The patching saga continues

Xavier has been making wonderful progress with his patching. He was quite upset to begin with so Joel and I decided that rather than forcing him to do the full three hours a day straight away, that we would build up to it so it was less stressful. For the last few days we have been building his patching time in half hour increments. Yesterday we managed 1 and a half hours so we are halfway there. He is doing great and we are proud of him! He got to have some ice cream with his dinner last night as a reward.

Joel and I were commenting the other day how much Xavier has grown up and how much we are enjoying this stage of his life. Even just little things keep telling us how our baby is not a baby anymore. We have thoroughly enjoyed the little baby stage but the toddler stage is really something special. It is full of kisses and cuddles and snuggles and also of discovering new things to see, touch and say. I drove to my Mum's the other day with Xavier and everytime we go to her house and knock on her door, my Mum will come to the door and call out "who's there?" and then pull open the door. Xavier finds it hilarious. Anyway a few days ago we got to Mum's, knocked on the door and Xavier called out his version of "who's there?" which sounded more like "whossere?". It was the first time he has ever done that and it was so great! I get so proud of him and love to watch him learn something new. It can also be very funny too as he often gets muddled up. He often points to things and people and says "what's that?" for an object or "who's that?" for a person. Sometimes though he will point to a person and say "what's that?" and Joel and I find it very cute and funny. We normally reply something along the lines of "THAT is your grandfather, and he is a person". I am so thankful for all these wonderful moments we are having together.

Last week Joel and I hired someone to come and mow our lawns as Joel has been working such long hours with the business and has hardly been home to do it. I don't even know how to turn the lawn mower on so as a result the lawns have gone wild. The man came to fix it up and absolutely fell in love with our dog. We have a 2 year old dalmatian called Benji and he really is a gorgeous boy. Then when he went to leave and I was giving him the money we owed him for the work he did, Xavier crawled up to the door and wanted me to pick him up. I did so and went on talking to the mower man. Xavier soon joined the conversation, babbling in his own language, smiling and laughing and the mower man really took to him as well. Just before he left he thanked me for the work we had given him and said it had really brightened his day to meet us. He said "well, it's been such a pleasure. Your husband was very nice to speak to when he arranged this, and then I saw what a beautiful dog you have, and now I see you have a really beautiful son as well. What a wonderful family. You are all so very lucky." I was so grateful for that comment. It was the first time someone has looked at our family and told us we are lucky with what we have, without asking when we are going to add to it. It made me feel so content and was just what I needed to hear.