Good Morning

I'm up way too early! Teaching has its perks, but the early mornings are not one of them. Seriously, I should never be required to be anywhere by 7:30. In order to get myself and a baby ready, baby to day care, and my self to work, I have to get up looooong before the sun. *sigh*

The benefit to you is that I have found a speck of extra time, so I will share some pictures with you. These will probably be the last for about a week, as Alex and I are off to TX this afternoon! Grandma L, Grandpa, Auntie Sarah and Uncle Chris (plus Dominique and Sugar, of course)...here we come!

Look ma, no hands!! The lighting and flash make it hard to see, plus that hand out of the frame could be holding onto something for support. But look at that face! He's obviously doing something amazing. Yes, he's taking actual steps!

This one is a bit clearer, but with a goofy face. Look at that concentration! I'm walking!!

Oh, walking? Yeah... done that.

Have a great week, guys. I'll see you later :-)

New Tricks!

The past few days Alex has been racking up the new skills. Three days ago, he added "da" to his vocabulary. He now has both of his parents at his beck and call: mama and dada. Dan stayed home with Alex on Monday morning, and when I returned, he told me that Alex had said "ma da da" over and over again, which, if you say this outloud to yourself right now, can sound a lot like "My Dada." Cute.

The other new and fantastic steps that Alex is perfecting are just that: STEPS!! We had a busy afternoon today, and Alex spent the day standing and turning around, letting go of his handhold and taking 1-2 steps toward me. Yeah little guy! And when we got home, I put Alex down and he stood up for a couple of seconds before stepping toward Dan. We will soon have a walker!!

For me, summer school ends on Friday, then it's off to Texas for a week, back for orientation at the new school and then I start with students the following week! It's all a blur, and I'm excited. I'm not exactly looking forward to flying with Alex, but I know that I have handled other crazy situations with him, and this is probably just blowing up in my mind because I have had so much time to think about it. Plus, he's a great kid. It can't be that bad, right?


This post is sadly lacking pictures of Alex's new talent because, try as we might, Dan and I could not get a picture of Alex standing or walking. Just as he'd let go and take a step, the stupid camera would autofocus for too long, and Alex would drop to the ground just in time for a picture of the top of his head. Soon.....

10 Months

Alex is now 10 months old. Time flies...

As we talked about in the last post, there are just so many things he can do now that it seems like he couldn't do last week, a few days ago, or even this morning. He is a real champ at feeding himself now. He's been doing that for a while, but now he only drops things on purpose. (Or to entice Sydney to come closer.) And he definitely has his favorite foods. Last night I gave him some little meat chuncks while I was cooking the rest of dinner. While the pasta was cooking, I peeled and cut up some oranges. Alex saw me, and started reaching and yelling, even dropping the meat chunks over the side of his high chair as if to tell me that his plate was empty, it needed to be filled with oranges! He then proceeded to eat two oranges by himself. Not two pieces of orange. Two oranges. Granted, they are the little clementine ones, so they are small, but TWO? Come on, kid, the books say that your stomach is only as big as your fist right now. And your fist is smaller than one orange. And that was before dinner, with pasta, veggies, cheese, etc.

But he's a growing boy!



Stir fry veggies are one of Alex's favorite foods. He especially enjoys the snow peas, as you can see.




I love Daddy!

Daycare stole my baby....

...and I got back a big boy!

Alex has been growing up at daycare. I went to pick him up one afternoon to find him drinking a bottle, holding it all by himself. This was a surprise because (apparently he has been pretending that) he can't really hold a sippy cup, and needs help.

Balogna! There was my little munchkin, sitting up and drinking from a bottle. Of course, this took a few weeks of practice because up to this point in his life, he's had less than a bottle a week. But now, he's a little champ at it. He still tries to pretend that he can't hold his cup, he opens his mouth as I bring it toward him, like I'm going to stick it in there and hold it for him. But if I put the cup in his lap, he'll reach right down and pick it up, hold it up and suck down whatever is in there. Little faker!

In other news, work is going well. I finish up next Friday, and then Alex and I fly to Texas for a week with my folks. Auntie Sarah is driving up, and Uncle Chris, G-ma Linda and G-pa will be there as well as some pets. Alex will get to meet the elusive feline Dominique, who will probably be hiding under the couch the whole time, and Sugar, who will love Alex's dog-feeding skills.

I start at my school year job at the end of July, so I've been working on my room at the new school in the afternoons. This going back to work thing has been more work than I thought it would be! I planned to be doing half-days, but between a continuing ed class for the new school, working half day, and then getting ready for the new job, it's actually been a full time job! I have taken Alex with me to the new school whenever I just have to drop things off or pick things up. He rides in the little backpack so I can still work. Of course, he's a hit :-)

Alex is also working very hard on becoming even more mobile. He has let go of whatever he is "cruising" on several times, and, forgetting that he's not holding anything, he sometimes even takes a step before dropping to the ground to really get around. I don't know that these are his "first steps" as they don't seem all that intentional. But maybe that's just how it is.

Here are a couple of pictures from the zoo music show last week. Alex was enjoying himself, although it's hard to tell. He usually has such a serious look on his face.


(In a Cartman voice:) Yeah, I want veggie poofs.


Mommy, are you taking pictures of me again?


At least let me turn around.

Oh, and you want a smile, too? Well, I'm not your trick pony. I don't smile on command. How's this?

The Return of a Happy Little Boy

Alex is finally back to normal. This realization hit me this weekend. He has been in a funk for about a month now. From teething to a yucky cold to an ear infection, this little boy has managed to create a big disturbance. He has been clingy and whiny and just wanted to be held all the time. And we love to hold him, but sometimes, yes it is true, I have to make dinner or do dishes, or get dressed or pick up toys or work on my classwork for tomorrow, or, heaven forbid, I just want to not be holding a baby!

It has finally all come to an end (knocking on wood right now). The teeth are in for now, the cold is gone and Alex had the last of his medicine on Sunday. He is smiley again and laughs a lot and can finally play for minutes-yes, minutes!- alone while I get something else done.
Lovely, lovely, lovely.

We are going to the zoo tonight for a little concert series that has been going on al summer-Wednesday evening family music fun. Alex and I went last week while Dan had to work late. It was a nice way to spend an evening. Hopefully it will be as enjoyable this time.



This is an overdue Father's Day picture. We had lunch out, and Alex and Dan spent some time together to celebrate this special occasion. Here I think they are singing a little duet.