Ahead of the Fashion Curve

Tonight Alex helped pick her outfit for sleeping.
I thought the choice rather bold... the pigs and the cars are quite a compliment!
Then she topped it off with the sneakers, which was a daring and difficult look to achieve because on the footies on the piggy pajamas!
She was more than willing to pose for a picture for me! She even choose the location... "Outside" she said!

She is too cute!

18 month checkup...

Friday was Alexandra's 18 month checkup with the pediatrician. Michele couldn't get out of her endless schedule of meetings and the doc was booked through Haley's Comet, so it was just she and I. During her one year appointment, at which she screamed like a banshee the entire time, the doctor told us that the 12 and 18 month checkups were the worst. "She'll hate me this time and next... then we'll be friends again." I recalled her saying, and so entered this visit with appropriate resignation.

And for good reason. The waiting room was fine... and she was the star of the show as always. Cute, playing, talking... polite and charming, especially as compared to the others little monsters. She was happy and inquisitive. Then we entered the exam room.

She started crying and oozing her little crocodile tears before the door even closed. My shirt was soaked with tears, saliva, and snot before I could even get her dress off. Took some measurements... tracking right on schedule, just under 25 pounds. 75-95th percentile in all categories. Healthy lungs to boot.

At one point the doctor left the room to take off her white coat in hopes that it would calm Alex down. No dice. She then went into the hallway and asked me questions about development with only her head stuck through the door. Scream, cry, scream. She finally gave up her attempts at appeasement and just finished the exam as quickly as possible. Everything looked good... healthy baby if not happy.

As soon as we left the exam room Alex was fine. She knew that there were animal crackers at this point and started signing please before they could even offer. She sniffled, wiped her tears and was ready to be cute again.

Hopefully the doctor is right and this is just a short term issue. Otherwise, I may have some meeting that I can't get out of in six months or so...

One down...

One year ago this morning Michele had her very successful surgery to remove what little was left of her tumor... today Michele has been cancer free for one year!!

It all seems like a blur now, but it has been only a year since she kicked the shit out of cancer. Part of me wants to forget it ever happened. But part of me wants to remember every moment so that I never forget how great she was, she is... she will be for the rest of our long lives together.

Happy anniversary Michele... thanks for being the strongest, bravest, rock'n'rollinest chick in the world!!

Big, messy girl...

Alex has been increasingly insistent that she be allowed to eat everything under her own power lately. She is getting better with a fork, only needing occasional assistance with stabbing rolly-polly foods. She eats cheese, toast, and sandwiches without having to cut them up. She loves to eat with a spoon, but hasn't quite mastered the logistics...

Spotter...

Who says you can't schedule a workout when you have a one year old?



(BTW... nas & na = mas = more... aw don = all done)

Owside...

Alex loves to be outside... to the point that whenever we are inside she alternately brings you her shoes, brings you her hat, and/or says "owside, owside, owside" until you finally give in.

Luckily she is very helpful these days. Yesterday, with help and guidance of Bob, Robin, and Ethan, we took down the huge, rotting, ugly arborvitaes between our house and the neighbors. Alex was out there with us, helping when she could, for the whole day.

And she loves watering plants more than anything in the world right now. Everyday when we either get home from daycare or decide it's time she and a I water all the plants together. I ask her if she wants to water the plants and she runs to the garage to get her little watering can and my big one. We fill them out of the rain barrel and we water plants (and she waters the ground, the deck, herself, etc.). When the water runs out, she is none too pleased...

First harvest...

We harvested our first produce from the veg garden the other day, and had a very nice mixed green salad...

Got the fever...

I was called away from work this morning (oh darn) to pick up a feverish Alex from daycare. Poor little thing was happily enjoying music time and rockin' a 101 temperature when I got there... she didn't want to leave. Now, I finally got her to go to sleep at 5pm... her nap time is scheduled for 11:30am... ugh. We had to sit in the doctor's office waiting room for an hour, but at least it produced a cute story...

While waiting Alex was still in a pretty good mood in spite of being a little oven. She was all over, checking out the fish, playing with the toys, reading books. She sat down at the little table and played with some blocks. After a while she decided to throw the blocks on the floor. "Uh oh." she said. A packed room full of mothers giggled and stared at me, wondering what I would do. My end of the dialog went something like this, "Alexandra, 'ugh oh' is generally reserved for when things fall accidentally, not when you throw them. Now please get off the chair, pick the blocks up, and put them back on the table." Now the moms were giggling at me... with smirks that said "if it were that easy our kids would not be tearing down that bookshelf and making kindling out of it." And then to everyone's shock (except me of course), Alex got up, picked up the blocks, put them on the table and then politely asked me for help getting back in the chair (elp)... and threw in the sign for please, unprompted.

If I would have had cards that said: Wes Harrington, Baby Whisperer, I would have had ten new clients. Man I love how that baby makes me seem competent sometimes.

Michele's garden...

...is rockin'! After five years it has really taken off on it's own. She has planted very little new stuff this year... but just look at it...

Training skeelz... Update...

Alex peed in the toilet this morning! She has been spending a fair bit of time sitting there reading, but this is the first real action. It may have been coincidence, or the sound of the shower that I was taking, but the urine flowed and we cheered loudly and she smiled.

Shiver me timbers...

Alexandra saw the ocean for the first time last week in Maine... she was awed, bored, or scared of it depending on her mood.

You have got to be sh!##ing me...

When we planted our vegetable garden this year for the first time we knew that we might have to worry about some nature trying to bogart our crop. You know... bunnies, chipmunks, Chuck. But, if you would have told me that I would come home from work and find three peahens (female peacocks) gallivanting, cavorting, and tearing up my kale, I would not have believed it. But...