A look back on 2013...and 365 Quiet Nights, or close to 365, I took some nights off during the year.

Dec. 31st
Happy New Year's Eve!
Day 365

Happy New Year's Eve! This blog was born as an idea last year (2012) about this time. I spent the entire year, with very few exceptions, writing about Nixon's days and adding pictures. It started with pictures of him sleeping, but when he got sick he started sleeping a little lighter and the flash affected his sleep making it harder to take those nightly pictures. I didn't give up though, I added photos from the day instead, when I could.

Tonight, I'll do a post looking back on the top posts of this year.

#10 Jan. 3rd (day 3)

#9 Dec. 1st (day 335)

#8 Aug. 1st (day 215)

#7 Aug. 4th (day 218)

#6 Aug. 18th (day 232)

#5 Feb. 12th (day 43)

#4 July 30th (day 213)

#3 March 21st (day 82)

#2 Aug. 27th (day 241)

#1 Aug. 3rd (day 217)

To everyone who has read this blog during the year: Thank you!

Nixon's getting his party hat ready for tonight!
Happy 2014 everyone!!

"...please let me like you, please"

December 30th, 2013
BeBe is back where he belongs!
Day 364

* Nixon woke up this morning and woke Mac and I up, because he "needs to go downstairs to brush my teeth, so they don't fall out and then I have to eat baby food. I don't want to eat baby food!" We woke up and brought Nixon downstairs, waiting for him to spot BeBe in the tree.
   He did and it was like he was afraid to believe he was really there. Then, of all the things Nixon could say, he says "BeBe must have decided to leave his hat house and come home. I've missed him!". Mac found Be, under a hat on Nixon's table that I know I looked under! How Nixon knew that's where Be was, is a mystery to me, but Be is back and Nixon is super excited. I don't think he was more than a foot away from him at any point of the day, today. 

* Nixon: *to Mac* Mommy likes me.
Mac: I don't know, buddy. I think you should ask her.
Nixon: * to me* Mommy, can you please let me like you please?

me: *laughing* Of course (and I gave him hugs and kisses)
Mac: That wasn't what I meant, but it works too! *also laughing*

The last weekend of 2013....and I missed Saturday's post

December 28 & 29, 2013

BeBe's back!
Day 362 & 363

* Saturday was pretty nice. Nixon and I woke up and watched My Little Pony together. There wasn't much going on except that I went out with friends last night and Nixon was very okay with it.
    Unlike the last time I went out, Nixon was very okay with me going out. Even telling me to leave so he and Mac can spend time together. They had a great night together, according to Mac.

* Sunday...football day!
Mac and I were excited because both of our teams had playoff spots on the line. Miami Dolphins had a chance....and needed a few other teams to lose, but the chance was there. They just needed to win. They did not. The Philadelphia Eagles (my long-loved team) had an easier path...they only needed to win. And they did!

We played Jenga Tetris tonight with Nixon. It's a lot harder than regular Jenga, but still fun! Nixon liked when everything fell down.
We also played Cars 2 Monopoly. The first game went by quickly, but the 2nd game lasted almost an hour and Nixon won! He was good at counting out the money and rolling Lighting McQueen around the track. It's a great game, I'm glad we got it for the family. It'll be a lot of fun for all of us.

Finally....we had a belated christmas miracle happen tonight. Mac found BeBe!!

He's home, been in the house this whole time! Nixon's sleeping and doesn't know he's been found yet. I placed him in the tree, waiting for Nixon to notice him tomorrow. He's been missing for almost a month (I think) and Nixon's been okay, only asking for him a couple times since he's been MIA.
   It's great that BeBe is home before the New Year.

He's tattling on me again!!

Dec. 27th, 2013
"Mom, where's your phone? I'm telling Daddy on you!"
Day 361

* Nixon spent most of the day asking to play his video game. When he wasn't doing that, he was telling me how much he loved me and how I was his favorite mommy ever!

* Apparently, before Mac left for work, he had told Nixon that, if he was good, I would possibly let him play his game before he went to bed. Nixon told me "Dad said to tell you I'm allowed to play my game now", after he ate dinner. I told him I'd think about it and he says to me, "That's it, Mom! Call Dad right now! I'm telling on you!".
   So I had him give me the phone and called Mac. After we played phone tag because I never remember to charge our house phones and my cellphone loses signal in the house randomly, I explained why I called and let him talk to Nixon. I then talked to him again and ended up letting Nixon play the game for a bit before bed.
   Surprisingly enough, Nixon decided when he was ready for bed even before I said anything to him. He turned the game off himself, brushed his teeth and went to upstairs to wait for me so we could feed Scootaloo before he went to bed for the night.

Holiday recovery....

* Nixon did everything he was asked to do (pick up his toys, put his dishes in the kitchen and play quietly while mac was sleeping) all because he really, really wanted to play his Rescue Bots game system. I got it set up, plugged it into the TV and figured out how to get it loaded. Nixon played for about 10 minutes the first time then declared it stupid and quit.
    I'm not a big video game person, myself, which was exactly why I kept telling him to wait for Mac's time off so they could play together. Nixon decided, after taking a break in his room to calm down, he wanted to try again. This time he got a few pointers from Mac and he was getting the hang of it. By the time I was done getting dressed Nixon had gone from being a 3rd level thingy to 10th level!

   This game is the best gift ever!

A little late but.....Christmas finally arrived!!!

   I was so exhausted yesterday I fell asleep around 9pm! It was glorious! Nixon and I got comfy in my bed and settled in to watch Chipwrecked together, when it was over we both fell asleep.

  And now, some pictures from our Christmas morning! Mac came home and woke us up around 630am, because he would be going to sleep as soon as we were done with all the gifts.

Santa was here! 

opening his gift from Santa!

His big gift from Mac and I....I think he likes it, eh?

gifts from the grandparents and his great-grandparents

Mac, fading fast

Clothes from nana!

The carnage!

My first macaroni art gift! 

My surprise gift from Mac...Catwoman figurine!

   Nixon came up to me later in the day, upset because Arwen's stocking was empty. He said "Santa forgot her!"
    I said "Maybe Santa didn't forget her. Maybe it's empty because she's on the naughty list for being mean and chasing Amber all year long. Do you think that's possible?"
   He looks at me, shocked and says "That's real?!"

It's finally Christmas Eve!

Dec. 24th
Christmas Eve!
Day 359

* Today is Christmas Eve. Nixon and I were in full Santa-prep force! We cleaned the kitchen together, so we could make the cookies for him. We made peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses on top and cake pops. The cake pops ended up looking more like elf vomit on a stick....not pretty! But at least they're tasty!

* After dinner, Nixon got into his jammies and he got into his skunk costume from Halloween. Why? Because it's warm and we were going for car ride to look at christmas lights on houses! I made hot chocolate in travel mugs and we got into the car. We drove around for about an hour and it was beautiful! Almost no one else was on the roads, so we could drive slower and not annoy any other drivers.

* Then we came home, made Santa his coffee and plate of goodies and left it under the small tree. We also got C3PO and R2D2 and put them with the coffee and cookies too, because Santa's bringing them back to the North Pole with him tonight.
   We'll see them again next year!

Scootaloo got some new digs, y'all!

Dec. 23rd
Scootaloo's new tank
Day 357

* One month later and I am happy to say Scootaloo is still with us! In fact, he got a new tank over the weekend. His old one was a bit too small, and it was hard to keep the water level at a good level because of evaporation from the heater in his tank.

* Nixon was so awesome today! I'd write more but I'm tired and can't seem to think a clear thought any more.

* Pictures:

Nixon loves Scootaloo and is super happy he has a larger tank now. He was worried Scootaloo was unhappy in his previous tank. 

Dear Santa, I hope you like coffee because that's what was decided we're leaving for you Tuesday night!

December 22nd

day 356

* Some days you just wake up and feel loved. This morning was that day. Nixon, for some reason, ended up in my bed around 2 or 3am. He woke up when he heard Mac come home and went to play in his room for a while, letting me sleep.
  Around 9am, Nixon climbs back into bed with me and says "Mommy, you need a cuddle" and cuddles up with me and took a little snooze, sleeping on my shoulder. 

* I had some errands to run, and took Nixon with me of course. Nixon was content in the backseat, counting stop signs! No PSP, no iTouch...just me and him with my GPS telling us where to go. And he was great!

* me: Nixon, guess what we're doing Tuesday?

Nixon: What? Is it Christmas?

me: No, but close. We're making cookies that we'll leave out for Santa Tuesday night. 

Nixon: Yay! Oh yeah, cookies, oh yeah! *doing his little butt wiggle dance while he says that*
me: Nix, what should we leave Santa to drink with his cookies?

Nixon: I don't know. Umm.....I got nothing, Mom.

me: Well, a lot of people like to leave him milk with his cookies. But...Santa has a long journey to make on Christmas Eve. Do you think he might like something warmer? Like maybe coffee?

Nixon: Yeah! Mommy, coffee is a perfect choice! Santa will be SOOOOOOOOOO happy with a cup of coffee and cookies. Coffee is good for Santa!
me: How do you think Santa takes his coffee? Creamer and sugar or black?

Nixon: Mom, you're hurting my head....it's coffee! Just make it hot. 

* me: *switching the channel to the Eagles game* Whoo! Yeah baby! 

Nixon: Mommy, you need to be quieter, you hurt my ears.

me: Nixon, the Eagles are winning 14 to nothing right now! That's awesome!

Nixon: No it's not! The Eagles need to lose win!
me: What did you just say?!? Did you just say the Eagles need to lose?!? In my house?!?
Nixon: *laughing* No I said lose win! 

me: I don't even know what that means, but I'm choosing to only have heard "win".
Nixon: Yeah, I want them to win! Go Eagles!! *and he runs around the living room flapping his arms* 

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!

He has a calendar, the days are marked, but he still asks me the same questions a bazillion times a day: "Is it Christmas now?"

December 19th
Day 353

* "Is it Christmas now?" I have heard this question at least 5 times an hour, every day, since putting gifts that arrived from Nixon's nana under the tree. He sees the gifts and knows he can't open them until Christmas and he asks if it's Christmas yet. For some reason he expects a different answer than the previous one he was given just moments before. 

* Nixon chose a small, plastic yo-yo from the toy basket when he saw Santa on Tuesday. He continuously twirled the thing around and was told repeatedly not too, in addition to throwing it which he also had been told not to do. 

   So, it was not a surprise to me, when it broke because the string snapped and the yo-yo smashed into the wall breaking in half in a way that made it unfixable. He started to cry instantly, and instead of being a coddling and loving mom over the broken toy from Santa, I just told him to pick up the pieces and throw it out. 

   Harsh? Maybe, but he knows that broken toys get thrown out and he had been warned about swinging it and throwing it. 

* Finally, I was wrapping gifts tonight after I thought Nixon was asleep. Nixon had been in bed for nearly an hour and a half when I started wrapping gifts. It wasn't until I started wrapping the gifts from the jolly man in the red suit that I hear his door open. I pause, thinking he had to go to the bathroom, and wait. I hear him pass the bathroom and I quickly swept all proof of Santa gifts out of sight and usher him back upstairs!
Whew! That was a close one....

Nixon met Santa today!

Nixon's school had a holiday party this evening. Nixon got to decorate cookies, play with glitter play dough, made a pipe cleaner/bead candy cane and played snowman cornhole. He even got to see Santa, sit on his lap and tell him what he'd like for Christmas. Nixon was very detailed about the only gift he asked for!

As we left and headed home, it had started to snow. Nixon loved watching the snow falling from the backseat and even better, we went on a little drive and looked at houses with lights and decorations up. 

Before he went to bed, Nixon declared tonight the "Best night ever!".

And we have another cold coming our way....yep, Nixon's sick again!

Dec 16th
"One is better than two"-Nixon
Day 350

* Realized I didn't do a post yesterday:
Mac took Nixon to purchase my christmas gift from Nixon. When they were checking out, the cashier asked if they'd like to purchase a toy for Toys for Tots and said it'd go to a child who might not have a gift otherwise. Nixon, as soon as he heard that, said "Yeah!", and of course Mac agreed. Nixon choose the toy that he wanted to donate and put it into the collection box.
   When they came and got me, Nixon came running over and said "Mommy, guess what?!? We got a toy for a kid that needs a present. I picked it out and put it in the box!", just as happy as could be. Mac explained it to me and I told Nixon that was a very kind and wonderful thing to do for someone else. He says "Yeah, they'll like the toy, because it's cool!".
    He may not totally get the concept, but he knew enough to agree to the donation. And he knew the toy wasn't for him, so he didn't fight abut putting it in the donation box. Mac was super pleased about that!

* Nixon got up this morning, on his own, and was waiting for my alarm to go off. When it did, he danced to the alarm song I have it set to.
   He ate breakfast, and offered a great gem of wisdom to Mac when I offered him a cup of coffee. (Mac, I offered Mac a cup of coffee, not Nixon. In case someone wasn't following that.) Nixon tell Mac, who declined my offer, "It's good for you, Daddy!"
   He is so my son! He knows how important coffee is.

* Speaking of coffee, Mac was making his usual cup of coffee before he goes to work for the night, and for some reason the Keurig was brewing the coffee. He asked me and I tried once, with no luck. I quickly got onto google to troubleshoot issues. Thankfully, the first tip worked (clear out the puncture points as they get clogged sometimes).
   Nixon kept coming over to see what I was doing and I was trying to remain calm and not flip out that my coffee maker might be broken. I finally got down to his eye level and said very calmly to him "Nixon, I'm trying to fix my coffee maker. It's not working right now and you know how important coffee is to me, right? Please just give me a couple minutes to work on it, okay?"
    He sat on the sofa and became my cheering section. "You're looking good fixing that, Mommy!" and when it was working, and I let out a "Thank you, Google Gods!", Nixon repeated the same statement with a big clap!

* Nixon's fighting another cold. Just sniffles and a little cough. Trying to keep him warm.
   Have I mentioned that I'm over all these fracking colds?!?!

* Finally, another Nixon pearl of wisdom:
Nixon: One is better than two, right Mom?
me: Well, if you're talking about kids...absolutely! At least in my eyes!
Nixon: Yeah!
me: But what about cats? We have two cats.
Nixon: We should get rid of one.
me: What?!? Which one??
Nixon: Um....nevermind. Two cats is perfect!

It's sad my kid has better manners than most of the general public during the holidays

* Nixon and I had to go to the post office today (I know, I know!) to send off a couple orders I'd gotten in my etsy shop. We went to the smaller one, closest to the house because I foolishly thought it'd have a shorter line.
   It did not.
   We waited for almost half an hour, but Nixon was really good. He played with the display toys they've got out (the post office is inside a local gift shoppe) and stayed close enough that I could see him and he could hear me. He was really good, a little resistance before we left but nothing horrible. Especially considering he's not a big fan of lines of people.

* And speaking of lines of people....I took Nixon this evening to go shopping for Mac's Christmas gifts. Nixon decided he wanted to go to Target and look for Mac's gifts.
   It took us nearly 20 minutes to find a parking spot.
   The store was stupid crowded, people were incredibly rude, and Nixon? Nixon was his happy "excuse me" self as we passed by someone. He even pointed out a shattered glass ornament to me, and in turn I flagged down an employee so it could be cleaned up before someone cut themselves on it.
   At the checkout, Nixon helped the lady in line behind us. One of her smaller items almost fell off the belt, Nixon noticed it, caught it and put it back safely. She thanked him and Nixon said "It's what's right, right mommy?" Then he goes on to talk to her about the crayon maker she had in her cart! "You can make crayon cars with that!", he told her very excitedly! She was so sweet and nice to him.
    As we were walking out, another woman bumped into Nixon and Nixon said "Oh I'm sorry, I bumped you", even though she bumped him. She rolled her eyes at him! Nixon said, as we kept walking, "She should have said something to me, right mommy?". I explained that there are a lot of people in the store and some people don't realize they bumped someone or don't remember to use their manners.
    None-the-less I did nothing but thank him for using his manners as well as he did and I encouraged him to keep using them!

* Highlight of my day? I taught Nixon the words to the Jingle Bells, the Batman version! He loved it!!

* Nixon got to pick a game, as a reward of sorts for his good behavior at school this week. He chose a new Lego'esque version of Battleship.
   We played it tonight, Nixon was on my side and Mac was on his own side. Once Nixon got the hang of it (and he stopped trying to give away the coordinates of our ships) he had fun!

Family game night
Dec 14th
day 348

Another day, another example of Nixon's infallible logic

Dec 13th
"Elves work in Santa's sweatshop"
Day 347

* Nixon decided this morning he wanted a cool hair style. I gave him a fauxhawk, which looked awesome until it was time to put on his beanie to leave for school. It was no fauxhawk when the beanie came off. He didn't care, he was happy to be at school with his friends.

* Evidently, there's a tattletale in Nixon's classroom. This little cutie saw me come to pick Nixon up and he came running up to me "Nixon's Mommy! Nixon's Mommy! Guess what Nixon did today....", and then Nixon's teacher asked the child to stop tattling and told me what happened: Nixon was being whiny and instead of asking for help he'd say "Someone come help me!" or "I can't do this!". His teacher would tell him that wasn't how to ask for help. They worked on it and by the end of his day he was saying the correct "Can you help me please?" when he needed help.
   On the drive home, we talked about this. I gave him a couple examples of "right" or "wrong" ways to ask for something.

* Finally, another example of Nixon logic:
Nixon: Mommy, Santa's elves are busy making all the toys at the sweatshop in the North Pole.
me: What? Wait...work shop or sweatshop?
Nixon: Sweatshop, Mommy. The elves work there. They're almost done with all the presents.
me: Nixon, I think and hope, you mean work shop. Sweat shops are bad places and I don't think Santa runs a sweat shop.
Nixon: Uh-huh! Santa lives in the work shop, Mommy.

I asked him later, after Mac woke up, where the elves worked and Nixon said "They work at Santa's workshops. Not the other bad places." Good to know my talk this morning about sweatshops being bad got through to him!  

I am LOVING this kid and his behavior at school!

* I had my concerns about today, especially when it started with me having to wake Nixon up for school. My worrying increased when my car doors were all frozen shut (thankfully Mac was able to get them open) and Nixon was being a bit of a pill about getting ready for school and then again when it came time to put his gloves on.

* My concerns were for naught. Nixon was standing at the classroom door, looking out it, waiting for mac and I. Uh-oh, here we go, I thought as we approached.
    He had a band-aid on his pinkie and wanted to tell us about his owie. Other than that, he had a great day! His teachers were happy with him, I was proud of him and best of all, Nixon was smiling and proud to show-off his sticker card for the day! Just a really great and awesome day at school!

* Nixon comes running in from the kitchen to the living room and says "I LOVE YOU, COOKIE MONSTER!". Mac was at work, so I asked him, "Am I Cookie Monster?". Nixon says "Yes, and I love you!"
   It was just a random outburst of affection for me from Nixon, and I ate it up! He is wonderful! I even got snuggles tonight before he went to bed.

More snow, more whining!

Dec. 10th
Nixon's first school pictures! I'm biased, but he is adorable!!
Day 344

* We had another band of snow come through today. It was predicted to bring 3-6 inches of snow, we ended up with about 2 inches which quickly melted after it stopped falling around 1pm.
    It did come down pretty hard a times and Nixon was fascinated by the giant snowflakes.

* Nixon had a serious issue today with whining and talking back. I don't know what the problem was, but I'd had enough! He was just being rude for no reason. At one point, I sent him to his room and Mac decided the spare bedroom was a better place for him no toys.

* But he also had his sweet moments too. He cuddled under the blanket on the sofa with me, laying down on my chest and watching TV with me. He was being totally adorable and very loving. I'll take these moments when I get them.

I'm melting.......

Dec 9th
Nixon's mini-snowman
Day 343

* Nixon was awake today when I found out his school day was cancelled. School wasn't cancelled, just delayed but because of the delay, his morning part-time preschool class was cancelled. I asked if he wanted to do what you always do on a snow day: go back to bed, but he said no. 

   I made him a sheet-tent in his room, set him up with his PSP in the tent in his room. 

* When we came downstairs for the day, his very first question was "Mommy, what's my snowman look like today?". I opened the door and we looked. He was melting but not too bad. He looked pretty much exactly like he looked when I saw it at 1am before going to be (the picture above). 

   He didn't get to look at his snowman before bed tonight, but right now it's not looking pretty. But the plus side is, we're expecting 2-6 inches of snow tomorrow, so there's a chance Nixon will get a real snowman in the next day or two!

missing his head, floating eyes and nose, but the scarf is still on! 

"It's snow! It's raining snow from the sky!"- a winter weather gem from Nixon today.

Dec 8th: Nixon and his first ever snowman
Day 342

* Our county had a winter storm advisory in effect from this morning until 10am Monday morning. Having grown-up outside of Buffalo, NY myself, the conditions that were being predicted were laughable (1-3" of snow!! some icy rain) but as this is only the second winter Nixon has been in a place where snow happens, I got a little bit of that old familiar joy when I saw big, fluffy flakes coming down from the sky around 11am.

* Nixon stood by the back door and just watched the fluffy flakes fall. Just awed as they started sticking to the garbage can and the table we have outside. He looked at me and said "Mommy, look! It's snow! It's raining snow from the sky! It's a lot of snow!" He was so happy!

* I got Nixon bundled up: thermal shirt, tee shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, beanie, gloves, pj bottoms (because he doesn't have long johns) and jeans plus boots. Then I got myself all winter ready and we headed outside! My baby boy was so excited! We tossed snow at each other, took a short walk to the backyard and played back there, made a mini-snowman (Nixon's first snowman of any kind!).
   After we came inside, I made us hot chocolate with marshmallows, because any other kind is a waste!

watching the snow fall...just awed by it.

Nixon threw a snowball at me! He was so happy to be playing in the snow.

The night he went to bed without dinner....by choice...because he said my soup smells "gross"

December 7th
Day 341

* Nixon woke up today and kept coming over to my side of the bed saying "Pssst, Mommy, it's me Nixon." I'm not sure why, but he feels the need to introduce or announce himself every morning.

* I made soup today. It was a yummy potato and ham soup. I asked Nixon if he'd try a bite when it was ready. He had said yes....until the time came to try it. He refused, fought, cried and ultimately asked to go to bed instead of having to eat a BITE of my soup.

* Nixon did not go right to sleep. He was in his room, but not yet sleeping. Mac and I were watching Will & Grace and Mac got a little loud with his laughs. Nixon comes down the stairs and says "Daddy, can you please be more quiet? You're laughing so loud I can't sleep." He also asked if Mac would help him open the fold-out chair in his bedroom for him. Mac apologized for being loud, but said no on the pull-out chair. He told Nixon to go to sleep in his bed.
   When we went to check on him Mac mentioned the pull-out chair thing. I grabbed the camera, because if I know one thing about Nixon, it's that he tends to be adorable when he wants something and has to do it himself.

This is what we found when we checked on Nixon....adorable!

Gems from today....

* Today started with this:
Nixon: Mommy, it's dark outside, I have to go back to sleep so the sun will come out and it will be a sunny day.
me: Sorry baby boy, but it's time to wake up.
Nixon: No Mom, that's wrong. It's time for sleep...see, the sun is still sleeping.
And with that he got back under his blankets.

* When I picked him up at school. the little girl who adores Nixon greeted me with "Nixon had a bad day today. He made a lot of bad choices.". *sigh* I was totally prepared for a meltdown when I found him. It wasn't bad. He was in the play kitchen area, with one of his teachers, putting away the plates/bowls they had played with.
His teacher told me "He had a good day. He came over and asked if he could cook me dinner. He set the table, made me food and then told me he had to clear the table and wash the dishes. He was very polite about it all.", with a big smile on her face!

As we made our way to the door, his teacher stopped and asked if I knew about the "painting situation". Oh boy, here it comes, I thought when I heard her say that to the other teacher. It wasn't that bad. The class was doing a painting project, but Nixon was insistent that he couldn't do it "because my hands will get yucky with all that messy paint". His teacher came up with a very good solution: she gave him a pair of gloves to wear. He put them on and had no problem with the paint.
So my kid likes to be clean and not make a mess? Most moms would kill for a kid like that, right? It's less the mess and more he doesn't like the feel of paint on his hands. Either way, he had a great week at school and I couldn't be happier!

* Driving in the car today, Nixon suddenly says "Mommy, someone is talking to you. It's a little boy named Nixon!" I had to laugh, because he was the only other person in the car with me, but because it was raining and kind of crappy out, I was so focused on driving I wasn't exactly listening to him.

Missing Bear!! We have a Missing Bear!! ....and it hasn't yet become the end of a certain little boy's world.

* Nixon went to bed last night without BeBe...well, big BeBe that is. He slept with Blue BeBe. Somehow this bear has gone missing. He's in the house, but damned if we know where.
   Tonight at bedtime Nixon started asking for big BeBe again. I honestly don't know where this bear is, but he's really not taking losing him as hard as I'd expect him too.

* Nixon has been playing with a balloon since Friday when Mac gave it to him and he figured out how to inflate it on his own. He'll inflate it part way and then let the air out. He's done it some much that...the inevitable happened and his balloon popped on him tonight. He was fine about it, until he realized the balloon was ruined and he would never be able to play with it again.
   Then he cried over it like it was his very best friend whom he had just murdered. Big sloppy tears with a snotty nose and huge, gulping cries over a balloon.

* Every night I read Nixon his bedtime story, I read it to him in his bed with him. I snuggle under the blankets with him and read the story to him while he lies right next to me. Tonight, when I was all done with his story, I sang a silly song about his stinky toes until he asked me to stop. Then I tickled him until he decided we had to hide, under the blankets, from Mac who was coming up to say his own good night to Nixon.
   We hid from Mac, giggling while waiting for him.
  Moments like these are some of the best I have.

"R2 has to come down from there....it's not safe, Mom!"

* Nixon woke up this morning and was ready to find R2D2. He finally found him...."sliding" down the wall in the living room. Nixon was so upset! He told me "Mommy, he has to come down! It's not safe up there!", then to looks right at R2 and says "R2 come down here!". He even got annoyed that R2 wasn't listening to him.

* When I picked Nixon up from school, he came running over and said "Mommy, I made some bad choices, but a lot of good choices too!" His teacher came over and said "He made all good choices today. He had a good day today."
   His face lit up when I told him we were on our way to go pick up the tress and other decorations! He was so excited he said "Hey everybody! I'm going to go get my tree so I can decorate it for Santa now!" as he was leaving his classroom.
(By the way, I think it's adorable that the kids in Nixon's class will talk to me about random things and I'm always "Hey, Nixon's mom" before they start talking to me. Today the little girl who likes Nixon told me about the big green tree she has at her house: "Hey,um...Nixon's mom, I have a big green one at my house!" When I asked her if she had a big green tree, she said "Yeah! It's a big one too!" Kids are kind of awesome!)

* And decorate the trees we did! We also decorated the windows with some fake snowflakes and Nixon decorated some small wooden ornaments. Nixon told me, while I was setting up our tree, "Wow, Mommy, you're doing a great job! That looks amazing!", and there wasn't an ounce of sarcasm in his voice when he said it!
  He's excited and ready for Santa to come. We've got a few more days, but Nixon's feeling the holiday joy a little more.
 ....even if he did ignore me when I tried teaching to him about Pagans and the truth of christmas trees. I also explained why we won't have a real tree corpse in our house, ever.

He did clean his room....it just took most of the day to do it.

* Nixon was true to his word last night: he didn't wake me up until he cleaned his room. Unfortunately, he and I have differing definitions of "clean" when it comes to his room. He thought separating his toys into piles on his floor was clean, while I told him all his toys needed to be put back into his buckets and be up off the floor.
  He went back to clean his room, well pick up his toys as it were, and he came back to me and said "Mommy, it's too big a job for one person.", which was his way of asking me for help. I gave him all day to clean the room without pressure. I had no plans for the day, other than going to the storage unit and getting the holiday stuff. He eventually asked to take a nap and finished when he woke up.

*  I spent the evening making room for our tree in the living room, by rearranging the furniture (again!) and vacuuming. Nixon helped by picking up laundry and throwing out trash whenever I asked him too. It was late, close to his bedtime, by the time I was done with that, so tomorrow while he's in school or after I pick him up I'll go to the storage unit and we'll get to putting the trees up and everything like that.

* Nixon woke me up super excited because he found R2D2...in his room! He said "Mom! Guess what?! R2 is in my window! How did he get there?" The joy and happiness in his voice when he finds R2 every day is just amazing and priceless.

Back to school after a week off and a mom & me date in the afternoon.

Dec. 2nd...........  day 336

* The day started out not so good...My phone shut itself off during the night, so I woke up late. Which meant I woke Nixon up late. He wasn't really excited to wake up until I told him it was school day. Then he was almost too upset to get up because he was going to miss me. 

   Eventually, with the help of some fresh-from-the-dryer-clothes, Nixon was ready for school.  

* After school, which Nixon had a mostly good day at, he and I had a wonderful mom & me date at the local mall followed by lunch at Denny's. We rode the little train they've got set up at the mall, which Nixon was so happy I let him ride because the last time we were at the mall he didn't get to ride it. He also got to see the giant fish tank at the mall and see the pufferfish, his favorite fish in the tank. 

* Tonight, as Nixon got ready for bed, he asked about our tree and other holiday decorations. They're all in our storage unit at the moment, but I told him if he cleans up his whole room before I wake up in the morning we can go get everything tomorrow and start decorating.
    He was so excited he almost didn't go to sleep, he wanted to stay up and clean his room.

My awesome lunch date (and BeBe) and I, on the train at the mall. 

"I'll tell him it's okay, Momma"

* Nixon woke up this morning and was overjoyed when he saw R2D2 waiting for him! He was a little more excited when he saw C3PO in the window. He tried telling me that C3PO needed to be with R2, but I assured him 3PO was fine where he was. "He's in the window to let Santa know there's a good little boy in the house. If he's gone he's probably talking to Santa, you don't want that."

* Santa was the theme of the day. Nixon and I went out together to grab dinner. On the drive there Nixon and I start talking about Santa and what he (Nixon) is going to ask for.
Nixon: Oh, I want a race track, for my cars. And new cars, for the race track so they are fast cars. And Fluttershy.
me: Sweetie, we've talked about this, Santa only brings one gift, remember?
Nixon: Well, I'll ask for one for me but I think I want Santa to bring you a gift too. You're a good mommy and you deserve it.
me: Thanks baby, but Santa can only bring gifts to boys and girls who are good. Not mommies and daddies.
Nixon: It's okay, I'll tell Santa it's okay, Momma. He'll bring you a gift.
me: That's sweet honey, but that would mean Santa has an extra gift that might mean less room for another child's toy. Is that nice?
Nixon: Oh no! See, mommy, it's like this: The elves make the toys with magic. They take something blank and *whoosh* magic makes it a toy. Santa brings the elves with him, so they make the *whoosh* at each house. See? Enough room!

I wanted so bad to argue with him about that, but man, that is some well thought out logic for a 5-year old!
Ultimately, Nixon settled on Fluttershy because he knows that Santa has elves who run a Build-A-Bear workshop at the North Pole, it's how he got his Iron Cub last Christmas from Santa *wink, wink*

The last post of November....wow, that came fast, right?!?!

* Friday we kind of chilled. Well actually, we woke up early and hit the only Black Friday sale we cared about: Third Eye Comics! Thankfully, we missed most of the crazy insanity by avoiding the midnight madness sale and just went during the regular sale hours.
   After that, I left Nixon and Mac to help a friend. They had the whole day together for the most part.

* Saturday was a rough one, but I did manage to make a learning lesson out of my own misery/stupidity. I spent Friday night out with a few people and did a little more harm than I'd intended with my drinking. Mac was wonderful about keeping Nixon quiet'ish, while I was sleeping.
   Nixon came in and saw me when I came home, late in the morning. Nixon gave me a big hug and said "Oh, Mommy I was so worried about you!", best welcome home ever!
   Later, Nixon asked me why I wasn't feeling well. I told him the truth: I drank too much last night and my body is recovering but it's a little slow. I told him, someday 15 years from now, he might also feel this way and I will be as nice as he was to me. Which, was really nice, so he's lucky. He came over and gave me a kiss on the head and told me he loved me.

Since Saturday was the last day of the month, Mac and I put out our special holiday helper, R2D2! I did this last year with Nixon and he loved it! R2 is our little reporter to Santa, like elf of the shelf but a geekier version!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! Nixon and I spent the day in our jammies and never left the house. We watched the Macy's parade in the morning together and then had to turn off the cable because it was acting all wonky.
Since we had Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday we didn't do much today but veg out, nap and watch Charlie Brown Thanksgiving specials!

Nixon's still sick and is starting to complain that he can't hear out of his ears. Yep....it might be doctor time, for real.

I'm going out tomorrow night with a few people Mac works with, who I met Tuesday. I haven't gone out with anyone in well over 6 months. As Nixon was getting ready to go to bed, I told that tomorrow night he and Daddy would be doing his bedtime because I was going out with some friends. He freaked out and started crying! He was convinced he was never going to see me again, and I was leaving him forever! I mean, this was a for real freak out! I've never seen him do this before! It took me over 45 minutes to get him to finally stop crying and calm down so I could read him a bedtime story!
Talk about some serious Mommy guilt!
He finally laid on my chest and listened to my heartbeat. I asked him what it was saying and he said "I love you, Nixon".

Oh the conversations I have with Nixon!

* I was lucky enough to be given the morning to sleep in. And sleep in I did. I didn't get out of bed until almost 11:15am. When Nixon saw me he said "Mommy, your hair is a mess!", child's honesty knows no bounds.

* I took Nixon to Third Eye Comics today, to catch up on my comic books, and Nixon was a gem. As I was cashing out he was playing with these fingertip tentacles. He likes to make an entire hand of them. I was done and ready to leave, Nixon was staying put continuing to add more tentacles to his hand. I said "Nixon, you need to come here now or I'm leaving without you". He suddenly runs up after me and says "MOM! You can't leave without me. I'm a little boy and you have to take me with you.", I tell him "But you're cute, I'm sure someone else would take you home and keep you safe, especially since you never want to listen to me.", his reply was simply awesome "But no one else is my mommy like you are. You have to take me home because I belong with you!"
   Yes, yes you do, my love.

* This final conversation was a doozy:
Nixon: Do you have a baby in your belly?
me: No! I'll never have another baby in my belly again. You were the baby I'll ever have in my belly.
Nixon: I was little when I was in your belly.
me: Thank gods yes you were.
Nixon: I was in your belly and I was little, then you pushed out of your belly.
me: Yep, you were ready to come out and I pushed you out of my vagina. And you've been in my arms ever since.
Nixon: Awww
me: Nixon, do you think I need a baby in my belly?
Nixon: No, lots of people have babies in the bellies. You don't need one.
me: Really? So you're okay with us having a small family and never having a baby in the house?
Nixon: Yes. Because babies are noisy and hurt my ears. And...they poop in their diapers. That's gross!
me: Oh, kiddo, I love you so much right now!
Nixon: I love you too, Mommy!

excuse the runny nose....snot faucet remember?!?

* Nixon got his library card today! He was so proud, so happy and so excited! He picked out 3 books and a dvd to check out. He even chose a book for me! He was wonderful and loves the library.

He gets a crazy cowlick every night as his hair gets longer. 

Monday & Tuesday (Nov 25 & 26th) Recap

* Monday morning Nixon woke up excited about the library. I really should've checked out the hours before I told him we'd go on Monday....our closest branch didn't open until 1pm on Mondays! To say he was disappointed would be an understatement. I'm pretty sure he was beginning to think the library was an imaginary place.
   We did have to go grocery shopping, since we were celebrating Thanksgiving on Tuesday and I was making several dishes including the turkey and ham. We grabbed some McDonald's before going as Mac hadn't eaten yet, and Nixon got a Happy Meal. Turns out that was the best choice, as it kept him seated and quiet while I did the shopping. It wasn't crowded but I did have a couple multiple lists to shop off of.
   As I mentioned, Nixon was great until we got to the register and he saw all the holiday toys next to it. Mac ended up taking him to the car while I finished checking out.
   He went to bed as usual on Monday night, feeding Scootaloo first. He got super excited because he noticed Scootaloo had gotten a little bigger! Nixon says "good morning" and "good night" to Scootaloo every day, and every day Scootaloo is looking right at him seeming to be returning the greetings.  

* Tuesday started super early. We had a good friend come over to spend the day with us and start cooking the big dinner in the afternoon with me. The three of us made a quick trip out for a couple errands and then grabbed donuts for breakfast on the way home.
   We had an awesome, bacon-themed Thanksgiving meal made. So what's Nixon ask for, for dinner? Peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Yep....bacon wrapped green beans, bacon wrapped stuffing balls, bacon deviled eggs, ranch mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, ham, bacon wrapped boneless turkey breast, green bean casserole and pumpkin pies! And Nixon says "Mommy, this food smells stinky. I think I'd like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich please." Sonuvabitch!

In other news, Nixon is still dealing with a cold. He's had it for over a couple weeks now mostly a runny nose and a cough. No fever and not at all lethargic, just a snot faucet for a nose.

He "blahed" in the morning, tripped over the cat and calmed himself by listening to my heartbeat.

Last night I spent the night moving flies onto an external hard drive and then backed up my laptop. After that I defragged and cleaned my hard drive...turns out that took a lot longer than I had expected. It was still running when I went to bed last night. 

This morning Nixon comes into the bedroom and tells me he "blahed" Nixonese for vomited. I go into the bathroom and he did, in the toilet, but it didn't look like anything serious. I tucked him back into bed and went back to sleep myself. He came back in a couple hours later and said he "blahed" again. He's had an awful wet cough lately, my thoughts were that he was coughing too hard and ended up bringing something up.
We woke up and I made Nixon some toast.

Nixon and Amber were both in the kitchen with me. Some how, Nixon ended up getting tripped by Amber and fell hard on his knees and hands on the kitchen floor. He was good about it, even apologized to Amber for falling over her. I iced his knee, while he sat down on the love seat.

He's in bed now, has been for almost 2 hours. He woke up crying a bit ago. He always wakes up crying when I put the vaporizer in his room. The odd thing is (odd as in this is a total mom thing) the heat is running and I have the TV on, his bedroom door is closed and I still heard him without him ever getting out of bed. I get into his room and snuggle him. He always says the most incoherent things when he's half-asleep. Tonight he told me he needed to go downstairs because he lost me and I was falling. I assured him I was not lost, I was holding him and we were not falling. He asked to listen to my heartbeat, so I let him listen to it. He relaxed in a few seconds and was ready to get back under his blankets. This kid kills me he's so sweet.

Today we welcomed Scootaloo into the family!

Meet Scootaloo

* Nixon woke up this morning very excited for school! He was excited to give his teacher the card he made for her. We took him to school and he went right over to her, handed her the card and said "I'm sorry I pulled my pants down.", gave her a hug and was off to the playground with the rest of his class. 

  We never mentioned the fish, I wanted him to be good in class because he knew he should be not because he wanted his fish. There was some serious anxiety in my chest as we headed into his classroom.

   It was all for naught! Nixon had a wonderful day! When I heard that and we got him out to the car, I told him we were going to get him his fish today! Holy cow was he excited!! 

* At bedtime, Nixon came down stairs to tell me "Mommy, Scootaloo isn't going to sleep! He's still playing, even though I told him he needs to go to sleep now!". I mean, for real, how cute is that?!?!
   I took him back to bed and explained that Scootaloo isn't like us or the cats, meaning he won't lie down to sleep Instead he'll drift peacefully in one spot or hide in the plant in his bowl, but he needs to move a little to breathe. Nixon said "Oh, well that's okay, but I need my sleep!" as if Scootaloo was being noisy in his tank and keeping Nixon awake. 

* Watching Bubble Guppies tonight, Nixon saw an episode about the library. He asked me if he can go get a book about baby kitties. I told him we'll go next week (because of the Thanksgiving holiday, Nixon has the week off from school) and we'll get books. He was really into it, telling me what books I should get and Daddy should get. 

   Why hadn't I thought of this before?!?!?

Day 2 as a 5-year-old verdict: Not a total loss.

From the get-go today had a vibe about it. Not a bad one, but a change. Nixon woke up and was kind of awesome, maybe in part to the blanket fort I set up for him last night before I went to bed.

When it was time for breakfast, he started pouting/talking back and refused to go to his room when I told him too. The end result? No TV before nap time. We did play games, action figures and made his teacher a card for tomorrow.
   Nixon did help me make scrambled eggs this morning. He helped me crack all the eggs and even broke 2 of his own (1 totally on his own!!) with very few pieces of shell falling into the bowl. They were large enough that I could pick them out before mixing the eggs.

After our nap, yes I took a nap as well...we're all fighting a cold. Nixon asked for a snack and to watch TV. I waited until he asked the correct way AND apologized for this morning. It went like this "Mommy, please can I apologize for not listening and for pouting this morning? AndnowcanIwatchTVplease?!?" He got one hour of shows, then Mac got to choose what we watched, then dinner time and after dinner came bath time to bedtime.

Overall, today was NOT a horrific day. We did spend a little more time talking about good behavior at school, respecting his teachers and also how to be a gracious winner. He is an overly celebratory winner which I'm going to help work on with him.

Nixon and his Ace McCloud from Centurions, taking a break from our good vs evil "battles"

He's 5!!! Happy 5th birthday, Nixon!

I wish I could say today was wonderful from the start. That butterflies came out just to celebrate the day my son entered the world and that at the exact moment of his birth a lark landed on our windowsill and serenaded him.
Unfortunately, none of that happened. Here's what actually did happen:

He woke up and was kind of awesome. He was excited to get ready for school and share his birthday cupcakes. We got to school and he wanted to play with the toys but the class was going outside....I left, letting the teachers do what they do. I made purple cupcakes at home for him, totally ready to celebrate Nixon's birthday.

Instead, I was greeted by a crying child who told me "Mommy, you're heart's going to be sad. I had a bad day at school." when I entered his classroom. And oh boy, he was not lying! My newly 5-year old son was defiant, crass, disrespectful and last but by no means least, exposed himself. All to a teacher. He entered the teacher's office area, was asked to come out, refused, asked to come out again, yelled and refused again, when the teacher went in to the office to bring him out Nixon pulled his pants and undies down...this happened 3 times before they got him to keep his undies on and his pants only dropped to his knees. (This was told to me as if I should be comforted by this "progress").

Nixon and I talked about this in the car. We talked about it when we got home. I finally came up with a punishment by the time Mac woke up and the 3 of us talked about it. Nixon is not phased by spankings, or taking things away, or spending time in his room without toys, but he has been looking forward to getting a pet fish for weeks now. We had planned on doing it for his birthday, taking him to pick out his own fish.  I decided to put that on pause and told him we're going to wait to see how he behaves on Friday in school. The tank is set up, in his room, it's just waiting for a fish. But it's not happening right now.
Just talking to him about what happened he was dismissive, rude (looking away, trying to get away from me while I'm talking to him) and....I just don't know what was going on in his head.

By bedtime he was better. He snuggled with me for a bit, after he managed to fall off the love seat in the living room, and had a blanket bunker he was hiding under watching his psp before Mac left for work. We even went out to get our traditional Taco Bell dinner we've done every year since Nixon's birth.
As I was putting him to bed, I was talking to him telling him how much I loved him and he starts moving his hand mimicking me as I was talking. I stopped talking and just looked at him. He kept doing it, I still said nothing, just looked at him waiting for him to stop. He didn't so I left his room and didn't say goodnight.
I cried silently once earlier today, I'm not going to do it again tonight.....

'Tis was the night before my baby turned 5 and being the only one awake in the house, my eyes were totally dry and yes, I am also surprised!

* Today was rough, but not because of anything Nixon did. I had my first real, painful migraine in a few years. I woke up with it and it got progressively worse as the day went on. Mac let me nap before he napped today. Nixon was pretty quiet, thankfully.
   When it was time for me to get up, Nixon came up and asked me if my head was feeling better. It wasn't, and I couldn't even lie to him. He gave my head a kiss.

* Nixon asked me what my head felt like. I was flinching when he made noise and he noticed it.
 I explained it as best I could: It feels like I had a troll in my head, with a shovel and he was digging deep in my brain and scooping out parts of my brain every time I heard a loud noise. Nixon looked at me, eyes wide, and says "Ouch!", then walks up to my head, kissed it and said (very softly) into my ear "Now you leave mommy's head you mean troll!"

* Tonight, Nixon headed up to bed at 745pm. After he brushed his teeth, and put Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to bed in his bed since they "wanted to sleep without me" according to Nixon, I tucked him into my bed for the night.
 




  I was lying there, telling him how much I loved him...grateful I was he was mine, how happy he made me, all the mushy things I had swirling in my head right before he turns 5. He was listening, until he rolled away from me and said "Shh, I'm sleepy. I have a big day tomorrow. I'm going to be 5!", as if I didn't already know!

"Best birthday party EVER!!" -Nixon

* Today we had Nixon's birthday party. It was a super small event, only us and 2 friends. I decorated while Nixon napped and when he woke up he said "Wow! These are the best decorations ever! This is my best party ever!"
   He did get his My Little Pony theme. He loved it!

* He got a Rainbow Dash pony for his birthday. We took him to Build-A-Bear and did the whole thing together with our friends who bought it for him as his gift. He loved it all!

* He had his pink cake with pink frosting:

* He also got his fish tank ready for his fish. We'll get his fish either tomorrow or Wednesday...we'll see how our days go.
   Mac bought him Centurion figures with accessories, a couple MASK vehicles and an entire lot of new Star Wars figures! Nixon was over-the-moon excited about it!

The best part was hearing him say, repeatedly, that today was a great day and this was his best party ever! There was really nothing special about the party, other than he was totally surrounded by people who love him.

After taking this picture Nixon said, in his sleep, "Please leave my room."