Year End Photos! Year End Photos!

I got these done at Lollipop in Davie, FL again.  The suit is his, but the hat is theirs.  I think I'm going to have to bring some costume pieces with me next time.  They don't have a selection for kids over size 2T.

Just wanted to share these.

Master of Disguise

Alex is really getting into pretend play and dressing up lately. A week or two ago, he invented "armpads" fashioned from his sandals strapped onto his arms. They become his blaster gloves that way, like Iron Man has. He's also taken to getting into full costumes, like his engineer apron and hat. 

Toot! Toot! Byoo-byuh-byuh -beeyooo! Blast!

I love my boy's imagination.

Sunday, January 2

They Tell Me That I'll Miss This Someday

Alex woke up from his nap just before 3 PM.  He has not yet stopped talking.

It's 9:30 PM.

Plans for 2011

It's a new year! We have new plans. We have new goals!

Mommy wants to get back to exercise and save more money. Daddy wants to improve his skills at his job and eat more vegetables and fruits. And Mommy and Daddy hope to accomplish the following with Alex.

- Potty training
- Preschool lessons
- A regular schedule

We started off today just great. Alex sat on the toilet first thing this morning. He needed a book and some time to be able to do anything. He says he went pee-pee in the potty. Maybe we just need to skip the little potty now.

Good luck everyone!

Saturday, January 1

(written contemptoraneously)

2011 - An Overview

Many of the entries to follow for the first half of 2011 were written in retrospect. The first half of 2011 did not prove kind to our family. What with Calculus, Alex's nap striking, Alex's potty regression, multiple illnesses and even hospitalizations - there was little time to keep up a journal like I used to. Many of these entries are written on the basis of scattered handwritten notes. Others are written on the basis of prompted memory from photos.

So, there will be many utterances forgotten, but some still recorded accurately. After all, life is made up of moments we remember forever and those moments make for a lifetime.

Saturday, January 1

It's Here! It's Here!

Halloween has arrived! It's the day Alex has been asking about all month. With every adventure decked out with jack o'lanterns and spiders and monsters, Alex would ask if it was 'Sunday' yet or if Halloween was here. This morning, I informed him that it finally was!

We took a leisurely morning, because, frankly, Mommy's a bit tuckered out from this month. (She had a midterm on the 26th too.) We didn't head out for our Halloween lunch until 1 PM. We didn't do costumes for ourselves this year because Alex had chosen a superhero costume for himself. We didn't care to pay 50-100 dollars each for superhero costumes. We didn't care to wear a clashing costume. Alex insisted! 'No! Be pirates! You have to!' he cried.

Thankfully, when Mommy had bought her textbook on campus last month, she splurged on some viking helmets at the book store. Alex had insisted then too, that Mommy had to have a viking helmet to go with the one she was buying for him. (SUNY WCC's sports teams are 'the Vikings'.) This left a Viking helmet for Daddy and a slightly-too-small one for Mommy, but at least we had hats.

After a yummy (and necessarily huge) lunch at Applebee's, we set out for Union Avenue. We'd passed by this block last year, learning too late that it is THE block to be on for Halloween in Mamaroneck. The homes there all deck out and get into the Spooky Spirit in full. It seemed, though, that they all kick off at about 5 PM. We had about 90 minutes to kill, so we did some Trick or Treating on Mamaroneck Avenue instead.

The merchants of Mamaroneck Avenue were wonderfully generous this year too. Alex couldn't believe all of the candy he was getting. It took him several stops to get the "Trick or Treat" thing down, but he finally did. When we stopped in one of the Asian delis on the south side of the avenue, she teased him by saying "Trick or Treat!" to him first and saying she'd love some chocolate. Alex dashed back from the counter "No! Not for you!" She still gave him two apples even after his rudeness.


After we reached the end of Mamaroneck Avenue on Halstead again, we walked towards Union Avenue. We reached it at a time when Trick or Treating had begun. The first house we reached was playing some techno spooky stuff to go with their decked out house. Alex thought it was THE coolest thing ever. Then the next house had lots of cool stuff there too. We kept on going.

Then we got to the fourth house. That didn't go so well. It was decked out to the max. Goblins, ghosts, skeletons, witches, monsters, everything. Some of their decorartions were animated and Alex was getting scared already. Then the lady at the top of the deck stairs was nice and gave him candy. He was OK and even started to enjoy seeing a skeleton pirate display. Then, an older kid was exiting down the side stairs when a loud burst of air startled him. They'd set a sound and wind booby trap for guests and the kid yelled out when he was surprised by it. Alex had a total meltdown.
"No! No! No!" he screamed. He started to cry. Daddy picked him up. He wouldn't go down the stairs where it had happened. A little shaken Iron Man trembled as Daddy took him away from the house.

After that, Alex insisted that we go home. We had to walk down that avenue to get home anyway, so we stopped at the "Nice and quiet" houses as Alex would call them. At the last house we'd stopped in, there were no noises - an Alex requirement - but there was a very nice Ming the Merciless there. (Villain foe to Flash Gordon.) He posed for a picture with Alex and Alex seemed to relax. Maybe the scary guys of Halloween aren't ALL scary-wary.

Per Alex request, however, we headed home. He got distracted lots of times on the way there, especially when we stopped at CVS to get our own candy for Trick or Treaters. We had to remind him that he was really, really tired. He finally remembered when we got to West Street and he insisted on being carried. Poor Daddy.

We got home. Moved Malter to his new tank. Got Alex into a warm bath and warm PJs and he went out like a light.

Happy Halloween, Baby! I hope you liked your Halloween-iest October yet!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween Crafts

I asked Alex if he'd like to do some Halloween pictures. He said finally yes! We'd tried to do the craft at the party the day before, but there weren't many stickers left. Mommy grabbed two pumpkin canvases for that we could make them at home. Now we had lots of canvases.

Mommy broke out the Halloween stickers and foam cards she'd picked up a few weeks ago (that Alex insisted we didn't need). We sat down at the coffee table and had a great time making haunted house pictures with ghosts and pumpkins. We even spelled out messages.

Alex wanted me to spell out 'Happy Halloween Iron Man' for his. It took a while, but I found the letters in our big mess of stickers. Alex helped.

Well, if you call swishing all of the letters around the table 'help'.

We got some cool pictures out of it though!

Friday, October 29, 2010