Alexander - 18 months

Alexander had the BEST present for his 1.5 year birthday. My parents, better known now as Nana and Papa, arrived that morning to celebrate Christmas with us in Norway!

The last 3 months have been a nice departure from our usually busy, travel-filled lives. We've spent a lot of quality family time together playing with Xander and preparing for the holidays.

Xander still loves his barnahage. His teachers say that he is starting to both understand and use more Norwegian at school. He even has several friends that greet him by name when he arrives. Although he is always excited to see us when we pick him up in the afternoon, he isn't always excited to leave. Here he is playing outside at school. All suited up for the Norwegian weather

And his first school picture!

The number one advantage for us living here in Norway has been the amount of family time we get to spend together. Arthur's work is literally at the end of our street which allows him to work shorter hours (in exchange for working from home and frequently being on call.) This has allowed us time to eat breakfast together as a family every morning and Arthur and Xander regularly cook together. Xander loves to whip the eggs with Dada's help. He's also very good at sprinkling cheese on top of the eggs and bringing dishes and cups to the table. He loves to help. Just look at that smile!

The days here have now turned cold, dark, windy and rainy but we were still able to get out  and enjoy some crisp Fall weather before it changed to winter. There is a small playground across from our house that we usually visit at leave once a week. Xander loves to ride the rocking horses, play on the swing, and dig in the gravel and sand.

This is his favorite mode of transportation to get anywhere while we're outside...the tractor that his Dada bought for him. He sits on top and makes "vroom-vroom" noises the entire time...don't even try to stop moving! He will not be happy!

We've been so lucky that while many people were dealing with viruses and colds this fall, Xander has stayed relatively healthy. We think his 2 year molars might be on the way in but they don't seem to affect his mood for too long. For once in his life he's been healthy, sleeping well, and feeling great. He is SUCH a happy kid almost all of the time and I really enjoy hanging out with him! He's my little buddy!

I'm very excited for this latest development...our little anti-cuddles boy just might be turning over a new leaf. He now has a pillow, blanket, and a little cuddle puppy that he wants tucked under his arm just so before he goes to sleep at night. He will even give the puppy, and his other stuffed animals too, kisses and hugs. He also likes to greet the dogs with kisses in the morning. If you're lucky and he's in the mood, he'll lay his head on your shoulder while you're holding him if you ask for a cuddle. And he will usually give me a hug and a kiss before going upstairs to go to bed each night. It melts my heart...even if sometimes I get a little slobber in the mix :)

The best way I've found to get him to sit still for cuddles is to let him watch his favorite kids songs on TV. Although TV under 2 was something I said I wouldn't do before I was a parent, I'm totally OK with it now. It's one of the few things that will get him to sit still for more than a few minutes and lets me steal some snuggles.

His favorite song to watch is "Row Row Row Your Boat" which he asks for by name. He will say "Whoa Whoa??" and bring us the TV remote when he wants to watch. Here he is asking...

If its got wheels you can pretty much plan on him wanting to play with it. He's all boy and loves to go "vroom-vroom"! This school bus from his Aunt Charlotte continues to be one of his favorite toys. He loads it up with other cars and pushes it all over the house.

He has finally gone back to enjoying books again. For a few months he couldn't sit still to let us read more than a few pages. However, I moved our reading nook out of his playroom and into the living room and now we usually read at least 30-45 minutes each night. His favorite books are (no surprise here!) anything with cars, trucks, trains, boats, or planes. He also loves to take his books into the kitchen while we are preparing meals and point out things that he knows the names of.

Speaking of...his vocabulary has exploded in the last three months. He says go-go, up, down, hi, bye-bye, more, chair, row-row, mama, dada, nana, papa, yellow, food (and "mat" in Norwegian), yes, nei/no, plane, spoon, fork, plate, wa-wa (water), tea, ball, banana, kiwi, bread, cheese, shoes, eyes, head, ears, cheeks, nose, teeth, belly, baby, tree, color, book and a lot more that I'm sure I'm forgetting. He's also started using some two-word phrases (bye-bye Dada, Nei Mama, Dada go?) I don't know all the words he is using in Norwegian but I'm so happy to see his English seems to be thriving. He does spend an hour a day more in Norwegian than English so I've been very intentionally working on his English mornings, evenings, and weekends. It's so much fun to see his personality and preferences start to emerge verbally.

Looking back on these past 3 months has made me realize how nice it has been to just stay put for awhile and do "the family thing". Xander is at such a fun age! It's hard to believe by his 21 month post he'll be a big brother. He has started to point at my tummy and say "baby" and he will point out babies in books and pictures. We still have some preparations we need to do to get him ready for a little one in the house. I sometimes worry it will be a hard transition for him. But I know that eventually having a brother so close in age is going to be a really cool thing for them both.

Alexander- what a wonderful 3 months it has been. I will always treasure these times we had with just you. Although our time will eventually be divided our love most certainly will not!