Some Changes with Alex

Alex is talking more and more now. He is doing fabulous with identifying objects and thinks playing with flash cards is great fun. He also chortles with excitement when we are playing with blocks. He builds a tall stack which he calls a castle, giggles in anticipation, and then knocks it over with flair. Brent can’t decide if Alex is chortling because he wants to… or because Mommy likes it.

Alex is becoming more and more of an independent player. He can play for hours with his cars. He really enjoys standing beside our bed and playing cars while he walks the perimeter of the mattress. He is still into his trains, but I think cars are the real focus these days.

Last week we made an event of Disney’s Cars 2. We had a fun dinner consisting of hot dogs and French fries, and watched the movie. He was transfixed. If any of you have seen it, it has a very different feel than the first film. Cars 2 is all about spies and is action packed. We paused the movie simply to break him of his trance and he started crying! Poor kid. We transitioned Alex into a big boy room in the end of September and it has quickly become Cars themed.

Alex is definitely into crying now. It is always brief and always when he is told no. He is very polite saying “Thank You” and “Welcome!” but he does not like being told no. But of course, 2 year olds are thankfully easily distracted.

Some fun words or phrases/pronunciations Alex is saying:
Peep Peep = Police
Poc-cock = Pocket
Kee-Koo = Cookie
Luv-uu = I love you
Wook at That! = Look at That!
Twick or tweet! = Trick or Treat
Maw-dee = Marty (our dog)
Bum-pa = Grandpa

Speaking of grandparents, Alex seems to say either Grandma OR Grandpa. For months, the grandmothers were upset because he wouldn’t say Grandma. Now that has flipped to only saying Grandma! The grandfathers could care less though! LOL

"Emu Hat!"

As most of you know, Alex's Aunt Georgia has been overseas in South Korea since October 2006. We luckily stay in touch via Skype and yearly visits. It is remarkable how close of a bond he has with his long distance Emo (aunt in South Korean).

Brent has recently morphed Alex into calling Georgia "Emu" instead of "Emo" which is a great source of irritation to Georgia. It is hilarious.

Today we were working in the backyard to get it ready for winter and I walked out of the basement with a Red Sox hat on. The moment Alex saw me he yelled while laughing "Emu Hat!" Mommy couldn't possibly own a hat, but he knew Emo had lots of hats... and one identical to the one on mommy's head!!

I thought that was awesome that he thought of his auntie so immediately, and I knew I had to share it. I know that it is hard on Georgia to not be around her very first nephew in person, but she has truly forged a bond with him. Anytime we get ready to Skype he gets excited to see her. He hugs and kisses her even if we are just talking over the phone. It warms my heart to see the obvious connection they have, even if there is so much physical distance between them.

It's almost like he knows what good work Georgia is doing in South Korea, and that makes it okay that she is gone. I know my heart is more settled after seeing it myself... but I honestly had to see it myself.

My boy is not a baby

Alex and Mommy playing with bins.

I think when parenthood hit I was least prepared for how quickly they change.  Every little milestone, crawling, walking, first words, etc. seem so monumental at the time.  Looking back they're just fleeting moments in the constantly growing and changing life of Alex.  Hopefully we documented those moments well enough that they aren't gone forever.  He's becoming a little person with wants and needs that he can communicate.  He has his favorite phrases "Wook at dat, DA!" and "Whured it go?  All gone?"  Yesterday he wanted to play catch with one of Marty's toys.  I was busy cooking dinner so I told him he should play with Marty.  They played "catch" for a good 5 minutes together.  "Dwop it Mahy" when the dog wanted to play tug more than fetch.  Made me think about how much fun it's going to be to watch our kids playing together.  I hope the playing outnumbers the fights.  We shall see.

PEZ!

Alex got a really cute Thomas the Tank Engine lunch box with 4 PEZ dispensers inside from Grandma Penny and Grandpa Walter. He loves toting it around... and best of all... when mommy and daddy fill a dispenser with candy! He has gotten a system down to retrieve the candy, and he just really enjoys himself.

He definitely gets the love of candy thing from his daddy! Some background on the video. It's Sunday morning and we all just woke up. I changed Alex into his day clothes and we went to say Hi to Daddy. He saw Thomas on the night stand and started eating his candy (yes, candy in the morning = Bad Mommy). In my defense, there were only 3 pieces of candy! Anyway, he was enjoying the treat so much I turned on the video camera. He is clearly asking for "More." Genius toddler.

Fourth of July in Kentucky!

Alex and I flew to Kentucky on Wednesday evening, June 30th and didn't return until Tuesday evening, July 5th. We had a fantastic trip! Grandma and Grandpa Bryant welcomed us with open arms and lots of goodies!

The plane ride itself was a lot of fun for Alex. He didn't understand where we were until he looked out the window while we were eating our pizza in the airport food plaza. Then he exclaimed, "Plane!" Needless to say, we had to move to a better spot to get a good view!

Traveling with Alex wasn't as much of a challenge as I thought it would be. I brought my purse, a VERY HEAVY duffel bag, and he brought a rolling Cars backpack. If Alex wasn't in the pop-up stroller, I put the duffel bag in it. If he was, I draped the duffel bag over the handle and prayed the thing wouldn't break. LOL. He was very good and didn't give me much trouble. On the plane ride he had all the ladies charmed. The flight was completely booked but that didn't stop us from walking up and down the aisle a few times. He had one lady playing cars with him, one playing peek a boo, and one actually let him play with Angry Birds on her iPad which he thought was pretty cool!

We got to Kentucky and were tired but Grandma and Grandpa were a sight for sore eyes! We got back to their place after midnight and Alex was very happy for a diaper change and a comfy place to sleep! The next day we began exploring the small farm. We met chickens, ducks, goats, cows, and horses! Alex had a great time being out in the country.

Alex quickly took to both of his grandparents. He loved sitting with his Grandpa and having their two smalls dogs, Spice and Cash, join them on "Papa's" lap. They threw Alex a birthday party on the patio. Grandpa baked some mini cupcakes then Grandma and I did the decorations. There were balloons, presents, and lots of yummy food! Alex especially liked his Grandma's beans. He ate some cake, a hot dog, fruit, and beans for supper that night and was very pleased! They did a great job with the party and I could tell Alex had a great time.... especially with his cool Birthday Boy pin.

Another highlight of the trip was Zumba class (maybe more for mommy than Alex!) It was really fun to attend a local Zumba class in the elementary school auditorium. Alex danced and ran around and a whole bunch of ladies rocked it out! Afterward we played at the playground and returned there again later in the week.

Alex kept saying "My cake!" through-out the week and one of us would get him another mini-cupcake. They didn't last long. Another discovery- Sunny D makes Alex super duper hyper. Wow. Big no no. He also really like Kool Aid made with Sweet n Low. (Grandma and Grandpa are both diabetic.)

The day we returned home, we spent some time in Lexington before going back to the airport. We ate lunch at Chic Fil A which was a special treat for mommy. I swelled with pride seeing Alex really enjoy his chicken nuggets since I used to bread them back in the day when I worked there. I did everything in that place and the food was real meat and yummy! After lunch we went to the Explorium which was really fun. They had lots of cool displays and Alex got to blow some stink off of him. Grandma and Grandpa also got him a cool shirt as a souvenir.

From my perspective, Alex enjoyed spending time with his grandparents the best and the animals came in second. He is going to treasure future trips to Kentucky I am sure.



Since I put so many pictures on Facebook, I am only posting a few here. BUT - enjoy the videos!

Alex and Barack, the goat. If you listen, you can hear him saying, "More more?" to Barack. Also, he makes a tickling noise that we taught him. What a sweetie!


Alex throwing scratch to the ducks. Alex LOVED the ducks. He thought they were much more interesting than the chickens because they were let free to roam the yard (meaning he could chase them!) He chased those poor ducks everywhere.

Backyard fun

Alex loves being outside. He points and simply says "Outside!" He either wants to go outside or watch Thomas the Tank Engine while playing in the living room these days. He is such a funny guy. But of course I love it when my little guy is being a boy kicking a ball in the backyard (with his left foot) or playing with the little slide we got him. He likes putting the ball through the hoop more than sliding but whatever works. We have also found that he loves the sandbox.

This morning we went on a walk and we are noticing that Alex loves to go for walks and point out the various cars and planes that are going overhead. He climbs into the jogging stroller that Uncle Matt and Aunt Sheri gave us and off we go! We were lucky enough to find 2 Geocaches this morning (click on geocaching info here) and had a great time. Alex was even able to take a small toy car from the second one. If you take a trinket you have to leave one... so we left a baby sock from last summer that was still in the stroller basket for whatever reason. Awesome.

Enjoy the pictures and video at the end of the post. The video is of Alex playing with his slide the first day we got it set up.









Video:

Alex and Abinaya

I tell you what, Alex has a serious crush. Abinaya just turned 3 in March and Alex will turn 2 next month so this could work. Abinaya's mom Sugantha is one of my dearest friends so if they end up getting married I will love it! LOL

Seriously thought, Alex was in complete adoration during their play date last weekend. He was walking around the house saying "Ab bi!" over and over again. I haven't seen him play so well with another little one. They were giggling, sharing, pushing, and climbing all over one another. Apparently Abbi can get rough but I assured Sugantha that Alex is tough kid. So we just let them play. It was awesome.

Even this weekend he was pointing at the front door and saying "Ab bi!" We had just looked at their pictures together and a short video we took of them playing. I said, "No honey, Abinaya isn't coming to play today." He dropped his head and sighed heavily. It was sad and adorable all at the same time.

Is this the real thing? Who knows?! But it sure will be fun to wait and see.