He's a Builder-Inventor

On any given day, it is very typical to see Gavin building, combining, creating, or inventing something. His little brain is constantly trying to figure out how things work, why certain parts go together, and how he can make things cooler, faster, or just better. In fact, the large majority of his conversations with Wes are him asking Wes to explain how something works and the majority of his conversations with me are him explaining why he took one of his toys apart. This kid takes everything apart. Very few of his toys are still in tact. He's either purposefully taking it apart or trying to push his toys to the limit and they break. One of his absolute favorite things to create is a towing system for different vehicles. He likes to figure out how he can connect different vehicles (bikes, trains, helicopters, planes, cars, trucks, construction vehicles, motorcycles). Carabiners, ropes, and clips are his best friends. He's definitely a builder-inventor.

A Peaceful Town

The name "Paxton" means "a peaceful town" ("pax" means peace and "ton" means town or township). And based on our experience with our little Paxton, we couldn't agree more! At 21 months (today), Paxton is definitely the little peace maker in our family. For example, he's the first of our three to hug ANYONE who gets hurt or starts to cry for some other reason. Second, whenever one of the twins gets put in time out, he will go and sit next to him/her and attempt to comfort. Third, he's great comic relief.  He's really good at breaking the silence (with a fart noise or giggle or adorable squeal) when tensions are high. And it almost always works; making us all laugh and kinda forget what we were all upset about. Lastly, he's one of the calmest kids we know. He only gets upset when its called for and he can be comforted rather quickly. Don't get me wrong, his calm, cool, and collected demeanor is slowly disappearing with toddlerhood, but he's still way calmer than his siblings were at his age. Paxton Marshall; our peaceful town.

Imagination Fridays

We love the first Friday of every month because we get to go to the children's museum for free! 

His Own Language

Pax is such a funny little guy. Even though he doesn't have a ton of words in his lexicon, he communicates very well. He also has names for things (that are completely incorrect and don't even sound remotely like the real word) that he consistently uses. For instance, he calls an apple a "wawa," he calls a banana a "lala," he calls Vivian "baba," and he calls Gavin "babo." His little language is hilarious.

A Fun Saturday

Last Saturday started out like most Saturdays around here: early. All three kids were up by 5:30am. Each for a different reason. Pax was up because he went to bed too early the night before. Vivi was up because she heard Pax giggling downstairs and wanted to come play (her words). Lastly, Gavin was up because he knew that Saturday was his special day with Wes and he couldn't sleep any longer (again, his words). 

The twins were split up for the first part of the morning: G going with Wes and V staying home with me and Pax. Wes took Gavin to his very first (but definitely not last) Home Depot kids workshop. He was VERY excited about going to a workshop to build a toy racecar. 

And here he is with his accomplishment when he got back home. 

Meanwhile, Vivian's BFF, Olivia, and Olivia's mommy, Diane, came over for a play date. We painted finger and toenails, had a tea party, and colored. 

It was a great morning that lead to a lazy afternoon which also included an adorable little post-bath toddler. 

Two Little Words

I just love watching children learn to talk. It's one of my favorite things about being a parent. I love watching them acquire new sounds, putting them together to make words, and combining words to communicate sentences.

Paxton is at a fun stage of language acquisition. He understands everything, but can only verbally say a couple dozen words or so. Recently, he's started combining his words. I love it. Below are a few interactions we've had recently.

Me: "Paxton, it's so warm in the bed, isn't it? Are you warm?"

Paxton: "Nooo. Cold."

After listening to Pax cry and whine, I asked him: "What's wrong, baby?"

Paxton: "Ow teeeeeeef (teeth)."

Me: "Oh my, do your teeth hurt? In your mouth?"

Paxton: "Yeah. Mouf (mouth)."

As Gavin was coming close to him, Pax yelled, "Nooooo! Wawa mine!"

(Wawa is Paxton's word for apple)

Me: "We have to go upstairs and get Daddy's keys."

Pax: "Yeah. Keys car-car. Daaaadaaaaaaaa!"

I can't wait to watch him mess up grammar. That's also one of my favorite stages.

As Vivian says, "Sometimes, we just find stuff and paint it."

The Fall

Oh man. This one is tough. Last week, Vivian had her hands in her pockets and ran from her school to the van. Well you can guess what happened. CRACK. Wes said he heard her face hit the concrete and was worried she had broken her face. Poor Viv. Surprisingly, Wes said that she handled it really well. It's gotten significantly better in the days that followed the fall, but it still hurts pretty bad if anyone or anything touches it by accident. It happened on a Thursday and she went back to school on Friday. 

I had this conversation with her on Friday morning:

Me: "People are probably going to ask you what happened to your face. You can just say, 'I fell. It's not a big deal. It'll go away.'" 

Vivi: "I don't want to say that!" 

Me: "Oh, ok. What do you want to say?"

Vivi: "Get away from me!"

Me: "Well, that might not be very nice to say."

Vivi: "Okay. I'll say 'Don't touch my face!'"

This kid is tough.

Girl's Weekend

A few Weekends ago, our friends Brandy and April came over with Brandy's children, Carter and Lea, for an overnight visit. While April, Brandy, and I gabbed the entire weekend, the five kids played in every single room in our house all day long. It was way too cold outside to go play... or to go anywhere. I think the kids were fine with it.

Me & April- we can't wait to meet baby Camden!

First MD Trip of the New Year

We took a trip to MD during the first weekend of January. We left VA in the morning on Friday and went straight to Grandma Nee-Nee's where we met up with Dave, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Rachel, and few other friends. Friday night was the Milligan's annual holiday party. Before the party, we had a little Christmas gathering with them. The kids were VERY excited about presents and super happy with their very cool and creative gifts.

My mom and Max made it over that night for the party. We slept at my mom's house that night and the twins went back over to the Milligan's on Saturday for a day of play.

Sunday morning was our Christmas celebration with my mom and Max. Once again, the kiddos got all kinds of amazing gifts that they played with all day.

On Sunday night, Paxton decided to dress up for dinner (thanks for the adorbs outfit, Aunt Sarah!).

We left on Monday morning for VA. It was definitely a great weekend with family and friends!

We've Had Some Nicer Weather, Too