Month: January 2011

Alex had a surprise playdate today. Amber was working in Janesville and Nick was sick so we picked Abram up at his school and he played with us till bedtime. (When we walked in to pick him up the teacher was expecting us. She did ask Abram, “Do you know these people?” Abram promptly replied, “They are my best friends.”) I have watched both boys together by myself before and they have required only minimal supervision. Tonight they were great together. Wade read his magazine, the boys played, and I got dinner cooked.

Abram was a good sport and ate beef and broccoli stir-fry (no rice please) and Alex wanted to eat his “bromcli” because Abram did. After dinner the boys played with Madison and then had strawberries and bananas for a fruity dessert. Maybe a sleep-over isn’t too many years away?

Alex loves eggs. He especially loves boiled eggs. At one point he was eating at least two every morning. Now he eats one in the morning and most days has another one sometime for a snack. When I saw an ad for hard boiled egg molds in a magazine, I decided to give it a try. I didn’t expect them to work, but they do – easily. The problem came when I served Alex the egg-shaped car and he didn’t want to eat it. In fact when I sliced it we had a full-blown melt down. He thought it was a toy and I destroyed it. Oops. We’ll try again tomorrow.

Alex had a rough awakening from his nap today. After we got that out of his system, he was full of smiles and giggles. He also learned how to share a pillow on the couch with Mom:

Madison watched it all from her place on the couch:

Alex is just getting old enough that skype is a lot of fun. Today he had fun talking to Pop – who demonstrated a duck call.

I love that Alex has two little boys always up for playing. It doesn’t hurt that Nicki and Amber and I enjoy visiting too. The best part is that we all live within walking distance and can usually play on pretty short notice. Everyone ended up at our house and the boys had no trouble finding toys.

I’m not exactly sure what went on before this picture. I turned around to see Alex trying to sit in the rocking chair with Riley. Riley didn’t seem to mind and they continued trying for quite a while.

I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but it turns out white isn’t always white. Alex got a step stool for Christmas and it just arrived in the mail today. I was so excited to put it in our upstairs bathroom until I realized their white is not the same white as our cabinets and floor. I took a picture but I’m not sure it shows the issue very well. The stool actually looks green (very light, but green) in our bathroom.

Thank goodness for a husband who can fix anything. It is being painted tonight.

Alex had his first adventure at a water park today. Amber and Abram invited us to Country Springs Water Park. Alex immediately got in the water and was pretty much up for anything. His favorite feature was the huge bucket on top of the playground that would dump water. Sadly I couldn’t make it “dump” at his request.

Abram loved the big water slide. Alex was fascinated with the mechanism for taking the boats up and down. Alex eventually rode this once but didn’t want to do it again. (I think the biggest issue was he couldn’t sit in my lap and had to sit in his own “seat” in front.)

The rest of the time was spent on the playground in the water and on the lazy river. The boys had a great time splashing and running. (Too bad I no longer have my waterproof camera!)

By the time we got ready to leave both boys were worn out!

We got everyone dressed and in the car. Both boys managed to stay awake till we got home and then took 3 hour plus naps.

Wade has been working hard on his shop. I loved his idea for how to store his power tools:

Springy Snowman has been with us since the first Christmas we got married. I don’t remember all of the particulars, but Grant (a good friend from college) bought him for Wade. They both felt that Springy Snowman should stay in the living room year round. The first year he did. Every year since Wade and I have had an on-going discussion. Most of the time now I just quietly take him to the basement and hope Wade doesn’t notice. He noticed yesterday and has since made it very plain that he doesn’t agree. I’ve tried a compromise, such as having him live in the shop or Wade’s office. I am told by Wade that that is unacceptable. Wade has now recruited Alex to the debate. When we go in the basement Alex immediately goes to Springy Snowman and talks to him. I’m winning this one for now, but I’m not sure how long (meaning years) it will continue….

There was a football game today (Packers versus Bears) so we invited a bunch of our friends over. It was a full house with lots of food and lots of fun!

And who doesn’t love a picture of an adorable baby? Maggie is getting so big!

I love to listen to Wade and Alex in the shop. I can hear the murmur of voices through the floor and words clearly when they are excited. I heard enough that I snuck downstairs with my camera to see Alex wanting an apron just like Daddy had. Then he wanted glasses too.

Then I went upstairs to do other things and left the camera on the work table. When I was going through the pictures I found these taken by Wade:

It was extremely cold today (high of 6 degrees) so I wasn’t excited about driving anywhere (like the gym). Abram invited Alex to play and walking across the street seemed like a great idea. The boys had a lot of fun playing “construction”

The boys love to play on Abram’s firetruck bed and even more fun is his “hose” (the blue noodle):

Then the party moved downstairs and we played Elefun before trying out Abram’s music station.

Alex is obsessed with “nails” as he calls nail clippers. He doesn’t actually want his nails cut, but he wants to pretend to cut his nails. I think part of the allure is that he isn’t allowed in the drawer where the clippers live. Silly boy….

Everyone should have a best friend right across the street.

Nope. The dog and cat do not have matching toys. You are just seeing things.

Instead of our traditional birthday muffins, we started the day with birthday donuts. This was Alex’s first trip to a Krispy Kreme and he was fascinated by the donut process.

The last time Alex had an option of a donut with sprinkles (see here), he chose a hard-boiled egg. This time he gobbled up the donut:

After birthday dinner we had birthday trifle. (I got lazy with the candles. Wade is celebrating his 32nd.) I knew Wade would love it, but I was shocked to see Alex gobble it up and ask for seconds.

Then it was time for presents. Alex provided great sound effects. He would ooh and ahh appropriately as each gift was being unwrapped.

Happy Birthday Elise and German!

Wade has decided to reorganize his shop so we spent a good bit of the weekend down there. Alex always has fun exploring and imitating:

We haven’t gotten any “big snows” this year, but the few inches here and there have started to add up. Last night we got a couple of fresh inches and decided to play today. Alex was not very excited – even with his shovel:

Eventually we got him into his car and he loved going fast on the sidewalks:

Then I showed him how much fun Madison had on the inner tube.

He finally agreed to give it a try

Alex was feeling great today so we decided to go and play. We tried The Big Backyard (and indoor jungle gym and play area) and he had a blast!

For my favorite picture of the outing see here.

We’ve had a rough week at our house. Wade was sick all last week and on Sunday diagnosed with pneumonia (he’s better now). Alex (at 23 months) has had his first real bug. He got sick Monday morning (and we both changed clothes six times during the day) and has been out of sorts all week. He seemed fine yesterday and had a normal energy level. I was so excited for Mother’s Day Out today and a return to our normal routine. Alex had other ideas and was sick again this morning. Poor guy. He spent a lot of time on the couch sleeping and watching “monsters” (Sesame Street). I have high hopes for tomorrow.

Abram came to play today. The boys are getting so big and are slowly learning to play together (as opposed to parallel play).

In completely unrelated news, Wade built us a boot rack. Good-bye plastic tray that is always in the way!

Alex was sick yesterday and spent most of today recovering. I knew he wasn’t 100 percent when he didn’t immediately jump at the chance to shovel. He did eventually get excited and I quickly turned him into a marshmallow.

Then we practiced our shoveling

Alex eventually got bored of shoveling and wanted his car. He thought it was great fun for me to push him on the part of the sidewalk that was cleared before he ran into the snow banks. Then he wanted to do a little pushing himself

This is what I love about living in Milwaukee.

Even our cat is a football fan. That leaves the house 3 (Wade, Alex, and Tabit) to 2 (Madison and me).

The Milwaukee Public Museum has an exhibit on frogs that I have been wanting to see. Wade (who has been sick all week) was excited about an outing so we headed downtown. Although the exhibit was okay, I didn’t think it was spectacular.

Alex loved it and is still saying “frog” and “ribbit” constantly.

Riley invited Abram and Alex to Monkey Joe’s to celebrate his birthday. I was excited to return and watch Alex enjoy all the fun (last time he was grumpy). This time started out pretty much like last time. He wanted nothing to do with the bouncing but loved the arcade area:

Monkey Joe’s has all types of bouncy things, but mostly slides. Abram is big enough to go down by himself, but Riley and Alex need a little help. Alex was content to do this once or twice and then wouldn’t go near it. Back to the arcades he went.

Then we had pizza and presents. Alex was REALLY upset that he couldn’t play with Riley’s new firetruck.

Then suddenly Alex ran off and immediately entered one of the bounce areas. I guess he just had to warm up and do it on his own time. The boys had a blast the rest of the day: