Dexter is 22 Months Old!

Gah!  I only get to use "months" one more time, then I will have to say he's 2!

He's still such a phenomenal kid.  Age-appropriate toddler tantrums aside, he is so much fun to be around and makes us laugh about 20 times/day. He's crazy smart and is a crazy good climber and runner and ball-kicker.  Lately, he's been checking in with us just to make sure we're OK and sharing his blanket at bedtime. ("Mom, blanket? Mom, blanket?")  And he (almost) always says he's sorry if he's physically hurt you (intentionally or accidentally).

Poor kid's had quite a few time-outs this month, and they will surely continue to increase in frequency. But then you can't help but squeeze him and give him a big ol' kiss. (And he'll give you one back - "mmmmmmmm-aaaah!")

Teeth:  Still 16. :)

Language: Things are getting a tiny bit clearer here.  Bob the Builder is now "Bah-Beeya" instead of just "Beeya," for example.  And we're just getting better at understanding him, since we know that "GAH-ga-gah" is "bicycle" and "Gah-ga-GAH-ga" is "motorcycle."  It's all in the inflection, really. ;)


Sleep: Not horrible, but not great.  He has been waking some during the night lately - night terrors, etc.  One morning last week, he woke up at 4:00 and didn't make it back to sleep until 6:30.  But mostly, the issue is still with getting him to sleep.  That is finally getting a little bit better, with a few dramatic exceptions.  I do keep wondering how long we can continue to devote two hours to Dexter's bedtime routine EVERY night.

Food:  Like many toddlers, Dexter is way too busy running and playing to bother with eating.  But every few days, he makes up for it by downing more than a dozen mini pancakes, or eating 2 bananas before school and then eating his full breakfast there, too.  Fruit is still his favorite thing. If you fill his dinner plate with a nice ratio of fruit, proteins, starches, and vegetables, he'll eat all of the fruit and get 3 or 4 refills on it before he bothers touching the proteins.  He does like rice, though, and will eat vegetables.  But he LOVES fruit.  Not sure what we will do in the winter, when we don't have an abundant supply of blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, peaches, kiwi, and cantaloupe in addition to the standard apple/banana/orange triad. 

Potty:  Some progress here, though we're still a long way from real interest or anything resembling consistency.  He likes the idea of sitting on the potty. For a minute (if that).  But he also isn't bothered at all if he is wet or poopy.  Baby steps.

Tricks: iPhone!  Not sure if this is a trick or a toy or what, but we've downloaded several educational toddler/preschooler games to our iPhones, and Dexter is CONSTANTLY asking to play them.  His favorite is "monkeys" (this was the first thing he said when he woke up this morning).  He's actually really good at the puzzles.  For a while, he would restart the game if the "memory" one came up, but now he (usually) at least tries it.

He's also started playing one where you have to put the letters in order to make a word.  He's pretty good at this, too. If I'm being honest, though, there is an extra visual cue that helps a lot, and the letters snap into place awfully easily.  But he's still seeing letters and hearing their name and seeing words spelled out, so that's good.  I think it might be helping with his vocabulary, too, since it shows a "tractor" and a "plow" and a "lawnmower," where Dexter would like to just call all of those things "lawnmower." 

Dislikes: When his little brother plays with his toys.  We were warned that jealousy would rear its ugly head once Desmond got mobile.  I was hoping it wouldn't happen, but it has.  As previously mentioned, Dexter also dislikes bedtime.  Let's throw diaper changes into the mix, too.  And hair-washing.  Yikes.

Likes: LAWNMOWERS!  He really really really loves lawnmowers. Still.  This one might stick around for a while.  You should have seen how quickly he, heartbroken, got dressed and put his shoes on the last time he saw Dennis outside mowing without him!  He also likes his little brother.  As much as he doesn't want Desmond playing with his toys, he's also eager to give Des his bottle or pacifier or pureed avocados.

He also sometimes finds a toy and decides that Desmond MUST have it rightthisminute.  He also says "Baby's turn!" when we are taking turns doing fun things like jumping around. 

Potty Peeing Story

YAY!  Dexter peed in the potty!  All on his own!!

After his initial success at daycare over a month ago,  we've had no more success stories.  He's sat on the potty several times, sometimes for 20 or 30 minutes, but nothing.

This morning, he woke up screaming at 4:00.  I went in his room to calm him down and ended up dozing in there while he flopped around from 4:00 - 5:30. 

At 5:30, he rolled over and said "Puh-Pah-Yee?" Which means, I think "Pee Potty?"  So we walked to the potty in his and Desmond's bathroom, and I put him on the potty.  He fussed and said "Tah-Yah Pah-Yee?" Which means "Turtle Potty," his child-sized toilet ring that is designed to look like a turtle and fit on the adult potty seat.  But it was on the potty in the half bath. 

So we walked down to the half bath, and I sat him on his turtle potty.  And he pointed to it and said "Off!" So I took the turtle potty off of that toilet seat and sat him on the adult toilet seat.  He fussed and said "No!"

Then he got down, picked up the turtle potty from off the floor, and marched back to the other bathroom, where I put the turtle ring on the toilet in there.  I sat him on it, and he almost immediately peed in the potty. 

I was too exhausted and dumbfounded to give him all of the adulation he deserved, but I did manage to get out a big "YAY!" and "Good job peeing on the potty!" And we went to tell Dad, even though it was 5:30 in the morning. 

Dexter seemed to feel this was a nonevent, though (or he was just too exhausted himself to realize what he did), and all he wanted to do was play "monkees" on Dad's iPhone. (We figured he'd earned the privilege.)

YAY Dexter!

An Outing with Shelby

Remember Dexter's buddy Shelby from when they were itty bitty babies?  And then later when Shelby was chattering and clapping while Dexter was grunting and motoring about? 

Well, we got to hang out with her again last weekend!  It was a rainy day, so we opted for the Science Center instead of the Botanical Garden.  It was Dexter's (and Desmond's) first trip there.

Dexter was, as most very young children are, a little afraid of the giant growling T-Rex and the near-death dinosaur victim next to it.  But he really enjoyed a lot of the other stuff, including touching some of the fossils, hanging out in a hands-on exhibit area (mostly identifying colors of various acids and bases after they had been mixed with red cabbage juice.

Most exciting was probably the walkway over I-64, where he got to look out of the window at the zooming cars and stand on the clear portholes (no fear there) over the highway.

A grand time was had by all.  In case you were wondering, Shelby is still her sweet, perfect little self.  She is still tiny (shoe size 4 vs. Dex's size 7, and a scant 22ish pounds vs. Dexter's 30). She's stringing 2 and 3 words together with much regularity (another sharp contrast with our Dexter) and has the sweetest little voice.

We hope to hang out with them again soon.

On to the pictures!

Mom was there!

 So much red eye in this picture, but it was too cute not to include.

Safety Goggles!

Lunchtime (bad parent confession - there was also pizza)

 

And a minute on the hamster wheel

Building an arch

And falling on his head in the process. (He was upset for about 42 seconds before moving on to more exciting things.)

 

No fear at all.

OK, I just had to take a picture of these guys, who I don't think had any idea that they were dressed in such bold colors and lined up in proper rainbow-color-order.  And yes, probably only a nerdy mom would even notice such a thing.

Kelly, Shelby, Dexter, Dennis

And boy was it an exhausting day!

Dexter's Sleep

A month and a half later, we're all still adjusting to life without a crib.  It still typically takes a full hour to get Dexter in bed for the night, and about half the time, he gets up during the night and comes into our bed.  No biggie.

A couple of weeks ago, we finally splurged on the Summer Infant Video Monitor, which we really should have bought months ago.  But now we have it, and it is GREAT!

Anyway, Desmond woke up hungry at 3:30 this morning.  While I was up with him, I figured I'd just check in on Dexter via the video monitor.  He wasn't in his bed.

No big deal. On a few occasions, we've found him asleep on the floor partway through the night. I figured he was just in a corner of the room that we couldn't see on the video monitor.  So I decided to check on him.

I walk in. The bed is empty.  The floor is empty.  I check corners.  No Dexter.  I check his bathroom. No Dexter.  I decide it's just too dark, so I turn on the bathroom light. Still no Dexter.  Re-check the corners. Still no Dexter. 

I was about a nanosecond from screaming for Dennis when something compelled me to look under the bed:

Phew.  I don't know when he got under there, or how he managed to get so far in that the bedskirt appeared completely undisturbed.  Never mind managing not to hit his head or scratch his back or anything. 

But there he was, happily asleep and definitely still breathing. 

Dexter is 17 months old!

Signs: Not a whole lot of development in the signage department this month. Which isn't such a bad thing, because...

Words: Dexter is talking more!  Still not a lot of real words, but he is definitely getting chattier and is clearly trying to tell us stuff all the time.  I never thought I'd be so glad to hear my kid say "Shah-baaah!  Shah-baaah!"

Teeth: Still 12.  His molars are all broken through and progressing very nicely.  They make it very easy for him to chew his new favorite food (see below.)

Sleep: This has gotten extra interesting since the conversion to a toddler bed.  Mot of that drama is chronicled elsewhere in this space, so I'll spare you a recap here.  Let's just say that our current goal is pretty much just for everyone in the house to get as much sleep as possible.  I guess that was always our goal, but it was much easier to accomplish when we had a little baby jail to help us out.

Food: I think we can say that bananas have been demoted a bit in Dexter's food repertoire.  He still really really likes them, and I still buy a dozen at a time if I can get the appropriate variety of ripeness.  But now Dennis and I actually get to eat a banana ourselves on occasion.  And Dexter is just as likely to ask for grapes or milk as he is to ask for a banana. 

Really, though, his favorite thing to put in his mouth these days is crayons.  Yep. Crayons.  And most of the ones we have are "washable," which means they are at least a little bit spit-soluble, which means he gets a whole face/mouth full of color. Yes, we try to stop him.  Yes, we usually fail.  Yes, I'm about to give up, because the things are nontoxic anyway, and there's not a whole heck of a lot we seem to be able to do about it.

Things he knows:  I'm soon not going to be able to put anything in this section, because he is learning too much too fast!  He's now helping us dress/undress him. (Zips up his own jacket and everything, once we get it started.  He can take it off all by himself!)  He's more hit than miss on colors - won't say the word, of course, but if asked "which is green?" he will point to the correct one.  (Ditto for red and yellow and blue. Sometimes orange.)  We're working on "patty cake," too.  He doesn't quite get the clapping/high-five part yet, but he LOOOOVES to "roll it" and "pat it."  It's really quite adorable.

Games: Let's see. I don't think he will ever tire of playing chase. :)  He also still loves peek-a-boo. Now he will put his hands over his face (peeking out through his fingers, though he thinks we can't see his little eyeball) and then pull his hands away and squeal with delight. The last few nights, he's thought that going to bed was a fun game.  

Toys: For some reason, Dexter ALWAYS goes for these stacking blocks.  (Thanks Mary & Stephen!)  I mean, it's great, I'm glad he likes the stacking blocks more than some of the electronic toys - leaves more room for imagination and all that. It's a great toy. But it's also one of the messier ones.  He has two sets.  So digging out these two, usually nice and compactly stored toys, results in 15 boxes of various sizes being strung all over the living room. 

Books:  Dexter's favorite book lately has been Dizzy Dragon. It's a really cute book that Tootsie gave him. (I don't remember the occasion - probably just because she likes to spoil him.)  Each page has a different dragon with googly eyes and some other touchy-feely part (bumpy, scratchy, soft, etc.).  Of course, Dexter just flies through those pages, so we don't get to read the little rhyme about each dragon. (Fiery Frank loves sausages/Pan-fried, grilled, or roasted/Flame-grilled are his favorite/He likes them nicely toasted!)  We're lucky if we can get out "Pink Dragon!"  "Blue Dragon!"  "Green Dragon!" etc. before he jumps to the last page, where the KING dragon lives, and the book plays a little song.  He loves it.

Tantrums:  Yep. Tantrums.  We seem to be in full-on tantrum mode these days. Certainly not every day, but there's at least one meltdown most days, sometimes a major serious meltdown with lots of hysterics and drama.   Hey, it's tough to be 17 months old, right?  Dexter often knows what he wants but can't tell us (frustrating) or just can't have it (playing in raw ground beef is just not allowed).  So he flails around and screams.  There's not a whole lot we can do about it except try to make sure he doesn't hurt himself.  I hope and hope and hope that he'll get some actual words soon to at least eliminate part of these major fustrations.

Eyes:  Finally, it looks like Dexter's eyes are maybe losing a little bit of their blueness.  They're still quite gorgeous, in my humble opinion, and light, but starting to go a little more green/gray/hazel.  We're watching closely to see if it's really true.

Dexter's New Trick

Climbing out of his crib!

Last night at about 11:30, I sneaked into his room to put away two measley shirts.  Of course, I got busted. Totally busted.  So then he was upset. I snuggled him for a few minutes, then put him back in his crib and told him it was time to sleep.  He was still upset, but typically just cries for maybe a minute and then goes to sleep.

Not last night.

He cried a little longer than usual, but we were trying to get a lot done and were still giving him a chance to settle down.  Suddenly, the crying was a little less muffled.  Wha?? As I went to investigate, sure enough, here comes our Dexter down the hallway, still crying but obviously quite pleased with himself.

Not wanting him to do it again with less success, we brought him into our bed, where he tossed and turned for about an hour. Then I tried to put him back in his crib, and he climbed out again.  (I watched through a crack in the door. He's actually very skilled at it - brace yourself on the corner, right leg up and over, left leg up, lower yourself down.)

Then we resorted to sleeping on the guest bed (and he only fell off of it twice - 1:45 and 2:15am).  We managed to get some semblance of sleep from about 3:30 until 7, with me waking up every time Dexter moved (roughly every 10-15 minutes) to try to keep him from falling off of the bed again.

(Dennis's take this morning - "I didn't even realize you guys were gone until Desmond woke up at 3:30." How can he sleep through all of this?  I was surprised when he didn't come investigate the giant "THUD" sounds at 1:45 and 2:15. Guess I know why now.)

  So, here we are, just shy of 17 months, and Dexter is getting a big boy bed!  (OK, we're converting the crib to a toddler bed tonight.)  NO clue how we're going to keep him from just getting up and roaming the house all night long.  We may have to seriously consider new doorknobs with reverse locks to keep him in his room (and out of his bathroom and closet).  That'll also mean taking a lot of stuff out of his room and crazy childproofing.  

I'm tempted to just take everything out and pad the walls and floor. Because let's face it, that's what we really need.

So, our quest for more than 2 continuous hours of sleep continues!  Really curious to see what tonight holds.

Dexter is 16 months old!

And he's chugging right along!

Signs: His newest sign is "grape."  We're trying to move from signs to WORDS, but of course Dexter just thinks you're playing some goofy game when you try to teach him words. Which brings us to...

Words: Not much progress on words.  "Duck" has been upgraded from "maybe," though - he does sometimes say "duck." (Or, more accurately, "Du."  Similarly, "mop" is really "mah." We're working on the ending consonants.)

Teeth: We're up to 12!  Numbers 9 and 10 (top molars) have broken through all the way and are still coming down.  Tooth #11 (bottom right molar) was first spotted on January 18 (15m, 2w), and #12 (bottom left molar) was just a few days behind.  He is handling it pretty well but does chew on his fingers quite a bit. (We've offered more appropriate teethers, but I think it's hard to get some of those back to the molars.)

Sleep: Dexter has started fighting bedtime.  He'll stall and stall and stall, pretend like he wants to read more books, or play in the bathroom, or ask you to sing the ABCs to him again and again and again.  I'd be willing to shift bedtime a little later, but he's still SO exhausted in the morning that I don't think we can do that.  He is still a horrible napper. He still pretty much sleeps through the night, though (with the occasional brief and self-resolved wake-up), so overall I don't think we can complain.

Food: Dexter is still a big eater.  (A few nights ago for dinner he had a banana, about 1/2 cup of grapes, another 1-1.5 cups of rice, a veggie burger pattie, and 6 ounces of yogurt.  Really, that's more than I eat for most meals.)  We've recently institued a "one banana per meal" rule; otherwise, I think he would be happy eating only bananas all the time.  Grapes are still a favorite. And yogurt (which we feed to him unless we're really prepared for a big mess). He likes rice, too (also messy, but not as bad as yogurt). 

Things he knows:  He's getting better and better at following commands and has pretty much mastered compound commands ("get the toy AND give it to Dad").  When asked, he can point to his tummy, feet, nose, ears, eyes, mouth, and head.  He can also point to your tummy, nose, ears, eyes, and head, too.  He knows where the trash can is, too, and will slide things in there (whether he's supposed to or not).  The other night, Dennis asked him to put a small piece of cardboard in the trash, but Dexter couldn't get it in because the tupperware lids he put in there earlier were in the way. Doh!


Games: Chase is still right up there. Peek-a-boo is still a favorite, often manifested as hiding in the pantry and opening and closing the door.  Another one I've neglected to mention before is "Dexter Pinball," in which he will come up to you wherever you stand and put his head between your knees.  You are then supposed to sortof bounce his head back and forth like a pinball.  He giggles and runs off. It's great.

Big Brotherhood: Dexter is an AWESOME big brother!  More on that later, but he really likes Desmond, is curious about him, wants to help when he cries - it's great. 

Dexter Slept Through The Night!

Again, that is.

Avid readers will recall that, although Dexter slept through the night for weeks 8-15, we've been having some issues with sleep for almost 2 months. Well, after about a week and a half of dedicated effort on our part (engineered by Dennis), things seemed to be getting better. He was waking once or twice a night to eat, but (mostly) didn't need much soothing in between. Or, at least, not a lot compared to how things had been.

In any case, last night he slept from about 8pm - 8am. YAY!

He did whimper/cry out at 1:30, 2:30, and 5:30, but only very briefly, and he put himself back to sleep each time. These brief awakenings, of course, mean his parents didn't sleep so well, but I hope this means we're on the road to the Big Prize - sleeping soundly through the night.

Update: The next night did not go as well. He had a night terror at 2:30, which woke him up enough for him to realize he was hungry. Still, that's just one wake-up, so that's still pretty good.

Fresh Food Feeders Are Exhausting

Also, bananas stain baby clothes. :(

Dexter is 5 Months Old!

FIVE months?! When did that happen?

Well, somehow, sometime, it did. Dexter is still such a very very happy baby. He smiles and LAUGHS like crazy. He really only cries when he's hungry or tired, and a grateful mother can't ask for anything more than that.

He's started sleeping *a little* better at night. He even slept all the way through the night on March 1. He's still our little giant, with a current estimated weight of 19 pounds or so. He's wearing anywhere from 9 month to 18 month clothes, mostly depending on brand and shrinkage. He's eating so much - anywhere from 40-48 ounces of formula each day, plus about 2 tbsp of rice cereal (mixed with formula and apple-grape juice) in the evenings. Plans are to start vegetables possibly as soon as March 7.

He has definitely mastered rolling over (both ways) and now travels across the floor by rolling and scooting and rotating. The scooting is the most funny, since he tends to scoot backwards like a little crawfish. He moved a good 5 feet under his own power the other day. (Unfortunately, although he always starts out on the rug and playmats, he invariably ends up on the bare hardwood. Poor kid.)

He's getting stronger every day. He still hasn't quite made it up to hands-and-knees, but he occasionally gets his hips off the floor to a nice hands-and-thighs position.

Anyway, without further ado, here are his "official" 5 month photos.

Picture time? Again? Okay!


Eating my toes is still my favorite-est thing.


Man. It is so much fun being 5 months old! I crack myself up.


(I had to include this one to show off his new hair. He's got a lot more growing
in, and it looks like a crew cut right out of the 1950s. It's hilarious.)


Hmm. Bear or Demonjello. Bear or Demonjello...


I choose BEAR!
(Bear was full of slobber... er, love, within a few short minutes.)

Finally, more with the toe-eating. This cracks me up.

Dexter's Sleep Regression

[yawn] I may have to go back to drinking copious amounts of caffeinated beverages. Remember our sweet, wonderful 2-month old who slept through the night? I miss him.

Apparently there is a 4-month sleep regression that just about every baby goes through. OK, that's life. (or so I thought when this all started a month ago)

For comparison:
December 3. Dexter is one day shy of 2 months old.
10:00 PM - Dexter goes to sleep.
7:00 AM - Dexter wakes up.

February 23. Dexter is 4.5 months old.
8:00 PM - Dexter is in bed.
8:10 PM - Dexter needs a pacifier.
8:15 PM - Dexter is a w a k e. I take him out of bed and put him in his swing.
8:45 PM - Dexter is asleep in his swing.
9:00 PM - Dexter is moved to his crib.
9:30 PM - Dexter needs a pacifier.
10:07 PM - Dexter needs a pacifier.
10:44 PM - Dexter needs a pacifier.
11:07 PM - Dexter needs a pacifier.
12:45 AM - Dexter needs a pacifier.
1:07 AM - Dexter needs a pacifier.
2:30 AM - Dexter drinks a whole 6 oz bottle.
4:00 AM - Dexter needs a pacifier.
530 AM - Dexter needs a pacifier.
6:00 AM - Dexter drinks another whole 6 oz bottle and is awake.
7:15 AM - Dexter falls asleep again.
9:30 AM - Dexter is awake for the day.

Yes, that is a typical night now. Did I mention this has been going on for a month? (I'm not sure this "standard" sleep regression is supposed to last that long.) And I've got to wonder if it's any better for the baby whose sleep is constantly interrupted than it is for his mom.

The good news is that he gigles and laughs a lot during the day, which helps take the edge off of the fatigue. Videos to come at some undetermined time in the future.

Giant Dexter Update

The "giant" may refer to the update OR to the kid (or maybe both). Decide for yourself:

He had his 3 month doctor visit/shots last Thursday (January 8). He weighed 15 pounds, 6 ounces! He did have a diaper on, but it was a fresh one, so it probably only added a couple of ounces. So yes, he is a giant and will surely double his birth weight by 4 months. He's also wearing 6 and 9 month clothes. (Some 3 month clothes still fit, but not too many.) Remember when we used to worry about his lack of weight gain? Pssh.

Since he hit the 15 pound mark, we're moving forward with our planned switch to cloth diapers. So far, so good, although we only have 9 diapers total (4 different varieties), and I'm not sure which brand/style to dive headfirst into. The long-term savings are pretty awesome (they'll pay for themselves in less than 6 months), but the initial expense is kindof hefty. (If any of you have insights into cloth diapering, I'd love to hear them. Please email me.)

He's babbling and cooing more than ever and often is quite clearly trying to tell me something and sometimes gets frustrated when I don't understand him. He laughs at just about anything these days (as long as he isn't too hungry or too sleepy), and that is really awesome. I'm glad I get to see all of those laughs instead of hearing about them from his daycare teachers. (YAY for layoffs?)

He's rolling over front-to-back more and more, and he's threatening to go back-to-front. I think (and hope) we have a few more weeks until that happens, though. I've enjoyed this time where he stayed where I put him and was physically incapable of too much resistance during diaper changes. :)

Nose/chin/ears is still a fun game, but "nom nom nom" is SO much better! Basically, you give yourself a gravely monster voice and say "nom nom nom" while you wiggle something (a toy, a blanket, his feet, whatever) right in his face. He loves it. "Baby in the mirror" is also more fun than ever before. He also loves just about anything rough. Of course, he's still only 3 months old, but as rough as you can play, that's what he wants to do. (At least until he throws up. Then he isn't into the roughhousing too much anymore.)

Finally, he's gotten his first cold and his first boo-boo, both in the same week, and both inflicted by his Mom, who feels awful. Dad is nice enough to at least suggest the possibility that he was the one who originally introduced the cold into the house. I'm not sure. Anyway, he's a little stuffy but doesn't seem too upset about the cold. The boo-boo was when I accidentally clamped the pacifier clip onto his skin. Yes, it left a mark, mostly because I couldn't figure out what he was screaming about for, oh, 60 or 90 very long seconds. (When can it be Dennis's turn to screw up?)

Anyway, that's just about it for Dexter updates. He's a ton of fun, but I do miss my sweet itty bitty tiny baby. I'm doing my best to soak up every minute I have with him, and I nibble his toes every day. (I'm sure the idea will really gross me out when he's 14.)

Here are some videos from the last couple of days. I also finally trimmed and uploaded the video of him rolling over on January 6. It's still pretty long (3+ minutes), but it's pretty funny.

Here, we see Dexter enjoying a game of peek-a-boo. Unfortunately, the camera is apparently a big turn-off for him, because he really likes peek-a-boo a lot more than this. but it's cute anyway. (Also, it was getting to be bottle/nap time, so he wasn't quite as energetic as usual.) He actually laughed at the still camera today, though, so our camera-shy hero might be coming out of his shell. :)


And here we see him playing with one of the toys on his new chair. (Santa brought it a few days after Christmas. He looks like such a big kid sitting up in there!


Finally, here's Dexter grunting his way through some tummy time. Hey, it's tough work holding your head up that high and trying to roll over! I love that he tries really really hard and doesn't give up! (He gets that from his Dad.)

Dexter's First Christmas

Dexter's first Christmas was a huge success! And to think it's only half over! (Tootsie and Pop are due for a visit in a few days and are bringing their Christmas loot along.)

So far, he's gotten a fun hammer (that makes noise, of course) a teether toy that plays "a farm tune" (you know the one), two books, a very busy elephant, some duplo legos, a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament, lots of great stuff. He must have had a very big day, because he had 3 naps and 3 bottles in less than 6 hours. So I guess it's fair to say that Dexter enjoyed his first Christmas very much.

(His parents got a lot of great stuff, too. Many are Dexter-related - framed photos, teether necklace, etc., which is just fine with us.)



Waiting for Santa on Christmas eve and enjoying the booty on Christmas Day. (Sadly, only 2 of those gifts are for Dexter, since this is the pile of stuff we were giving.) And, although Santa certainly came to visit a very good baby Dexter, he pretty much just stopped by to say "hi," since he's already spent a small fortune on Dexter this year, and Dexter has plenty of other people to spoil him for now.


Nap #1.


All of the loot at Aunt Mary's house, making friends with cousin Tybee.


Opening presents! Dexter happily hung out in that swing pretty much the whole time. It's good to visit people who have babies (and baby stuff!)


Nap #2.


Nap #3 - snuggling with Grandma.


Grandma and Granddad, hard at work.

Also, I can finally take this opportunity to show off part of his present for Grandma & Granddad. I couldn't post it earlier, because sometimes they read the blog, and I didn't want to spoil the surprise. Shocker - we arranged for a photo of all three grandkids. Dennis's sister, Mary, found a frame that said, "The Grands. " They were happy to get it. But the photo shoot was... interesting, to say the least. Dexter was uncharacteristically grouchy that morning (Saturday, December 20), and his cousin Tybee was so sleepy he barely opened his eyes the whole time. (Livia was a very patient big sister/cousin and an excellent smiler the whole time.) We managed to get some good shots anyway. I'm still not sure if it was because of or in spite of the not-so-cooperative babies.


This one pretty much sums up how the morning went.



I believe this is the one that ended up in the frame. Note Dexter's keen martial arts skills already in development.



Going, going... down. (Apparently all Tybee needed to get his eyes open was a head-butt from Dexter.)