Beauty Rest

Baylor seems determined to get plenty of it. For some reason, he has been so tired lately. I first noticed the fatigue when we returned home from Tampa, but considering that our 3-day weekend threw him completely off schedule, it was unstandable that he'd need a little extra sleep.

My poor little guy was exhausted from all the fun we had. Well, by now, you would think he should have recovered. Yet, today, he was only awake for a total of 3.5 hours! He woke up this morning around 8:00am, ate breakfast, and then went back down for an early nap at 9:30am. He didn't wake up from his nap until 3:00pm!

I suspect he only woke up because he was hungry. After feeding him a late lunch, Baylor and I went out to run a few errands, but within 2 hours he was acting fussy and irritable which is usually a sign that he's tired. I seriously couldn't believe that he would already be tired, but decided not to push my luck and headed home. By the time I pulled back into the driveway at 5:00pm, Baylor was already asleep. I put him to bed expecting that he'd wake up for dinner, but it looks like he's going to sleep straight until morning.

I don't know whether he's growing or what, but the boy is clearly EXHAUSTED!

Senior Year

In a way, this is Jax's senior year! He's no longer a 3-year old freshman. Nope, he's a big man on campus, a senior in 4-year old preschool. Yesterday, we attended the mandatory school orientation where we met his new teacher, Ms. T, and his new aide, Ms. L.

Ms. T has been teaching at the preschool for 19 years! I'd say she knows what to expect from the rowdy group of youngsters that she's inheriting. She's probably seen it all! Ms. L, however, is a different story. She just graduated with a degree in early childhood education, and I imagine her head will be spinning thanks to the insane whirlwind of activity that has now invaded the classroom.

Speaking of the classroom, it's absolutely adorable. It's jam-packed with toys and activity stations for just about everything that could remotely interest a 4-year old. They even have a classroom pet, fish. I think I worry about the fish the most. It can't be an easy life living in a preschool classroom with 18 little kids constantly tapping on the aquarium walls while making scary or odd faces. Odds are not good for those poor fish!

It was also good to catch up with the other parents. You always find out way too much dirt on the other children in your child's class at these sort of events. Parents either over-share about their kid's issues or they spill the beans on other's children. We're one day into the school year, and I feel like I know way too much already. I can only imagine what they have to say about us.

So, after socializing for a couple of hours, we made our escape. Oh, I mean exit. The insanity didn't end there though. No, we had something even crazier in store for us, the mall. I wanted to buy Jax a new pair of tennis shoes, and well, there's nothing like heading to the mall the day before the new school year. It's possibly worse than shopping on Christmas Eve. Luckily, we found 2 pairs of tennis shoes for Jax that we all agreed on, and Baylor scored a new pair too.

The odd thing is that Jax's 2 pairs of shoes are actually styles that I picked out for Baylor, but once Jax saw them insisted those were "his" shoes. So, I'm sorry, Baylor...big brother stole your style! I guess that's just one of the many benefits to being the eldest. You get first dibs on pretty much everything.

I have to admit though, Jax was pretty excited this morning when it was time to head off and start the new year. I don't know whether it was the excitement of seeing his friends, learning new things, or wearing his new shoes, but Jax was all smiles. Let's hope mornings stay this easy.

Slip Slidin' Away

It's "monsoon" season in Florida, meaning that you can pretty much guarantee that any and all afternoon plans will be rained out by Mother Nature. So, we woke up early to stay one step ahead of her and headed to the pool.

I guess we were the only ones with this brilliant idea because we had the pool all to ourselves! First, we hung out around the baby pool...But, Baylor figured out it was for babies and naturally, wanted nothing to do with it.So, it was on to bigger and better and faster things, like the waterslide! Not just the regular, old waterslide either. Nope, this was the new and improved SUPER FAST waterslide. You see, the slide has been out of commission for a while because the pump broke. I guess the new pump generates a lot more water moving down the slide which results in a much faster ride. Oh, the excitement!

Anh was up first.Then, it was Jaxon's turn.The force of the current made it hard for Jax to stay upright. On his first 5 or so attempts, he came down every which way EXCEPT feet first!I couldn't resist giving it a shot after watching them shoot down the tube. Seriously, you must come give this thing a try!

Finally, in the battle of Jax vs. the waterslide, Jax wins!

Poor Baylor just cried & cried because he was too little to have a turn. Maybe next summer, buddy.Eventually, Baylor decided the role of spectator wasn't so bad. At least spectators can enjoy snacks.Anh and I worked with both of the boys on their swimming skills. Maybe floating skills would be a more accurate statement. Well, we've got lots of room for improvement. They both just tend to sink like rocks!

Eventually, Mother Nature did run us off, by the way. The timing was perfect though. The boys couldn't cry over the fact that we were leaving. It wasn't Mommy's & Daddy's fault!

Addiction

So, Baylor is now addicted to Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate granola bars. I understand though because I am addicted to them too. That's why I buy them, several boxes at a time. Well, actually, I buy multiple boxes at a time because I am forced to split my secret stash with Jax. I guess I should just start buying in bulk because, today alone, Baylor has devoured THREE bars!

After the 2nd bar, we discovered a lovely little side affect of his latest obsession...let's just say Baylor is quite regular now! I really had no intention of giving him a third bar, but somehow he's walking around with one right now. It's like a ticking time bomb!

Hands On

I'll spare you the pain of seeing us on the beach for the millionth time and cut straight to the most exciting part of our Tampa trip, at least for the boys. Actually, I couldn't show you the rest of the pictures even if I wanted to because it seems that our camera ate them! Okay, well, it's probably not the camera's fault. Operator error is the more likely culprit, but since there's no actual proof to the contrary, I'm blaming the camera.

So, I won't dwell on the fact that we lost pictures of our afternoon on beautiful Clearwater Beach with it's powdery, white sand and blue sparkling water. Oh, and I won't cry over the fact that no one will ever see the incredible family photos we captured on Pier 60 at sunset, and I'll pretend that it doesn't bother me that we only have half of the pictures from the awesome children's museum in St. Petersburg. Nope, not dwelling a bit!

Anyway, here's what I did manage to save. I'm glad I have something to share. The boys absolutely loved all of the activities at the museum. I dare say that Anh and I enjoyed ourselves too, except for that 30 minutes when the day camp crowd was unleashed. That wasn't particularly enjoyable, but eventually, they were locked back up in their classrooms. Talk about insanity! I was teetering on the line, but luckily didn't cross over into LaLa Land.
Do you see that firetruck in the top corner of the picture above? I had some adorable pictures of the boys all decked out in their firefighting gear driving the truck. Not dwelling...moving on! Jax and Baylor liked this contraption way more, anyway. Up and down! Up and down!
This monstrous playset was also a big hit, pretty much every kid's dream playhouse.Both Jax and Baylor enjoyed the grocery store. I had about a million other pictures of them baking bread and running the checkout lanes, but we'll just be thankful that we were left with these two for the memory books. Oh, and it turns out that Baylor is a cereal junkie. We must have shopped for a good 30 minutes, and the boy just kept going back to the cereal section.

Here the boys are learning a little bit about where dairy products come from. They were fascinated!

Jax even got a little business experience, running his own pizza joint.And, of course, Jax tried his hand at medicine. Looks like he's considering Pediatrics and Radiology.At some point, Anh got roped into helping Jax build an electric car. This activity was clearly for an older group of kids, the dads.After exercising our brains, we made our way to the cafeteria to refuel and learn about nutrition. I thought it was funny that Jax loaded up on vegetables considering that at home he's repulsed by anything green that I put on his plate, except "trees," a.k.a. broccoli.

Baylor just seemed confused about why his tray was empty. He didn't seem to understand that it was play food!

To work off all those imaginary calories, we turned our focus to music, both composing...

and practicing our dance moves! There's room for improvement on both fronts. Oh, and we shared our pipes with the unfortunate bystanders as we sang "Row, row, row your boat..." while playing with the green screen.

There really was so much more to the experience, but well...you know. I'll just keep reminding myself that there will be more days at the beach and there's always another sunset.

Say What

Not that I like to brag on my children or anything, but sometimes Baylor just amazes me. First, let me share a little background info. Anh and I tend to compare Baylor to Jax, not in a negative/competitive way, just as a means of reference.

Like most recently, as Anh and I debate whether it's strange that Baylor isn't really talking, at least with real words. He'll look at you and babble away like he's saying something, but there have only been a handful of times when we think we heard him say an actual word.

Well, it turns out that Baylor may skip single-word speech and move straight to sentences and phrases! Last week, Lisa heard Baylor say, "thank you," completely unprompted when I handed him something. I had actually heard him say, "thank you" before, at least what I thought sounded like it. It was certainly nice to have third party confirmation though!

Then, while we were in Tampa, Baylor wowed us again with a new sentence. We were enjoying some frozen yogurt on Saturday night, and when Baylor's spoon fell to the floor, he said, "I dopped it." Anh and I looked at each other in disbelief. I asked, "He just said, 'I dropped it,' right?" Anh laughed and nodded, confirming that we both weren't crazy and imagining things. So, I have officially stopped worrying about Baylor's speech. He's working on it!

Boom Boom Pow

I do believe that Baylor has a favorite song, his very first! On the ride to Tampa, he would go crazy every time Boom Boom Pow by The Black Eyed Peas came on the radio, and much to Baylor's delight, that song was getting lots of play time. He would clap his hands and bounce to the beat. It was quite a sight!

Oh, and in case you were wondering. Jaxon and Baylor were excellent in the car, both directions! Maybe we have that song to thank!