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.

Two steps forward, two steps back.

Alex is beginning to use the potty. He went yesterday morning after telling me he had to go, sat on it while we read 3 books, and then peed. We were VERY excited and we could tell he felt pretty great about it. He spent most of the day yesterday without pants on, but didn't go again. This morning we did the same thing - spent lots of time without pants on and sat on the potty and read about 5 books. After the 5th book he decided he was done and asked for a diaper. I put one on him and suddenly he grabbed himself and said "dump dump dump". I took it off, noticed he had JUST peed, and he had been holding it in until I put the diaper on him. He did not understand why he couldn't dump his pee in the toilet like we sometimes do with his poop.

So he has the control.....just not the desire. Let the good times roll.......

Backseat Driver

Sitting at a red light the other day, waiting in a long line of cars to be able to go through the intersection, I hear from the backseat, "GO lady."

Pooking and DiaRAHda

We had a rough end of last week and weekend. Alex started last week off with a pretty strong case of DiaRAHda (his way of saying diarrhea). He was in a great mood, though a little more touchy than usual, between diaper changes. The best part was that he was actually an active and willing participant in the diaper change. Usually when he's got a mess in his pants he will deny it so he can keep playing. But with DiaRAHda, he would alert you immediately ("DiaRAHda! DiaRAHda!"), toddle off to the bathroom door and wait to get "hosed off" in the bathtub. Good times. Sadly, by Thursday, the "pooking" began, and I spent Thursday and Friday cleaning "pook" off of our bed, the carpet, 4 of my shirts, 5 of his, both pairs of my flannel pajama bottoms, the rug and floor in the living room.......it was not fun.

We are learning though that Alex, even when sick with the stomach flu, is a pretty easy-going kid. Between expulsions, he was mostly happy, willing, and cooperative. The hardest part was the quarentine.....not being able to go out to breakfast, to the play gym or the park, or to have our playdate with friends Dana and her triplets in town visiting from Chicago. Having to travel with triplets by air.....it was understandable why they were not interested in being within a 5 mile radius of us.

I think both Chris and I are relieved to be back at work this morning....and of course, Alex is fully recovered in time for another week with Grandma and Grandpa. We're trying not to feel short-changed. It wasn't much of a relaxing weekend for us. But then....when is it ever???

My Men and the Moon

Alex made friends with the moon last night. He had never really noticed it before, but walking home from dinner, sitting in his car being pushed by Chris he stared at the sky and would point and say "There it is!" every time it appeared from behind the trees. Chris's dad has a similar story about Chris when he was a little boy driving to the farm in Black River Falls. It was night time, the boys were in the back seat of the car, and Chris leaned forward and whispered in his dad's ear, "Dad, I think the moon is following us." It's fun to see ourselves appear in him. I'm just waiting for his first easter egg hunt to get a glimpse of myself. Let's give the boy a spoon and a hard boiled egg and see what happens.

A Man of Details

One thing we have learned about Alex is his attention to detail and focus when working. One activity he likes to do is pick flowers off the ground and return them to the plant. He has not yet figured out which flowers go with what plant, but he's big into putting things away. He did NOT get this trait from me. Chris might say he got it from him, but I really think he got it from his Grandpa Gordy. That is a tight ship he runs out there in Green Bay.

Chris comes home today. Alex is very excited, and I am too. He wanted to take Dad's car to work today and when I told him we had to leave it at home because Daddy was coming home and would need it, I thought we might have a meltdown when we drove away. Luckily promises of helping Mommy buy her coffee and eating an apple with Grandma helped him forget for a little while. The whole way over, he repeated "First, Mommy's coffee."

A man who has his priorities straight!

PS - thanks to Grandpa for this great photo!!!!

Bye Bye Daddy

Chris leaves tonight to go home to WI to see his mom who is not doing very well these days. I'm glad he's going, since I think her time is limited. Alex and I can fend for ourselves for a week. I started school today, and Amma and Papa are back on duty full time - whoo hoo! I am enjoying picking Alex up at the end of the day and hearing about all the fun things they did together. We are very lucky.

Alex spent almost 2 hours last night playing with his new blender and cooking us beans to eat. He was so into his project he would have skipped dinner if Chris and I hadn't convinced him his blender would be there after we all ate some dinner. He ate about 4 edamame beans and about 3 noodles before telling us he was all done and needed to get back to work cooking his beans. I'm trying not to worry about his caloric intake and its direct relationship with the total number of night time minutes of sleep I get........