick and got to play with us (wait, I mean, recuperate with us) rather than go to her daycare. We all watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse together in the mornings, checked out nearby libraries, did art projects, read stories, and just played with all the fun things around the house. One favorite of mine was watching them take turns filling up a small watering can and pouring it on the "garden" (a random patch of dirt in the yard) while the other person dug around the wet dirt with a little plastic tool. They play so much better together now that they are older; they are even each other's accomplices. One day Z showed X where to hide from us (in the pantry) and they didn't make a peep for what felt like a long, heartpounding time while Joe and I searched the house in a panic!

Today, Xavier surprised me during our art project time. He took a Sharpie and was making squiggles all over his paper but when I looked again he was tracing all the letters on a flyer (he was tracing UPGRADE $99, etc.). I didn't even know he could do that!

Xavier loved being a "builder" at My Museum

Tonight I took Xavier outside to visit Grandpa's garage. Minus the dogs, I think X was in heaven! Xavier loves all the tractors and motorcycles and things Grandpa is fixing up. He got a huge kick out of sitting on a green tractor and pretending to drive and "fix" the tractor, even asking for "Turner" (a flathead screwdriver from Bob the Builder). We are definitely going to have to invest in some little toy tools and projects that X can do out there.

And should you wonder how our Christmas went, here are a few pictures of X on Christmas morning. The rest are on Joe's computer. I have to say that holidays are much more fun with a little one around! X got to open his Handy Manny pajamas on Christmas Eve (mostly because I was dying to have him open something...waiting is not my strong suit!). The pjs have the little feet and he looked so cute in them. He had to unzip them at night, though, because he likes me to rub his back and belly while he falls asleep!

He loved opening presents and eating the Clementines and chocolate in his stocking.

Joe's splurge for X--an I Spy Wall-E book

Very cool Buzz Lightyear glasses from the Gensels

My splurge for X--a drumset! We have a great drum solo to post when we get a chance.

X's size 3 soccerball. He tried it out on several soccer fields and basketball courts.

X's grandma and grandpa came up to spend Christmas with us and we got to see lots of fun things (like the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary and the sunset on the coast) and open lots of presents (like his remote control truck and a puppet theater). Xavier loved every present this year and hasn't stopped having fun with them yet!