As some of you may know, Alex chooses to speak in Alexeese and a bit of English. He has decided that English is not for him and therefore has forced his mother (me) to become bilingual. Of course this language would not be marketable on my resume or serve anyone else but there it is. One English word he likes is 'poop'. He recently has chosen to describe any food that looks suspicious as 'poop'. What he really means is yucky but thinks poop is a lot funnier. Recently we served Alex some chicken enchiladas which he quickly announced was poop! We tried to show him that it was good but he refused to take a bite until daddy put ketchup on it! Alex loves sauce and thanks to daddy just a little bit of special sauce led to Alex devouring his dinner.
Alex has taken to hording. Now I know for a fact he gets this from my side, traced back to my maternal grandmother. He hordes blankets, toys and anything else he finds interesting. He is attempting to be like his cousin Clara by hording as many items as he can in hopes of taking them to bed. Thankfully I put a stop to this early on. Although he has been successful at hording blankets. He usually has 5 blankets in his bed, although he never sleeps with a blanket over his body. He's unusually protective of blankets as well. Uncle Danny and I set-up a fort for Alex this week. I was expecting him to be excited (as you'll see why in the next section) but he was very concerned about the fact that 'his' blankets were all being used in this fashion. So he tore down the blankets and dragged them underneath his slide.
Alex has taken to hiding. He loves to hid underneath and inside furniture. He will spend a minimum of 10 minutes a day hiding somewhere. One favorite spot is on his rug underneath his crib with what else but a blanket and a book. His other common hiding place is inside the bench. It sits in our sunroom/mudroom and has sliding doors for the space underneath. He slides a door back, crawls in and lays down on some coats for a while. Usually talking on his cell phone. The first time I heard him inside there I was afraid he was stuck, but he can open the doors just fine from the inside as well. It's his favorite spot to call daddy from I guess or do some other business.
These are a just a few of the things he has recently done that I find rather humorous. Not to mention that it's nice to have a 10 minute break every once in a while while he goes and hides. I promise I check on him every few minutes but he usually refuses to come out.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
California Vacation: Saturday Morning
I woke up earlier than anyone else on Saturday morning and wandered downstairs. The backyard was already bathed in sunlight so I brought my Bible and prayer journal out there and was able to spend a very peaceful half hour reading and praying.
After that the kids woke up and the wondrous chaos of double family life ensued.
Here's Alex, still trying to wake up.
In the morning Hannah was gone for a while teaching, so Sarah and Jeremy and I took the kids down to the campus center again to visit the farmers market and to play amongst the trees and frolic in the grass.
On a side note, Alex has become obsessed with doors recently. He either desperately wants to open them if they're closed or he feels like he has to close them, especially if we'd like to leave them open. Here he is trying to open some office doors near the campus center.
Watching the kids play reminded me of Alex's uncle Tom's childhood ways. As a toddler Tom used to like nothing better than the attention of a young lady. When we used to camp together as family he would go missing sometimes on his tricycle, but we always knew we could find him at the site with a teenage girl. There weren't any teenagers at the play area but Alex was pretty happy playing with all the little girls, and some of them who were a few years older than him seemed to think he was the cutest thing ever. He really didn't have much of a choice on whether to play with girls or boys I guess, since the ratio was about 10 to 1.
As we were playing uncle Tom himself was beginning his drive from Phoenix, Arizona to see us.
After that the kids woke up and the wondrous chaos of double family life ensued.
Here's Alex, still trying to wake up.
In the morning Hannah was gone for a while teaching, so Sarah and Jeremy and I took the kids down to the campus center again to visit the farmers market and to play amongst the trees and frolic in the grass.
On a side note, Alex has become obsessed with doors recently. He either desperately wants to open them if they're closed or he feels like he has to close them, especially if we'd like to leave them open. Here he is trying to open some office doors near the campus center.
Watching the kids play reminded me of Alex's uncle Tom's childhood ways. As a toddler Tom used to like nothing better than the attention of a young lady. When we used to camp together as family he would go missing sometimes on his tricycle, but we always knew we could find him at the site with a teenage girl. There weren't any teenagers at the play area but Alex was pretty happy playing with all the little girls, and some of them who were a few years older than him seemed to think he was the cutest thing ever. He really didn't have much of a choice on whether to play with girls or boys I guess, since the ratio was about 10 to 1.
As we were playing uncle Tom himself was beginning his drive from Phoenix, Arizona to see us.
Monday, March 16, 2009
California Vacation: Friday
Friday morning we got up at 4:40 AM Chicago time so we could catch our 7 AM flight to LAX. We caught the flight handily and even got to see the Grand Canyon in the morning light along the way:
At this point you may be wondering why we were going to California. I'll tell you. We were going to California to visit Sarah's sister Hannah and her husband Jeremy and their two daughters Clara and Ruthie. We had tens of thousands of frequent flier miles left over from Australia, and Alex was just about 2 years old so he wouldn't be able to qualify as a "lap child" much longer, so we decided to ditch the ice and snow for a few days and hang out with some well loved family.
So as it often happens at the end of our flight we were there! California! Sun! Warmth!
It was wonderful.
Hannah and Ruthie picked us up and we rolled on back to their house across the street from the campus of the University of California Irvine, where Jeremy is a professor of Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic. Here are a few tastes of our arrival:
The kids warmed right up to each other - Alex and Ruthie are almost two and Clara is four. I think it's been about a year since they've seen each other.
After the kids woke up from their post lunch naps we took a walk down to the university campus center where we got some frozen yogurt and watched the kids play in the park area.
Sarah does not mess around when it comes to Alex trying to jump into fountains:
That evening we had a nice dinner at home, played with the kids outside, and went to bed early.
At this point you may be wondering why we were going to California. I'll tell you. We were going to California to visit Sarah's sister Hannah and her husband Jeremy and their two daughters Clara and Ruthie. We had tens of thousands of frequent flier miles left over from Australia, and Alex was just about 2 years old so he wouldn't be able to qualify as a "lap child" much longer, so we decided to ditch the ice and snow for a few days and hang out with some well loved family.
So as it often happens at the end of our flight we were there! California! Sun! Warmth!
It was wonderful.
Hannah and Ruthie picked us up and we rolled on back to their house across the street from the campus of the University of California Irvine, where Jeremy is a professor of Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic. Here are a few tastes of our arrival:
The kids warmed right up to each other - Alex and Ruthie are almost two and Clara is four. I think it's been about a year since they've seen each other.
After the kids woke up from their post lunch naps we took a walk down to the university campus center where we got some frozen yogurt and watched the kids play in the park area.
Sarah does not mess around when it comes to Alex trying to jump into fountains:
That evening we had a nice dinner at home, played with the kids outside, and went to bed early.
California Vacation: Thursday
We were supposed to fly out of Grand Rapids at about 7:40 PM on Thursday night. We were supposed to connect in Chicago and take the last flight of the day to LAX. It may come as a shocking surprise to you, but that didn't happen.
Our flight out of Grand Rapids taxied into take off position about a half hour behind schedule and waited for the good word from Chicago to take off (Chicago was holding us off due to rain and strong winds). We ended up waiting on the runway for what seemed, especially to Alex, like forever, but was probably more like an hour.
It really wasn't too bad, especially since Alex had a grand old time cavorting around the mostly empty rear portion of the plane and making friends with the flight attendant and several passengers. He did have one near disaster when his feet slipped off the armrest he was climbing on and he found himself diving head first toward the floor while his mother and the flight attendant watched in horror. I saw it happening in slow motion and my body was taken over by a kind of papa superpower as my arms neatly inserted themselves under his freefalling body with the speed of lightning, swooped him up softly as his hair brushed the floor, and flipped him back up to the safety generally reserved only for those standing upright on solid ground.
Eventually we did take off. This gave us a chance to think with great concern about our connecting flight in Chicago, but we were reassured by the flight crew that all the flights out of Chicago were also delayed, and that we would be fine.
When we got to O'Hare Sarah threw Alex in the carry pack, front style, and we rushed to the nearest flight monitor. It showed that our flight to LAX was currently boarding. So we ran 0.4 miles (at the least, I just measured it on Google Earth) with all our luggage from our arrival gate in Terminal G to our departure gate in Terminal H. When we arrived the gate was closed, the flight was gone, and we were very, very sweaty and very, very disappointed.
We ended up staying the night in a Holiday Inn Express at the "distressed passenger" rate. Our stay lasted about 6 hours since we caught the first flight out to LAX in the morning. Alex and Sarah were able to sleep pretty well but I ended up tossing and turning the night away.
Overall we figured it really didn't work out too badly (except for the whole lack of sleep thing). Had our flights all gone as planned we would have been getting into LAX at 11 PM California time, with an hour car ride to Jeremy and Hannah's place in Irvine where we would have hit the sack immediately. As it ended up we got into LAX at 9:30 AM California time on Friday and were able to spend an hour in the car soaking in the sun and scenery on the way down to Irvine.
Our flight out of Grand Rapids taxied into take off position about a half hour behind schedule and waited for the good word from Chicago to take off (Chicago was holding us off due to rain and strong winds). We ended up waiting on the runway for what seemed, especially to Alex, like forever, but was probably more like an hour.
It really wasn't too bad, especially since Alex had a grand old time cavorting around the mostly empty rear portion of the plane and making friends with the flight attendant and several passengers. He did have one near disaster when his feet slipped off the armrest he was climbing on and he found himself diving head first toward the floor while his mother and the flight attendant watched in horror. I saw it happening in slow motion and my body was taken over by a kind of papa superpower as my arms neatly inserted themselves under his freefalling body with the speed of lightning, swooped him up softly as his hair brushed the floor, and flipped him back up to the safety generally reserved only for those standing upright on solid ground.
Eventually we did take off. This gave us a chance to think with great concern about our connecting flight in Chicago, but we were reassured by the flight crew that all the flights out of Chicago were also delayed, and that we would be fine.
When we got to O'Hare Sarah threw Alex in the carry pack, front style, and we rushed to the nearest flight monitor. It showed that our flight to LAX was currently boarding. So we ran 0.4 miles (at the least, I just measured it on Google Earth) with all our luggage from our arrival gate in Terminal G to our departure gate in Terminal H. When we arrived the gate was closed, the flight was gone, and we were very, very sweaty and very, very disappointed.
We ended up staying the night in a Holiday Inn Express at the "distressed passenger" rate. Our stay lasted about 6 hours since we caught the first flight out to LAX in the morning. Alex and Sarah were able to sleep pretty well but I ended up tossing and turning the night away.
Overall we figured it really didn't work out too badly (except for the whole lack of sleep thing). Had our flights all gone as planned we would have been getting into LAX at 11 PM California time, with an hour car ride to Jeremy and Hannah's place in Irvine where we would have hit the sack immediately. As it ended up we got into LAX at 9:30 AM California time on Friday and were able to spend an hour in the car soaking in the sun and scenery on the way down to Irvine.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
We're Back!
Brian, Alex & I flew to California last Thursday night and arrived Friday morning. Let's just say we ran a long ways (with Alex strapped to me) to miss our connection & then sleep 4 hours in a hotel. But everything went smoothly otherwise.
Best vacation in a long time! It was so good to see my sister and her family. Alex slept like a champ and followed the girls' schedule so it made life a breeze. The weather was beautiful, we ate lots of frozen yogurt and as usual Hannah cooked up some delicious food. We got to see the rich & surgically enhanced, God's beautiful beaches and collect a few rolly pollies for Alex's bug box. We spent every day outside enjoying the sun. Alex wouldn't even eat breakfast until after he got to enjoy the backyard. Hannah's house is beautiful and it is always wonderful to go somewhere where you don't have to pack much because they already have it all! Go Heis's!
Tom drove to over to see us on Saturday. It was so great to see him & Alex went to him right away. He even said I love you to Tom as he left! That is the only time he's ever said it. :)
Well I'm sure Brian will post lots of pictures on his flickr account and some here. Thanks to the Heis's for such a wonderful time, we wish you lived closer so we could crash your place more often.
Best vacation in a long time! It was so good to see my sister and her family. Alex slept like a champ and followed the girls' schedule so it made life a breeze. The weather was beautiful, we ate lots of frozen yogurt and as usual Hannah cooked up some delicious food. We got to see the rich & surgically enhanced, God's beautiful beaches and collect a few rolly pollies for Alex's bug box. We spent every day outside enjoying the sun. Alex wouldn't even eat breakfast until after he got to enjoy the backyard. Hannah's house is beautiful and it is always wonderful to go somewhere where you don't have to pack much because they already have it all! Go Heis's!
Tom drove to over to see us on Saturday. It was so great to see him & Alex went to him right away. He even said I love you to Tom as he left! That is the only time he's ever said it. :)
Well I'm sure Brian will post lots of pictures on his flickr account and some here. Thanks to the Heis's for such a wonderful time, we wish you lived closer so we could crash your place more often.
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