Tour de Parks

Today when we woke up, Alec informed me that he was pretending to be a "clever chicken".  I asked the clever chicken if he would like to explore some new parks, and he clucked emphatically (which I interpreted as "yes").  I printed out a map of all the parks in the Queen Anne neighborhood and we hit the road.


The first park we went to was wedged into a little dead end, with woods and a ravine surrounding it.  Alec went down an extremely steep slide, like I've never seen at another playground.  Then he wanted to go down the 100+ stairs to the bottom of the ravine "on an adventure".  The kid just loves to climb, both up and down.  He did not mind a bit when we got the bottom and had to climb our way back up.  He beat me to the top, in fact.  

Next stop was completely by accident - a park we stumbled across that wasn't even on our map.  Alec insisted on pushing me on the carousel, and then jumping on to join me.  The little daredevil!

Our last stop was a wonderful little park that is terraced into a hillside with views towards Magnolia.  This was by far our favorite park, and we will most certainly return.  The well-thought out equipment, the views, the foliage and the gorgeous homes surrounding it make it hands-down our favorite of the day.  Alec pointed out that there were plenty of bushes at this park, in case I needed to use the bathroom.  I explained to him that although I appreciated him looking out for me, it's not really appropriate for me to be using the park as a restroom.  :)  You can see his red boots in the picture below.  He walking on all fours, pretending to go "lippity lippity" like Peter Rabbit (between the second and third park, he decided he was no longer a clever chicken).

Weekend

As mentioned in my previous post, we got GERBILS this weekend.  Alec's sheer joy and excitement before and after we went to buy them was caught on video (must have Rob show me how to upload a video to the blog).  When he woke up from his nap Friday afternoon, I quietly asked him "Would you like to go pick out your gerbils at Petco?"  He shrieked and proceeded to dance and bounce off the walls until Rob got home.  He could hardly contain his excitement.  It was an easy choice at the pet store, since they only had two gerbils.  We brought them home and set up their cage while Mr. Excited and one of our curious cats watched.  The gerbils will be sequestered for about 5 days to make sure they are all acclimated to their new home, before we move them into Alec's room.  Alec really, really wants to hold them and pet them but we've only allowed a couple of pets over the weekend.  The store recommended we let them be for a while before we start handling them.  No names for the little guys yet - Alec suggested James and Thomas, and then retracted it.  He says he doesn't want them to have names.  They may end up being Brown Gerbil and Gray Gerbil.

We got to spend Saturday at the Madison Park playground with Uncle Keith, Aunt Natalie, Roman and Baby Charlotte.  Alec loved the "zipline" trolley, and had a huge smile from ear to ear while he sailed through the air.

Saturday evening we got to have one last playdate with Saylor, the little 3-year old from across the street. They had their belongings all packed up and ready to leave Sunday morning to move back to San Diego.  Alec and Saylor have been playmates for a year now, and it's been so fun and convenient having them live across the street.  We are crossing our fingers that some nice folks rent the house next.  So far we've been really lucky with the two rentals on our street, and have made some very good friends.  Thankfully our other good friends who lived across the street, The Kennedys, only moved about 7 blocks away when they bought a home.  We were so glad that they stayed in the 'hood.  :)

We finished off the weekend with a long soak in our next door neighbor's hot tub.  Alec and another little 3-year old girl dominated the hot tub.  They only wanted to get out to eat mac 'n cheese, and then it was back into the hot tub.  Thankfully our neighbor Merrilee cools the temp of the hot tub down so it's kid-appropriate.  I can only handle about 30 minutes in a hot tub, so I ended up being the wine server, kid food chef and towel-getter.

Two posts in one week - what is going on?  I am feeling motived for whatever reason - maybe it's because Keith/Natalie and Krista Kennedy do such a great job of keeping theirs up.  I really want to have Alec's life documented better, and certainly haven't been diligent about writing things down ever.  I am going to try to keep it up, but I can't guarantee I won't fall off the blogging wagon at any time.  It just seems to happen...

Animals

Animals continue to be a HUGE part of Alec's life.  As far back as we can remember, he has always been intrigued by them and the obsession continues.  When he turned 2 over a year ago, he started pretending he was all different sorts of animals.  Right now he loves pretending he is a: baby skunk, baby deer, baby mice and baby bear.  You have to really remember when he is 'in character', because he won't respond to you unless you address him correctly:  Me- "Please pick up your toys, Alec" Alec- "I'm not Alec, I'm Baby Skunk", Me- "Please pick up your toys, Baby Skunk", Alec-"Ok".

Yesterday I (Lindsay) bought him a mama bear and three bear cubs at the toy store.  He has been taking them everywhere, making sure they are cozy/safe/warm/"fed", etc.  He declared today their birthdays, and threw them an ice cream and cookie party on top of the washer/dryer this morning.

In the car

At the zoo

Ice cream and cookies for everyone!

His nurturing side really comes out with his stuffed animals.  The beauty of them is that they are stuffed and won't bite or scratch him, the way the real cats in our house do.  Tikka, our large black cat, is extremely patient and sweet with him but Frisky hisses and scratches him if he comes near.  Alec is still learning to be gentle and quiet with them-he really does love the cats, he just doesn't understand that they don't want toys placed on top of their heads, don't like to be shouted at (although he gets really good laughs out of startling them with loud noises) and like to have their space.  We'll keep working on that....

Vet visit

Making Tikka talk - part of Alec's morning routine

Tonight we are adding another animal (make that two) to our household.  As a reward for getting potty trained, Alec is going to get two gerbils this evening.  We are fairly uncertain about this, but can't back out of the plan now.  We promised Alec a long, long time ago that when he was potty trained he could get a mouse, a gerbil or some fish.  We were crossing our fingers that he'd go for the fish option, but alas....he wants a rodent.  The animal adventures continue!