He's the best self-esteem builder ever!!

* I was getting dressed for a signing at Third Eye Comics, which I was really looking forward too. As I was doing my hair, in a new style, Nixon comes into the bathroom and says "Wow, Mom, your hair looks super pretty." Awww!
   After I was dressed, and finishing my makeup, Nixon comes in and says to me "Mommy, you look great! Really pretty!"

this is what Nixon called "Really pretty". 

* Nixon: Knock, knock
Mac: Who's there?
Nixon: It's me, Nixon.
Mac: Nixon who?
Nixon: No! It's just me...Nixon! Get it?
me (to Mac): He's cute, so he'll get by.

* Nixon is now reading exit numbers on the highway! He likes to read off each exit as I'm passing it and tell me "Mommy, that's not our exit yet". He's also obsessed with counting all the semis he sees. Last night he counted 24 in our 8 mile drive.

Success! A week of school with all good reports, no tantrums and no refusing to participate! The routine is starting to click and gel with Nixon!

* Three has always been a superstitious number to me. This being Nixon's third week of school and first full three-day school week, it's no surprise that he had a great week!
    His teacher said he was wonderful this week! They're doing things to get him to participate at his comfort level and it's working!  These are the reports I've been hoping to hear. And it's not been unrewarded.

* Today when I picked Nixon up, I had to go to the mall to pick up something nearby. When I was done with that task, Nixon asked to see the fish at the mall's fish tank. I agreed and even sweetened the deal: we each got mall a cookie to eat while watching the fish! We spent about 30 minutes together, just wandering the mall together, talking and enjoying a really good moment.

* At bedtime, Nixon read his very first book entirely by himself. Sure it's a book he's heard me read every night for almost a month, but he read the book page-by-page as I pointed to the words.
He also knows how to spell "Pinkie Pie" now. I'm loving this reading phase!

took his Pinkie Pie book to sleep with him!

School's going well, Nixon is thriving at home too!

* Nixon started the day skipping and dancing into my bedroom when he heard my alarm go off. He came over to my still sleeping body and said "Mom, your alarm went off and I danced, did you see me?" No, but I felt the floor move when he jumped all over my bedroom. He said to me, not liking my answer, "Well, next time open your eyes and watch me, okay? I'm a great dancer!"


* Dancing was the theme of the morning:

* Nixon was also making up silly songs today.  Have you heard the dreidel song? Well Nixon was making up a song in that tune
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy
I love every day
or
Mommy instead of Daddy.
 Too damned cute! 

* The best part of my day was listening to Nixon spell a word and sound it out. He started spelling "taxi" then sounded it out. He moved on to "jet", "boat", "fire truck" and a few other words. He was reading these words from a book he's had since he was a baby, but he was actually spelling then sounding out the words!
   Mac and I are a couple of super proud parents today. He got good report from his teacher at school. He was so happy to see us when we picked him up, he ran over to me for a hug!

When you get down to the logic behind the things he says, he really is a sweet and caring child! Sometimes he is shockingly deep for his age.

* Nixon, Mac and I had a very interesting conversation today.
Nixon's had an odd borderline obsession with telling me he wants to be back in my belly and be a baby again. It's crazy, because he never says he wants a baby brother or sister, it's always he wants to be a baby again. So, this afternoon after Mac woke up and we were all just kind of laying around in our bed, I asked Nixon about it.
me: Nixon, how come you want to be a baby in my belly again?
Nixon: because you want a baby.
me: What?!? NO! I really do not want another baby!
Nixon: No, you miss baby me.
me: Oh! I see....
Nixon: So, I can be a baby again for you and you won't miss baby me any more.
me: Oh baby....I do miss you being a baby, some days, but I LOVE the you, you are now. You're so fun and talkative and you are wiping your own butt now!
Nixon: Yeah, I do wipe my own butt!
me: If you were a baby, you couldn't eat by yourself or walk and you'd have to wear diapers...that's not fun, right?
Nixon: No. That's not fun at all.
me: Honey, I do sometimes miss you, as a baby, but not enough to want to lose the you you are now! I love how silly and awesome you have become.
Babies are boring.
Nixon: But you call me "baby" a lot.
me: I call you "baby" because you are, and forever will be, my baby boy. It doesn't mean I want you to be a baby again. But, it's very thoughtful that you wanted to be a baby again because you thought I wanted that.
Nixon: Yeah.
me: But buddy, your dad and I...we don't want any more babies. You are it for us, okay? You are the only baby we need and want!
Mac: Yeah, we're not doing that again!
Nixon: Okay....can we go downstairs and watch TV now?
me: *to Mac*...and he's over it all now.

* Nixon was wearing a Nike tee today. He asked me to help him read it. He spelled the words and I told him what the word was. It was kind of cool that Nixon noticed his shirt had words on it and wanted to read it.
   He needs to stop growing up!

* Anyone who has cats will know that they tend to put their asses in your face almost any chance they get. Evidently, Nixon has been watching the cats do this, because as we were relaxing together before Mac left for work, Nixon used the "ass in face slide" move on Mac.
   Mac was sitting on the floor, in front of me, while Nixon and I were on the sofa. Nixon decides he wants to get off the sofa, and rather than get off closest to me where there is lots of room, he puts his ass in Mac's face and slides by him in the most awkward and inconvenient way possible!
    Mac and I both sat with stunned looks on our faces, and Nixon finally says "Oh, excuse me", and goes about his business!

My Little Pony, helping Nixon enjoy writing without him even realizing he's writing! Thank you....

* Nixon has been fighting doing any kind of writing, or holding a writing utensil of any kind, lately. He gets easily frustrated when trying to write letters especially.
   Imagine my surprise when Nixon and I spent over 45 minutes drawing and coloring in a My Little Pony coloring book, with Nixon doing most of the drawing. We played tic-tac-toe and Nixon drew both "x" and "o" in the game and he beat me 2 of 4 games, we tied once.  Nixon connected matching ponies over 10 times, drawing perfectly straight lines.
   But the most incredible moment of the whole moment happened when Nixon was looking to match cutie marks to pony names. He asked me to read the name, instead I asked him to spell out the letters. He saw "P" in the first one, and based on the possible cutie marks, Nixon blurts out "Pinkie Pie!" which was correct. We moved on to the next choice, and he saw the "A" and gleefully said "Applejack!", again correct!

* Tonight is the beginning our our new bedtime routine. Bath at 7:30pm, in bed by 8pm. Nixon was very excited when he learned that the reason for the new bedtime was because he starts school tomorrow. He even shampooed his own hair! For those not aware, this is a huge deal! He's always had issues with water in his face and ears, but he seemed to get over it as long as he was doing it for himself.
    He came downstairs, after Mac left for work and asked me "Mommy, how is the operation going?"
me: The operation is not going well. *I wave a hand all over him* It's been a complete bed-ectomy. Now let's get you back into bed.
Nixon: No, it's too early.
me: How about, if you help me pick out your clothes for tomorrow, before you go to bed?
Nixon: Yay!

   So we picked out his shirt, went back to his bedroom, more hugs kisses and another good-night.

Amber taking advantage of a few moments she's allowed in Nixon's room by getting into bed with him 

He may sleep with Pinkie Pie, but he's also a sucker for the Avengers! His dad called him "A true Renaissance man", I like that term.

* I woke up this morning with a migraine brewing. When I went downstairs and made my coffee Nixon I told Nixon he needed to be quiet because my head hurt and I haven't had my coffee yet. While I'm standing in the kitchen, nursing my coffee, Nixon says to me in a most serious voice "Mom, I've got troubles. I need some coffee milk, it'll make my day better."
Who am I to deny a request like that? I grabbed a small coffee cup, poured about an ounce of coffee into it and filled the rest with milk. He sat down at the table and took a sip, then says "You know Mom, coffee tastes better when you make it." HA!

* I'm standing at the stove making dinner...
Nixon: Mommy, the rodeo's in town, but the cows are mean and they don't like me.
me: Oh? I hadn't heard the rodeo's in town.
Nixon: Yeah, they are. But the cows are mean and keep trying to hit me in the face.
me: Well, I'm sorry. I hadn't realized there were abusive cows at the rodeo. I'll be sure to keep you safe from them.
Nixon: Well Mom, it's gonna be hard because they just run through town with no warning. Pinkie Pie tried to stop them and they didn't even laugh at her jokes! They didn't laugh at her MOM!
me: That's not nice at all!
Nixon: I know, Mom!
me: Nixon....are you talking about the My Little Pony episode we watched yesterday?
Nixon: Of course. There's no such thing as a real rodeo. DUH!

* Best thing about re-reading the same (comic) book at bedtime? Nixon starts reading along with me! Tonight he read half of the smaller panels in Baby Avengers VS X-Men. Nothing better than hearing his cute little voice say "Let's see what'chu got, Cyclops!"

You've met Captain Obvious, now meet Mr. Hollywood!

* Mr. Hollywood made an appearance this morning. He's pretty cool, he comes and goes as he please. Today I caught a picture of him.
(Mr Hollywood is Nixon when he's wearing my over-sized sunglasses.) He's adorable.








* Nixon and I were snacking on some carrot sticks. Nixon comes over, takes the bag and says "Mom, you've had enough. No more!" I ask him if I was cut off and he looks at me, stroking my cheek "Mommy, I love you", like he was getting ready to stage an intervention.
   I take a few more from the bag and he says to me "Lame!" in that tone of voice of his that makes me dread his teen years already! He's also started saying "Well, duh!"

* We were watching a little TV this morning, while I tried to shake off the sleep. Nixon asked me what the words in the bottom corner of the screen said. He spelled them, I helped him sound them out and now he know exactly how to read My Little Pony on the screen. It's all sight recognition, but isn't that really all reading is in the first place?

* I almost had a very devastated little boy tonight. We ran to the grocery store for a few items tonight. Nixon brought BeBe, who usually get left in the car but tonight came into the store with us. We used a smaller cart, and Nixon found the perfect BeBe space: the cup holder on the cart. It became BeBe's seat. Mac loads the car, I buckle Nixon in his carseat. As Mac is getting INTO the car Nixon says "But wait, BeBe!" Sure enough, that damned bear is still in that cup holder in the cart.
   Lesson learned: BeBe stays in the car no matter what from now on. NO exceptions.

He read a little today!

* ...he brought me the apples from his Happy Meal and asked me to open them because "Your super strong, Mommy. You're even stronger than daddy." I'm not going to argue with that, since all that means to him is I'm his hero.

* I had tea for breakfast this morning, instead of my usual coffee. Nixon, who loves to help me make my coffee, say the different k-cup and said "Um, Mommy...you should put this one in" and hands me a coffee k-cup. When I tell him my throat is sore and I need tea to help it feel better Nixon says "But mommy, coffee makes you smile".

* We sent a couple packages off last week. Since Nixon is starting to learn his letters and write them, I wrote out "I Love You" on a sheet of paper so he could write it inside the cards we were sending out.
   Nixon brought that same piece of paper to me today and said to me "Look mom, this says "I love you", see? Right here. Look! MOM! Look!" I looked up and he was pointing to the words as he said them. When I wrote the phrase, I only told him the letters, I never told him what it said. No, I think I told him once what it said, but the letters were the important part.
   My baby read a phrase all on his own!!!