Car Washing

"Helping" Daddy wash the car - Alex washes the soap container and the pads
Where was I? Took 5 minutes to fertilize some of my new plants in the back! This is what happens when Daddy is not looking!

We are drying out his shoes still.

Summertime.....Finally!

We've been working and working on the house and the pool and Daddy FINALLY says we can swim in the big pool. Alex had his first swimming lesson last Friday and we have a movie - i have to figure that out - but he did great for being in a new environment and such a large, loud area. He clung to me for the first half but did go down the slide and did hang on to the dumb bell floaties on his own - he was very cold and tired when he got out. I was surprised how "cold" an 84 degree pool was! The other parents were nice too.
At home Daddy was the first one in the pool on Saturday! Alex put his toes in but our pool is pretty cold - about 74 in the shallow end - so Alex was content with his toes in sitting with Jaime and Daddy. He was so good. I was afraid he would just jump in.

On Sunday we took out the little pool and put some water in - I got it at the end of the season last year for $3.14 at Target - what a deal - except half of it is deflated because the inflater part keeps leaking - Oh well - I got a new one yesterday and this one better stay inflated - it was more than 3.14! Alex had so much fun playing in the water - he was outside for a while but then he jumped in and was splashing around and "swimming". Grandma taught him to lift the edge of the pool and make waves - she is lucky she did not get wet!

What a difference

A few swipes with the clippers and WOW - scoll down to the next post to see what he looked like yesterday morning - and then here's what he looked like this afternoon!

He is a bit drooly in this picture - not nearly as bad as the past few days - very nasty virus - sore throat so bad he did not want to swallow! He had little red bumps on his tounge and everything - Thursday and Friday were rough but he was fever free by Saturday so we went to a parade (his first) and cookout and he had a great time with all the other kids - being pulled around in the wagon was his favorite - they were running and he was loving it!

18 Month Appointment

Where has the time gone - Thursday Alex turned 18 months old and yesterday we had our 18 month doctors appointment! We went to see Dr. B and every time the nurse or Dr touched him he cried. He does not like to be touched in any way when he does not want it.

Here are the stats: 25 lbs - 38th percentile; 32 1/2 inches - 57th percentile; and a 47 cm head - thats a gain of almost 20 lbs since birth, 13.5 inches in height and 5 cm in head circumference!

The Dr. did not seem concerned with any of my concerns - the thing that makes me a bit nervous is his poop - given the family history of Crohn's I am watching him like a hawk. I think we might need to lay off the fruit for a while and see if that helps.

In other news we met with the new EI people this week and I had forgotten one of Alex's goals - eating with a spoon - so I decided to give him a spoon the other morning and some peas and let him have at it - he did great! I guess at school they give them utensils at every meal so he has been getting some practice - no thanks to me.

Also we have had a language explosion over the past few weeks! He now has about 20 words - many of which are distinguisable not only to me but others as well.

Here is our list: hi, bye-bye, row row, all done, please, daddy, mama, sweep, stuck, truck, cracker, binky, grape, bubble, mine, more, uh oh, kitty, outside, sit and I think a few more that I am not thinking of at the moment - he talks non-stop at home - but not much at school - the teachers were amazed at how many I told them he knew. He understands so many more too!

Here is a picture of Alex eating his new favorite food - Honey Graham Crackers sitting on his seat - the nursing stool - at his table - his new step stool to see out the window. He looks just like his father in this picture. I will have to find one upstairs!

Clean POOL!

AHHH - now we are in business - nice clean pool!
We have had a few unfortunate visitors - two mice (dead), one chipmunk (dead) and two mallards - mom and dad - no babies (alive!) they like to go for a swim!

Sandbox

Here is Alex's new sandbox - we got 100 lbs of sand - we could probably use another 100
Alex was very patient waiting for Daddy to open the sand and pour it in - he likes to help now too

After a while he decided to get in and sprinkle the sand out!

What we've been up to - part 2!

And here are before and midpoint shots of the pool - so far we have added on day 1 - 12 lbs of chlorine + 4 gallons of liquid cholorine and a bottle of algecide. Day 2 - another 6 lbs of chlorine. Day 3 - another 4 lbs of chlorine and 4 oz of clarifier. That got us 1 day beyond this picture - we can now see the bottom of the deep end and have scooped out all the leaves and have vaccuumed all the dirt! We have added 25 lbs of alkaline stabilizer so the pH does not go all out of whack and another 4 oz of clarifier to clump all the tiny particles the filter is having a hard time getting out. We have a DE filter so Chris has changed the DE - at least 4-5 times now.

He also has a snake friend that lives near/in the pump - Chris HATES snakes - but seems to tolerate this one.