(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!

I Learned My Lesson!

Alex and I ran into Toys’R’Us for a few things and I learned a big life lesson! If you let a toddler out of the buggy to try out a chair, he will make a bee-line for the Power Wheels on the next aisle. When you try to put him back in the buggy after letting him admire the Power Wheels, he will kick and scream and you will have to carry him on your hip through the check-out and to the car. Lesson learned – but I did get some cute pictures before his melt-down!

Counting Already?

Alex loves to count things. We count all the time: bath tub toys, Goldfish, books, cars, toes & fingers. For the past several weeks, I’ve heard him imitating my voice inflection and “counting” pictures in his books and on his posters. He also loves to point out the numbers when we are reading number books or looking at his posters. I’ve heard him say “two” and “three” and maybe “four” while reading or counting toys.

I was really surprised the other night when he pointed to the “two” in his favorite numbers book and said, “two” before I could. He did the same thing with “three”! The best thing is, I don’t think it was my imagination – he did the same for Tim this morning and again for me when we were reading before bed! Maybe my little man needs to dress up as The Count for Halloween this year!

I don’t have a video of him counting yet, but I’ll be working on it!

Books Galore!

I was quite surprised this afternoon when I walked into Alex’s room to put away clean clothes and found him sitting in the recliner! He was just rocking away with a big smile on his face! He spent the next 10 or so minutes reading books and climbing on and off the recliner looking for more books to read. I’m so happy that Alex loves books so much!

Pointing at the pictures	Speed reading another book
I’m ready for more books!	Lifting flaps
Creating a book avalanche!	Here’s the one I was looking for!

Low Country Baby

While I was out grocery shopping yesterday, Daddy and Alex cleaned up under the house. One thing that needed cleaning was our Low Country Boil/Oyster pot in preparation for dinner guests. Since a hose was involved, I can see why Alex was very anxious to help his Daddy do the cleaning. What a helpful little boy! Make sure you watch the video at the bottom!