We finally decided to move our blog to a site that we could control more. We wanted to make sure that years from now we will still have the blog as it is Alex’s baby book! The blog is now at www.thenelsonblog.com. Please go there for the latest blogs!
Darren did a wonderful job of designing the site, transferring all of the old blogs, and doing the cute background picture. He also put in a place for some of my pictures if you ever just can’t get enough. These will include some of my other photography, not just photos of Alex! The format is a bit different. Just click on the title or the thumbnail picture and it will go to the full blog. Thanks for following our adventures!!
We have been thinking about getting Alex something to climb on since our trip to Phoenix when he discovered climbing on chairs. He gets on our table chairs and can’t get off, so he cries and whines and generally drives us crazy! Most of the little outdoor play gyms I was looking at looked like he would outgrow them or be bored with them in 6 months or so, which is crazy for the money.
We knew Alex needed something that he could climb and stand on. Most toddler gyms didn’t have that. I was getting frustraded looking until I saw last Sunday’s ads. We saw one that looked perfect. Grandma came to the rescue with an early birthday present as she had seen firsthand his love of climbing the cat tree! I have fought the idea that we are spoiling him (ok, we are), but then I realized that if he was in daycare, he would have these kind of toys to play on daily! Plus from what my friend Amy says, a week of daycare costs about the same as the Fort/Castle did! Yikes.
Alex & Liam in the Fort/Castle
Sunday afternoon, Darren put Alex’s new Fort/Castle together. Alex immediately went to it and climbed up the stairs. He smiled and smiled when he was at the top. He loves that he is now almost eye level with me when he stands at the top. He then spied the slide and went down immediately! That was so cute. He doesn’t go down the slide as much after that first time. He gets a little nervous, but once he goes down, he loves it!
We have been anxious to have other kids over to try out Alex’s new toy. It looks like a day care in here now, so might as well have more kids! Poor Ethan has been sick again, so we missed that play date. When I was at the store, I recognized one of the mothers that was at my breastfeeding class. (That seems like another lifetime ago!) I have seen her and her son Liam walking around our neighborhood, so I knew they lived close to us. I saw them again at Story Time on Thursday and invited them to our house on Friday for a Play date. They were happy to come over as she also stays home with Liam.
Alex & Liam
Liam took awhile to warm up, but once he did, he never wanted to leave! Alex helped by walking to him and giving him a hug a couple of times! So funny, he never gives kids hugs! Liam loved the bouncy house and the Fort/Castle. The boys played in the landing of the Fort for some time. They had an obsession over little buckets and fought over them a bit.
Liam is almost 2, so it is good for Alex to play with an older boy. We plan on future play dates as the boys did very well together. We need practice on playing with other kids as does Liam, so it could work very well. The boys had a lot of similarities in growth and development, so that is good. We were reminded once again at how outgoing Alex is compared to other kids!
Floyd stealing Alex's bologna
The cats have also been enjoying the new playhouse. Patches likes to sit on top of it- he always likes to be in the highest place in the house! Josie, Blackjack & Floyd like to sit underneath it on the “safety” pillows we have put all around the house like a moat. We have not decided if we should call it a Fort or a Castle. Votes?
Alex & Patches
Alex has been sitting and “reading” a lot lately. He also comes up to me and wants me to read to him at least a couple of times a day. I am so happy he loves books!! When he was little he had the book upside down over half of the time. Now the book is right side up all of the time, so he must be understanding a bit more! He especially loves a little book on swimming that our friend Liz gave him. The pictures are not very vibrant, so I think he actually likes the story! He sits and “reads” it usually several times a day.
Alex reading "Goodnight World"
He is also mimicking more and more. He did a great performance of “Happy and you know it” in Story time. He stood behind the group leader and did many of the signs including clapping his hands, blowing a kiss and raising his hands. Other mothers thought he was hilarious. It was really cute. A neighbor girl also taught him “what does a doggy say” and then sticks his tongue out and pants. We can now get him to do that. First when we ask him, he looks out the back windows to where he sees doggies. Then he will pant for us.
Wednesday was a Snow Day here in Loveland. It snowed for hours on Tuesday so they closed the schools for the next day. It was like being in a snowglobe! We got 9-12 inches here. Ironically it got quite sunny and was a beautiful day, so the kids had a blast! I have never seen so many snowmen in my life! We dressed Alex up and took him outside to play. He mostly enjoyed eating the snow! He did like stomping in the snow some as well. We tried him in the sled which he enjoyed although he doesn’t look like he likes it in the video!
I wish we had made a snowman as well, but I didn’t think of it at the time! We mostly made lots of snowballs to throw at daddy and snow angels. We did a little snowball fight when I would throw one at Alex (at his thick jacket), then Darren would put one in his hand and help him hit me. He thought this was hilarious! True to Colorado weather, there is no snow on the ground outside now!
Julie & Alex making snow angels
We managed to get in a couple of walks again this week. We tried to walk the front nine of the golf course, but a herd of 30 elk beat us to it! They were on the 2nd tee and were not moving! Many people stopped to take their pictures and watch them.
We finally had a more normal week. Boy did I need it! Alex’s runny nose continued much of the week, but now is finally going away. Despite what the doctor says, I think it was allergies. My allergies and many other people’s have been awful here lately! I had hoped Alex would not get too many allergies, but that was probably not realistic! Now that he is feeling better, the tantrums have receded a good bit. Yeah!!! I am extremely hopeful that they were largely due to fatigue from the trip and feeling ill. Cross your fingers!!!!!
Argh... Yes, I couldn't resist getting Alex a pirate hat
Like every parent, we were hoping that the Terrible Two’s would never come. That we would somehow be spared this frustrating time. That we wouldn’t have to say, “but he was such a good baby.” Oh well- so much for that dream! Our pediatrician told us that the Terrible Twos actually hit closer to 18 months old and are an important stage in development. They are a way for the child to try to show their independence. I am glad he warned us because two days before he turned 18 months old, they hit!!! Yikes.
We made it to Phoenix in time on Saturday to join the guys for Texas Hold’em Poker. I didn’t do so well, but Darren got 3rd and my dad won for the 4th straight time! He is on quite a roll!
Grambo Diane, Alex & Grandpa Ed having fun in a park
We decided awhile back that my frustration with the long Colorado winters would do much better if we took a trip to break up the cold weather. So we decided to go back to Arizona for a week in March to take advantage of the nice weather. But we didn’t want to visit my parents without swinging by Las Vegas to visit Darren’s mom for a bit as well! We spent two days in Vegas and had a very fun time. Continue Reading »
This is our third winter in Colorado and we finally made it up to the Mountains to Snowboard. Our friends from Phoenix, Dave & Sarah were our first friends that were brave enough to visit us in the winter as they wanted to try out our great snow! We have had a slow snow year, but Thursday through Sunday we had a tremendous amount of snow- especially where we went. We went to Salida, which is west of Colorado Springs. It was a 3 ½ hour drive. I was worried about the drive, but we got lucky and the roads were clear and we only drove through mild snow each way. My “new” car is definitely broken in now! The black disgusting snow still won’t get off my car after a day in the garage! Yuck.
Alex finally was healthy, so we had a much better week! Alex’s BFF Ethan was sick, so we went to a new friends house to play. Alex had fun with Ezra, the grandson of a couple of my photo club friends. I desperately wanted a picture of the boys together, but Ezra has about as much energy as Alex, so it was not possible! Alex and I had a good time and he even got to meet their two HUGE dogs (80 & 140 lbs each!) Alex did a lot of “woof”s when he saw them through the window. They were surprized that “woof” was one of Alex’s two words he knows since we don’t have any dogs!!! I guess that is kind of strange.
Ok, I am seriously sick of Alex getting sick! He started getting sick last weekend and was sick the whole week. It was definitely the flu and it was pretty bad. I don’t know if it was the swine flu or not. Guess it doesn’t really matter, but was not a fun week. Alex was quite miserable. Last Sunday night he went to bed at 5:30 pm and slept until 8:30 am! I then held him for most of the next couple of hours while we watched Sesame Street, then he went back to bed at 10:30 and slept until about 4. So he slept over 20 of 24 hours! Poor little guy. He did better after that thank goodness. He had us (especially me) pretty worried for awhile.
Alex has definitely got an excellent grasp of running! He is very good at it and rarely falls. He did run head first into one of my desk legs earlier this week. It was the loudest “Bonk!” he has made yet! Scared the crap out of me of course. I am grateful that his bangs are long as it made quite a gross bump/bruise!!
