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.

Crazy

My little boy is growing up. He is starting to communicate. Not just with the simple signs we have taught him, but with words and gestures! He adores playing the "Can you Say?" game. We say, "Can you say Baby?" Alex looks around and loudly proclaims after thinking for a moment: "BA-BY!" Very sweet.

He is also starting to have more of an opinion, AKA Terrible Twos are fast approaching. If you say No to him, he immediately crumples and starts crying. Oh dear. He is far too cute to look at him while he is throwing a temper tantrum, so my way of coping is to ignore it. They are always short-lived and caving is not an option as his age. I am sure at some point I will cave, we all do as parents! I will try my darnest to resist the urge though!

Alex recently spent 10 days without his mommy while she was traveling in South Korea. Alex and Daddy spent a lot of quality boy time together. They waited patiently for mom to come home and went on walks every day after school. They also loaded up on junk food when mom was gone! LOL. Alex was very happy to have both parents reunited, and I think dad was pretty happy about it as well


Alex checking out the poster mom made to signify when she would be back.

Alex trying on dad's new hat.

Alex enjoying an Oreo cake. Check out the contents of the cart.... ouch!

Alex on a daily walk.

Ice Fishing in February

Uncle Matt and Aunt Sheri invited us to go Ice Fishing. It was a cold day, but we bundled up for the first time to brave the weather. Alex and I had never been ice fishing, so it was a cool experience for us. Here is a picture of Alex and his dad when we first got out of the car:


Alex was very intent on digging in the snow to reach the frozen lake water.

Cousins warming themselves in the warming tent. And, both were equipped with their water cups to stay hydrated!

Me looking onto the little ones and making sure little fingers did not make contact with the heater coils.


Aunt Sheri looking cute with all the kids!

And finally, Alex chillin'. Literally.

Catching up

I thought I would play catch up over the past month with an update on Alex. These pictures/stories are in reverse chronological order.

He has been changing so much lately. Just yesterday we were driving down the freeway and it was very sunny so I put down my visor. Alex started saying, "Baby! Baby!" I looked over my shoulder and he was pointing in my direction. After a brief "What the heck!?" moment (I didn't see any babies!) I realized he was pointing at a picture I keep of him clipped to my car visor. It was from when he was about 7 months old.

How cute is that?

About a week ago I decided it was time for Alex to move away from his highchair and sit in his booster seat at the table. He is such a big boy so I figured he would be ready for the transition. I got it all ready for him and set him up at the table in his booster seat for breakfast one morning before daycare. He immediately looked down and said, "Oh no." I giggled a little and said, "Alex is a big boy now. You can't sit in a baby chair forever!"

"Oh no" very dramatically.

Then he looked over his shoulder and saw his precious highchair resting against the wall and said again, "Oh no!" This time he sounded very sad. Needless to say, the transition has not been as smooth as I hoped. He is still using his highchair on occasion, but typically speaking we go booster!



The bond between boy and dog is still going strong. Alex is practically inseparable from his blanket these days and Marty loves to snuggle with him.



Alex enjoying some reading time.



Alex enjoying some art time. And yes, I had the bath water ready! I love seeing Alex use finger paint. He just lights up any time I start getting the tools set up. He LOVES making a mess!


Alex's favorite meal, McDonald's Kids Meal with nuggets and apples. He adores all the dip and makes an enormous mess. He also tends to smell like caramel/sweet n sour sauce combo until you either bathe him or change his shirt. We tend to use a bib now...



Alex enjoying wearing his daddy's shoes. Brent leaves his shoes everywhere... and Alex just slide his feet into them and tried standing up. Since Brent has pretty big feet, we had to help him up - and grab the camera - to document.



Alex in the hallway with his toys. Brent has old Match Box cars from when he was a boy and Alex got incredibly excited when Brent showed them to him. They have a great time playing together.



Alex thinking, "I know I'm cute. Now let's go get some milk!"



And finally, my Snuggle Bug.