Birthday Still a Hit

A month late, only half the presents because we gave him most of them already, Mommy is still sick, the guests are really late and the food wasn't what we expected.

And Alex was still thrilled with his pirate balloons, his new Guido toy and, especially, his kitchen.

He had waited outside with Grandma while Dan and I put it all in place. When he came in and spotted part of the kitchen, Dan told him it was from Grandma and Grandpa. He was thrilled to see it and ran to test all of the features out. After about 10 minutes of playing, he turned around and looked at Orquidea. He said 'Grandma!' and ran to hug her.

Apparently he understood what Dan had explained. He was thanking her for his new, cool kitchen.

Saturday, April 24

Pirate Identity Regained

Yesterday, while Alex, Grandma and I walked to Powell's, I talked to Alex about his upcoming birthday party. I referred to Powell's as 'Captain Salty Dog's', as opposed to the Barnacle which we call 'Jolly Joe's'. This led to a discussion of Alex's pirate name which is, of course 'Captain Salty Dog'.

'No,' he said 'I'm Captain Thunderstorm!'

I said that that wasn't much of a pirate name. That was more of a superhero name. He insisted that this was his name now, even his pirate name.

Today, after I had ordered the seafood catering for his pirate party and had come back with cakes I expect to assemble as deserted tropical islands for his party tomorrow, I checked one more time.

'Who is Captain Salty Dog?', I asked him.

'Me!' he said while he dashed into his bedroom.

Whew! Saved the pirate interest for one more weekend. I was afraid that after having had to postpone the party for a month, we had missed the pirate window and gone straight into superhero mode.

Friday, April 23"

A Bright Day!

Yesterday, the 22nd, was the first time I was able to be out and about at several activities in about a month's time. Feeling so much better that day, I decided to make the best of it with Alex. First, he wanted to do Arts and Crafts that day, so we painted and colored in our Special Book. Then, I'd known that I wanted to investigate Powell's for catering for Alex's birthday party. So, I proposed that we all go out for a snack in the afternoon.

Of course, Alex didn't want to come home after the snack at Powell's. I was surprised to feel that I could keep going. So, we all went to the park! Alex, Grandma and I had a wonderful time while Alex showed off a whole bunch of new skills on the jungle gym.

He climbed to the top of the structure by himself and took himself down the big corkscrew slide. He'd tried to make friends and play with a boy a few months younger named Timmy, but Timmy was slightly behind Alex's social skills and wasn't yet up to interactive play. (How quickly we forget just how recent Alex's skills are.)

So, Alex asked Mommy to come up to the slide. 'Mommy, are you coming up? Come slide down with me!'

I told him that he didn't need me to help him with this any longer, but he actually wanted me to play. Cool!

Friday, April 23"

Quite the Conversationalist

Yesterday morning, I'd promised Alex that we would go to Trotta's together to choose a kickball and some new gardening equipment for him. After I came back from meeting some friends for lunch in Manhattan, we took our walk.

He was far more interested in the cars than he was the gardening equipment. Only a promise of his upcoming birthday party got him away from those. But after we were able to select a bug catcher, a watering can, some mini-plant growing sets and a ladybug kickball, we set off back for home.

That was when Alex grew interested in the bugs, plants and birds around us. After we spotted a robin, he wanted to hold his new bug catcher. I explained that it was for bugs and not birds, so he looked for bugs to catch.

He talked about plants and ants and how ants can't fly, but butterflies can. He talks about our walking home and our birdhouse. He talked about fire engines and asked were they were. He talked about Daddy.

All in all, we had a great little conversation on our little shopping trip. What a chatter he's become!

Wednesday, April 21"

People Person

Yesterday was the first day I was able to go out for a while without getting exhausted. All week long, I had promised Alex that we would go to the 'garden store' to choose a plant for our garden this year. I had hoped to be able to walk all the way to Mangone's nursery on Boston Post Road and then to a nearby restaurant for a snack. I'm thrilled to report that we did just that and I wasn't feeling like I'd been run over by a train at the end of it.

In any event, Alex was thrilled to be at 'the plant store'. He loved seeing the plants and the gardening equipment. He recalled being there last May for Mother's Day when he had chosen a potted cactus as a gift for me. He insisted on going into the covered store part of the shopping area to find another plant just like it. They weren't that stocked on inventory yet.

Alex saw an employee there and walked right up to him - presumably to ask where the cactus were. He said 'Hello. My name is Alex.'

We'd never heard him introduce himself to anyone like that before!

Alex is turning into a little people person it seems. Yay!
Monday, April 19"

Some Brief Nostalgia

When I was still at my sickest, I had gone into Alex's room to try to calm him down. I'd heard him crying loudly and he was in a general state of upset and confusion. I sat on the beanbag to be with him, but he didn't want to hug or cuddle. He asked for milk and I told him he could have a sippy of milk, which made him very upset. He wanted a bottle. When I told him that bottles were for babies and that he wasn't a baby anymore, he cried 'I want to be a baby again! I want a bottle. I'm not a big boy! I'm not!'

Poor little guy was probably so scared and confused by my illness, he just wanted to go back to a safer time.

Today, while looking at some old photos, I asked him if he was still my little baby like in the photos. He said definitively 'No! I'm a boy!'. He even insisted that I refer to the photos of him from age 1 on as a 'boy' and not a baby.

Seems that as I get better, so is Alex. Yay!
Saturday, April 10"

Life Interrupted

It's been a two week plus break for my pneumonia. I'll update when I can. I'll be asking Dan to add on when he can as well.
Thursday, April 8"