The family has arrived!!

(No photos but trust me, family is here and Nixon is excited!)

* Nixon walked around multiple times a day with an invisible map in his hand telling me "Look mom, my cousin is 10 seconds away". I should mention Nixon has no concept of distance.

* Nixon and his cousin finally got to playing together,they've never met before so it took J sometime to warm up to Nixon and Nixon sometime to relax his excitement. The ice breaker? Matchbox cars. Cars bond all boys!

* Nixon saw J getting changed for bed. J was naked and Nixon says "Ewww....that's disgusting!" and points at J's penis. I called Nixon over and told him that's not okay.

* The boys loved playing together in Nixon's room! After awhile moms finally had to step in and say it was bedtime.

Tomorrow is more family fun!

Annapolis Comic Con!!

 

The night Nixon asks me to create a costume for BeBe

* Nixon comes up to me and whispers in my ear "Mommy, its ice time". "Ice time" is Nixonese for popsicles. He didn't ask, so he didn't get one until he looked me in the eyes and asked me the correct way.

* Nixon was getting scared of the thunder that was part of the storm rolling through this evening. He kept saying it was loud and scary. I told him its just noise and won't hurt him. That didn't seem to work. I continued "Baby, thunder is like your Daddy. It's loud and sounds scary, but it won't ever hurt you." Nixon looked at me and said "Thunder is my Daddy?" SO not the point I was trying to make, but he wasn't scared of it anymore!

* We are going to a local Comic Con tomorrow. All our costumes are figured out and Nixon decides tonight to drop this bomb on me: He wants BeBe to have a costume too! BeBe is his teddy bear, and a total part of the family, so I of course tell him "I'll see what I can come up with". I end up with a cape and eye patch for his bear. It took about 90 minutes, because I had to take apart and put back together my sewing machine, but none of that will matter as long as Nixon likes what I came up with for his bear.

About last night....

* Nixon got a whole bunch of "new-to-him" toys. He also got new organizational groups for all his toys. Yeah, I'm OCD like that. Because these new-to-him toys had been stored in a shed for a while, we needed to clean them first. They were cleaned in the bathtub and then drying. Nixon was coming down frequently to tell me  "Mommy, I think they're dry now".

* Nixon was showered, dressed, teeth brushed and in bed before 9pm last night. So why were Mac and I still trying to get him to fall asleep well after 1030pm? That's a good question! We were trying everything. At first we were lying on the floor of his room, with him in his bed. Then we moved to our bed, where Nixon and I were cuddling and Mac fell asleep. I sang to Nixon his Baby Song, and then told him the story of how I made up the Baby Song. Still he wasn't falling asleep.
   Finally, I resorted to trying quasi-hypnotic sleeping techniques. I had him lay his head on my chest, right over my heart and focus on listening to my heartbeat. When he was calm and focused, I added deep breathing. When he was doing good with that I asked him if he felt his eyelids getting heavy? He was really getting deep and sleepy, and everything was pointing to him finally falling asleep (this was around 11pm now). I moved him to his bedroom and went downstairs.
   Less than ten minutes later, Nixon was slowly coming sneaking down the stairs. Mac caught him and he went back to bed. I checked on him about 20 minutes later and he was FINALLY asleep.

   The lesson?? Hypnosis is not a successful way to get your stubborn child to fall asleep

Arwen photobombed Nixon's picture last night. 

A rude awakening indeed

* Nixon woke me up crying real tears and saying his leg was broken! Talk about jolting me out of a sound sleep! I snuggled him while I found out what happened: he was playing under the bed with Amber and managed to bump his head and then bumped his knee when he was crawling out from under the bed.
  I woke Mac up so he could snuggle with Nixon while I grabbed his Iron Man ice pack. He calmed down about 10 minutes later and I was up for the day. *sigh* The life of a mom.

* I love how Nixon asks for his "Baby song" every night. I adore that he sings it with me now. He told Mac tonight that he's a big boy, even though he loves his baby song.

The talking hand!!

* Nixon came downstairs, after I put him to bed, and stuck his hand out so it was a hand puppet. His hand puppet said "I'm thirsty, I need cold water to go to bed". Then Nixon pooped his little face around the corner and said "Please mommy?" It was so cute and hilarious! I laughed, gave him water and sent him back to bed with a kiss....for him and his hand puppet.

** No photos tonight. Nixon has gotten up twice because of bad dreams and a storm that woke him up. My taking photos would most assuredly wake him up tonight.

the day the poo was stuck in his butt "FOREVER"

* Nixon was eating his snacks today, I was chilling on the sofa. Nixon walks over to me and says "Open up mommy", which I do, he drops a cheese cracker in my mouth and pats my head saying "Good girl, Mommy!"

* Playing around with two cat toys, I managed to hit myself on the wrist bone with the hard ball. I said "ow" because it really did hurt and Nixon said "Wait mommy, I go get you a bandaid for your owie" He put the bandaid on my wrist (it's Hulk, which rocks!) and then kissed it better.

* Nix was in the bathroom for a while. I knocked to check on him:
me: Nixon, you okay?
Nixon: Mommy, the poop is stuck in my butt! It won't come out!
me: Okay, relax. The poop will come out, but don't force it.
Nixon: It's never coming out! It's STUCK IN MY BUTT FOREVER!
me: How about I get your PSP and you sit in here and just relax for a few minutes, giving little pushes?
Nixon: Okay. but the poop is super stuck up my butt.
me: *about 15 minutes later* Nix? Baby, you done?
Nixon: No, the poop gave up.
me: Gave up?
Nixon: Yeah, I'm done.
me: Okay, well let's wipe and wash your hands.

* Nixon: Hey! Who turned out the lights?! I can't see!
Yeah...he's walking around with his eyes closed and saying this. He started this stuff this morning while I was still asleep. I was only half-aware of what was going on, so he came over and lifted one of my eyelids and said "MOM, I said....."

The lesser of two evils

* Today: no nap, no tantrums but a couple time-outs to his bedroom, one screeching fit which led to his removal from the store we were in when he did it. He went to bed early, without a fight, after a quick shower. He fell asleep without getting out of bed once.

* The screeching fit: Mac stayed in the store while I took Nixon out to the car. When he came out to the car, Mac said there was a kid in there who was worse than Nixon. While Nixon will screech, he does NOT throw himself on the floor and have a full-on tantrum. Evidently, this other kid did just that. Well played Nixon, well played. Compared to the other kid, Nixon's screeching was the lesser of the two evils.

Time-out first thing in the morning?? Not awesome!

* Woke up this morning and the fun began: Nixon spent 20 minutes in his room because he refused to get dressed. He finally decided to get dressed and we left to go to Third Eye Comics to meet Mac for another signing. Nixon was warned, that if he acted up he and I would be leaving. He was great for about an hour and then....
...well, we came home before the doors opened.

* Nixon was told that, if he ate all his dinner, he would get ice cream. Not only did he eat all his dinner he took his plate, my plate and Mac's plate into the kitchen when we were done. He was working for his ice cream!

"you forgotted me!"

* Nixon today, on our way out of the post office, sees a dog walking by with his/her owner. He decides, in true I-must-be-a-total-pain-in-mom's-ass-about-everything fashion, he doesn't like dogs. He continues to lament about this new found dislike of dogs as we walk from the Post Office to Dunkin Donuts. After getting our donuts and Nixon's chocolate milk, the same dog is taking a rest next to the DD storefront. Nixon notices the dog and says "Aww..mommy I love dogs! I love cats. I love all animals. Except the stupid birds that poop on you green car."
Moral of this tale? Nixon is like a teenage girl. Give him 3 minutes and he's done a total change of mind about something, for no reason at all.

* Mac and I are on the sofa, next to each other, Nixon comes over to us and says "We all kiss!", but he points at Mac and I, so I think he means that he wants us to kiss each other while Mac thinks he wants us to kiss him together. So we kiss each other and Nixon says "NO! You forgotted me!". I'll be damned, Mac was right! We quickly kissed his face, together, and he was a happy child again.

Given the choice, I choose old.....you'll see why.

* Nixon, hands me a bottle of baby nighttime lotion, and says "Mommy, I have itchies I need lotion." So I rub him down with lotion and he now smells like he did when he was a baby, if only he was as quiet as when he was a baby.

* Nixon is in a gun phase. He's shooting double-fisted guns today. At me. Saying "I kill you dead!". He has gone so far as to use BeBe as a gun at me.
   I took BeBe and told him "BeBe, shooting guns at people is not nice. Be a lover night a fighter." To which Nixon says "BeBe loves no one!" which is very sad to think that my son's best friend doesn't even love him.

* Talk about a blow to my ego. Nixon came over next to me and points at the cellulite on my thigh.
Nixon: Mommy, you got an owie?
me: No Nixon, I've got cellulite.
Nixon: Cause you're old?
me: No, Nixon, this is all genetics and lack of muscle tone.
Nixon: And....you're old.
me: Nixon please stop telling me I'm old.
Nixon: Mommy, you need exercise.
me: Let's go back to the old thing......

It's a rough day when Nixon reminds me I haven't had coffee yet....

* Nixon woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. That is, he woke up at all. He was in an evil, punk, talking-back mood from the moment he got out of bed. We had plans to meet Mac at Third Eye Comics for a signing this morning. (On a Wednesday?!? Yes, because it's the summer and because they can!) It's a bad morning when Nixon gets sent to his bedroom less than 30 minutes after getting up for the day.

* Nixon says to me, as we're finally leaving the house to go meet Mac, "Mommy, I know why you're so cranky. You forgot your coffee." Captain Obvious everyone.
   I didn't forget my coffee, so much as choose to get Nixon to Mac ASAP in order to save my sanity. There's a bagel shop in the same plaza as the comic book store, so I grabbed a (large) coffee from there within 10 minutes of getting to Third Eye.
 
* I don't know what his issue is, but he has been on a total "NO" and "I don't wanna" streak. It's not floating with me.

There's something about tortoises.

* We spent some time at the DC Zoo today. Nixon loved seeing the animals, even got upset when we decided to leave because the rain that started as a drizzle didn't let up. We left before he got to see the tortoise. He was fine going to the car, until he realized we were actually driving out of the zoo....

*Mac was playing his Avengers game on Facebook
Nixon: Mommy, Daddy beat the bad guys
me: *sending a text on my phone* Yeah, that's great buddy. (no enthusiasm)
Mac: *whispers* Hey, tell mommy "Don't patronize me"
Nixon: Don't pat-ron-ize me, Mommy.
me: Nice, that's awesome. Our kid just said "patronize" to me. Thanks.
Mac: I never expected he'd be able to say it!

He may like having his toes painted, but he's a boy for sure! (his pose says it all)

* Nixon got up this morning and the first words out of my mouth were "Where is your dad?" haha I stayed up until almost 4am last night because I got so into a book, I ended up finishing it. I had forgotten Mac had to stay late for training. Nixon says to me, as he's looking out of my bedroom window to the parking spaces, "I don't know but the blue car isn't here and the sun is up!"

* I adore Nixon's love for pedicures! Tonight he asked me to repaint his toes. He loved me removing his old polish ("It tickles!") and he sat still (mostly) for the polishing. The best part was his total man pose while his feet were drying:

* There's one thing that melts my heart and it is when Nixon sings the song I've sung to him since he was a baby, with me. He's started doing that with me and I absolutely love him for it. It's amazing that he now sings the words I've made up for him just because he loves those words.

* Conversation with a sleeping Nixon:
Nixon: NO! Mommy said my nails are still wet.
me: what?
Nixon: my toes are wet from the shower but mommy painted them. HOw did mommy paint my toes?
me: Mommy's got magic powers that lets her paint your nails.
Nixon: Yeah.
Nixon: *reaching for me* I love you Mommy!
me: I love you too baby.
Nixon: Mommy?
me: Yeah.
Nixon: How did you come in here?
me: I used the door.
Nixon: There's a door?!?! I'm in the shower and there's a door!
me: Oh baby! I adore you.
Nixon: Good night mommy. I need my sleep. I'm going to be bigger than daddy someday.
he never opened his eyes during that entire conversation, but he knew exactly where I was and reached exactly for me. 

Happy Father's Day!

* Nixon has a new hobby: taking ants he finds and "reuniting" them with their families. Which means he brings them from whatever part of the living room he finds them and puts them at the front door. He gets extra excited about it too. He comes running over to me and says "Mommy, I'm a hero I saved a baby ant!" because to him all ants are baby ants that need to find their family.

* Nixon is learning the finer art of bubble blowing. Today he was working on mastering blowing those really big bubbles. He watched me do it for awhile and then took to trying it himself. The highlight for him wasn't his large bubbles, it was when bubbles would stick to the sliding screen door. He was amazed by that! Best of all? I was able to sit at the kitchen table and work on some crafty stuff while Nixon was playing with his bubbles and I was watching him the whole time!

* Happy Father's Day!!

this is how I found him when I came to take tonight's photo. His head was almost under his bed. 

he's my beautiful, sleeping angel 

Long day in DC

* Nixon and I had a fun-filled, meeting new people kind of day that involved a lot of walking. It's been awhile since I've driven into DC for touristy reasons, so I parked on the WAY wrong side of where I wanted to be. Nixon and I walked around 5 miles round-trip today, I had the joy of doing it while carrying about 10-15lbs of backpacked goodies. It was good exercise, but I doubt I'm going to make it till Nixon's asleep to get the pictures for today's blog.

Nixon learned how to fly a kite today!!

He's a dapper, chill, smart little guy

* Nixon and I took a short trip to Third Eye Comics tonight. Nixon was sporting a bow tie and was looking extremely dapper. There was another little boy at the store, probably 2-3 years old, who pointed out Nixon's tie and Nixon pointed at the boy's shirt and said "Mom look, it's Yo Gabba Gabba!" Kids bond over the most random things, eh?

* I adore Nixon's random ways of picking new things to learn. Today he's decided to memorize our house number. I added our street name, which is kind of a mouthful, but he repeated it and then says "Mom, it's a big deal I know this, right?"

* Phrases of the week:
   Oh.My.God- he says this when he sees an ant almost anywhere.
   Crap on a stick- he says this when something goes wrong.
   Umm, no, I'm Nixon- he says this any time Mac or I call him by something other than his name.

It's Nipple Day!

* Please repeat after me: Nixon, 630am is not a wake-up time. Please see that my child gets this memo.

* Nixon and I have reached a new level of mother-son bonding. We now can play several rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock! Total parenting win, y'all!! I started teaching Nixon rock/paper/scissors when he was real little. He's known all the hand signals but not how to actually play until today. He even beat me twice!
   I'm so proud!

* Nixon, at the front door, which is open "Look. I have nipples!" as he pinches them through his shirt. He then says to Mac, "Daddy, you have nipples too!" and as if that wasn't enough he goes on to proclaim "But mommy has the biggest nipples. She feeds babies with them!" And he goes back to doing his nipple pinching dance.
   This was preempted by....I have no idea what brought this sudden love of nipples on. Nixon's a little oddball, who finds the most random things amazing. Today was, apparently, nipple day.

"...ants are trying to get to the food in my tummy!" oh the fears of a 4-year old.

* We have an ant problem, it seems. No matter what I do, we've got them all over our front entrance area, which also happens to be where Nixon's table and chairs are. He's starting to freak out every time he sees an ant, no matter how many times we tell him they are NOT trying to eat him.
   Tonight took the cake. He came downstairs and told Mac "Daddy, there were ants on me trying to get to the food in my tummy!" Mac told him to go back to bed, and I went upstairs to explain to him that: ants are simple insects. They go where the food is, usually in a straight line and sometimes Nixon is in the way. The ants aren't trying to get the food that he ate, rather Nixon is in the path they are going to to get food crumbs he left behind. He says "So they won't try to get inside me for the food in my tummy?" Oh! I tell him "No baby, the ants are just crawling over you, like Amber or Arwen walk over me in my bed to get to their food dish. They don't want the food in your belly, they just don't want to go the long way, around you, to get to the food they know is waiting for them."
   He settled down and even laughed at his silliness. I reminded him that he needs to be careful about not dropping food on the floor and throwing his trash out right away, but he seemed fine and ready for bed by the time I left him.

How, exactly, does one "dance wrong"?

* Nixon likes to lick any pudding or other food that might stick to his arm. Only problem is, he doesn't lick so much as vacuum it off of his arm. A couple days ago Mac says to me "Nixon has a bruise or something on his arm and he says it hurts." I take a look at it and started to laugh! Not because our kid was hurt, but because our kid had managed to give himself his first hickey...at 4! That's impressive if you ask me!

you can tell, it's pretty obvious what kind of mark and where it came from, that it's not a normal bruise. 

* Yesterday, on my birthday, Nixon told me I wasn't old. This morning, that all changed. Evidently Nixon changed his mind overnight because this morning I heard this "Good morning Mommy! You're old!" followed by him laughing and dancing around my bedroom singing "Old, old, old....hahaha OLD!", a catchy little ditty he made up himself.

* Speaking of dancing, ever dance with your kid to the theme song of a cartoon? I did! Today, we danced to the My Little Pony theme song! Why? Why not! It's catchy and Nixon was in a dancing mood. So we danced! Then he told me to stop, because apparently, I dance wrong.

I don't think he's getting sick, I think he just likes to mouth-breath.

It's Mommy's birthday!!

* I was woken up this morning by the sweetest little voice saying "Happy birthday, Mommy! We have donuts and coffee for you!". Donuts, coffee AND presents! What a great way to wake up!

* Nixon helped me wash dishes today. He washed one bowl before he decided he didn't want to help anymore. I'm pretty sure he only helped just to wear my apron. It's cool, he looks super cute in it!

* At bedtime, Nixon looks at my feet and says "Mom, your feet aren't pruny. Your not old." Thanks kid. Then he says "Mom, I love you. You're so pretty"....and that was the best birthday gift Nixon gave me!

Braggy, good times ruined by Nixon's absolute honesty!

* It's a brag! We went out to breakfast this morning. We left the house 2 minutes earlier than we'd aimed for last night, which for us is amazing! We got to Denny's and it was starting to get crowded. Instead of a booth, we were seated at a table, in the center of the dining area. It was loud, because there were several large parties surrounding us. All this had the potential for a Nixon meltdown.
   He sat quietly, sipping his juice, watching his Phineas & Ferb and was totally unfazed by all the noise! When his food came, he just focused on eating his entire meal and watching more Phineas & Ferb. There was not a point, until he was done eating, that we had to talk to him about his behavior! We were so completely surprised and proud, we got him a smoothie to-go!

* Nixon earned back some of the toys he'd had taken away for not cleaning them up. He got one basket of toys on the condition they all stay in his room. He stayed in his room, happily playing with his toys for over 2 hours!
   He came downstairs, after I came inside from doing yard work, and asked me if I wanted to play cars with him. I said yes and his eyes lit up! We played in his room, crashed his cars into each other, made a bridge and ran cars off of it and just had fun together.

* Bedtime conversation with Nixon:
me: Nixon, in the morning wake up Daddy. He's going to take you to get something special for me in the morning.
Nixon: Because you are going to be old?
me: What? No, well, sort of...because it's my birthday tomorrow yes.
Nixon: And you are being old!
me: I'm being old?
Nixon: And pruny!
me: I'm old and pruny?
Nixon: Yes, you will be old and pruny when the sun comes up in the morning.
me: Gee, thanks kid.
Nixon: *laughs* You welcome!

Love seeing these two sleeping so peacefully together.

Long live Tantrum King...long may he reign the kingdom of TimeOut!

* Nixon, Tantrum King of the World! Well, it sure felt like he was today. He was sent to his room on 3 occasions and in time out on the stairs once, all before 3pm. I have half-a-voice, it comes and goes, but for the most part I could talk all day long. Which unfortunately for me meant no more unheard, sarcastic cussing responses to Nixon's outbursts. Yeah, I forgot that more than once.

* Uggg....damned Lunchables! They've ruined Nixon's eating habits. Not that he won't eat anything but lunchables, but instead, he asks for candy every time he finishes his food. Finished his waffles for breakfast? "I gets candy now?" Finished his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, banana and granola bar? "My food's all gone, I get my candys now?"
   Two of his trips to his room was because I denied his request for candy.