Days like today make me so proud of Nixon!

December 20th
Complimented on his good behavior...yes, MY kid's good behavior!
Day 354

* I picked Nixon up from school today and was given a lovely paperbag gift from him. It's under the tree because it's a gift and gifts aren't opened until Christmas. But Nixon was so happy to give it to me!
   When we left, he asked if he could go look at toys at the place with the tunnel. The Target store closest to us has a parking garage and you drive into it and then up, so Nixon always asks if we can go to the "tunnel store". As I had some things to look at, I agreed laying out ground rules on the drive: no asking for anything, staying with me the whole time and absolutely NO whining/crying/fits. He was awesome and we left without buying anything, even after we walked through the whole toy department...twice.

* After Target, we went to 5 & Below because I had decided to get a last minute stocking stuffer for Mac from there. Parking was insane, but Nixon was awesome! We walked around, grabbed the one item I knew I was going to buy, and just wondered around. Mac was sleeping at home, so the longer we were out the better sleep he got.
   I found an Angry Birds Star Wars launcher toy, something I had looked for last week for Nixon. With only 3 left on the shelf I picked one and showed it to Nixon. His face lit up and he was shocked when I told him I was getting it for him. He asked to carry it and I said yes.
   That toy turned out to be a life (and sanity) saver! The line to check out was long! Nixon was so distracted by looking at his Angry Bird box that he hardly made a peep. Occasionally, he'd ask how much longer we had to wait, but he stayed right next to me the whole time. He was so well-behaved that 2 women standing behind me took a moment to compliment Nixon's patience! One lady was so kind, she said she's seen adults with less patience that my son was showing. When it was finally our turn to go to the register, the two ladies wished Nixon a "Merry Christmas" and thanked me for raising such a well-behaved child.
   I did admit to them that it was the Angry Birds box in his hands keeping him so calm. I know I'm no miracle child-whisperer! But it sure felt nice to hear kind and praising words about Nixon's behavior especially when we'd stood in line for almost 20 minutes and on any other day Nixon may have been making those same women cringe and glare at me for my less-than-patient child.
   But that didn't happen today!

Playing with his much earned Angry Birds launcher!

'Tis was the night before Halloween and there was a skunk on my steps....

But he's just the cutest, sweetest little skunk ever!! I even gave him some kisses!

Yes, tonight we took Nixon to a neighborhood shopping center that was doing Trick or Treating. Since it was a little on the chilly, and because he has a school Halloween party tomorrow to go to, he wore his backup costume tonight: a skunk. Pinkie Pie will be worn to school tomorrow.

Even though the area was crowded, older kids were rude, and Nixon usually would've been overwhelmed and throwing a tantrum halfway down the strip of store fronts, tonight he did awesome! A little quiet or lacking all-together with his "thank you" sometimes, but he was spot on with "Trick or Treat!" and sometimes replaced  a "thank you" with a "Happy Halloween" instead.

He was overjoyed with his bucket full of candy! He even asked to sit down just to look at all his candy. Last year, trick or treating was a bust. We were new to the area, thought we had a good game plan, but it was raining and we ended up at the mall, with everyone else. It was chaotic and poor Nixon was not really feeling it at all. Tonight he was loving it! His bucket was filled in less than 20 minutes and he was ready to go home when we hit the last store front.

It was fun. Nixon was the only skunk we saw and lots of people gave him compliments on the costume, his manners and how cute he was in general.

There's a smile under the skunk hood!

...and today he wore a size 6 pants for the first time ever. Stop growing, baby boy!! Just slow down!

* Nixon heard Mac come home this morning and proudly showed him the clear path in his bedroom! He's been sleeping in our bed because his room is such a disaster even he doesn't want to sleep in there and possibly have to get up in the middle of the night to pee and walk across the matchbox-car-angry-birds-stuffed-animal minefield he created in there!
    To be fair, he had some help. We had a friend crash here last night and she was up when Nixon woke up. She told Nixon a great way to surprise his daddy and make him very happy would be to clean his room up a little before he came home. He did just that and was super proud of himself. And Mac? Mac was super pleased with the effort!

* It was pretty chilly in the house this morning, so I grabbed a blanket and Nixon and I snuggled while watching our Saturday cartoons together! Nixon would get up, say he was warm, then come back and say "Mommy, let me in, my feet and hands are cold!"

* Tonight was a major milestone! We had to go to the grocery store, and normally we go armed with the PSP or iTouch for Nixon to keep him occupied, but tonight we left without it and went anyways. This was either going to go really well or really bad!
   Turns out, it went really well! Nixon was great! He got a little cold in the meat and dairy section, but he liked picking out granola bars for himself and weighing the fruits and veggies for us. He didn't get antsy until the very end and even that wasn't bad.
    Best part of the whole trip? On the way out, Nixon walked past 2 older men and (of course!) said "Excuse me" as he passed them. These two guys were just blown away, completely awed by our little man's manners. The man closest to Mac and I said "Did you just hear that little boy say "excuse me" as he passed us? That's incredible! He's yours, right? Great job! He is so polite."
    Yep, that's our boy and we are so proud!