New Experiences

Alex has experienced lots of new things this week!

1. If you turn the laundry basket upside down, you can use it as a step to climb onto the bed.
Alex and I worked to put my bedroom back together (we moved some of the owner's furniture out and ours in last weekend!) on Monday. At some point, he emptied the laundry basket and did his usual "driving" around the room. I walked out of the closet and saw him standing on the laundry basket with one knee up on the bed. When he finally made it up, he crawled to the pillows, held on to the head board, and started jumping. Where in the world did he learn that?

2. While playing in the sandbox with a hose and you are thirsty, just drink from the hose!
Yes, Alex figured this out himself. He was very cautious though, bringing the hose very slowly to his mouth and looking at me to make sure it was okay. I was quite impressed with his ingenuity! I didn't get a picture the first time around, so I asked him if he was thirsty and he did it again! Cutie!

3. You can kiss Mommy through the slats of the crib.
When I go in to get Alex in the morning or after his nap, I can't just swoop him up. I have to bring him a sippy cup with something to drink and let him throw stuffed animals out of the crib at me. If I don't, he squirms to the back of the crib and shakes his body no when I try to pick him up. Everyone has their little rituals, right? The other day, I was sitting on the floor and handing his stuffed animals back to him by stuffing them in between the slats of the crib. Apparently this was funny, so then I tried to kiss him ... apparently this was fantastic! I now get lots and lots of kisses from Alex while I'm waiting for him to finish waking up.

4. Holding hands isn't really that bad.
Until this week, Alex hasn't been very keen on holding my hand and walking next to me. He's too independent and ready to explore to bother with holding Mommy's hand. So, I took on a mission to teach him the importance of hand holding. While running errands yesterday and today, I got Alex out of the car, grabbed his hand, and started walking in to where ever we were going. At first, Alex would try to go the opposite way, but it really seemed to click with him when we went to the library to pick out more books. We've been going weekly for story time, so I guess he was used to seeing other kids walking into the building instead of being carried. He's now a pro at it - he even held Daddy's hand on the way in for lunch today.

5. Calamari is tasty!
We met Daddy at a seafood restaurant for lunch today. After flirting with all the women in the restaurant, Alex decided he wanted to taste my shrimp and Daddy's calamari. He actually ate two whole rings of calamari! I was quite impressed! He likes shrimp too, but Daddy's plate was closer. :-)

6. Playing in puddles in the sunshine is fascinating.
We were trying to go for a walk, but Alex kept getting sidetracked by a puddle on the other end of the cul-de-sac. He ended up sitting in the puddle and splashing the water, which made the other kids playing nearby crack up. Needless to say, we ended up in the sandbox with the hose afterwards ... and then got straight into the bathtub!