Trip to North Dakota and a few Firsts!

Just a general update, since the weather has warmed considerably, Alex and his dad have been enjoying playtime outdoors every day after school. They go on walks, frequent the local parks, and having lots of fun! Alex is pretty persuasive in that way! When I get home I often find them outside and join in. We are spending lots of time outside on the weekends too.

Here is a video Brent took of Alex running really fast after some sidewalk chalk fun!

Another update is that Alex is practically potty-trained. I would say that #2 is still a challenge, but he rarely wets himself these days. He loves trying out potties while we are running errands. Going at home can be a challenge on and off as far as him wanting to sit on the toilet, but we tend to be strict with it to avoid accidents. He definitely sleeps overnight in Easy Ups but it is typically dry when he wakes up. We are so proud of him!

We recently tried the Papa Murphy's Mini-Murph! This was a great deal for Alex. He got to make his own pepperoni Pizza and eat it up! He loves helping in the kitchen these days and was checking on the pizza during the baking process. Quite the little chef we have!

Last weekend we went to visit cousin Jessi, Uncle Erik, and Miss Cherie. They spoiled us rotten! Cherie cooked lots of yummy food, we got to go to the park two days in a row, and Alex saw his first movie! He sat between Jessi and I, ate popcorn, and loved The Lorax by Dr. Seuss! It was a great movie but I am sad to report Alex and I polished off a Medium popcorn between the two of us. Ever since, he has been saying, "Mom, can we watch moovees and eat popcorns?" I love it.

It was really great seeing the clan in North Dakota. Alex and Jessi got some time to themselves on Saturday night and the adults went out for St. Patrick's Day. After a breakfast of homemade caramel rolls and then lunch at a local taco place, we were headed back to Minneapolis. The car trip itself was just fine with our little guy. He plays very independently and he loved picking out snacks along the way. One story that must be shared occurred at Holiday. Mom and Alex went potty and then I asked him what snack he wanted and to take a look around. He walked immediately over to the bakery display, opened the case door, grabbed a donut and immediately put it in his mouth! What a stinker! I guess my love of donuts has rubbed off on my child!

Here are some pics from our trip to Grand Forks:

I wouldn't call it a first, but here are some pictures of a recent trip to the Mall of America. We are starting to really enjoy the mall, which I never thought was possible with Brent! Alex had a blast riding rides and we ate lunch at Bubba Gumps. He loves shrimp so that was a big hit with him!

Alex had his first dentist appointment this month. He was such a trooper! He sat on my lap and was very cooperative with Denise, his dental hygienist. They were very pleased that he already has such good habits of brushing twice a day and now we are starting to floss. Such a big boy!

Alex got his first professional haircut today by a nice stylist named Sarah. The place was perfect for kids! Toys in the waiting room and an individual TV at every station! He was sitting so still for her which never happens at home! His hair looks so fabulous that I may never cut it again!! I am trying to save the family some money by doing it myself but I really did a poor job this last time and totally required a professional's intervention. I am not too proud to admit that! He did very well with the whole experience though, no crying or anything!

Catching Up

Valentine's Day sparkling grape juice- he LOVED it!

We are woefully behind on providing updates on Alex. The biggest thing – and most exciting – is that he is now rocking Big Boy Training Pants! He is still fairly inconsistent with his interest level, but he does not like feeling himself wet. He stands there with a stricken look on his face and says, “Mom!?” I think we will definitely be potty-trained by summer. #2 is still a challenge and he will be in a diaper overnight for a while I am sure, but my guy is a champ. He loves wearing his cotton trainers and I imagine they are much more comfy than diapers or Pull-Ups. Right now he has a good day, and then a not-so-good day.

Alex is a sweet guy who has managed to snag himself a girlfriend at daycare. Her name is Charley, short for Charlene. They are the same age and she is also a blond with blue eyes. Apparently she talks about AJ all the time at home and even told her grandparents about him! How sweet, right? We are probably going to meet up with them in the next few weeks for a play date.

A lot of big changes are on the horizon for Alex. He will officially become a Big Brother in mid-June. He is definitely practicing now. He has been a big help to his mom getting the nursery ready for Pumpkin. Aunt Sheri gave Pumpkin tons of clothes and he helped me put them all away in her dresser as well as hang up clothes. He also helped me to put up some wall decals in her room. He has a good eye for such things. Honestly, Alex was helpful to me because he kept handing me things instead of having to bend over! Hard to imagine a toddler being helpful and not a burden but he is.

He has recently become interested in cooking. We had Ashley and Jack for the night a while back and that was his first experience helping bake cupcakes. I let him help with mixing and cracking eggs - just very simple things. I sure hope he is a gourmet chef like his daddy one day...

Below are some pictures of Alex with his cousins for their overnight back in November. They really had a lot of fun together!

He's still totally into trucks, trains, coloring, and multiple stories before bed. He suckers us into an average of 3 books a night! Alex is very cute and manipulates us easily (especially dad). Of course, he still gets regular time outs. We don't want to raise a naughty boy.

Alex got the rare chance to spend Christmas with his Grandpa Walter, Grandma Penny, and Auntie Emo who flew in as a surprise! Grandparents were here 3 weeks and Georgia a little over a month. He enjoyed playing care with all of them and there were a few trips to the park when the weather was nice enough. Here are some pictures of our time together:

Alex and Emo really bonded. She would be the ideal nanny. She loved to take him places and could always find a deal! Alex has asked for her regularly since she left and is super excited when they are able to Skype. I sit there chaperoning their play time!

Well, that's all for now. I hope this was a good catch up and I will leave you with a video of Alex playing cars with his Grandpa Walter.

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.