4 Years Old

Alec turned four in February, and has changed from a chubby-cheeked toddler to a full-fledged boy.  He officially gave up his nap after Christmas and retires much earlier in the evening now.  No more pleading with him at 10pm to PLEASE go to sleep!  He is out cold by 7:30pm every night.   While we miss his sweet cheeks and toddler-ness, we are really enjoying seeing his personality continue to emerge.  He is such an extroverted, inquisitive, persistent, mischievous, and sweet boy.

I (Lindsay) have obviously not been terrific at keeping up this blog.  I get overwhelmed at the prospect of creating a post that covers everything that I want to say.  I read my friends' blogs and wish I had the motivation to keep up as often, and with as much creativity as they have (especially Natalie!).  I thought I might just not put so much pressure on myself, and "borrow" a format that others have used:  lists.  If I can just list things about Alec, and elaborate on some then that's a start, right?  It seems a lot less daunting to just jot down a list, since I am a list-maker at heart anyways.  So here it goes:

Things Alec Loves

Worms:  Digging for worms and finding bugs is one of his favorite outside activities.  He gets his hoe out and heaves it over his head and hoes the dirt until he finds worms.  The worms get put in buckets, bins, anything Alec can find.  He likes to create "homes" for them with grass, rocks, sticks and anything else he thinks will make them happy.  We have about 7 different containers around the yard and in the house with various worms in them.  We also found an inchworm, and we are waiting for him to make his cocoon and come out a gypsy moth.  Alec has become somewhat impatient with that process, though.  :)



Outdoors:  He is fidgety and restless inside, but perfectly content being outdoors.  This is why Nature Kids is the perfect preschool for him.  At least an hour of hiking/exploring every time he has class-what could be better?  He also adores helping Rob with projects in the yard, and climbing anything that can be climbed.


Biking:  His favorite outdoor activity.  He has been a fantastic bike rider since he was two, and is a very fearless rider.  Rob was a competitive BMX rider, so I see where he gets the genes.  We just got him a new 16" bike that he loves.  He thinks it's very cool to have a big boy bike with a hand brake.  Those training wheels will probably come off late in the summer, after our annual trip to Bend.


Being Persistent and Curious:  We are going on 2+ years of "why????" and "why not???".  If he doesn't like the answer to something, he will keep prodding.  If he really wants something, he will find creative solutions that come out into his favor.  At the zoo today, our friend Claudia bought their son Joshua a dinosaur grabber that Alec loved.  I already bought Alec some dinosaur goodies a few days ago at the zoo, and explained to him that we wouldn't be buying anything more today.  He talked about the grabber the entire two hours we were at the zoo, continually asked me if he could have one, suggested that we buy one next time we are at the zoo, hit up Claudia to see if he could have it if Joshua didn't like it, said that Joshua didn't seem interested in it so we should just take it home, etc. etc.  I am sure tonight when I put him to bed, he will mention it again.  Not only is he persistent, but he has an amazing memory!


Boxes/Bins: Unlike Rob and I, he is a pack rat and loves to store things in any kind of receptacle he can.   He pilfers through the trash sometimes and "saves" things we have thrown away.  He now knows that we toss things out relentlessly, and he is learning to tell us (particularly Rob) that certain things are NOT to be thrown away.

Curious George, Thomas the Train, Bob the Builder: (still happy to watch harmless preschool shows-yay!)

Yogurt: thinks it's better than candy
Salmon: He won't eat veggies, so yay that he at least likes salmon!
Rock Music: "Loud rock!"  He loves to break dance to it.
Audiobooks:  He would listen to them all the time if he could.  We pick up new ones at the library every week to keep in the car, and they especially come in handy on road trips.

Getting haircuts:  He loves having his hair touched, and it is one of the only times I can count on him sitting STILL.  He practically goes into a trance, until he gets his sugar high from the lollipop after.  :)


















Animals: We visit the zoo almost every week, and he has quite the collection of stuffed animals.  Lots of questions about animals all the time:  "Do clams have testicles?", "How do worms poop?", "Do turtles have teeth?"  "Why do scorpions look so much like lobsters?"  His special real animal friends are our friendly cat, Tikka and his grandparents' dog Izzy.  He'd really like to get a dog, but we suggested a fish instead.


Wrapping "Gifts": Alec likes using paper and tape...A LOT.  He wraps up little "gifts" (could be a broken crayon, an old toy he is willing to part with, or just balled up paper) for his friends and family, and wraps paper around them.  He embellishes these gifts with lots of taped on stickers and fluttery ribbons.  See picture below - that particular gift was a crayon going to his friend Joshua Fatzinger.  :)


















Anything RED
Things Alec Does NOT Love
Veggies
When questions aren't answered to his satisfaction
Being interrupted
Being alone
Going to sleep by himself

I also copied Krista Kennedy's "questionnaire" from her blog, and asked Alec a series of questions today.  Here are his answers:

Favorite fruit:  orange, apple and banana
Favorite animal:  baby chicks, big chickens, bears, foxes, monkeys
Favorite person:  Dad and Mama, and Garrett
Favorite restaurant:  Chinooks
Favorite place:  camping
Favorite smell:  flowers
Favorite thing to do outside:  biking

Some random pictures from the last few months:

Climbing at the penguin exhibit at the zoo

Our lovable kitty, Tikka.

 Eating cookies at his cousin, Charlotte's 1st birthday party

Playing with cousins Jack and Grant from San Diego

Almost Christmas!

We have one excited little boy!  He can hardly wait for Dec. 25.  We went and visited Santa last weekend, and he told Santa that he wants a "motorized Duncan and motorized Stanley".  That evening, we presented him "The Elf on the Shelf", which is all the rage this season.  The elf sits on a shelf and "watches" Alec all day, then flies back to Santa every night to report if he's been naughty or nice.  Also, he can send messages to Santa.  Alec asked the Elf to tell Santa to bring batteries with his trains, and also that he would additionally like a marble run.  The Elf returns to our house every morning, and lands on a different shelf.  Alec enjoys waking up and trying to find The Elf.

Over Thanksgiving week, we uncharacteristically got dumped up with a huge snowfall.  Alec loved every minute spent outside in the freezing weather, and took playing in the snow to a new level with his Jeep and balance bike.   He just never seems to care if he is cold or covered with snow!  

We let Alec decorate much of the Christmas tree.  He told me that "decorating the tree, is the BEST part of Christmas".  I love that he hung multiple ornaments on branches, and has them all clumped together.  Initially he hung them all facing the fireplace because he wanted Santa to see them when he came down the chimney.

As always, lots of funny things have come out of his mouth lately:

The other morning Tikka was being quieter than normal.  She is usually meowing up a storm for several hours before and after we get up.  Alec asked me with a sly grin if Tikka needed new batteries.

A few times over the last few weeks, he has told me about the "movies behind his eyes" when he wakes up.  He has very vivid dreams, and he remembers a lot of detail from them.  This is how he described the dream he had two nights ago:  "It was about Clifford and some bad guys.  It was G-rated, but it had some dark parts."

The comment that cracked me up today was about anatomy.  He was examining his chest, and asking me all kinds of questions about nipples ("what are they?", "why do I have them?" "why are they so small?").  He pronounces them "nibbles", which makes me smile.  He then asked me if Santa's elves have "nibbles".  I tried to keep a straight face and simply told him I didn't know.  Funny little boy!

I think he is starting to give up his afternoon nap (oh no!).  Night time has been a bit of a struggle to get him to sleep before 10pm.  He has mastered every trick in the book to procrastinate bedtime/sleeping.  I am so accustomed to that quiet time in the afternoon, that it will be a bit of an adjustment for me when it happens.  I will likely still require him to have "quiet play" in his room for an hour, just so he has some down time and so I can get a few things done around the house.  The upsides to him not napping will be that he will hopefully go to bed earlier, and maybe Rob and I can actually watch a TV show together!  Also, it will open up days for play dates with good friends/family like Evan Ling and Roman, since they no longer nap and are on opposite preschool schedules from us.  Speaking of naps, today's short nap is over and Alec would like me to come see the band he is assembling in his room.

Happy Holidays!
-Lindsay

Photos by Alec

For the past year or so, Alec has really enjoyed taking pictures with my iPhone.  Here is a small collection of recent photos.

The Gap

Taken on our Argosy Harbor Cruise

Car transporter in Portland.

Fred Meyer as seen from the shopping cart

Dad sitting and relaxing??  Better snap a pic quick-doesn't happen often.

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!

Preschool

Alec is 3! Hard to believe just three years ago we brought home this little person who is now the largest personality in our home. He has endless curiosity and wants to know about everything!

Thanks to Lindsay's persistence Alec is enrolled in Nature Kids Preschool in Discovery Park! He will attend for three days a week starting in September. They are focused on interaction with the outdoors with hour long daily hikes. I don't believe there is a better fit for our little boy!

Slippers

Alec sporting his new slippers this morning. They are a bit big, but that doesn't stop him from running around in them. He also loves his new "Big James" that he got last night for going in the potty 20 times, and his new "Stomper" type of truck.
Lindsay

Another 2009 post

As you can see, we haven't updated the blog in a while. We are using Facebook primarily as our means of communicating news/info/pictures to family and friends. Here's a couple of recent pictures, just to keep things current. Big news recently is that Keith and Natalie are having another baby. We are thrilled for them and can't wait to be an auntie/uncle again next April!

Cheers,
Lindsay (my first blog post ever!)

Boy

Alec is a boy now. Our baby is a distant memory. He talks to us in full sentences that make sense. He reasons and negotiates. He asks questions about the world. We answer the "why?" question many times a day. We've been making efforts to always give him an answer that does not equate to "because I said so". That is not always easy though. He is constantly in motion. If he is awake he is in motion and at this point outdoor activities are ideal. He loves his backyard and will play out there for hours. We recently finished some landscaping and many of the previous fun dirt play areas are now off limits. I'll have to create an area for him to dig and search for worms.

We recently returned from a trip to San Diego. Alec got to spend close to a week with his cousins, Jack & Grant. They all got along really well and it was fun to see them get to know each other. We also got to visit Legoland! I loved Legos as a child so I was happy to visit under the guise of visiting for Alec. He's still a bit young to be really interested in Legos so I don't think he got as much out of it as I did. He did get ride some rides though and that he did appreciate.

Summer Memories

After finishing some major house projects I finally have time to go through some of the photos and videos from this summer. I put together this short video tonight of Alec and his cousins Jack and Grant. We spent a great week in Bend, OR at Lindsay's Dad and stepmother's home. This video is of the boys playing on a Slip 'n Slide.

Carving Party

We held our Fifth Annual Pumpkin Carving Party last Saturday. We had nearly fourty guests! Luckily the weather was great and everyone seemed to have a good time. Leigh took the photo on this post.

Scared?

"Red" the bird is scary to toddlers, or at least our toddler. We took Alec to the Woodinville Red Robin last week. There was a larger than life Red Robin mascot, "Red" standing outside as we walked toward the entrance. Being the parents that we have now evolved to Lindsay and I both thought "Wow! How exciting!". Alec did not share our sentiments. That thing is big, unnatural and scary! Lindsay asked him if he was scared, not really expecting a response. Alec replied "Scaured!" with saucer eyes and shaking his head side to side. He did it with so much emotion and understanding that he caught us off guard. The freaky bird was wandering through the restaurant during our dinner and every time Alec saw him he did the same thing. Now he tells us he's scared whenever he's uncomfortable. He's even started telling us when he thinks the cats are scared - which is often in our house.

Where is the moon?

Last night our little boy expressed great concern for the whereabouts of the moon. We've been talking about the moon lately and pointing it out when it's been visible. Before going to bed last night he said "Where is the moon?" I'll admit that the beginning of the sentence could only be deciphered by a parent but it was a clear question. Then he clearly said "Up in the sky?". He was curious enough that we thought we should take him outside and see if we could find it. We searched in the early evening sky for an elusive moon but it was not to be found. "Where did it go?", he said, "Oh no!", "Moon, in the sky?". We assured him that it would be back. We took him back to his room and got him ready for bed. Maybe tonight the moon will visit him again.

Fun

All I can say is that having a toddler is FUN!

Catch Me!

This photo my brother took of Alec really captures our happy little boy's spirit.
I wish I were with him today but unfortunetly I'm at work. The weekend is near though!

Bend

We just finished a really great vacation in Bend, Oregon. We spent a week at Lindsay's dad and step mom's home on the Deschutes River. Lindsay's sister, Daniele, and her family were there visiting from San Diego too so Alec was able to spend some time with his California cousins. The drive to Bend from Seattle is scenic but long. Add an impatient toddler and it's doubly long. Lindsay wisely planned an overnight stop at her mom's near Portland on the trip there and back. I'm certain that saved us loads of frustration, plus we were able to fit in a couple of nice visits with Lindsay's mom.

While in Bend we visited the High Desert Museum. A really interesting museum despite it's name. Who would have thought that the high desert had so much to offer? They had many art and history exhibits, most of which we skipped to keep up the entertainment value for Alec. The animals were the big hit with us. Alec recently has been interested in turtles and the museum delivered. The had two swimming turtles in a toddler eye level tank. They also had some beautiful birds. There was a recently added golden eagle (gegle) in addition to two bald eagles as well as owls and osprey. We also sat in a real tipi and Alec played in the museum's unique play areas.

We took Alec on his first river float too. The three of us crammed ourselves into a raft and pushed off from Lindsay's dad's river bank. This was not the highlight of the trip. Alec found the life jacket way too constraining and Lindsay and I found the "four man" raft way too constraining. We were all happy to see Lindsay's dad patiently waiting for us after 20 minutes of floating. I think next year will be better.

We went on a really great short hike at Fall River Campground. We first went there 4 years ago when I joined Lindsay as a "friend" on a trip to visit her father and step mother with the Dowdens. Fall River is crystal clear and ice cold. This time we had a picnic near the river and then set out for a nice little hike. Alec rode along on my back in his hiking backpack and took in the scenery. The boy loves to be outside!

In between the outings we enjoyed time with our family. Daniele and her family had a house in Sun River which is just minutes from her dad's place. We met them for a bike ride and picnic one day. Alec rode along in a trailer behind me. Thursday was Daniele's birthday. We had a little birthday party for her. Lindsay's dad spent half the day making barbecued ribs and her step mom made a phenomenal chocolate cake. Alec had one last evening to play with his cousins.

We headed towards Portland on Friday. We spend one final night from home with Lindsay's mom and a family friend, Phil. Lindsay's mom made us a great dinner and then we were up early the next day to head home.

After a week of strange beds and surroundings it was great to be home!

Photos

Camping

Last weekend we went on our first 2008 camping trip. We went to Grayland State Park on the Washington coast. Alec loves being outside so camping fit in well with his prefered lifestyle. The park is on a huge sandy beach and he could have played for hours. We took lots of photos which are on our photo site.

Evan's Birthday

Evan had his first birthday today. We celebrated yesterday at the Kristoferson Farm on Camino Island. It was a great first birthday. There was a huge tractor, cupcakes and a hay ride. What could be better? Happy Birthday Evan! Photos are on our July photo page.