Mario Kart

Back in September, we introduced Alex to Mario Kart on the Nintendo Wii. Life hasn’t been the same since! Alex is obsessed … but for a good reason … he’s really good! He had gotten really good at steering a race car game on the tablet, so Tim hooked up the Wii. Alex was so excited! He was pretty good in the beginning, but now he is way better than I ever was! He could probably beat Tim if we get our other controller working. The newest part of the obsession is winning a trophy – he took his races really seriously the other day and kept coming in first place. He had no idea he could win a trophy! It’s fun watching him play, but it’s hard convincing him he can’t play the Wii all day!

Alex’s first introduction to Mario Kart on the Wii.

Spencer and Alex sharing the recliner during a race.

Alex was so excited to watch his character receive his trophy!

Pointing to his score! He came in 2nd place. Early in the day when he came in 1st, he was too excited and hit the button before I could take a picture of the screen!

Big Boy Room for a Big Boy!

Shopping at IKEA a few weeks ago reminded us that Alex’s big boy bed can be lofted. Alex started begging us to raise up his bed, so we did! Well, Tim and Alex did while I was out running errands. He loves it, hasn’t fallen out of it, and shows everyone who visits his “new bed” as soon as they walk into the house. That same day, I hung all of Alex’s tshirts in his closet. He had recently taken an interest in picking out his clothes, so he was super excited! He probably changes shirts 2-3 times a day, just for the fun of it. His pajamas don’t usually match these days, but I tell him I get to pick out his shorts/pants so he can match when we leave the house. :-)

We love the reading “cave” underneath! Family book time before bed is really fun!

Peeking under his canopy to say goodnight. Alex ended up requesting we take down the canopy a few nights later because he couldn’t see his stars nightlight on the ceiling. I actually like it better without it!

Spencer is 15 Months!

Late is better than never, right? Spencer’s 15 month well child check was last week. It was so nice to take him in while Alex was in preschool! It always seems like one of the boys ends up sick after a well child check, so it helpful to just have one child to keep an eye on! Spencer did very well and only had to get 2 shots. He was so NOT happy about those shots, though. Ugh!

Spencer is a very rambunctious toddler! He thrives on negative attention and knows when he’s doing something naughty, but does it anyway. It definitely seems like we have to keep more of an eye on him, but maybe that’s because this house is much larger and has so much more stuff than the house in Wilmington. While he is a handful, he also loves to be helpful. He always helps me pick up, stopping every few minutes to clap for himself. He is also very chatty! He says, “dog, dada, mama, ball, truck, more, door, thank you, please, shoe, ish (goldfish)” and probably a few more I can think of right now. Our nonverbal communication is going really well, too! He points to what he wants, or tries to pull or push me in the direction he needs me to go. Definitely gets his points across! He still holds his own with Alex – and they are fast becoming best friends.

Here are Spencer’s 15 month stats!

Height: 32.5 inches … 90 %ile (grew 2.5 inches since July) Alex was 31 inches

Weight: 25 lbs, 6 oz … 83 %ile (gained almost 2 lbs) Alex was 25 lb, 8 oz

Head: 48.3 cm … 86 %ile (stayed about the same) Alex was 49.25 cm

Here are Alex and Spencer at 15 months:

Alex, 15 months

Spencer, 15 months

It’s so amazing how different they look!

Helping with Laundry

Spencer “helped” with the laundry last week while Alex was in school:

He climbed in on his own while I was putting new clothes in the washer.

So proud of himself.

He was actually putting dry clothes back into the dryer.

Then he turned around and clapped for himself. Gotta love the enthusiasm for laundry!

Alex used to love helping with the laundry, too. I remember him crying if I started a load without his help. I found an early post from when he first took an interest in laundry. He was a few months older than Spencer is now.

Field Trip to Patterson Farm

Friday was such a beautiful and fun day! It was Alex’s first field trip! It was optional, since parents had to provide transportation to Patterson Farm, but we had a good turn-out. I’ve been so excited for this trip since orientation in August! Tim, Spencer, and I had a lot of fun meeting Alex’s friends and (more importantly) their parents. We’ve heard a lot about Ethan, and Alex has pointed him out to me when I’ve picked him up, so it was so cool to see them playing together and always looking for each other. Miss Barrie said they definitely “picked each other”. Ethan’s parents were really nice and easy to get along with, so hopefully there will be some play-dates in our future!

During the field trip, the kids took a class picture, watched a short puppet show about pumpkins, fed animals, made a scare crow, took a tractor ride around the farm, picked a pumpkin, and played on a really fun playground. What a busy morning! Both boys fell asleep minutes after we hit the road to go back home.

Alex and Ethan feeding the goats.

Alex and Ethan stuffing a handful of hay into the scarecrow.

Miss Barrie leading the kids in a song about scarecrows. They were able to bring the scarecrow back to school and will probably add him to their garden.

Spencer found his pumpkin! (The pumpkin field was pretty picked through, so we had to choose from pumpkins staged on the grass.)

Alex pretending to be a scarecrow.

Alex showing his pumpkins. (He chose the first 2 he came across. He was more interested in finding Ethan.)

Two cute boys sliding down the really cool slide. It was a large piece of drainage pipe with a plastic lining, so it was really fast!

Fast friends on a fast slide. Love them! Ethan’s mom told me that Ethan wasn’t able to open his water bottle at school, so Alex started opening it for him.

Spencer had a blast, especially on the playground where he was finally able to roam around.

The spider web climbing structure was so neat!

Attempting a class photo! Some of these kids are in the M/W/F class, but they all got along well!

Alex and Ethan had a blast wrestling in the corn pit. I wish I could have rolled around in that – it looked like a ton of fun!

A tired little boy hitching a ride back on Mommy.

Carolina Renaissance Festival

Aunt Brie, Uncle Jared, and his brother Patrick went with us to the Carolina Renaissance Festival two weekends ago. What a neat event! The festival is right up the road from us on 20 acres – it’s basically a 16th century theme park that is only open weekends in October and November. I thought it’d be really cheesy, but it was actually pretty amazing! We all had fun seeing the costumes, circus acts, animals, and lots of food! One thing that really struck Tim (and me too, once he pointed it out), is that in order to look authentically 16th century, everything is people-powered. The rides were pushed/pulled/turned by people, food and drinks were handed through small holes from a hidden kitchens, and even the porta-pottys were hidden from view and called “privvies”. We will definitely be going every year!

When we walked into the park, we were greeted by people on stilts who invited us to their acobatic/comedy show. It was enjoyed by all ages! There was a lot of hidden adult humor … I can’t even imagine what their late show is like (we’ve heard it’s not kid appropriate!)

Alex was a little worried when the acrobats started juggling knives!

Good boy Spencer had so much fun seeing all the sights and people.

Alex and Aunt Brie rode a camel!

Alex and I rode the giant rocking horse.

We also rode boat swings. You can see one of the guys in the middle who had to run in a circle to get the ride going. They were dressed as pirates and would “fight” us as we went by. Alex LOVED it.

I wish I had taken pictures of some of the costumes people had on. There are actually several booths in the front of the park where you can rent period costumes. A lot of people definitely had fun dressing up!

Who’s going with us next year?

Trucks & Ice Cream

One of Alex’s new favorite games is “share ice cream with Spencer”. Alex gives Spencer a bite, then he runs to me and eats a bite. Alex and Spencer both think it’s great!

If you can’t view the video, click here to watch it on YouTube.

If that wasn’t cute enough … here is an even cuter video of Alex and Daddy pushing Spencer in the dump truck while I finish cooking dinner.

If you can’t view the video, click here to watch it on YouTube.

Alex’s 1st Soccer Scrimmage

We had so much fun at Alex’s soccer practice last Saturday … they had their first scrimmage! They split the 40 or so kids up by birthday, so the 2s and younger 3s played on one field and the older kids of the bunch played on another field. Alex’s group actually played pretty well – especially considering they’d only focused on skills so far! Alex was a little out of it from lack of sleep (we later found out he has an ear infection, which explained a lot!) and his cough medicine, but he did manage to get some kicks in there! I can’t wait for next week!

If you can’t view the video, click here to see it on YouTube.

Schiele Museum

The boys and I met my parents at the Schiele Museum in Gastonia last week. It was a nice little day trip and a good way to see my parents for a few hours. Both boys had a blast – Alex was actually asleep on the way home before Spencer was! Thanks, Grandma and Papa for meeting us!

“Take a picture of the buffalo. Daddy loves buffalo.”

“Look, Mommy! The polar bear is looking at me!” He may have thought they were all real animals!

What does the fox say?

Just my boys and me!

This Little Dude … Part 2

After my post with the pictures of Spencer sitting in the over drawer, he did so much more crazy stuff! So, I decided to devote another post to Spencer’s true personality coming out. He keeps me on my toes, that’s for sure! If I’m busy with Alex or chores, he always finds a way to get my attention! (Ever wonder why he’s never fully clothed? He refuses to wear bibs, so we’re almost always taking clothes off after every meal.)

We we are upstairs in the office/playroom, Spencer loves to sit in the Mega Bloks table and beg for “ish” (goldfish). He’s just as obsessed as Alex was at this age!

What more can a boy want? Goldfish, a fruit pouch, and milk!

This is how Spencer entertained himself at Alex’s last soccer practice.

This picture makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. We were having a dance party and Spencer just started going crazy carrying things around the living room. If you’ve ever partied at our house, you know we love to run circles around the downstairs … this is Spencer’s version of the fun!

Playing with light switches.

This is the best video ever. (If you are reading this blog post in the email, the videos won’t show … use this link instead http://youtu.be/vye1fw2uSPM)

Spencer’s 1st Story-Time

Library story-times never seem to work out for us. I was really hoping someone would have a toddler story-time while Alex was in school so I could do something alone with Spencer. I did finally find one right by school, but the timing isn’t very convenient. Luckily, errands took a little too long last week, so we had to stick around, rather than drive home for 30 minutes. We finally made it to a story-time!

It’s fun to see how Spencer handles situations away from Alex. He was immediately sucked in! He waved at people, danced to the music, loved the stories, and made some friends. I couldn’t believe it when he’d walk a few steps away, turn and laugh, then run back into my lap. I can still remember Alex’s first day of Kindermusik when he cried and cried because they shut the door, then wouldn’t let me put him down! Spencer definitely didn’t want to be held! He had so much fun – and I did, too!

Spencer loves story time! Yes, he’s in his pajamas!

Playing with the glue stick during craft time.

Spencer’s first art project. All we had to do was add the orange tissue and construction paper.

Mesmerized by the bubbles.

He loved play time, too!

How to Eat a Banana

Our boys have been banana crazy lately. Spencer loves them and will point to the fruit bowl and say, “babababa” when he wants one … which is really all day long. Once Spencer is eating one, Alex almost always wants one too. Here is how they were eaten the other night while I was trying to cook dinner:

Spencer was so excited about his banana that he had to lie down and eat it.

He then continued eating upside-down in the playroom.

Not to be out-done, Alex took his banana into the playroom for a “rest”.

Must be a good banana!

Anybody want to try their method?