1st Day of Christmas

Santa came to our house early this year! Check out this excitement:

Grandpa Art & Ms. Karen sent their presents up early, so Alex got to open them too. This spoiled boy is probably wondering why he gets so many presents all of the sudden! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this morning. I plan on putting together a slide show of pictures once we have completed all of our Christmases.

Santa, Mommy, and Daddy had a lot of fun setting up the track!

Alex just realized he was unwrapping more choo-choos!

Testing out the track.

Once he realized there was a box inside, he immediately passed it on to Daddy to open.

Alex was determined the slot cars track was for the choo-choos.

And this is only day 1 of Christmas!!

First Professional Haircut

I’ve managed to cut Alex’s hair twice – just enough to even everything up while his hair decided to (finally) grow in and thicken up. Both times I cried, and I saved his hair for his memory book. Now that he has a thick head of crazy curls, they’ve actually gotten hard to manage, especially in the back. If I could keep him out of his car seat and from sleeping on his back, I wouldn’t have a problem. Obviously, both would be impossible, so I decided to take him to Ribbet, the local kid’s salon. They were awesome! His stylist let him sit in a car, watch a movie, and gave him a lollipop when she was finished. She was very quick, capable, and impressed with his good behavior!

He was not so thrilled about wearing a cape.	I love the look he’s giving her.
He’s decided things aren’t so bad.	What a neat set-up!

After running errands, skipping a bath, and sleeping all night, his hair still looks great – no squirrels’ nests in the morning anymore!

The Polar Express & Alex’s 1st Date

Several parents from the MOMS Club brought their munchkins to a reading of The Polar Express at the Wilmington Railroad Museum Saturday night. In one more year, I think Alex would LOVE it … this year I think he was just happy to be surrounded by choo-choos. I tried to convince him to sit on the floor with his friends in front of the reader, but he didn’t seem too impressed with that idea. So, he stood in one of the chairs by me and alternated between counting choo-choos and paying attention to the book. Tim and I have been reading The Polar Express all week, so I know he recognized and enjoyed the book – I just think he wasn’t thrilled with a strange man (some local new personality) reading it! After the reading, Santa and a helper came out. The helper passed out bells, and after most of the kids had moved to the next room for hot chocolate, Alex did eventually go up for a bell. He wanted nothing to do with Santa, though! He did know who he was and seemed excited to see him at least. Here are the 2 pictures we were able to get:

Alex held onto his Polar Express ticket the entire time!

It’s hard to tell, but he’s still holding his ticket and his bell while climbing the caboose.

After the story and seeing Santa, we went out for pizza with 2 other moms and their families. We had a lot of fun, but the best part of the night was Alex and Ellie holding hands and hugging after we left the restaurant! Ellie’s mom and I were so happy to watch our sweeties on their first date … hehe.

They wouldn’t let go … even though Ellie’s car was in the other direction!

What a sweet hug!

A Little Secret

2 Year Check-Up

Today was Alex’s 2 year check-up. He did such a great job and was his usual charming self for Dr. May. She was particularly impressed with how good he was while she examined him (he usually looks at her quizzically or laughs at her) and even commented on his leg muscles. That boy is STRONG! He only had to get 2 shots, but he definitely cried/shouted much more this visit than he ever has before. Thank goodness I brought his favorite cookies from Gma Murff – as soon as he saw them the tears just turned off.

 

Here are his 2 year stats!

Height: 35 inches … 66th %ile (grew 1.5 inches since June)

Weight: 27.4 pounds … 44th %ile (gained 1 pound since June)

*At 2 years, you can double a boy’s height to estimate his full grown height … so Alex should be somewhere around 5 ft 10 in by the time he is done growing. Definitely taller than Mommy, but thankfully not too tall!

In the past 2 weeks, Alex’s vocabulary has really taken off! He shows a lot of interest in trying to say more words, works to more clearly pronounce several old words, and puts several words together. He is amazingly coordinated and strong. He is busy, busy, busy all day long – throwing and kicking balls, chasing Kovu, spinning in circles (to the point I get dizzy, but he rarely falls down), and of course racing cars, driving cars and walls and windows, and crashing anything he can think of to crash. He loves all things that go and tells me all about the cars, trucks, busses, and airplanes he sees when we are driving around town. We are working on colors and counting. He knows yellow, red, blue, and green pretty consistently and loves to help count anything and everything. He has also started reading pages out of his books to us – he says nonsensical words, but he is pointing to pictures and clearly mimicking us. I love it!

I love my time at home with Alex and am so thankful Tim works so hard to keep me home. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings!

Monster Trucks

Alex is in love with monster trucks! It’s a pretty big deal when he plays with a toy more than his choo-choo – and that has definitely happened since three of his friends gave him monster trucks at his birthday party. Luckily, Daddy and I also find these particular monster trucks to be a lot of fun (they can climb over other cars and blocks). So, I decided Alex could spend his birthday money from GGma & GGpa Strunck on more monster trucks, provided we could find the same kind.

We were in luck! While running errands at Big Lots, we checked out the toy aisle and found lots more monster trucks. Alex was excited to be on the truck aisle, but you should have seen the smile on his face when he saw the monster trucks. He picked his favorite two, kept them in the seat by him, gave them to the cashier, and carried them to the car. I think he knew this was special and that he was spending birthday money! Thanks, GGma & GGpa Strunck!

The orange one was his very favorite.	Showing off his purchase.
Walking so proudly towards the car!	We opened them as soon as he was strapped in.

A Tree & a Choo-Choo

Daddy and Alex had a great time setting up our Christmas choo-choo under the tree today. Daddy is a very proud Daddy because Alex figured out the remote! Here are a few photos and a great video of the fun.

Alex’s 2nd Birthday

Alex’s birthday was Friday, and man have we been busy celebrating! My parents came in to town Thursday night to be around to help me prepare for Alex’s birthday party and to (of course!) celebrate Alex’s special day. Friday we went to the park, met Daddy for lunch, and celebrated more when he got home from work. Saturday, we had 11 of Alex’s friends over (plus parents!) for a construction-themed party. We had loads of fun! Rather than blabbing too much over all the details, I put together a slide-show to show off all our fun (the slideshow doesn’t work on mobile devices, so you’ll need to check it out on a computer):

If you would like copies of any of these pictures, send me an email, and I’ll share the web album with you.

We go for Alex’s 2 year wellness check on Wednesday, so I’ll post all his stats then! I can’t wait to see what Dr. May thinks of our big boy!

Science Class

With our Kindermusik class over, I was anxious to find something else to fill our Monday mornings. I was really excited when I remembered that the City of Wilmington offers preschool science classes at a park close to our house. Our first class was themed “animal armor” and our class next week is themed “reindeer games”. Alex and I had so much fun!

Class started with a story-time centered on the theme, followed by turtle petting! Since turtles have a shell as their “armor”, the kids were able to touch a turtle’s shell. Alex was so excited that he clapped after touching him. I hate I didn’t catch a picture, but I did get one of him watching Miss Mandy helping other students pet the turtle. We went on a hike through the park to look for more animals (we didn’t see anything!) and finished by working on a hermit crab craft. Alex was very proud of his crab!

Following the turtle’s every move

Alex LOVED watching the fish and turtles.

He was so proud to show Daddy his crab, then gently put him on the step.

I can’t wait to see what we make next week.

 

2nd Birthday Week Begins!

Can you believe it is Alex’s 2nd birthday week? Looking at pictures while I planned this post, I was amazed at how much he has grown and has turned into a little boy. I’m such a proud mama!

Alex opened his first gifts this past weekend with Grandpa Art and Miss Karen. He was very excited to see more choo-choos!

Do I get to open this gift, too?!

I have TWO trains!

Bubbles & Grandpa

Grandpa Art, Miss Karen, and Kelsey came for a visit over the weekend. Between the Carolina Beach Christmas Parade, chasing bubbles in the side yard, and eating too much food, we had tons of fun! Here are a few pics from our afternoon chasing bubbles in the sun Saturday afternoon.

Alex loves his new bubble machine!

Alex chasing the bubbles all over the yard.

Aunt Kelsey and me taking bubble pictures. :-)

I LOVE how this picture came out!

Carolina Beach Christmas Parade

The Carolina Beach Christmas Parade this past weekend was really cool! The temperature was a bit chilly, but the lights were awesome! Alex was very impressed, especially with the fire trucks and the tow trucks. The neatest thing about the parade was that instead of trailers, most floats were boats – I guess that’s fitting for a beach town!

Alex doesn’t quite know what to think about the loud sirens at the beginning of the parade.

Telling Aunt Kelsey about the choo-choo.

The Christmas Season Begins!

Mom and I have both seen fun Christmas crafts for toddlers all over the internet. So, we finally made one instead of just talking about them. When Mom was here for Thanksgiving, we traced Christmas cookie cutters on scraps of felt to make felt “ornaments” for a Christmas tree. Then, Alex and I picked up green felt from Hobby Lobby so I could trace and cut out a tree to put on the wall. It’s been a while since my old teacher hands have cut shapes, so I was very thankful when Tim picked up an extra pair of scissors to give me a hand. I think he ended up cutting out more than me. The tree met approval with Alex and his friend, Ellie at our play date after I got it on the wall. I think Alex prefers taking all the ornaments off with one swipe of his hand … but at least that means I get to make it look pretty all over again!

Ripley’s Aquarium

Alex and I took a road trip to Myrtle Beach to visit our friends Amanda, Crey, and Cerys while they were on vacation. Since Alex is currently interested in fish, we decided to spend the afternoon at Ripley’s Aquarium on the Boardwalk. We had tons of fun! It wasn’t crowded at all, so Alex and Cerys basically had the run of the whole aquarium. We had to work hard to keep up with them!

The best part of the aquarium was the shark tunnel. Alex and Cerys loved running as fast as they could on the moving sidewalk … making it hard for the adults to enjoy all the fish and sharks!

After a chilly run around the Boardwalk, we ended up having lunch at Hard Rock Café. Alex and Cerys were way past bedtime by then were kind of silly … and lovey! Once I got Alex back in the car with his comfy sweatpants, it didn’t take but 2 minutes for him to fall asleep. What a fun adventure!

It doesn’t look like it, but Cerys was kissing on Alex too. ;-)

Spoiled Much?

Grandma and Grandpa Murff came to visit the Friday after Thanksgiving. Of course, we had to eat more Thanksgiving food … so we fried two turkeys and made too much stuffing and mashed potatoes. The food was sooo good, though! I definitely can’t complain about a repeat Thanksgiving feast.

Meanwhile, Alex was spoiled rotten by his Grandparents. I think his favorite part of the visit were the acorn cookies Grandma made him. They were mini Nutter-Butters, a Hershey’s Kiss, and a chocolate chip; so cute, super yummy and like baby crack for Alex. Check out this series of photos of him asking for and eating more.

	I love the final push into his mouth!

Alex also enjoyed his yogurt and a show on the iPad while Daddy was working on the big computer.