Xander: 18 MONTHS

How did this happen?! How did my cuddly little Mama's boy grow up so fast? He had his 18 month check up yesterday and, as we already knew, he is perfect in every way and highly developed! Dr. Shinn was very impressed with how calm he is, how well he listens (pretty sure he doesn't get that from his sister!), and how strong his little legs are! LOL! He was in the 90% -95% in height (no surprise since he has ALWAYS been tall (thank goodness for those Steele genes!), 45-50% for weight (he is a good eater!), and 50% for his head circumference (he is a smart boy). So, overall, I have a tall, skinny, very smart little boy! :)

Standing up tall at the Doctor's Office

He also showed Dr. Shinn how he likes to jump, which she said they don't normally do until they are 2, how he can follow directions by putting up a book he was looking at, and how he can wink. Yes, I said wink. He is a little flirt and has starting "winking" at all my friends lately! LOL! His form of winking is closing both eyes and then crinkling his nose up while he gives you that heart melting smile!

Xander "winking!"

Some New things about Xander:

LIKES:
Anything with Wheels!! He loves hot wheels cars and he will play with them while he says, "Vroom Vroom!"

If we are play with the kitchen in Breckyn's room he will bring me a cup, and "cheers" his with mine, then pretend to drink his, and go "Ahhhh" when he is "finished!"

He LOVES his sister's "Fish tank" she has in her room. He will point to it and say "Fisssss" until I pull it down so he can just watch it. The "Fish Tank" is something we plug in and the fish are on a screen that just keep rotating so it looks like they are swimming (we also use it as a nightlight for Breckyn).

Loves to play in the SAND!!! We have a sandbox that he LOVES to play in! And since the weather has been super nice here, we play in it A LOT.

He will eat just about anything you put in front of him, and if he doesn't want it he will throw it across the kitchen. Bad for Mommy and Daddy, but good for Lola and Toby!

He LOVES his sister! He would much rather play with her than anyone else! :)

He loves to sit on your lap and let you read book after book to him!!

DISLIKES:

Timeout. All I have to do is ask him if he wants to go to timeout and he shakes his head no! LOL! However, he does go there at least once a night for pulling on his sister's hair!

MEDICINE! I blame the 7 months of Strep throat on that one! Trying to get medicine down that boy is harder than trying to take a cupcake away from ME! He refuses to swallow it even when it is his mouth!!! We recently attempted to try chewable Singular (his allergy medicine), but that was a NO-GO! I had to keep putting it back in his mouth and then give him some milk to drink so it would dissolve! However he does love a chewable vitamin! :)

Xander doesn't say a whole lot but his vocabulary has gotten quiet a bit better lately!! Our new words are: Plane, Please (which sounds more like peese), red, blue, yellow, orange, green, purple, Brecky, bear, and book. But the best saying yet is "Go Cats!" Seriously, did you NOT think my child would already love KSU? :)

Playing in the sand!

Feeding himself!!! And yes, I think my son will be a lefty! What you don't see is the mess on the floor from missing his mouth! LOL!



 Sportin' his KSU hat!! He LOVES that thing! GO STATE!


 

Dash Down Greenville 5K

Second 5K- CHECK! On ST. Patty's day my friends Stephanie, Takesia, a friend of Takesia's, and Brandon did the Dash Down Greenville! It was my first, and very interesting! LOL! It was a blast and HOT HOT HOT! I learned two things that day. I will not be able to run with anyone who is a complainer! Not that any of my friends were, but a girl in our running class "ran" with us and complained the WHOLE TIME! And, BRING YOUR WATER BOTTLE!! I even bought a handy dandy water bottle that fits on my hand so I won't even have to "hold" it while i run, but I left it in the car!!

Next Race: Jog with the Frog March 31st!!

Brandon, me, Takesia, Takesia's friend, and Stephanie

KHA Girls!

Minus TWO Tonsils

Well, it FINALLY happened! Breckyn got her Tonsils taken out!!! We told her that she was going to have a slumber party and she got to pick out her which pair of Jammies she wanted to wear. So, naturally she picked the ones from our favorite family in Malaysia! Those came all the way from Malaysia from Frank and Lily Leong (Our friend Debbie's parents). They Love Breckyn and Xander so much and we love them just as much!!! They are our Malaysian Grandparents!

Once we got to the Hospital they took us back and gave Breckyn some "goofy juice," which made her so funny!!! LOL!! Her ENT came into our "curtain" at one point to let us know it was almost time and she said (very politely), "Could you please leave. I am coloring." Strider and I about died! :) She was so funny. Then when the anastethiologist came in, who happen to be a girl and fairly young, she said, "Your pretty, I like you." She even got to take her Teddy Bear back with her into surgery!!!

When they took her back, she went willingly and calmly, which was good for me, because once they put us in the small, closet of a waiting area, I lost it. I know it was a very minor surgery, but you just never know and she is my baby! So of course, Strider made fun of me! But the whole surgery start to finish lasted maybe thirty minutes! The Surgeon said she did great and it was a good thing we took those things out because they were full of infection!

After we got to go back to see her she was so calm and I just held her and rocked her! She drank some Apple Juice, had a Popsicle, and we headed home! She is such a tough cookie!!

Breckyn got a surprise one day when Grandma Steele sent her BALLOON!!!! SHE LOVED THEM! So much that she NAPPED with them. She specifically asked me to bring her balloons to her, so they could nap too! LOL! :)

Overall, her recovery was WAY better than mine!! Within a weeks she was back to eating hamburgers and chips compared to my three weeks of chicken stalk and Popsicles! :)

HOT CHOCOLATE 5K!!!!

I DID IT!!! I SUCCESSFULLY completed my first 5K!!!! I was so excited and proud of myself!!! :) My running class ran together along with my friend Brandon and my friend Clair! It was because of Brandon and Clair that I beat my "record time" by 4 minutes!!!! WHOHOO! IT probably helped that is was in the TEENS when we ran too!! Pretty sure that morning was the ONLY day of "winter" we had this year!! BRRR!!!!!!

I LOVE doing 5K's now!! I am becoming quite the addict! :) Next Race: Dash Down Greenville on St. Patty's day!

Brandon and I after picking up our race packets!

Clair and I before the race.

Getting ready to get lined up!

My friend Laura showed up to cheer me on!!!

After I finished!!! I DID IT! And I was so COLD!!!

Xander 15 months OLD!

Well, my "baby" is 15 months old now! I can't believe it!!! He is growing up WAY to fast!

We had our Dr Appt and Dr. Burns said he was "incredibly smart!" I already knew that, but that he was developmentally about a two year old! She said the way he analyzes things and the way he understand what you are telling him are things a two year old does! :) I don't remember the exact numbers, but I know he is 50% for his weight (we FINALLY moved up from the 30%!!!) and 92% for height (yep, he's gonna be tall like his Daddy!).

Here are a few things about him:

Likes:

• Watching cartoon on his big sister's bed (because he can now CLIMB ON THERE, so there is NO stopping him now!)


• Cars or anything with wheels.


• Climbing on EVERYTHING. He already has a few battle wounds for those adventures.


• Chasing the dogs. Poor Toby just can't get his legs to work as fast as they need to to get away from Xander! LOL!!


• Pushing things. Whether it is the empty toy crate, a car, or his sister's grocery cart!!


• Running outside! Since the weather is beautiful down here, he can play outside a little more and loves to run around (which usually ends up with him chasing the dogs in the backyard!)


• ALL FOOD!!! He has FINALLY become a great eater!!! However, he does prefer Daddy to hold him while he eats! LOL!


• Patty-Cake! He LOVES when we do patty-cake!! He even does it himself!!!!
  BOOKS, he LOVES books!! Which I LOVE because he will actually SIT STILL for me to read a book to him!
  Baths- I think he might be part fish


• Giving Kisses! Which Mama LOVES to receive! :)


• Hugs- He will give you a hug and then pat you on the back!


• Pillows! He LOVES pillows!! He will pull a pillow off the couch just to put it on the ground and lay on it!


• K-State (OK maybe he doesn't' know he loves them yet, but he does say "Go Cats!")
  
  

Dislikes:

• Timeout. However, if I say timeout he will walk over to the timeout wall and sit down, but KEEPING him there is the problem! :) He does look awful cute sitting in timeout!


• When his sister isn't sharing. Xander may be two years younger than Breckyn, but he can pretty much let her know when he is NOT happy with her! LOL! Let the WWE matches begin!
  

Things we are working on:

• We will begin the FUN of Potty Training soon! I am NOT looking forward to this, and I am PRAYING that Ms. Patty at the daycare will work her magic on him like she did Breckyn!


• BIG BOY BED!!!!! We will be converting his crib into his Toddler bed soon as well!! Probably after the new year!


• Talking more. Xander completely understands what you are saying to him, but he will reply with doing what you are asking, or by looking at you and smiling! LOL!! :) He words right now are "Mama, Dada, Sissy, Papa, Fish, Lola, Tobe-Tobe (Toby the dog), Cats (as in GO CATS!), bottle" Dr. Burns said he was fine with the words, but it seems like Breckyn was a jabber box when she was his age! LOL! I have NO idea where she got that from either, must be the Steele side! ;)

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from the Steele's

Christmas Vacation!

We Celebrated Christmas at Thanksgiving this year with my family and this kids brought home a TON of new toys!! We stayed with my Grandma Pike, who was celebrating her first Holiday without Grandpa-which was hard on ALL of us, and had a blast!! My niece Deanna came and stayed with us and Breckyn was in heaven!!! Someone close to her OWN age to play with!

Breckyn and Deanna playing dolls!

His new choo-choo train!!!

Xander was pretty excited about all his new toys!

This Christmas was FULL of fun things! Our church did a Night in Bethlehem again, which was a BLAST! Breckyn got to make a necklace, top, wreath for her head, "bread," and some pottery!

Breckyn coloring her Top!

Mommy and Breckyn Making a necklace!

Mommy and Breckyn making our pottery!

Breckyn helped me start to decorate the tree this year for Christmas!! We had a blast!! This Christmas was so much fun!!! Linda and Keith (Strider's parents) came down to celebrate with us! I think the kids pretty much made out like pretty darn good!

Breckyn helping decorate the Christmas Tree!

Breckyn helping Xander decorate the tree!

Xander's new four wheeler from Mimi Dedra

Xander's new Choo-Choo from Santa (AKA Grandma and Grandpa Pike)

Breckyn's bike from Santa (AKA Grandma and Grandpa Pike)