I 've decided to combine the kids ' blogs into one blog . It 's easier for me and I 've been finding more stories about things they both do that I 'm never sure how to separate into different blog entries . So from now on check out here : http : / / monkeybusinessjanda . blogspot . com / Xander has been less than enthusiastic about going to preschool the last couple of weeks . His schedule has been inconsistent , which makes it harder for him . Today even the lure of bringing in birthday cupcakes and seeing his pal Joseph couldn 't make him agree to wear his bathing suit . Since he goes to preschool at the Y , one of the perks is swim lessons once a week . He prefers the shark bathing suit but I couldn 't find it so I tried to pass off his Thomas bathing suit . No go . I decided not to fight it , and that I would pack the bathing suit and let his teacher figure it out . " I won 't put your bathing suit on , " I told him in all technical honesty . When I went to pack the Thomas bathing suit I found his shark bathing suit already in the backpack he uses for swim lesson . I had put it there last week before his puke - a - thon kept him home on swim lesson day . Then Xander said , " And don 't pack that bathing suit ! " referring to the Thomas bathing suit . " I won 't " I said , in all technical honesty . Then I shoved his small swim lesson backpack into his bigger backpack so he wouldn 't see it when we were walking out to the car . Today 's the last day of school before he 's off for the next 12 days . I 'll let his teacher bear the brunt of his bad temper . Merry Christmas , Miss Dara ! * * * update : He ended up not swimming because his teacher for some reason didn 't see his swim knapsack and I guess since he wasn 't wearing his swimsuit , she figured he wasn 't going to swim . I found this out by asking him if he had gone swimming . " No , " he said in a grumpy voice , I guess merely at the idea of swim lessons . " You didn 't pack my bathing suit . " " Yes , I did , " I told him . " Your teacher didn 't see it ? " He very quickly picked up on my small betrayal : " I told you not to pack it ! " I was hoping he wouldn 't remember that . There 's a grocery store I really like to go to because the prices are much cheaper than almost anywhere else . They recently opened a new store and , nerd that I am , I was actually excited about it and looking forward to going to the new store . I took Xander there last Tuesday , the 3rd day the store was open for business . We got through the dairy and deli areas just fine . We were about to head into the cookie / cracker aisle when he gave a big belch . We both laughed for a nanosecond and then he threw up all over the store 's nice new shiny clean floor . And himself . I was able to dodge the bullet , thank goodness . So , I took him home , changed him . He fell asleep about 20 minutes before I had to go pick up Jessica from school . I tried unsuccessfully to transfer him to his carseat without without waking him up . I strapped him in . In the approximately 6 seconds it took to close his door , open my door and sit down , he threw up again , all over his coat and carseat . I wiped him down as best as I could but I had to go get Jessica . Poor little guy was so upset . Fortunately those were the only 2 vomit incidents . I did have to take his carseat down into its primary components in order to get the fabric part off to wash it . I gave him some pedialyte to get some liquids into him . I don 't know how I phrased it when I gave it to him , probably something like , " It 's good to drink when your tummy hurts . " Somehow , in his mind , that got translated to " It makes my tummy feel better . " For the last 5 days , he 's been begging for the pedialyte , saying , " My tummy hurts , can I have some of that drink ? " We 're about done with the second bottle and then I 'm cutting him off . He 's definitely all better now . There was a notice at the YMCA a month or so ago that they were looking for gently used toy donations . I was looking to get rid of some hardly used toys to make room for the birthday / Christmas loot . Now , what I thought I was doing was donating toys that were then going to be resold for fund raising for the child watch room ( the daycare for people that are working out ) . As it turned out , the toys I donated went directly into the child watch room . So far Jessica , usually a supersleuth when it comes to her toys , has not yet noticed or commented that her Little People Castle in now in the child watch room . The boy , though , he 's pretty suspicious . Two of the toys I gave were duplicate old Hess trucks with the same part broken ( the tailgate / bumper piece ) . Unfortunately , the broken off piece remained in our house . Xander found one of those pieces the other day and has been pestering me repeatedly to find his " big Jeeps " ( which is what the Hess trucks look like ) that are " like the ones at Child Watch . " I 'm pleading the 5th . . . . . I took the kids to the aquarium the day before Thanksgiving . Jessica has always loved the aquariu , since she was even younger than Xander is now . Xander , however , spent much of the time complaining and wanting to go home . Because of that we stayed less time than I thought we would . Today , we stopped at Petsmart to buy some cat food . Xander loved looking at the fish . I told him next time , we 'd skip going to the aquarium and I 'd just take him to a pet store instead . Sheesh . There are good days and there are bad days when it comes to preschool drop - off . Good is when he reluctantly lets go , does a tiny bit of fake crying but when I reach the door and turn to check , he 's okay . Bad is like today . He had a killer grip on my coat , I passed him off to one of the teachers , could hear him crying from down the hall . So I snuck back to listen to see if the crying stopped . Not only hadn 't it stopped but when I peeked back in , he saw me and it looked like a new wave of crying was about to start . That 's when I beat it out of there , to stop making things harder for his teacher . At least I feel partially cheered up by the fact that his school pictures are awesome ! The best of any of the kids ' so far . Xander is now pre - reading . He either looks at the pages and makes up what he thinks is going on or he has the words memorized and he turns the pages at appropriate places . It 's really cute . We 've been reading 2 different car series and we just got home from the library with some more books from them . Since I hadn 't read the books to him yet , he had to make up what he thought it said . Then he informed me , " You can 't read it because it has words that only little kids can read . " To go along with his reading skills , he came up with a new phrase : " Once uton a pime . " Love it ! Really ? Could this really be my child ? We introduced Xander to Star Wars on Friday . The original trilogy , first movie . Jess had already seen some of one of the movies , so it wasn 't completely unfamiliar to her . Turned out both kids were scared of Darth Vader . Not unexpected . What was completely unexpected was that Xander was afraid of C3P0 . He was okay with R2D2 but scared of C3P0 . How is that even possible ? The most cowardly droid in the whole series and he was scared of him . And then came the statement , " I don 't like Star Wars . " I 've done something terribly wrong . Xander came home from church today and had gotten a bit dozy in the car . He lay down in the hall for a minute , pretending to sleep . Then he told me how tired he was . " Can 't I have something so I don 't feel so tired , like coffee ? " he said . Ummm . . . . no ? The last thing a 3 year old needs is coffee . Maybe when he 's 4 . I took the kids to vote with me tonight . I had almost forgotten and we were at the Y so I asked them if they wanted to go with me . After a lengthy discussion , we agreed we would go . " Boat ! " is what Xander said . Thinking he was just mispronouncing it , I said , " Yes , let 's boat . " So we went and voted . As I was waiting to check out , Xander asked , " Are we going to go on the boat now ? " I can 't help but feel I misled him . * * * Xander didn 't do very well at Halloween . Jessica had been invited to a friend 's house for a quick pizza dinner and then to trick or treat in the neighborhood . I tagged along with Xander because she didn 't want to go out without me . Her friend 's older brother had also invited some friends . I didn 't realize one of them was wearing a scary mask and pushing his face into Xander 's face until he was already scared . We got to go to exactly one house and he wanted to go home . Fortunately by then Jessica was having enough fun where she didn 't care if we went home . Good big sister that she is , she shared her bountiful treats with Xander when she got home . After lunch today , Xander was allowed one piece of candy . He agonized over this decision . He kept pulling pieces of candy out , examining them , rejecting them . At one point he took out four pieces and did " meenie meenie miney mo . " I think he put more time into deciding which piece of candy to have than most people did on the election today . I have a bin storage system for the kids ' toys . On the front of each bin , I attached a picture of several of whatever item goes in it . This started when Jessica couldn 't read and Xander can 't read yet , so we still need the pictures . The picture on the car bin was taken a couple of years ago . It has a Fisher Price police car and Parents brand truck . We handed down the Parents truck a while ago , since it 's more of a toddler toy . The Fisher Price car I just put into storage a few days ago . Really . He 's got a playmobil police car that he likes much better and hardly ever plays with the Fisher Price one . This morning , he came over to me , holding the picture he 'd torn off the car bin : " I don 't have this car , " he said . " Where is this car ? " So it took him maybe 2 days to discover a toy he never plays with was missing . When Jessica was 3 and 4 , and she got really upset from crying , I would tell her to stop crying and calm down . She would say she couldn 't . So we went through this routine where I would tell her I 'd breathe with her on the count of 3 : " 1 , 2 , 3 , breathe ! " and we would both suck in deep breaths . After repeating this a few times , she was usually calmer . I don 't remember doing this recently , but I must have because Xander picked up on it . He 'll be crying a little , sometimes even fake crying , nothing like Jessica had done when I helped her breathe . Even though he 's not crying that hard , he 'll say , " I need someone to help me breathe ! " So I go through the routine with him and after one try , he 's calmed down from his not - so - agitated state . To make a long story short : long cast ( mid - thigh to foot ) for 6 weeks . Non weight bearing . Then hopefully a short walking cast for 4 weeks . He can 't walk but thankfully he can crawl . Should he choose to , that is . He either fell off the top bunk or slipped getting onto the ladder . I was right there but I had my back turned . He 's been climbing up and down that ladder for 2 years . My poor little man . Xander likes to play " Last one is a rotten egg ! " Only he doesn 't quite do it right . Usually it 's when we 're going out to the car . He 'll call out , " Last one there is a rotten egg ! " Then when he gets there first , he says , " I 'm a rotten e - egg , I 'm a rotten e - egg . " Nevermind that he 's not the last one there and that being a rotten egg is something you * don 't * want to be . We 've been struggling lately with Xander 's reluctance to leave the house with Hari when I 'm staying home . He cries " Mommy ! Mommy . " It 's not a fun situation . Hari gets frustrated , I get stressed , and obviously Xander gets upset . This morning Hari took the kids to daycare / school . Xander started crying for me . Then Hari suggested both kids get their umbrellas because it was raining . Xander thought this was the best idea ever . Jessica was outside putting her shoes on while I helped him get his umbrella . " Dad ! Don 't leave without me ! " he cried , without a second thought of Mommy . He ran outside to join Daddy and Jessica . Now I 'm wondering if I can send him with an umbrella every time he goes out with Hari , regardless of the weather . It 's amazing how kids learning to talk pick up colloquialisms . When we were on vacation , Xander was explaining something to me and after he was done , he said , " Get it , Mom ? Get it ? " The word " duh " just hung in the air , waiting to be said , but he didn 't say it . However , he still needs to work on his grammar and pronunciation . " ambliance " = ambulance " I amn 't " = " I 'm not " Xander 's interpretation of " Bah Bah Black Sheep . " " Bah bah black sheep , have you any wool ? Yes sir , yes sir , 3 bags fullOne for the master , one for the James , One for the little boy who lives down the lane . " ( instead of " one for the master , one for the dame " ) * * * At bedtime , we 've gotten into the habit of using glowsticks for a little while after the lights go out . Xander is so sweet about it . I 'll be laying down next to him , and he 'll hand me the glowstick and say , " This is for us , Mommy . " Every night . Xander has always mispoken by doubling up words ( " fry fries " for french fries , for example ) . His latest examples are going to " Grandma and Grandma 's " house ( instead of Grandma and Grandpa ) and " Kemper and Kemper " for our friends ' sons , Kemper and Rowan . He 's been alluding to a friend lately named " Weirdo . " I don 't know if this is the beginning of an imaginary friend . It would be pretty appropriate for him to have an imaginary friend named Weirdo , though . He also has been using the following phrases with extreme frequency : " Is that cool ? " " Is that weird ? " " Is that crazy ? " Yes , yes it is . I have not let Xander chew gum yet . Or at least I hadn 't till about a week ago . This proved to be a wise decision . The kids came home from a friend 's house with gum . Jessica was chewing hers but Hari had told Xander he needed to ask me if it was okay . I was reluctant to say yes but he begged so hard and since I was in the middle of packing , I was susceptible to such tactics . I told him yes , but repeated about 10 times " DO NOT SWALLOW . Do you understand ? " He nodded vigorously and preceded to stuff 2 pieces of gum into his small mouth . I went upstairs for about 10 minutes to pack some stuff up there . When I came home I noticed a distinct lack of chewing on his part . " Where 's your gum ? " I asked . He looked down and then pointed to his stomach . " Did you swallow it ? " I know , stupid question . He shook his head solemnly . " Then how did it get there ? " He shrugged , as if it was a complete mystery . He is now back to no - gum status . * * * AntonymsXander has picked up on Jessica 's annoying habit of needing accompaniment to the bathroom . " I have to pee , " he 'll say . " Come on . " Then I 'll whine about how I don 't want to go and can 't he go by himself and eventually I 'll get up and go with him because it 's way better then changing diapers . Then recently he announced he had to pee . " I need privacy , " he said . For a nanosecond , my heart leaped with joy . Then he said , " Oops , I meant company . " Privacy , company , they 're almost the same , right ? Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong as a Mommy . Hari has an infinitely easier time watching the kids than I do . For example , there is far less whining involved when I 'm not there , particularly on the boy 's part . Today , I took the van to the dealer to get fixed and Hari watched the kids . I came home and one of the first I noticed is no one running to me saying " Mommy ! Mommm - - mmmmeeeee . " " Where 's Xander ? " I asked . " I dunno . " That actually worried me at first . What could have happened to him that he was so quiet ? Hari got up off the couch and spotted Xander , fast asleep on the stair landing . He 'd just wandered over there and fallen asleep . I 'm not sure what bothers me more , the ease with which he fell asleep in Hari 's presence or the fact that Hari hadn 't even noticed he 'd fallen asleep . At the present time we 're just stepping over him if we need to go up or down the stairs . Every morning it 's the same thing . I don 't bother to take off Xander 's diaper ( no , he 's not night trained yet ; he could not be night trained until he 's 8 as long as he 's day trained ) right away when he gets up . Inevitably , after a while , he says , " Mom ! I have to pee ! " Then , again inevitably , 10 seconds later he says , " Never mind . I 'm peeing now . " aside : is the opposite of inhibited uninhibited or hibited ? Xander has been changing a lot lately . For example , his attitude toward swimming and the beach . Remember , this is the kid that had a 9 month bath strike . When he was 20 months old , we went to the beach for a week . Which meant , I went to the beach once or twice and he screamed so much that I stayed in the house with him the rest of the time . He 's now a completely different kid . Hari took him and Jessica to a few nearby ponds and told me how much Xander now likes the beach . But it wasn 't until earlier this week that I realized how much he likes it . We went to Indian Lake after camp . I put his bathing suit on and he started walking into the water . He didn 't need any encouragement to go right in . Gradually he went deeper and deeper ( I wasn 't wearing a bathing suit , so I hovered near the shore ) . When he got in up to his armpits , I told him that was far enough . I think he would have gone in deeper if I had let him . I 'm looking forward to our next beach vacation in a few weeks . * * * MeowOne of Xander 's favorite things to do recently is to pretend he 's a cat . So I used this to my advantage this morning . His nails have gotten really long but he never lets me cut them . So I told him this morning , " Kitty , I 'm going to trim your claws now . " Worked like a charm . Xander has been a terribly picky eater lately . It 's been really frustrating . We have to feed him bit by bit and he 's apt to spit out anything he doesn 't like the taste of . Tonight I was feeding him just the chicken from our chicken stir - fry . We agreed if he ate the chicken , he could then have a bowl of cereal . Even that was a struggle . At one point he said he was full . Automatically , I replied , " Well , if you 're full , I guess you don 't have any room for cereal . " He quickly said , " There 's two ' full 's . ' " Then he held up one finger , a second , one finger , a second . " Two fulls . Two fulls . " He said it so much " full " turned into " flull . " Hari and I were both laughing . I got a couple of more pieces of chicken into him and then gave him his cereal . Xander has this charming habit when we go grocery shopping . When we 're near the meat , and he spots the ground beef ( or ground turkey or ground chicken ) he says , " Don 't buy the worms ! Don 't buy the worms ! " Today I bought the worms . * * * Poor little guy stubbed his toe on a stool that was , inexplicably , in the middle of the floor . He was crying and I said that I was sorry he got hurt . " It 's not your fault , " he said . " It 's its fault . " And he pointed to the stool . Jessica and Xander are pretending they 're running a restaurant . Xander asked me if I wanted iced tea or hot chocolate . I threw him for a loop when I answered , " iced coffee . " Pause . " Iced tea or hot chocolate ? " " Iced coffee . " Another pause . " Do you want hot chocolate ? " Sigh . " Yes , please . " Then Jessica , in a stage whisper , said to him , " Put some ice in it . " " Huh ? " " Put some ice in it . " " Huh ? " " Put some ice in it . " " Mice ? " I 'm not sure what I ended up getting . Xander loves to imitate his big sister , what she says , what she does . Well , earlier tonight , Hari wanted the kids to try a garlicky dish he 'd make . He asked Jessica to smell it and tell him what she thought . " Ew , yuck , " she said . Hari then tried to get Xander to smell it but he said " Ew , yuck " before he even got a chance to smell it . Hari knew Xander was just copying what Jessica was saying . So he told Jessica to smell it and say , " Really great ! " She did . Without missing a beat ( and still without smelling the food ) , Xander echoed , " Really great . " Jessica just drew a picture for Xander and ripped it out of the notebook . He then went on to rip off all the ragged parts of the edge . " Look I ripped off the page , " he said . " Yes , " I said . " You ripped off the perforation . " " I ripped off the perspiration , " he replied . Jessica and Xander were just playing this game Kerplunk . You put a bunch of sticks in the middle of this cylinder , pile marbles on top and try to put out the sticks one by one and dislodge as few marbles as possible . I was upstairs when the stick - pulling - out occurred , but I would hear a crash of marbles and then Xander 's delighted shrieks . When it was over , Xander was all excited : " Mom I got a lot of marbles ! " Jessica was similarly excited : " Xander got a lot of marbles ! " In their eyes , they both won . * * * Memory laneThis is how the mind of a preschooler works : Last Saturday evening , Hari and Jessica were returning from the Daddy - daughter dance . They ran into our neighbor , Jim . Jim mentioned that he had seen a fox running up in our yard . They came into the house . They told me and Xander that Jim had told them that there was a fox in the yard . A few days later , Xander said , " Remember when we saw a fox in the yard ? " Xander started running a fever yesterday . Apparently it got worse over the night . I discovered this when , at 3 am , he started shrieking " Spiders ! Spiders on your head ! " Being , as one generally is at 3 am , mostly asleep , I started running my hand over my head . No spiders . He just kept screaming . I thought maybe it was night terrors , not that he 's ever had them before . I turned the light on , thinking that if it was well lit , he would see there were no spiders . No . He just kept screaming , looking around at the spiders only he could see . Predictably , all this shrieking woke Jessica up . She started crying . Then Xander said he wanted to go downstairs . I told Jessica to go sleep with Daddy . She didn 't want to go . I walked her down to our room . Then Xander changed his mind and said he wanted to sleep with Daddy . I thought that was a much better idea than going downstairs , so we all piled into the big bed . He was still going on about spiders and added shadows to the mix . He lay on top of me , poor little hot body , seeming to fall asleep but every few minutes saying " Shadowy ! " or speaking in tongues . Jessica and Daddy went back to sleep immediately . After a while , Xander drifted off . Finally poor Mommy got back to sleep . This morning , his fever is down and he 's lucid , thank goodness ! Xander 's all about being a big boy now and being independent , which we think is great . There are still a couple of sticking points , though . For example , he still wants to sit in the clip - on chair at the table even though he 's kind of too big for it . So , I 'm using his desire to be a big boy to try to coax him out of it . " Xander , do you want to sit on the big boy stool or in your baby chair ? " So far , it 's a draw but I 'll keep trying . We were driving home from the Y after a mad dash to the car through the pouring rain . Xander : ( whining ) Take my pants off ! ! ! ( They were wet ) Mom : Not while we 're driving . Why don 't you scream instead ? Xander : AAAAAAAHHHHHHH ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Mom : ( without missing a beat ) Did that help ? Xander : No ! Eh . It was worth a try . Xander 's new favorite word is meap . I 'm still trying to figure out what he means by it . The word " meep " was banned in a Massachusetts high school . It 's also the name of character in Phineas and Ferb , which is where I adopted the spelling from . He uses it when he 's mad , so I 'm starting to suspect it 's some sort of preschooler curse word . Hopefully some day he will explain it to me . * * * We had a lot of rain last week . However , on Thursday , the sun came back out . On Friday evening , we went to the Y for Jessica 's art class . Xander insisted on bringing and using his umbrella . Several people laughed when they saw him . Now , if he had been an adult , particularly an older one , carrying that umbrella in the middle of sunshine , people would have thought he was crazy . But being 3 , everyone knew that that 's just the type of thing a 3 year old does . No questions asked . * * * Xander loves to imitate other people . Most often it 's Jessica . Last week , I hurt my back and was hobbling around . We were walking from the car to his school and I turned around and saw him hobbling in the same exact way I was hobbling . I made a last - minute throw - together kind of dinner tonight that included boxed macaroni and cheese . In a display of stupendous ineptitude , I knocked over the open box of macaroni and spilled every last one on the floor . The kids were nice enough to help clean it up . After I put some other pasta on to boil , I took out a bag of frozen corn . Xander looked at me holding it and asked , " Are you going to spill that too ? " Xander has been talking up a storm lately . Run on sentences , run on paragraphs and oh , the questions . Well , we were driving in the van today and he was asking questions a mile a minute . I asked him to just be quiet and not ask me questions for a few minutes because I needed the quiet . " Why ? " he immediately responded . Although I get frustrated with Xander 's clinginess , particularly at drop - off time at school or the gym , it 's more than made up for by the reaction I get when I pick him up . When I pick him up from school , he gets up or stops whatever he 's doing and runs toward me as fast as his little legs can carry him . I kneel down and prepare for a full - on assault hug . When I pick him up from the gym daycare , where he 's behind a half door , he 'll look up , see me , and since he 's usually done some coloring , he makes a beeline for the table , grabs his paper , and runs over to half door to be let out . If only I could remind him of how happy he is when I pick him up when he 's sobbing as I drop him off . * * * Xander 's teacher had a great trick this morning . She saw him clinging to me , and came over . " Now remember , " she said to him . " We have one rule here : NO SMILING . " Of course he burst into a big smile at that . Xander likes to use his name in everything . Earlier today he was made " Xander angels " instead of snow angels . A habit he 's picked up from his sister is saying " pretend we 're cats ( or dogs or iguanas or gerbils , etc ) and you 're the mommy cat and daddy is the daddy cat . " Where Jessica usually says " and I 'm the big sister cat , " he 'll say , " I 'm the Xander cat . " * * * At bedtime I went downstairs to find something without with Jessica could not live , a frequent occurrence in our house , and he insisted on following me . He found his sippy cup of milk , which I had forgotten to put it away . I took it from him and went to put it in the fridge . He immediately started screaming and wrapped his little hand around the door so I couldn 't close it . I removed his hand so I could close it and he started crying about some imaginary injury . Then we went back upstairs and he insisted he needed a band - aid " for when you closed the refrigerator on my hand . " I took another look but there was still no visible injury . In the interest of world peace , I gave him a band - aid anyway . Now , Jessica has been trying valiantly to stop biting her nails and chewing on her fingers . I bought her " chewlery " which is a necklace / bracelet set that is okay for kids to put in their mouths . After I gave him his band - aid , he started going on about how he needed chewlery . " But you don 't bite your nails , " I said . I have to cut his nails frequently because they grow so quickly and so long . " Yes I do " he whined . " Show me , " I said . He then just stuck a finger into his mouth , up to the first joint . He clearly didn 't even know how to chew on his fingernails . Jessica & I just laughed . He didn 't get the chewlery . Xander 's new thing is to refer to every event that ever occurred in his life as happening " last night . " For example , last night ( * my * last night , not his ) I was putting him to bed . Our conversation went something like this : Xander : Remember last night when Jessie got a smushmellow ? Mommy : No . Xander : Remember , when Daddy came to get Jessie and we went home and I didn 't get one ? Mommy thought long and hard and then remembered what he was talking about . We went to our town 's winter carnival on February 5 , yes , February 5th . They were toasting marshmellows over a fire pit . I made one for Jessie , then asked Xander if he wanted one . He said no . I had taken the kids there and Hari joined us later . By the time he got there , Xander and I were both very cold and wanted to go home , so we did and Jessica and Daddy stayed . Mommy : You mean at the winter carnival ? Xander : Yeah . Mommy : That was weeks ago . You said you didn 't want one . Xander : Let 's go get one . Mommy : It 's not there any more . Xander : ( cries loudly and longly ) . Anyway , at least 3 or 4 times a day he references something that happened " last night " but actually happened days or weeks ago . I really have no idea why . As I mentioned on Jessica 's blog , she has been speaking in letters lately . Well , baby brother has picked up the habit . After every meal , not just dinner , he asks for " d " ( dessert ) . Just a minute ago , he heard Jessica asking for a drink ( " d " ) and chimed in , hoping to get some dessert at 9 : 00 in the morning . Needless to say , he was " d " ( denied ) . This sentence came out of my 3 - year - old 's mouth today : " Books about tractors are awesome , Mom . " Awesome . It just sounds strange for a preschooler to use that word . And the way he said it : awwwwsome . Jessica has long been a food critic , when it comes to meals made by Hari and me . Well , last night I made chicken salad , and I thought it was pretty good . Jessica ate it without complaint . Xander preferred the wheat pita I put it in . After dinner he started walking around , pointing with his index finger saying something like " from awejodsi . " At least that 's what it sounded like to me . I kept asking him " From what ? From what . " Then I noticed his index finger was pointing down and it dawned on me . " Thumbs down ? " This is Jessica 's Roger - and - Ebertesque way of issuing her food reviews . He nodded . I then explained to him that if he 's going to use the thumbs up / thumbs down review method , he 'll at least need to point with his thumb , and not his index finger . One of Xander 's preschool teachers told me this story : One day he was just standing there , not saying anything . His teacher asked him what he was doing . His response ? " I 'm just being a Xander . " Other words from the Xander lexicon : smushmellow = marshmellowUsage : " I don 't have any more smushmellows in my hot chocolate . " snowprint = footprint made in the snowpack - pack = backpack Xander loves to tell me he loves me . Most of the time this is great . I love to hear him say it . But lately he 's been using it as a weapon . He 'll be laying down in bed and instead of closing his eyes and going to sleep , he says , " Mommy , I love you " a dozen times . If I ignore him , then his tone gets more insistent : " MOMMY I LOVE YOU " with a bit of a whine to it . I feel like the worst mommy ever when I have to respond , " I know . Stop saying that and go to sleep . " But I only say that after he 's said it at least 20 times . ( He just ran up to me and said " Mommy , I love you " while I was typing this . ) As anyone with a small child knows , band - aids are the best thing ever . Regardless of whether or not there 's actually a boo - boo . One night last week , as I was trying to get Xander to sleep , he complained he had a boo - boo and needed a band - aid . He pointed out the boo - boo but in the semi - darkness of the room I didn 't see anything . I tried to ignore his request but sooner rather than later , I gave in . When I brought the band - aid into the room and asked him to show me the boo - boo again so I knew where to put it , he gave me a completely different finger to put it in than he 'd shown me before . With this incident in mind , last night he started complaining again . He showed me the boo - boo and again I didn 't see anything . I told him if the boo - boo was still there in the morning , I 'd give him a band - aid . He got very insistent and eventually produced real tears . I thought , okay , maybe it is a real boo - boo ; after all , he 's crying . I got up and got a band - aid . He gave me a different finger to put it on . I 've been working on quilts for the kids . I 'm a very slow quilt maker . I bought the fabric a couple of months ago , and immediately washed it . Then eventually I ironed and now am in the process of cutting it . The kids have been bugging me incessantly about it lately . This morning , Xander started up . " Will you work on my quilt today ? " This immediately got Jessica 's attention . " No ! Work on my quilt ! " Then I couldn 't hear what either of them were saying because they were both saying something to the effect of " Work on my quilt " loudly and at the same time . Then Hari , genius that he is , pointed out the window . " Look ! There goes a squirrel ! " Both kids stopped shouting and ran over to look out the window . It was just like " Up . " " You guys are so busted ! " I think perhaps he 's been watching too much Phineas and Ferb . " I can 't sleep in the dark . " Um . . . . okay . I recently put their " night light " ( a string of LED lit butterflies that make the room bright enough to read in ) on a timer , thinking they would sleep better in the dark . The verdict is still out on that . Cat recyclingI recently made the mistake of saying we could probably get a kitten ( or two ) when Cassie passes away . She 's 13 1 / 2 so this could be soon or it could be 5 or more years . In hindsight , saying that may have been a mistake . Xander recently suggested that we should " throw Cassie away cause she 's dead . " The last 3 pairs of sneakers I 've bought for Xander were Thomas the Tank Engine sneakers . That 's all he wanted to wear . " Want Thomas shoes . " I noticed he 's starting to outgrow his current pair , so I went to Walmart , the only place that sells the ones he likes , to look for a new pair . While I was there , I saw the Cars shoes . Cars is his newer obsession . I wasn 't sure what to do . I decided to hold off on a purchase till I could take him with me and let him choose . We went yesterday . I told him he could choose between Cars and Thomas shoes . It was no contest . Cars by a landslide . However , the particular Walmart we were in didn 't have the right size . I swore up and down to him that the next time I was in a different Walmart , I would try to get the right size . That wasn 't good enough for him . He proceeded to whine for the rest of time in the store , in the check - out line and in the car . I foresaw a future where all he did was beg and whine for these shoes . I decided to divert slightly and go to a different nearby Walmart . Fortunately they had the shoes . He insisted I put them on him even before we left the store . I did . He wore them all day , even though we don 't usually wear shoes in the house . He took them off for his bath , and then wanted them back on . He slept in them . Really . I thought for sure he 'd get uncomfortable during the night and kick them off , but no , he wore them all night . He 's wearing them now . ( another potty post ) Xander prefers to use the little potty . For reasons that I probably don 't need to get into , I prefer him to use the big potty . Now , the little potty is conveniently located in the living room , where he can stop playing , walk a few feet and use it . The bathroom , on the other hand , is at least 15 feet away . I thought about moving the little potty into the bathroom next to the big potty . But then I thought about what I did when I moved the cats ' litterbox in our condo . I was afraid they ( and by " they " I meant " Chelsea " ) wouldn 't be able find it if I moved it and would just do their business in the space where the litterbox used to be . So I moved it a few feet each day until I got it to the new location . I 'm wondering if I would need to use this tactic with my child .