Growth Spurt?

Alex has to be gearing up for a growth spurt ... every morning when I go in to get him, I'm afraid he will have burst through his pajamas like the Hulk when he's angry. He is eating sooo much and has to be about to grow a few inches over night. I'm used to having to beg Alex to eat, so you can imagine my surprise when every hour he's walking into the kitchen pointing at something else to eat. Then when I give him something, he devours it like he hasn't eaten all day. Check out what he ate over the course of a day yesterday: 1 container of yogurt, whole banana, toddler cereal bar, bowl of mac & cheese, Cheerios, 2 fruit pouches, 1/2 PBJ sandwich, 1/4 of a sweet potato and applesauce! Wow! I'm afraid for him to be a teenager.

Playing Outside

"Taking a walk" with Alex is like following Dennis the Menace home from school. Remember the cartoons that showed his path all over neighbors' yards, up trees, in dog houses, and finally back home? That's how Alex walks. We start off in the neighbor's yard, then we play under his house (he's only here once a month), then we might walk down a sidewalk before trying to dart back in the cul-de-sac or in someone else's yard. Sometimes he pushes his dump truck down the sidewalk, and sometimes it gets left behind. We point at trees and birds and dogs and watch the big kids play. I tried taking a video - it doesn't really do the walk justice since I was afraid I'd get dizzy if I kept video taping and walking.

Alex is also in love with practicing going up and down the stairs. He's really good at going up - and has been for quite a while. I guess he sees going down as a challenge he has to conquer, because we practice that a lot. He's tried several methods, but currently his favorite is holding the railing on the top step and my hands the rest of the way. I don't often catch him relaxing, so I was thrilled to get him watching the palmetto tree blowing in some pretty strong wind gusts.

Watching the palmetto tree blow in the breeze.	Pointing at the palmetto tree.
There’s got to be somewhere to dig around here!

Super Sand Box Part 2

Alex and I have been spending a lot of time in the sandbox lately. We love going down after his afternoon nap so I can get some sun and he can put the hose in the sand. We have such a little water monster on our hands! See for yourselves ...

Easter 2012

The Easter Bunny and other family members were quite generous to Alex this Easter. He got so much stuff, he didn't know where to start! :-) He ended up throwing the balls and eggs around the house and definitely enjoyed his first Peep! Thanks to everyone who contributed to Alex's 2nd Easter. We have since put away all the plastic eggs since Alex found a new love of tossing them at the tv and hiding them around the house ... including Tim's work bag. I bet he looked pretty funny pulling out plastic eggs instead of a mouse!

Goofy Alex Chasing Kovu

Alex's new love is chasing (and yelling at) Kovu. Kovu is generally still pretty scared of Alex, so he just tries to get as far away from him as possible. Tim finally caught the whole episode on video last night. Poor Kovu just got stressed out and left the room while I was watching the video ... haha. This child has no fear of big dogs ... makes me wonder what he thinks about little ones!

April Favorites

I just wanted to share a few of my favorite moments and pictures of Alex from the past few weeks:

Dog Crazy: (Yes, they are goats! Obviously, Alex loves dogs. He's gotten really good lately at pointing at any dogs he sees while we are walking around the block or if we're out downtown. Depending on his mood, he'll say "dog" while he is pointing. He's even started pointing out the dogs in his books we read to him before bed. Maybe all furry animals are dogs to Alex ... while we were at the zoo with Uncle Dave and the crew, Alex pointed at the goats and called them dogs. So cute!!

Dip Fanatic: Daddy showed Alex how to dip a fry into ketchup and blue cheese the other day. The ketchup was not a hit at first, but he went crazy for the blue cheese! He wouldn't even eat the fry, but kept dipping it back into the dressing. I think Alex got the I-Have-To-Dip-Everything Strunck Gene his Daddy and Aunts share. Here he is dipping his Chick-Fil-A fry into some ketchup. He even ate a few bites of his chicken finger. (Yay - he's not a vegetarian yet!)

Munchkin Friends: This was the best picture out of many my friend Amanda and I tried to get of our little munchkins. When Cerys first arrived, Alex was not very sure what to think of her, but by the time she left, she was definitely missed! Miss Cerys loved to hug and kiss on Alex, but he always had the funniest look of surprise on his face. Thank goodness he isn't girl crazy yet!

Copy Cat: I've posted before that Alex has become a little copy cat, but I'm still so amazed at some of the things he chooses to copy. He was fighting a cold a while back, so Daddy and I had been taking his temperature a lot to make sure he wasn't getting another ear infection. During one particularly angry diaper change, I handed Alex the thermometer in a fit of desperation - he grabbed it, pressed the button to turn it on, and stuck it in his ear. We always take his temp in both ears, so he did the same! I was laughing by the time he was done. I love this picture because it not only shows him taking his temp, but it shows his "ear face". He makes this face any time we take his temp, clean his ears in the tub, or the doctor looks in his ears with the light. It is just too funny.

Sports Lover: How did I end up with a son who is so sports crazy when I was a band geek my whole life? At least he loves banging on his drums, so I don't have to give up my band mom dreams yet! :-) I love that Alex will try every toy at least once, especially if it involves a ball. We were at a play date and Alex picked up this little lacrosse stick and balanced the ball in it like he was born doing it. He did the same thing with a football yesterday ... just picked it up and threw it like he was the next USC quarterback. I better start learning more about sports!

Last, but not least, here’s a “then and now”.

3 weeks old

16 months old