Growing Up

Alex is now 2 years and 5 months old. That is one month short of being two and a half. His vocabulary has quadrupled over the last week. He is singing songs, requesting songs, and repeating everything he hears or thinks about. He is telling stories and pretending. He is also making Edison pretend with him, or making up stories about what Edison is doing. His favorite is for them to both pretend they are horses while they are crawling around. He is such a smart kid.

He is really into somersaults. Headstands are tied with somersaults in awesomeness. Headstands that turn into somersaults off the bed are the best.

He watched Finding Nemo at my parents' house over Thanksgiving. Then his Merkley grandparents bought it for him for Christmas. He is always asking to watch the Nemo Show, the Dory Show, or the Shark Show. He constantly talks about Nemo and the boat or Nemo dying. I think he needs to pay attention more carefully. I tried telling him that Nemo isn't dead.

Alex loves the gym. Usually we go during the day but one day we went after Sam got home from work. When we were leaving, we couldn't find Sam so I went out to the car, buckled in the boys, and then drove around the parking lot while I called Sam. Every time his voicemail came on, it would say, "Hey, this is Sam..." Alex started whimpering and repeating, "Miss Sam." It was so sad. The gym has some pretty cool toys though. He loves this horse.

He likes to pretend his a gangster in the car.

For some reason, Alex loves resting his foot on Edison's carseat. Edison sometimes likes chewing on toes, but does not really like being kicked in the head.

People are always commenting on Alex's flyaway hair. It is unrestrainable. This mohawk only lasted until the hair dried.

I didn't think Alex would like the grapefruit. I gave him one bite, and he didn't seem to love it or hate it, but then he kept asking for more. I could hardly get a bite myself because he wanted all of it.

Alex loves playing outside. Always has, and I hope he always will.

Alex is kind of strange with his food. He doesn't eat very well, but he loves yogurt. One day, he wouldn't eat his yogurt because he wanted it to be blue. So blue it was. The next day, I made it green. Since then, he seems to be fine with regular-colored yogurt.

Many of the songs Alex has learned have been from the library's Toddler Time. He loves the crafts, stories, and friends at the library.

Alex would happily read books or be read to all day, every day. In this picture, he is reading Sam's Chinese-English dictionary. He carried this book around for days and was so interested in it.

He surprises me every day with his abilities to do things. I think I have been doing too many things for him. He can buckle the top buckle on his carseat, put on his own shirt, and blow his own bubbles. I am sure he can do much more, I just need to breathe and let him do it himself, even though it sometimes takes longer than I want it to.

Alex has always been so creative when playing with his toys. One day he pulled out the tupperware, filled them with his toys, stacked the tupperware, and then knocked the tower over. And repeat. It was very cute.

Alex is kind of dramatic. He has got an attitude and lots of personality but he can also be so kind and loving. He often shares his toys or food with everyone around and he makes sure everyone in the family gets a kiss before bed. He says, "Sowwy, Mom" to me when he accidentally runs into me.

Alex loves sitting in this "Kitty cat." His dimples are adorable. Some girl is going to fall in love with his dimples one day.

A few more things about Alex:
-He thinks "Awake" is synonymous with "Happy." So if we tell him it is time for a nap, he will say, "No! Happy!" He also tries to make this claim for Edison if we are putting him down for a nap.
-He will find out keys and set off the panic alarm on our car.
-If I can't understand what he is saying, he thinks of another way to say something. Example: Alex said, "Cows eat grass." I said, "Cars?" He said, "No! Moooo!"
-He doesn't always make the right decision the first time, but if I give him the choice between being obedient or time out, he usually mends his way.
-He notices the smallest incline/decline of roads. He will say, "Up, up, up!" as we drive up a hill and then exclaim, "Top!" Then "All done top. Down, down, down!"
-There are some horses and cows a few miles away from our house. He always knows when we get close to them and gets excited to see the horseys.