Alex at 21 Months

Hi friends! Our little man is almost two years old and a ton of fun! Here he is selling lemonade with the neighbor kids (although he did more spilling than helping)

We spend lots of weekend time at playgrounds. Alex loves sand, loves slides, loves climbing.... and generally loves being outdoors.

And it's so nice to enjoy a little sliver of nature in our very urban neighborhood.

Why can I never seem to capture him smiling on camera?

We finally had a play date with little Grace Ayala! It was the first time she and Alex had met. Her mommy Mikaela is my dear friend from Santa Cruz and my college roommate. They live in Southern CA but just far enough away that we had never been able to coordinate a visit. We met one Saturday afternoon at KidSpace in Pasadena (I'll omit the details about Alex throwing up in the car on the way there). We had a really nice visit and it was so cute to see them playing together!

Elmo! Our little friend Sara had Elmo at her 2nd birthday party. It was such a great idea and so much fun for everyone....except Alex! He was terrified. He finally worked up the courage to ask Elmo for a balloon animal and we were so proud. Papa even bought him a Tickle Me Elmo and Alex will have nothing to do with it!

Playing with his little friend Simon! This was our first glimpse of Alex not sharing quite so well. I'm afraid he's about to hit those terrible twos and my sweet little boy will disappear. I know establishing independence is a necessary part of his development, but I can't help not looking forward to it.

Swimming with Tia Shassel! Alex loves the water and has a blast in the pool!

After 8 fun months with us, Tia Shassel moved back to Mexico. We had lots of fun with her and were sad to see her go. She was amazingly helpful watching Alex and really helped me transition back to working full time, knowing that my little boy was in such good hands.

Of course Alex didn't understand what it meant that Tia Shas was leaving, so he was all giggles. In fact it wasn't until he saw her on Skype a few days later that he seemed to be confused.

Alex is now going to a small, home day care near our house. There are only 9 kids there all under 3 years old. The first couple of days he was curious and happy to be at day care. Then he seemed to realize that I was leaving him when we got to day care and he was really clingy. But by the third week he was fully transitioned and now jumps out of the car and runs into day care. I'm lucky if I even get him to blow me a kiss before I leave.

Playing with Alex's best friend, Bacon...

Counting my favorite Alex things lately...

1) Every night when I get home from work he wants to go out for a walk. He grabs his beany and says "hat, hat" and heads to the door!

2) On our walks he picks flowers and gives them to me! ( I know, I know, I melt every time!)

3) He now says shoes, socks, head, star, chi chi, moooo (for cows)

4) At bedtime we climb into bed, turn on the reading lamp and read stories cuddling while he drinks his bottle (it's my favorite part of the day!)

5) He LOVES his Papa! And he knows his Papa will buy him whatever he wants. When we're out shopping and he finds something he wants he ignores me entirely and howls "Pa-pa!" at the top of his lungs. Then goes running to find Papa.

Sigh. So cute, this little boy!