Happy New Year!

We spent part of our New Year's Eve visiting Zoo Lights, which is becoming a winter tradition. It was cold, but we had lots of fun, and we were able to take refuge in the Lion House to warm up and see all the big cats. The leopards and jaguars were pacing, and the tiger showed off his roar and his jumping abilities. Alex also had a nice surprise by running into his friend Cecily.

Happy new year to you all from the three of us!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa C's

We had a fun Christmas trip and enjoyed visiting with almost all of my side of the family (we missed you Paula and Brian). Here's an assortment of photos.

Happy Grandma, happy boy, and happy cow!

Family photo in the tent

Toddler bowling

Two AJs on a chair

Cousin Forrest is so big!

Alex loves his block robot



Big thank you hug for cousin Anna

Riding high on Uncle Mark's shoulders

Helping Grandpa with his papers

Holiday Time!

The seventh night of Hanukkah brought a cool present from Aunt Mindy, Uncle Shawn, Joshua, and Seth -- a color matching game called Hisss. (Thanks to my co-worker Marsha for the tip about this game.) Alex had lots of fun with the snakes before going to bed.





The stockings my mom made are now hanging on the mantel. Alex, however, has decided that they are "Snowman socks."

Playdate Fun

Alex's friend Zoe came over to play today, and a great time was had by all! We could hardly get them both to look at the camera at the same time. They were having too much fun to stand still for pictures.

Making music!



They shared very nicely together, especially in the kitchen where they made drinks for each other.



Everyone loves Crayons (even Dave)!



Having a snack with Curious George.

Happy Hanukkah!

We had a fun evening, and Alex loved his first present -- a book, of course. We're all looking forward to having latkes tomorrow.

Happy Hanukkah from Dave, Lois, and Alex!

Trimming the Curls

Alex had his third haircut yesterday, which was his first one since his hair got really curly. You can see all the ringlets on the floor. It didn't turn out too bad for a DIY cut, and he still has some curls left.

Thanksgiving Fun!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Diamond family. Good company and good food (despite the oven breaking!) were enjoyed by all. Alex had so much fun with everyone and especially adored his cousins and their dog, Max. He didn't quite understand that Max can't hear so well and doesn't really follow orders from a two year old, but he finally realized that he could pet Max and they bonded that way, as well as over treats.

Here are some pictures of the cousins.

Joshua read lots of books to Alex and became his hero.



The boys had lots of fun playing music together.



I think Alex would have taken home all of Seth's stuffed animals if we would have let him. Seth was kind enough to send a little, black doggie home with us.

Following up on our guest post about Alex's first sleepover, Alex's friend Cecily stayed over here last night, and the kids had tons of fun! Here are some of the highlights.

Playing pretend -- yummy!



Fun under the rainbow!

They've started a band!

Glow sticks are the perfect way to end an evening.

A little bike riding in the neighborhood on a beautiful fall day.

Catching Up

I've gotten a bit behind on posting, so I will share a couple of stories and then we'll have a guest blog entry!

Alex is very concerned with the end of Daylight Savings Time. Ever since the clocks turned back it has been dark when we pick him up from school. For the first couple of weeks, he commented every night on the ride home about it being "dark outside." He really does not like it and wants to know where the light is. We have tried to explain it to him, but it's a fairly abstract concept, so it's taking a while to sink in. We have only just gotten to the point where he may go a night or two without commenting on it.

He's also been really into singing lately. He will often ask to sing specific songs and has even started making up songs that he wants us to sing. "Sing the football song. Sing the jumping song." Now maybe these are songs he knows from school that we don't know, but when we ask him to sing them he just insists that we sing the song. Fortunately, we do know most of the songs he wants to sing, including his latest favorite, the Iowa Fight Song.

Alex had his first sleepover a couple of weeks ago, so here is a guest post from Cecily's mom about all the fun they had. We are looking forward to having Cecily over to our house for the next sleepover for lots of chasing, giggling, and playing!

The Menagerie

Alex is very lucky to have some talented knitters in the family. Grandma C. and his cousin Carolyn have made him some beautiful toys. The menagerie now includes a rabbit, an elephant, a turtle, a penguin, three mice, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and a hampster in a beret, who we named Hubert. Alex has decided that the elephant's name is Tuffy. We have absolutely no idea where this came from, but it's stuck. Thanks Grandma and Carolyn!!

Our Little Monkey

Alex had a Harvest Party at school today and got to wear his monkey costume for the very first time. He really liked it and had a lot of fun. They even painted his face to go with the costume.

Go Hawks!

We had a great trip to Iowa. Lots of fun with friends and family, even though we sadly failed to get pictures with some of them. Alex enjoyed seeing his friend Olivia again and meeting her new siblings, Henry and Audrey. He got to see the Iowa Homecoming parade and had plenty of opportunities to say "Go Hawks!" (which he says pretty much everytime he sees the Hawkeye symbol).

He loved playing with his cousins and having them read to him. He also got stories from Grandpa and the (now) annual trip to the apple orchard with Grandma.

We even saw our first snow of the season!

Playing in Iowa City. Whee, slide!



Watching the parade with Daddy.



Bedtime stories from Grandpa.



Feeding goats from a bucket.



It's very high up there.



Posing with Grandma.



Fun with pumpkins!

Three Sisters (not by Chekov)

Both of my sisters were over yesterday, and Alex had a great time with his Aunties. He was a little squirmy for the pictures, but we managed to get a few smiles.

Wanna Shoot Some Hoops?

Alex's cousins got him a basketball hoop for his birthday. As you can see, he loves it! We could barely get him away from it to eat lunch. Our visit to the doctor's office this week would indicate that he's not likely to be an NBA star (his predicted adult height is 5' 8" based on his 2 year old height of 34"), but it's still fun to play.

Look Who's Two!

Happy birthday Alex!

Farm in the Zoo Open House

We had a fun time today at the Farm in the Zoo Open House. There were all sorts of special activities and opportunities to see the animals even more closely than usual. Although all Alex could talk about as we walked to the Farm was getting to touch the animals, once he had the chance he got a bit shy. We walked around in the goat yard, but only Mommy and Daddy petted the goats. We saw the ponies "lunging," which really was just touching a ball on a stick and following other commands, and we got to see the new piglets (not even two months old) playing. We learned about worms and composting, but Alex only wanted Daddy to hold the worms rather than trying it himself. We walked through a large garden with all sorts of vegetables. But Alex's favorite parts of the adventure were getting to "drive" a tractor and feeding the cows. He liked the cow feeding so much we went through the line three times!

Worms!

Alex really liked driving the tractor, but the first thing he asked when he got in the cab was to turn on the radio!

This was right before the cow grabbed the bundle of hay out of his hand. If you look closely, you can see the cow's tounge starting to wrap around the hay.

Riding Around the Neighborhood

The video quality isn't the best because it was off of the phone, but it's worth it for the ending. We took Alex out for a ride on his Scoot About today, and it was a lot of fun for all of us. We went around the entire block (with a couple of pit stops to play with some neighborhood kids and then in a sprinkler). He did great with the turns and even figured out how to navigate big bumps in the sidewalk.

Family Fun

We had a great weekend with all of my family this weekend in New Harmony. (It was actually all of us -- 20 in total!) Alex had so much fun playing with everyone and in the rain. Two nice people gave him bubbles and a bell from a wedding that was being held there on Saturday. It was such a treat to see everyone!

And Alex gives a special shout out to Uncle Mark for his 50th birthday!