bed head

When you have awesome hair like Xavier does, it is especially, extra, double-dog awesome when you first wake up in the morning:

kitchen dj

Xavier likes to mix up the tunes on his Leap Frog fridge farm. What is especially amusing is when he keeps the tunes rolling while he plays with other stuff. He hits the button, turns & plays a little, & then periodically turns back to hit the button again & thereby keep the hits coming.

rhodie garden glee

slap happy with uncle mattie

toothbrush torture

Xavier's teeth are rotting out of his head, so we've been instructed to brush his teeth with flouride toothpaste every evening. You'd think we were burning him with cigarettes by the way he reacts. We've taken to giving him a decoy toothbrush while we brush with the other one. He is always glad when we're done & seems happy to gnaw on the toothbrush afterward.

learning to drink from a cup

Of course, it helps if what is in the cup is a delicious blueberry banana smoothie...

baby torture

Who needs to waterboard when a bulb syringe & baby asthma inhaler will do just as nicely?

sunday evening in ER

Xavier has had a cold for the last week that suddenly took a turn for the worse this weekend. His breathing grew incredibly labored & he started wheezing (think Darth Vader). Of course, it has been hard to keep him calm since all he wants to do is cruise around as fast as possible. This meant lots of rapid, shallow breathing & a somewhat alarmed Mom & Dad. We called his pediatrician on Sunday evening and were advised to take him to ER ASAP. We headed up to Doernbecher Children's Hospital (figuring it would be wise to stay within the OHSU system where he was born -less paperwork & futzing around) right around bedtime, assuming it would be a terrible ordeal with an overtired, sick baby. But Xavier really surprised us. Aside from a little crying when they had to bust out the anal thermometer, he was totally happy to hang out & watch the volunteer blow bubbles & he even fell asleep for a while on the hospital bed. I am continually amazed by what an easy-going child he is.

The docs checked him out & sent us home (before midnight!) with an asthma inhaler & instructions on how to use it. They concluded that he had bronchiolitis (infection of the small airways), most likely caused by RSV. An illness of this nature indicates that he will be more likely to have asthma later in life, but we're not jumping to any conclusions. We're just glad to have a treatment on hand for when his breathing seems especially wheezy.

Here he is showing off his toe heart monitor (and his amazingly succulent, chubby, almost-edible arm fat rolls...I will be sad when they're gone...)

rolling in the radio flyer

someone's hungry

Matt was preparing breakfast & Xavier was crawling around on the floor & exploring the kitchen cabinets like he usually does. Suddenly, Matt turned around to find that Xavier had found a kiwi & had busted it open with his bare hands & was now steadily gnawing away at the juicy bits. Clearly someone was ready for breakfast...

pizza experiments

Okay, so this post is totally not Xavier-related, but it is important nonetheless. We've been experimenting with making an Apizza Scholls quality pizza using the no-knead method for making the dough & we're getting closer than we ever thought possible. Aside from having a few sauce issues & some trouble getting the timing precise, we are turning out some mighty fine pies.

belly top

Time to get some bigger shirts...

oops!

I found a cheap set of Sandra Boynton books at the thrift store & was reading this one for the very 1st time to Xavier & this was his response:

OMSI!

We went walking downtown & along the riverfront this afternoon & while we were in the area we decided to stop in at OMSI & check it out. The Science Playground for preschoolers looked like such a fun place to play on a rainy day, we decided to buy an annual membership & stay for a while:Stopping to listen to some tunes at the Saturday Market

Xavier was something of an overstimulated spaz at OMSI -he crawled around aimlessly & didn't seem to know what he wanted to do most of all. I can't really blame him.

Showing his hometown pride (we scored this awesome shirt at the Saturday Market).

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down on the farm

We stayed the night at Grandma & Grandpa's farm & when we woke up this morning Xavier played with Grandma's bass guitar for a while & then we all went outside to help Grandma & Grandpa round up the horses.

Xavier isn't quite sure what to think of the horses

The Farmers Cooper

Puddle jumping

Xavier has discovered his tongue. In fact, he can now tell you where his ears, nose, eyes, hair, hands & feet are also. He's pretty amazing. He's also covered in drool these days since he is cutting his premolars. Come in already, teeth!! -you're killin' me!