It’s Raining, It’s Pouring!

August has been such a rainy month here in Wilmington. Tim heard on the radio that it rained 22 days this month!! I guess we can’t really complain though – the weather has been cooler than a typical August and our grass is very green! Plus, we are lucky to have our awesome covered area for Alex to play without getting wet. Of course, half the fun of rain is playing in it. Here are a few pictures of our walk in the rain after running errands the other day. Alex was especially impressed by the water falling in the storm drain.

On the Road … Part 4

On day 4 of our visit to Spartanburg, we spent some time at the neighborhood park near Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Workman’s house. I started by walking Alex to the “toddler” playground. He ran up the stairs, zoomed down the slide, then eyed the “big-kid” playground … and took off running. I guess he saw the big slide and just had to try it out. It’s amazing how much he loves slides now that he’s decided they aren’t too scary. At this park, he was still using his feet to scoot down the slide, but now he’s figured out how to keep his feet out of the way and goes fast!!

 

I love how proud of himself he is!
He tried every slide …	… and even attempted a ladder!

After getting all sweaty and running into the wife of a guy I went to high school with (we started talking because our boys looked exactly alike with their blonde curls, then made the connection), we walked the couple of blocks to the Great-Grandparents’ house for lunch. Alex did a great job of sitting at the fancy dining room table with the pretty china, and even ate some good home-cooking. But, I think his favorite part of the afternoon was discovering Beau, the cat.

Alex was so happy to see Beau!	Then he was so mad when Beau escaped onto the porch.
Just taking a short walk with Great-Grandma.	Alex quickly passed out on the way home.

There isn’t much to report about the ride home on Friday, day 5. Once again, Alex did a great job in the car. I’m so proud of how well he did all week … between riding in the car, sleeping in a new bed, and staying so busy, he did a great job! Except for missing Daddy, our trip was quite the success!

On the Road … Part 3

On day 3 of our visit to Spartanburg, we spent the afternoon with my good friend, Amanda, and her family. Her little girl, Cerys, is 4 months older than Alex, so it’s always a lot of fun getting together with her family. We started with lunch and some fun on the playground. After watching Cerys going down the slide, Alex finally attempted the slide on his own – yay!! He is now crazy about slides (as you will see in my next post). Then we spent lots of time playing at Amanda’s house. My two favorite parts of the day: Cerys saying “yucko” everytime she got close enough for Alex’s drool to rub off on her & Cerys kissing Alex.

Alex finally mastered the slide!	He’s not bad at going up either!
Kisses!	I’m not sure how this got started, but they were having so much fun!

The kids were so good, and I loved having a chance to catch up with Amanda. We pushed both kids hard – they didn’t even take their naps til we left around 5:00. Alex was asleep before we had pulled out of Amanda’s neighborhood! Too bad we live 5 hours apart!!

On the Road … Part 2

Well, it looks like we were so busy on our mini vacation that I didn’t get the chance to make any more posts! I guess it’s time to catch everyone up …

On day 2 of our visit to Spartanburg, we took Alex to visit Great-Grandma Watzin and her dog, Daisy, before heading to the Greenville Zoo. Alex enjoyed visiting with Great-Grandma, but I have to say that his favorite part of the visit was walking and playing tuggy with Daisy.

After a quick ride over to the Greenville Zoo, we got to visit elephants, tigers, and bears … oh my! Actually, we were kind of disappointed by the zoo. It seemed like we did lots of walking without seeing very many animals. The dinky zoo by us in Wilmington definitely had a better selection of animals!

Kovu, is that you?	Hitching a ride with Grandpa.
Watching giraffes with Mommy.

On the Road … Part 1

Alex and I have been thinking about taking a road trip up to Spartanburg to visit my parents, sister, grandparents, and my friend Amanda. As you can imagine, Tim and Kovu have not been so excited about all that thinking! Eventually, I made some plans, and we decided to be brave and attempt a long car ride by ourselves.

Alex couldn’t have been more perfect! I am so proud of him! We only stopped 2 times, but we made sure to spend lots of time eating snacks and running around. On the first leg of our journey, Alex played with his toys, watched out the window, and ate several snacks. After our first stop at the SC welcome center, he fell quickly asleep for most of the second leg. Then we met Grandpa Art and Aunt Kelsey at a park in Columbia and ran around for a while. I didn’t want to jinx my bad luck, so I put Alex’s favorite movie on for the last leg. The stops made the day much longer, but I’m so glad we had the chance to stretch our legs and get a break from the car.

Keep your fingers crossed that the way back home on Friday goes as smoothly!

Following the sidewalk at the SC Welcome Center
They brought me a ball!	Uh-Oh!
Follow that ball!	I really think you should go get that ball!
Hitching a ride with Grandpa Art	Can he get any more spoiled?

Come back soon to read about the rest of our journey!

Shoes in the Dishwasher … Why Not?

I just love having Alex around to help with chores!

Uncle Matt-Matt Visits!

Uncle Matt-Matt and Dolly Elizabeth Parton von Munchausen de Louise, his Corgi, came to visit for the weekend. Alex was sooo in love with Dolly – he played with Uncle Matt-Matt, too. Matt introduced Tim and me, so he gets some credit for Alex’s existence. Thanks, Matt! Here are some pictures of all the fun.

I just love this smiley face!	Just chillin’ with my Dolly!
I really wish this weren’t blurry! Alex ran over to sit on Dolly.	Uncle Matt’s artsy Instagram photo at the Carolina Beach boardwalk.
Alex getting kisses from Dolly.	Uncle Matt-Matt, thanks for bringing her!
Being silly in front of Front Street Brewery.	Hanging out on the River Walk.

Flash Back

Going through Alex’s clothes the other day, I found this old shirt Beth and I wore when we were little. Dad brought it back from the National Guard Tank Commander’s Course for us. Notice the year is 1986! Now we just need to find a picture of me wearing that shirt!

It’s a Jeep Thing

So we caved and bought Alex a Power Wheel. We didn’t mean to, it just happened. I was browsing Craigslist and found a really good looking jeep for 1/4 of the retail price. I told Tim about it and was emailing the owner a few minutes later. Alex was so excited when we picked it up – he even said “wow, wow” when we put it in the XTerra. He doesn’t like to ride it though, it’s too jerky of a start for him right now. Instead, he throws all his balls around the floor board. Silly Boy.

General Alex Patton

When I showed this picture to Tim …

… he said Alex looked like General Patton reviewing his troops in this picture.

We just wanted to share!

(Not) Feeding Kovu

Even though he’s not quite two, Alex already has a few chores. One is helping with the laundry, and another is helping feed Kovu. He used to try to scoop the food, but he got frustrated at not being able to scoop more than 4 or 5 pieces at a time (Kovu got pretty frustrated too). So now, he sits next to the food and pours each scoop in the dish after I do the scooping. Then he stands up and carries the food over to the mat where Kovu eats. At least, that how he used to help. Now he likes to set the dish in the middle of the room, waits until Kovu starts eating, then laughs hysterically and moves the dish to another location. Kovu has been a very good sport about it! The other night, Alex decided to really change things up and dumped the entire bowl of food down the ramp of his parking garage. O. My. G, as Cerys would say!! I was cooking dinner and didn’t realize what was happening until I heard the food pouring down the ramp. Tim was on his computer and jumped up to record the clean-up:

I Love My T.R.U.C.K!

Alex has been going through a truck and car phase lately. He just loves driving everything that can drive around the room, on the walls, or on me. He sits on them, stands in them, and stacks them – he’s very creative with them! His absolute favorite truck is (and always has been) his yellow metal Tonka dump truck from Grandpa Art. Before he could even walk, he would push that truck around on his knees!

Alex is also going through an I-don’t-want-to-share-my-truck phase. It doesn’t matter who is over to play, he just does not want anyone else to so much as touch his dump truck. Take last weekend – we had friends over for dinner. Lukas, who is very close to Alex’s age, wanted to push the dump truck. Alex pushed him away and fussed about it being his truck. Then, while Lukas wasn’t looking, he pushed the dump truck to the other side of the house … and hid it!! Can you believe it! He looked up at Tim as if to say, “please don’t give it away,” and left it hidden behind the smoker!

Yesterday, Alex and I went on a walk with his truck. After a few houses, he turned the truck back to our house and started trying to climb in (thanks to the 3rd and 7th grade neighbors who showed this trick to him over the weekend)! So, being the awesome Mom that I am, I helped him on and started pushing him … here’s the proof!

Port City Gymnastics

Alex and I went on a play date to Port City Gymnastics on Tuesday. Basically, they open their gym up to children who are walking up to 5 years old and let them run, jump, and climb to their heart’s delight. This was the 3rd time we’ve been to open gym, but the first at this particular gym. Alex had a blast! As soon as we walked into the building, he tried to take off to the gym floor before I’d even had the chance to sign us in and pay!