Maui continued

Alex and Grandma hiking at dragon's teeth. It was very windy and mom lost her hat several times.
Alex with Papa and his infamous funny face.
Alex and Dad at dinner. One of the few meals where Alex had a smile on his face.
Alex propped on a rock at dragon's teeth. He really enjoyed exploring all the rocks and even tried to take one home. We told him that was bad luck.

Maui

Last week we were in Maui with the grandparents and had a great time. We dreaded the 6 hour flight with a toddler on our lap but somehow managed to survive. The weather was great, Alex really enjoyed the beach and ocean and we had lots of good food. Now we are back in the cold, wet weather of Seattle.

Alex is turning 2 in just over a week and I can't believe how grown up he is. He is talking up a storm now and trying so hard to communicate with us. He loves to sing in the car and definitely knows what he does and does not like.

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we took Alex to the pumpkin patch for the first time. He had a great time. We got to feed farm animals, go through a maze and pick pumpkins. We get three pumpkins. A small one for Alex, a medium one for Jess and a bigger one for Rob.

Pictures and a Halloween preview

Here are some new pictures since it's been a while.

Alex having lunch with his friend Hayden who was hanging out with us for the day.
Alex is going to be Tigger for Halloween. Here's a nice preview as we were trying to teach him to say Trick or Treat. Not very successful yet.

Alex was making this face a lot for about a week. It's like he was squeezing as hard as he could with his mouth wide open. We called it his funny face and he made the face every time we said that.

Fun at daycare

Olivia told him a great joke and Alex thinks it is hilarious

Alex loves head, shoulder, knee and toes.

Go Huskies!

On Saturday, Alex and I went to Husky Stadium to watch the football team practice and scrimmage. We left Mom at home for a guys day out. Alex had a great time as we got to watch from the sidelines. He was so excited that I often had to keep him from running onto the field. He realized that he's not big enough yet to play so he did some practicing by hitting the blocking sleds and running through some other drill equipment that was sitting on the sideline.

Best of all, Alex learned how to cheer for his favorite team. When I say "Go Huskies!", Alex says "Go Hussies!". Well, they are not Hussies, but I'd say that's pretty good for now.

Alex Update

Hello

I hope we haven't lost all of our loyal followers by our lack of posts. We promise to do better in the future. We have been very busy this summer traveling and keeping up with our ever busy toddler. Alex has certainly turned into a little man who knows what he wants. Now if he would only learn to use all the words I know he has stored in his brain that would be very helpful. Whenever he wants something and doesn't know how to articulate he signs the word more. Usually this is not very helpful but he does it anyways in hopes I will figure out what he wants.

Alex had a fabulous time with his grandparents while we were away. He spent a lot of time at the beach during the heatwave and was spoiled rotten. We know this because he was less than willing to listen to us when we got him back. It took about 3 days for him to realize that we are not as nice as his grandparents and yes, he has to listen to us.

Alaska

Here are a few pictures from our cruise to Alaska. It was great and the scenery was beautiful. Alex had a great time with his grandparents and we'll post some pictures of him shortly.

Toddler's

So we thought that Alex would be different than all of the toddler stereotypes. He's such a quiet kid and not crazy. He prefers to sit back and watch vs. cause havoc. I guess he changed his mind.

Alex now spends most of the day running around and yelling. He throws everything he can get his hands on and seems to really enjoy doing the things he knows he's not supposed to do (like trying to stick his fingers in power outlets). Yes, we already thought of covering the outlets, but he figured out how to take the covers off.

This weekend, Alex got his first skinned knee. He's definitely into toddlerhood now.

Alex and Ezra

We spent the weekend in Portland since my brother and family were in town. We haven't seen them in a while so it was great that Alex and Ezra had some quality time together. The size difference between the two has decreased dramatically. Above, Alex is in shell shock as his older cousins build a wall around him. He wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. Eventually he warmed up and had a great time.
Alex and Ezra below have assumed the position of hand in mouth (which is what they did the whole time during our family photo shoot). Trying to get two kids to simultaneously smile proved to be a challenge. It is just amazing to see how big they are getting. Pretty soon, college.

Boat Trip

Alex took his first boat trip a couple of weeks ago. He took a ferry to Kingston. No real reason other than it was a nice day. He loved the water and was fearless about getting close to the railings. He ran all over the boat laughing. He's definately embracing his toddlerhood. Alex has tons of energy and sometimes just runs around out of control. It's very cute though. His newest move is to walk on his top toes. He looks like a baby ballerina (or ballernino).

Cute pic of Alex before he left for the worksite.

Memorial Day Weekend

I've got lots of new pictures to add. We spent Memorial Day Weekend at Cannon Beach. The weather was really nice for a change so we got to spend a lot of time at the beach. Alex is all about walking now. He doesn't really crawl much anymore. His other favorite activity is to throw things. He's got a pretty impressive arm for an 18 month old. He's better with his right hand, but he also throws lefty. His grandpa (Saba) was pretty impressed with his skills after Alex hit him in the chest with a ball from a pretty good distance.

We've been dogsitting Oden who's an English Bulldog for our friends who are in Iceland. Alex loves Oden and thinks he's hilarious. He follows him around the house and pets him very gently.

During low tide at the beach, there are lots of cool critters to look at. Here, Alex was checking out different starfish.

Since it was one of the lowest tides of the year, Jess's dad and I went clam digging for razor clams (Action shot above). If you don't know what they are, razor clams are enormous clams that live in beaches along the West Coast. They are really tasty. After a brief lesson from a local on all of the things we were doing wrong, we caught about 20 clams, cleaned them (thanks You Tube for the lesson) and cooked them for dinner. They were really good.

To find the clams, you have to look for a small airhole in the ground and then dig down from it. One of the holes that Jess's dad found turned out to actually be a crab. We were a bit shocked when the pincher jumped out of the ground. Here's our friend. Unlike the clams, we set him free.

More Alex cuteness. Shortly after this, he discovered the ocean. He didn't care that the Pacific is cold in the NW and I had to drag him away from it. He is fearless. He just kept charging as fast as he could towards the water (laughing the whole time).

It's been a while

Things have been pretty fun lately. Alex is walking around all over the place. He's getting really good at bending down and picking things up. Mostly he likes to pick up balls, throw them and then go after them again.

We posted a number of pictures below now that he has his summer haircut. Now we just need the good weather to come.

Happy Alex showing off for the camera
Alex practicing his karate moves.

We went to the zoo last weekend. Alex really enjoyed looking at the animals. Here he is with an emu.

He thought the bird sanctuary was cool.

Four legs good, two legs better...

Hopefully you got the Orwell reference in the title. I said in the earlier post that Alex started really walking last night. It took us until tonight to get a decent video of it. Here it is. It takes Alex a few seconds before he lets go of the couch.

Weekend at the Beach

Alex spent last weekend in Cannon Beach with his grandparents and furry cousin. He loved playing in the sand and scooping it into buckets and his hair. Dad stayed at home since he doesn't have much time off work. Therefore, it's hard for me to give a detailed account of what happened at the beach.

Over the weekend Alex learned how to stand up on his own without using any furniture and this evening he managed to take about 10 steps across the family room before sitting down. It's really fun to watch him grow up.

Walking...almost!

I want it in the "official" record that Alex took his first steps on Sunday, April 12th. They were two very small steps into dad's arms but it still counts. He did the same thing yesterday at daycare during the day and demonstrated again when I picked him up. He still generally prefers crawling since it is so much faster but there are signs he is getting close.

Another first this weekend was Alex's first easter egg hunt. He didn't quite get the concept but once we showed him where the eggs were he was pretty good at putting them in his basket. The problem was as soon as they went in his basket he took them right back out (which didn't make mom and dad too happy since they were chocolate eggs that we wanted to eat). He seemed to have a good time and got to play in the grass which he always enjoys.

Happy Passover

I was going to boycott posting anything until Alex walked but I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon. He is very content crawling around. Now that the weather is getting nicer I like to take him outside which leads to some very dirty hands and clothes by the time we are done. Everything is well in Seattle. We had a nice Passover dinner in which Alex went down for his nap right when we started and woke up when it was time to eat, perfect timing. He tried gefilte fish and charoset for the first time but didn't care for it. He did, however, really enjoy these passover muffins that Grandma made for him.

Rain, rain, go away

Spring has officially started but I don't think Seattle got the memo. Despite the rain Alex has been getting outside everyday in his new daycare which we are all really liking. Dad drops him off in the morning and I pick him up in the afternoon. We have nothing new to report except that we feel hopeful that he will soon walk (he now stands on his own for short periods of time). We have been thinking he will walk for months now but it has to happen soon.

Below are a few pictures they have taken at daycare. He seems to be having a good time.

Really Long Post

Lots has happened. While I won't remember everything, I'll try to catch up as best as possible. As you can see from the pictures below, Alex got another haircut. This one was a little more traumatic than the first. In the end, he looked cute. Two of his molars have popped through and the other two are coming. This has led to some less than perfect nights of sleep. We'll forgive Alex though. I'm sure it doesn't feel very good.

He had his 15 month appointment and he's in perfect health. He's gotten taller and is now in the 15-20th percentile for height, but he's still at the 3 percentile for weight. I guess Sumo Wrestling is probably out for a career option.

Alex hasn't started walking yet. He's incredibly close and the doctor says that he's doing everything right except actually walking. I guess he needs a little more confidence. He's saying a few words randomly and sometimes at the correct time like "yeah", "hi", "no" and I think maybe "dog".

We went to Portland last weekend. Jess and Rob went out alone for dinner and a show. It was very grown up of us. We saw "Wicked" which was really good. Alex also got to play with Ainsley the whole weekend which he enjoyed except when Ainsley barked (then he cried). Unfortunately, Ainsley barks a lot. I expect a comment from her parents though saying that she doesn't bark much at all.

Alex has adjusted well to daylight savings time. It's really nice getting home and there's still plenty of light out.

Today was a big day as I will document this as Alex's first kiss. I dropped him off at daycare this morning and he sat down to play with his friend Lilly. As I was about to leave, Alex started to pout and laid his head down. Lilly came over and kissed him repeatedly on the nose. It was really cute. If you read this later in life, Alex, you don't want to overuse the pouting move. It's not normally that successful.

Alex getting ready for his second haircut. He had less fun this time than his first haircut.

Alex's teachers at daycare must have been bored. They grabbed a bunch of gel and gave Alex a mohawk.
Alex with his friend Hayden. Just before this picture, they high-fived. It was awesome.