Occupy the Kitchen Cabinet

Since Alex could crawl, I’ve let him play with the tupperware in the one kitchen cabinet I don't keep locked. He doesn't play there often, but when he does, he has a blast. He has recently figured out how to open the door by himself and will partially climb in to get every single piece out and on the floor. Last night, he took a slightly different approach (and yes, he did this on his own)!

 

This Boy’s Got Rhythm!

Well, I am back from my hiatus! It's been a week since my surgery, and my hand is healing really well. We enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa Murff up for a week to baby-sit while Tim and I went to a Corning post-holiday party and to help out with Alex after the surgery. I really, really enjoyed the break from changing diapers, but I was back on duty as of Sunday. It was nice while it lasted!! But, enough about me!

As you know, Alex has always loved music. We always had music playing throughout the house while I was pregnant and we caught him dancing to "Shake Your Booty" during his 18 week ultrasound (the ultrasound tech had a radio playing). He loves to clap and wiggle and "be-bop" to music in the car, in the grocery store, and in the house. Still, we were surprised by some of the moves he pulled out while dancing to our new disco station on Pandora! See for yourselves! Watch for the shoulder shake and head banging!

Looking More Like 2 Years, Not 13 Months!

Alex and I met his friends Corbin and Tyra Lilly (and their mommies) at a Wilmington city-run play center called Fit For Fun today. We've been a few times before, and have always had fun, but this was Alex's first time as a walker. As I looked back as the photos I took, I was floored at how big and old he looks! Maybe it was the outfit (thanks for the sweater Great-Aunt Mary), or maybe I just can't always tell how old he is because I see him 24/7 ... but he looks way older than his 13 months. Check it out ...

Alex’s first motorcycle!
Having a blast banging on the drums.	Mom, are you sure this is okay?
Look at that tongue!	Eating some Goldfish.
Why are you sharing my Goldfish?	Drinking from his sippy cup.

Learning By Leaps and Bounds

It is amazing to me how much Alex can learn in one day! He truly is a little sponge, constantly soaking up as much as he can. I've been trying to "let go" a little and let him try feeding himself. He's been great feeding himself little crackers and Cheerios and things like that, but he's been boycotting anything sticky or slimy. This is why I was so surprised when he pointed to the banana I was eating the other day. I gave him half of it and he loved it! More impressively, he actually got most of the banana in his mouth and ate it! Woo hoo! So today, I decided to let him try eating his yogurt with a spoon. We've tried this before, but he just liked to hit the spoon inside the yogurt container. He's been mimicking me a lot, so I modeled eating yogurt with a spoon ... and he immediately scooped some up with his spoon and put it in his mouth! I was so amazed! Of course, the spoon was upside down and most of it got on his face, but hey, we're making progress! I was so excited that after we got cleaned up, we went shopping for some shorter spoons. :-) I hope you enjoy the videos ... they are both pretty long, but he was being too funny for me to shorten them. The video on the left is after he surprised me by feeding himself the yogurt this morning and the video on the right is eating applesauce later in the day with a shorter spoon. Oh, and we finally found a camera battery with a charge and my tripod (given to us by wonderful Aunt Beth and Uncle Eric last year), which is why the quality and length of the video is so much better! Alex seemed to be enamored with the blinking light ... enjoy! (Oh, you will get to see a bit of his temper, too!)

Eating a banana.	Very proud of himself!
Scooping up some yogurt.	Trying his fingers.
Take 2 with a smaller spoon.	Dipping his teething cookie.
Two handed!	My sneaky way to clean up.

Eating Yogurt

 

Eating Applesauce

New Year’s Eve

Alex had a lot of visitors during New Year's! Aunt Beth and Uncle Eric visited us for the weekend and we got to see Miss Katherine and her new fiance Mr. Harper (they were in town at his family's beach house - yay)! We had a lot of fun and ate tons of food with Aunt Beth and Uncle Eric. We started off on the 30th with dinner in downtown Wilmington, eating at a Mexican restaurant. Alex started getting antsy part way through dinner, so I gave him a lime wedge to play with - and he ended up chewing on it and loving it! Silly thing! Here are a few pictures of our walk along the river and Alex eating the lime.

     

We spent some time at the beach on the 31st. It was beautiful weather and a great way to relax on the last day of the year. After that, we had an oyster roast and ate some yummy shrimp pasta with homemade pasta made by Tim (and sauce made by me, of course). We were so full of oysters and shrimp, that we barely stayed awake for our champagne toast at midnight. :-) Alex and I got the black-eyed peas going early the next morning so we could have our greens and peas for financial success this year - Alex even tried a few peas. :-) Good boy!
Enjoy these pictures of the beach:

  

  

  

Happy New Year!