Birthday at the zoo

Ok it was Mommy's birthday at the zoo but still it was so much fun! Here is a picture of Alex last year at the zoo and then this year:The first picture was April 18, 2008 - so almost 4 months old - and the second one is exactly 17 months old - May 25th 2009. He has come such a long way! We walked all around the zoo - sometime Alex rode in the carriage - sometimes he pushed his carriage:

And then Daddy took him into the petting zoo where he "patted - aka hit" some goats and threw individual corn pieces at them.

My favorite part was the giraffe exhibit:

Arent they cute? There is a new baby giraffe but she is not with the others - she was sick after birth and wont be with the other giraffes until she is weaned.

Hair Cut and New Sneakers - Baby to Toddler in 1 hour flat

Saturday afternoon haircut - Alex did not want to sit in the chair so he sat on Mommy - not really conducive to cutting hair

This was the first attempt to use clippers

All Done! Handsome boy - baby to toddler in 10 minutes!


Then it was over to Stride Rite for the second traumatic event of the day - foot measurement
How she did it I dont know because his feet barely touched the measuring thing

New sneakers! Thank you Gramma!

Last Weekend

Alex pushing the wagon up Grampy's hill - Daddy doing is normal videotaping

Riding along after a long hard time pushing the wagon across the yard

1st School Pictures

Here they are - they said he did good that day - he is such a ham! - #1 above is my favorite but the other two are cute too. The only thing I wish is that they left his top button undone - but hey - they changed him for me and he looks cute!

So what have we been up to? Not too much and a lot at the same time... the big news is... Alex now walks! It has been a really gradual process over the last month or so - gaining confidence little by little. Then 2 weeks in the toddler room and its poof - walking! Last night he spent 20 minutes or so walking back and forth between Chris and the chair and then all of a sudden he pushed himself to standing from the floor! I guess there is something to be said for positive peer pressure! We have a good video of it.

Then it was off to the bath - the one animal noise Alex knows is the ducky - his tub is a duck and it quacks - and after I thought it would be fun to have him walk to his room to get a diaper and jammies - well I guess he was a bit excited because he walked over to his bed and when he walked away there was a puddle - he peed on the floor next to his crib! He has not peed after his bath in I dont know how long!

In not so good news Alex bit a friend at daycare the other day. They were both trying to get to the same spot in the outside treehouse and if I had to guess the other kid was not heeding Alex's shoves of get out of my space and so he bit the other kid :( Not good - luckily the other kid is OK. He tried to do it to Daddy on Saturday when he was not heeding Alex's warnings of get away you are too close right now. I spoke with the teacher about it today and hopefully she will watch it.

Tonight was the annual art show at daycare. All of the kids worked very hard on their pieces. Each one had 3 or 4 pieces of art hanging all around the gym. It was great - the kids were so proud! Alex held my hand as we walked around eating cookies looking at everyones art. He had 3 of his own pieces and there was one group project but it was hard to get a picture of - the paint on the black background did not stand out that well.

Piece #1 - my favorite - a turtle! The turtle's feet are Alex's feet! The girl ones have eyelashes on the eyes - the boy ones don't!

Piece #2 - orange paint on a yellow circle

Piece #3: bubble wrap painting!

It was a great night - Alex held my hand while we walked around and had cookies and looked at all the artwork. His big accomplishment this week is making huge progress with walking - he is letting go of my hand and going for what he wants - he came 1/2 way across the classroom to me today without falling! GO ALEX!

Jumping on the couch is getting old (for me at least). He fell off twice the other day. Luckily he puts the pillows on the floor before he jumps so he did not get hurt!

Last day of classes

This post has nothing to do with Alex - I made it through my first year of teaching! Today was the last day of classes for the W women and as such the senior class decorates the Science Center and one other building in their class colors - Class of 2009 is Green so upon walking into the science center today there is green everywhere - little green aliens, frogs etc etc. Here is a picture of my office door - I am bringing C. elegans (microscopic soil worms) to the Genetics lab for the fall and my office mate did shark research before coming here - so hence our door:

The focus of the science center - the streamers begin on the 5th floor and flow down to the 2nd and 3rd floors

I think they were up all night decorating the building - even the stuffed Coyote is decorated - and very hard to get to!

Happy Mother's Day

Another week flies by! My Mother's Day gift was a Friday night out to dinner with my girlfriends - after two months of planning a date - we all made it out! It was great - the 5 of us had a great dinner an conversation without our 10 kids!

We spent Saturday with Gramma and Grampa for Mother's Dad - Daddy waxed a car and we helped clean the outside furniture. Alex got out the bubbles and the balls and Grampa put together the fire engine that Auntie A got for Alex - its awesome - we just need the fire hat. By the time we went inside he was covered head to toe in dirt and wet from the water we were cleaning the furniture with. He had a bath in the sink and then a nap!

Baby in a bucket!

Today we went to IKEA! I have never been there before and one opened here not that long ago so we went over to see what we could find - it was so much fun! I can see myself going back there and spending lots of money!

Busy Busy

Toddler Room keeps Alex very busy - in the gym, outside on the playground - body painting - he was some different color every day this week - including when Auntie A came to have dinner with us this week - he had GREEN hair and legs and arms! The cashier at the grocery store asked if I dyed his hair - UM NO! Why on earth would I dye my 16 month olds hair?