Should have knocked on wood!

I was just telling Dan the other day how nice it was that Alex didn't say "no" yet. He shakes his head, and does other obvious signs that he doesn't like or want something, but he hadn't actually used the word yet. We don't say "no" that often, actually. Dan says uh-uh and I usually try distraction (instead of "No, get off the counter" I try, "Let's go play with the train!"...it kind of avoids the issue, but whatever....)

Then on Wednesday, I had to eat those words. I got Alex out of the car at the beach for a little afternoon swim, and I put his hat on. He pulled it off (which he does if I don't get his hands immediately occupied with something else, like "help me carry this"). No big deal. So I put his hat back on and tried the quick "hold the suscreen for Mommy." And that little boy looked right at me and said "NO" while pulling the hat off and throwing it on the ground in the parking lot. I laughed out loud. Then put the hat back on, said "YES!" and put sunscreen in one hand, grabbed the other one, and started walking quickly towards the sand.

I heard it again a couple of times, I as I tried to shower him off in the (too cold) little beach showers, but haven't heard it again. I know that I will get my fill of "no's" in my and Alex's relationship. This was just the first of many....

Mother's Day

What a wonderful Mother's Day. There was no breakfast in bed, but Alex and I went to Music class, and he sang a little song to me...something like la,da,laa, da, and he played a little drum for me, too. That made up for having to make my own breakfast.

Then we went on the kite excursion that I mentioned last week. Alex loved the kite...for about 5 minutes. As expected. He was very interested in the motorcycles that kept driving by, the nearby dog, and the helicopters that flew overhead. We also had a picnic. That was actually much more fun that a nice brunch. Alex grazed, which is how he prefers to eat anyway, and all the food that fell landed in the grass....no clean-up....it was a great meal.

At one point, Alex accidently let go of the kite. It actually got stuck in the parachute of a guy who was doing "parachute ground exercises" down the field (who knew there were ground exercises for parachuting?). Well, after the initial crying, he realized that Dan could get the kite back, and we couldn't trust him anymore. He let it go again, and this time, he actually bent over laughing and slapped his knees...where did he get that? It was hilarious, but Dan and I are sure that we don't ever do that!

He was banned from holding the kite by himself, but continued to enjoy watching it.

Overall a fun day.



Here are some pictures of the fun. Alex and Daddy had a great time with the kite!

Weekend Plans...

Dan and Alex and I have big plans for the weekend. We are going to try out the new kite I bought last week. We passed some people flying a kite in a big field by the beach last weekend, and I decided that we needed to go and get a kite! There is almost always a pretty decent breeze by the ocean, and Alex is pretty fascinated by things that are up the sky.

So, those are our big plans.

Alex and I have been attending a music class on Sunday mornings. The teacher is really great and as part of the class we get a CD of the songs for that "semester." Sometimes when we are in the car, I'll ask Alex if he wants to sing and he'll nod and as soon as I turn on the CD, he starts to bob his head and clap. He's also starting to "get" some of the movements that go to the songs and plays along. We're having a good time.

I'm winding down the school year. It's been an interesting year. I've learned a lot. It's the first time I taught first grade, taught at a private school, and taught while juggling my alter-personality as a parent. Overall, a big learning curve. But it's been fun. I'm not too nostalgic yet. It's only a Friday afternoon. I'll get all sniffly in about a month, when school actually ends. Oh, as a fun bonus, the last day of school is my birthday!

The Dentist and Thomas

I'm just going to pick up as if I haven't been on a 3 month hiatus, although a lot has happened, I think that if I do a marathon post, I'll be worn out for another 3 months :-)

Alex had his first dentist appointment yesterday. He said "ah" when directed, although he snapped that mouth shut like one of those giant clams when the dentist actually put his fingers in there. When we came back into the waiting room, the desk gal said, "Oh, he was so good. I didn't even hear him cry." I took that as a good sign. And he got two Thomas the Tank Engine stickers, and a new toothbrush with a lion on it. Everytime he looked at the lion, he growled. And we got a good check-up report. He didn't get his teeth cleaned yet, because they don't do that until kids have their second set of molars, but the dentist said it looked good so far.

I've been reading about Ethan and Logan and their obsession with Thomas, so I have to chime in. The internet is out at our house (yes, this is related, read on). We went to the mall the other day because it has free wirelss so Dan could do some work he had to get done. I took Alex to the toy store where they have a Thomas display table all set up with tracks and train cars and such. Alex played for 30 minutes. He does often play quietly for a while, but not 30 minutes at a time. It was amazing. The stored closed, or we could have been there for days. Seriously, I think it could have been days.

I looked to check out the Thomas stuff for sale, just curious...EACH car cost about $19.00. Um...yeah....glad the one at the mall is free.