Swimming Lessons

Paxton started his first set of swim lessons last week. The introductory program is just to teach a set of basic skills and get the kids comfortable with the water. Our good friends, Troy and Charlotta, also enrolled their son, Callen. We thought it would be a great opportunity for the boys to hang out and learn how to swim together!

Although there are about 5 students to each instructor, they are learning quite a bit. Since it's a Parent/Child class, at least one parent is required to be in the water with their kid. I like the way it's set up because it helps teach me how to train him how to swim...so we can work on it later on our own.

Back float

The first day we worked on blowing bubbles, hand scoops, and kicking your legs. The next day, the boys learned how to float on their backs (with our assistance, of course). This week, they are working on climbing out from the side of the pool and jumping in with complete submersions. At first, Paxton was like, "What the heck are you doing to me" when I dunked him. Now, he knows to suck in some air, hold his breath, and close his eyes just before he goes under. The face he makes when he does this is priceless. The class also has the parents looking like fools singing the Hokey Pokey and Ring Around the Rosy...but, the kids love it.

I'm very impressed with the boys' progress...at this rate, they'll be little fishies in no time!

More pics are here!


Charlotta and Callen

Trying to escape!



Barbells?

This is his 'about to be dunked' face



Ring Around the Rosy



Safari Time

We have some friends who have a son, Evan, who is about 4 months older than Paxton.  The boys go to the same daycare, so they are pretty good buds.  Britney and I decided to take the kiddos to this nearby indoor safari park.  The safari park was pretty neat.  There were a couple of ball pits, slides, tunnels to crawl through, a train, and even some creepy motorized animals that the kids can take rides on.  Paxton and Evan were all over the place and loved every minute of it.  They would climb up the slides and try to slide down them.  They had a great time on the train.  Evan's older sister, Ashlynn, was so helpful.  She sat in the train with the boys to make sure they didn't try to escape as it was moving.

I'm starting to get a little worried though...Paxton is turning into a ladies' man.  He walks up to random little girls, wraps his arms around them, and tries to give them a big smooch on the face.  He made a move on four kids (that I saw) within a matter of a couple hours.  I wonder what the parents of these girls think...like, 'Why doesn't that mom get her son away from my kid?!'  Oh well, it's still cute!

Below are a few pics from the safari park (they are a little blurry).  More can be found here.




Train ride with Ashlynn

 

He thinks everything is a phone



Mr. Evan



Look at me playing in the balls

Pax and Evan trying to climb up the slide



Goodbye Golden Locks

During our trip to Albuquerque this past weekend, Paxton got his very first haircut.  My Grandpa Sandoval has been a barber most of his life, so we thought it would be fitting and memorable for him to get his first haircut from his great-grandpa.  We were at my great-aunt's house and grandpa was giving all the guys haircuts...which is the normal routine when the family gets together.  So, it was only natural for Pax to get in line.

When it was his turn, I sat Pax on my lap, draped the cloth over him, and grandpa started.  Grandpa showed Paxton the clipper so he wouldn't be afraid of it.  During the process, he turned his head every now and then, but overall he was pretty good.  I think the thing that bothered him most was the cloth around his neck, so we ended up just taking it off.  You can see in the video that my mom was sad that his golden, curly locks were chopped off.  It was time though, they just had to go.  The curls were out of control and they looked like he had a perm.  With the curls, Pax's uncle Brad said he had a 'booty' - where the hair is short on top and poofy in back.  Hahaha!

Although I'm a little sad that his baby hair is gone, he looks like a cute little man now :-)

Here's the video of Paxton's first haircut by his great-grandpa:

Father's Day 2011

We had a fun time this Father's Day!  After church, we went to eat at Blue Mesa, an all you can eat Mexican buffet...with unlimited mimosas mmm mmm!  Paxton's drink of choice was a strawberry sherbert punch.  He had a great time wreaking havoc at our table.  Spoons flew, food was thrown, and I'm sure somewhere in the chaos, he obtained a straw to bite on (the kid loves straws for some reason)

After we stuffed ourselves, we went home and all took a nap.  Ahh, so nice to be able to relax and nap every now and again.  We all woke up and decided to go swimming.  Pax had such a great time lounging in his tube.  It was funny though, each time Alan or I would touch or ever so slightly lean on his floating tube, Paxton would get so mad.  He just wants his independence for gosh sake.  Earlier that week, we got him a Spongbob hat that he actually wore at the pool.  He's never been fond of hats until recently.  When you put it on him, he is so proud and thinks he's the bomb.  Good thing, because it was super sunny out that day and I'd hate for his little head to burn.

Here are some pics from the pool...and more can be found here:

Just me and my daddy

Lounging on this beautiful, sunny day



Love that sweet face



Mom, give me the camera!

Drying off

I can do it myself



Cute little belly



These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Paxton is such a funny little boy.  Like most kids, toys just don't cut it...they like to play with anything and everything that is not a toy.  He absolutely loves to sweep and vacuum to the point that he will go to the pantry, swing open the door (if it's not shut completely), and drag the broom out.  It's so big compared to his little body, that he struggles to maneuver it throughout the house.  This aggravates him to no end, so he ends up throwing either the broom or himself to the ground and whining.  It's pretty hilarious, actually!  We've also caught him in the laundry room trying to take the vacuum out.  And every time I try to vacuum the house, he is right there by my feet trying to grab it from me.  Makes a quick 10 minute vacuum of the house turn into at least a 30 minute ordeal.

So, Alan and I had a brilliant idea...get him his very own broom and vacuum!  Duh!  Why didn't we come up with this earlier?!  I went to Toy's R Us to buy some overpriced 'Just Like Home' toys.  It started to scare me that all of the aisles leading up to the one with the brooms and vacuums were pink.  But hey, if this kid wants to learn how to clean the house, then he is a boy after his momma's heart.

I love my broom





Double cleaning



Paxton also has some favorite foods.  He gets extremely excited when he sees me pull a can of Mandarin oranges from the pantry...to the point where he sounds like a little monkey hooting and hollering, "Ooh, oooh, ooh!"  He'll down a whole can in one sitting, that's how much he loves these things.  I can't complain though, at least his favorites are healthy. Some others he loves are watermelon and strawberries.  He'll go to town on these, especially if I put a little whipped cream on the strawberries. 





You can find more pictures of Paxton and his favorite things here.

Oh No He Didn't!

My, oh my, we have had an interesting week with Paxton and his, ahem, number 2s.  I know it may be gross to talk about, but I have to log (no pun intended) these stories so that Pax can look back and see what he put us through :-)  I don't blame you if you want to stop reading here.

Here goes...

Story #1:

We were all enjoying our dinner around the kitchen table.  Paxton usually doesn't have much of an appetite, but he was absolutely loving the pieces of steak we were feeding him.  He ate and ate!  Then, he decided to stand up in his highchair, which is his new thing lately...he thinks he's so cool.  When he does this, we take him out of the chair...trying to teach him that he will not get any more food if he stands up.  I'm not quite sure if it's working, but oh well.  Anyways, I wiped his hands and face, then went to pick him up to take him out of the highchair.  Suddenly, I smelled something...something not bueno.  So, I look over his shoulder and lo and behold, he had poop UP HIS BACK!  I had to gather my thoughts on what to do, and quickly asked Alan to get the newspaper and spread it out on top of the changing table.  As he was doing this, I carried Pax to the bedroom...holding him as far away from me as possible.  I laid him on the newspaper and Alan and I started. 

• Step 1:  Strip his shirt off.  In the process of doing this, Alan got a 'chunk' on his hand and was freaking out.  Freaking out as in cracking up.
• Step 2:  Carefully remove diaper.  Um, here's where I got a 'chunk' on my hand...AHHHH!
• Step 3:  Wipe kid down.  The moistness of the wipes caused Pax to get newspaper print all over his backside...you could literally read the paper on him.
• Step 4:  Throw him in the tub and rinse.
• Step 5:  Drain the tub, refill with fresh soap and water, and wash wash wash.

Oh man, this was such a funny experience.  Paxton thought it was the most hilarious thing ever and was cracking up throughout the whole process.  Such a happy little boy!


Story #2:

This time, Pax was in the bath.  He loves bathtime so much, so I will usually let him play for a while.  He was splashing around, being loud, and suddenly he got quiet.  I looked over toward him and he was just squatting, staring back at me.  My thought process was, "Hmm, maybe he is, but I don't see anything...he's fine."  Next thing I know, I look back at the tub and things are floating!  And, he's trying to grab it!!!!  Wow, he is all boy.  Alan and I put our thoughts together on where to start with this mess.  After everything was clean and sterlilized, we were able to laugh about it.  First time for everything...I suppose.



This was taken after he was doused in soap and scrubbed clean
...and he's still laughing!



This kid is wicked smaaaat

Ok, so I know every parent thinks their kid is ohhh so smart and does ohhh just the cutest things and says ohhh just the funniest stuff.  Well, it seems that we've joined the bandwagon!

Pssh, this one's too easy!

Paxton has recently learned how to stack rings!  Let me be a little more specific.  He doesn't use the ring stacker with the wide pole - that's just too easy, a caveman can do it.

Instead, he has a ring stacker with a pole that is as wide as a dime...and he knows exactly what to do!

We took some videos of him learning.  The first one, you can see that he is frustrated.  I love his little personality showing when he gets mad and throws the thing...hmm, I wonder who he learned that from. 

The second video shows how he can stack the rings, remove them, then stack again.  I don't know of any other 1 year old that can do this...sure, I don't know many 1 year olds and I don't know if it's 'normal' for them to be able to do this at this age or if they should know how to do this at 6 months, but I just think it's incredible.  Proud mama here, can you tell?

Oh, the frustration!

I did it!