Last night Alex held my face in his hands and said "You're the best mommy in the world." After I gave him a big kiss and hug I said, "Would you like a new car?"

Sammy

My Sammy girl has been pretty sick this week. On Monday she started stumbling around and falling over. I took her to the vet who told me she has vestibular disease. This is a neurological disorder that affects her balance - basically she's really really dizzy. There are two kinds - central and peripheral. The central kind is inside the brain and is mostly degenerative. The peripheral kind is common in old dogs (she's 15) and usually goes away on it's own. The vet was mostly convinced that she had the peripheral kind, but not 100% sure. So we're nursing her back to health slowly and hoping for the best. We have her penned in the family room, where we can take care of her and keep an eye on her. We carry her out to the yard every couple hours to go to the bathroom. We have to hand feed her - so far all she will eat is cottage cheese and velveeta (of course!) cheese. For a few days I even had to scoop water into my hand so she could stay hydrated. Her aim is pretty poor, and you can see her trying hard to focus on something in front of her. But yesterday evening and this morning she seems much improved....she was able to walk around a bit, and even stood up at one point to drink water out of her water dish. So we are very hopeful.

Alex has been very good with her. He talks to her a lot telling her he hopes she feels better soon, that she's a good girl and that he loves her. I'm very hopeful she will fully recover, but just in case we ordered Cynthia Rylant's "Dog Heaven" book so he will understand what happened to her if the worst happens.

Sammy is the best dog, is my most loyal friend and she has been my constant witness for the last 15 years. I hope she'll be with us a bit longer, but she's also an old dog who has lived a long life. She's a good, good girl.

Happy Holidays

Chris gets home from WI on Tuesday. He is bringing his dad with him for an extended visit. We have a large list of chores for him to complete. He is aware that he will be singing for his supper.

For those of you who are close family (read: you are as into our kid as we are) be expecting your 2007 Alex movie to arrive in the next week or two. We are waiting for our Christmas cards to arrive because I am too cheap to mail them separately. It's approximately 20 minutes of Alex fun. Lots of naked dancing clips put to great music. I am pleased to note that in his 2nd year of life, I've managed to wear something other than my pajamas for some of the clips and photographs.

Enjoy your holidays. Eat lots of food and spend lots of time on the couch.

Miscellaneous

The boo-boo/boobie confusion has been resolved. It fell out of his head as quietly and quickly as it fell into it.

Last night, after being told there were no more grapes, Alex's usual temper tantrum "HAVE THEM!" response was replaced with......"Oh phooey".

His favorite CD is the personalized one from Henry O. that has his name sung every other verse (or so it seems). Both Chris and I are somewhat mystified at how this is accomplished.

There have been many pee pees on the potty. Some times there have been false alarms. And for those keeping score, still no poo poos.....and get a life.

I found a white coffee maker!!! Unfortunately it came in the mail today and it is VERY small. Like the size to fit in a kid-sized kitchen. I am a little bit worried that will not be good enough for Alex, who has Starbucks taste in appliances. Am trying to figure out a way we can actually buy him the one at Starbucks without anyone outside our nuclear family finding out about it. But that is nearly impossible now that most people can understand what he says. And he WILL rat us out. He rats out the dog on a near-daily basis.

I taught Alex how to say "ferme la bouche" last night, which is French for "shut your mouth". Sounds kind of harsh. I think that is the literal translation though....I think it really just means "be quiet". My french teacher would shout that at us all the time, so it can't be that bad, right? Plus, the word "bouche" cracks him up. As do the words "coat", "Bob", "gong".......

"Zooboomafoo" is still his #1 favorite TV show (and mine). He will watch 2-3 episodes back-to-back if we let him. We are trying not to feel too guilty about how often we "let" him.

His favorite book (and I mean FAVORITE BOOK) is the one Grandpa Jim bought for him called "Yummy Yucky". He LOVES to pretend to be REALLY disgusted when we say "YUCKY!!!" and he pretends to spit yucky things out of his mouth and dances around in circles. He loves loves loves it. But we can't read it at bedtime anymore. Ever. Because he will cry cry cry until I go in there, then brighten up the minute I pick him up and say "Read more silly book?" The earwax page is his favorite. He has firsthand knowledge of just how yucky that stuff really is.

Bump on the Head?

There is some recent confusion between "boo boo" and "boobie". Lately he has been pointing to the scab on his knee and saying "boobie". Despite our efforts to clarify the difference between the two, he remains certain of his own definitions.

Santa Claus

Alex has been asking for a white coffee maker. He is very specific. He wants it white like our cupboard door. And not just any cupboard door in our kitchen - specifically the one next to the sink. THAT cupboard door. Everyday he asks for it, every day I get specific instructions about how it needs to be white. Alex's coffee maker needs to be WHITE. I get it. I've looked online for toy coffee makers. They don't come in white. They come in primary colors, pastel colors, and even just red. But not white. I know if I bought him one of those, he would not like it.....because it's not white, and because the colors so clearly mean it's a toy.....and as much as we pretend not to get it, we all know if it's not a REAL coffee maker, it's not of interest to him.

My mom thinks he might be coveting the white one he sees at Starbucks every day. And yes, I considered buying it for him for about 30 seconds. Then the insanity passed and I went on to Plan B. Which was to tell him about Santa Claus and how he brings toys to boys and girls all over the world at Christmas time and that if we go see him and sit on his lap and ask for what we want, he will bring it to us on Christmas. This is what Alex said to that: "No Santa's lap. Sit on MOMMY'S lap. Alex wants a white coffee maker." Oh well. My mom thinks he'll forget in time. I'm not so sure. She's not there every morning when he wakes up asking for his white coffee maker, and not there when he goes to sleep talking about it and how Mommy is going to buy it at the store. I had hoped Santa would buy me a little more time. But so far that route doesn't seem to be working out too well.

2 Years Old!

Alex had his 2nd birthday party last weekend with many friends and family attending. We had Andy the entertainment guy come and do puppets, balloons and dancing with the kids. They had a blast. And, as if a switch was flipped, Alex is now a TWO YEAR OLD. He insists on doing things HIS way. He prefers to do the opposite of whatever we want him to do. If we need him to move quickly, he slows down. If we want him to eat at the table, he insists on eating in his high chair. It is his attempt to control his little world (and his mommy and daddy) and for the most part, it's working. Our strategy: if it's not a danger to himself or anyone else, let him have his way as much as possible. We are aware that any power struggles we engage in with him we will lose. It's his world and we're just living in it.