Roseola anyone?

Well, we figured out that Alex had Roseola. I had never even heard of this before, but after noticing him break out in a rash after his fever I noticed another mom had posted the exact same symptoms on my mom's group. I guess it's extremely common this time of year for children Alex's age. The good news is that once the rash comes, the hard part is pretty much past. I'm hoping that's the case because it's never fun when your kiddos are sick. :(

So today I wanted to post a few reminders for myself on some of the "isms" that my children do to help me remember as they grow up so fast! Nick is talking up a storm these days. He's very into the "skool" aka stool and takes it everywhere so that he can get a better view on the world. It's just so cute to hear him learning words and sentences. He's becoming clearer everyday, but we still have sentences that we have to listen more than once to. Nick's always been picky, but the past few days he's been surprising me with trying cajun fried catfish (aka fishsticks) and broccoli (aka trees) which he's been offered multiple times but never actually ate before. And yet, when I'm cooking he'll take his skool and grab the butt end of a raw onion off the table and take a big ol' bite. lol Go figure. Alex's personality is really starting to show lately. He does this thing with his eyebrows where he raises them and gives you a big old cheesy grin. It's so adorable and just warms my heart everytime. He's also into having his back rubbed to help him sleep. If he's cranky in the crib, all it usually takes is a couple swirl of the hands to help get him back to calm again. What else.... Alex loves to eat food. He's so different from Nick in this manner. Nick didn't have any interest really in solid food until he was closer to 9 months, but Alex has been scarfing it down since 6 months and will eat almost anything you give him. While I'm holding off on the major allergens like peanuts and seafood, for the most part, he's eating what we're eating. Oh, and how could I forget - Alex LOVES to be on his stomach. Trying to get him to lay on his back for more than about a second is next to impossible. It definately makes for interesting diaper changing. ;)

This is just a food for thought comment - today at MOPS we discussed christmas (it's only 52 days away, can you believe it?!) and there were some great ideas passed around that we may do at our house. It was suggested that instead of the kids making a list of what they want, they make a list of what they're going to give everyone instead. What a great idea to get kids focused on giving rather than receiving. Another thought presented was that each child receive three gifts because this is what the baby Jesus received. I know that as a child, christmas was definately about the gifts, so that last one may be hard for me, but on the other hand, it's important to remember why we celebrate Christmas in the first place, so it maybe a good tradition to instill. Maybe in our house the parents can give 3 gifts and then Santa can give one or two more. ;)