Oooo! Shiny!

This began as a video to document Alex talking to our neighborhood through the window. But it only shows a tiny bit of that. It does however showcase his incredible attention span.

He is his father's child.

He's advanced

I don't want to be one of those parents that think everything their child does is miraculous. The ones that are positive their child is a genius because the kid is simply achieving some milestones. It seems like usually those kids are pretty much in line with every other kid their age. I also have a limited knowledge of what Alex should be doing when. Put these two things together and now I feel like I don't give this kid enough credit.

We were in the car yesterday and he starts yelling "Honk! Honk!" while pulling on an imaginary air horn string. I, completely unimpressed tell him yes, that is what a big rig says. And then I take a quick second and look out the window. Low and behold what do I see? A whole parking lot of big rigs! So he doesn't have just random thoughts flying around his brain and spewing out of his mouth...at least this time.

But then we got home and brought out his water table to play since it was finally warm outside. And this is how he chose to use it:

Yeah...he's totally advanced.

Up up and away!

Travis surprised me...biiiiiiig time. He secretly planned a trip to California for our anniversary. We leave on Friday morning. He planned more than he has planned since I don't know when. He talked to my boss, daycare, his parents, my parents and my sister and got everything taken care of. All I have to do is pack. I am excited.

We went last year at this time too. And our return marked both Kari and Mariah's breaking point of observing my general demeanor without intervention. So they each gently told me I needed to face the fact that something was not right in my brains and I should talk to someone. So I did. And I am better. And the anticipation of this trip is further proof that I am better.

Last year, I couldn't wait to go. I couldn't wait for a break, for time away from my life. And once I left, I didn't want to come back. I remember exactly how horrible it felt when I got out of the car at my parents' house and saw Alex's sweet face looking through the window at us, and I wasn't excited. I wasn't even close to excited. I couldn't even tell if I had missed him. It was an incredibly scary and dark moment for me.

But! Fast forward a year and a bunch of the right medicine and here we are. And I am excited to go. I can't wait to go. But I really don't want to leave my son. I really don't want to be away from him for 5 days. It makes my chest tight with anxiety when I think about it. I know he is going to be fine and is going to have fun with his grandparents, but I am gonna miss the little snot.

Ya wanna know what's really hot and ego boosting? A zit coming out of a forehead wrinkle.

More?

Mo'? Mo'? Peas? Mo'? Add accompanying sign language and you have Alex's mode of asking for more of anything. I have to admit, it is pretty darn cute and it usually ends with me giving him whatever it is he wants more of. Another cookie? Sure! Another rendition of a chicken on crack? You got it!

Last time it was bath night, I couldn't help but laugh at him. I set him in the tub and as usual he immediately peed. Which I realize every kid does and there is nothing I can do to stop it, but really? Do I really have to ignore that and wash you in pee water? Sweet. Anywho, normally he doesn't notice he is peeing. But this time he did. So he reached down, grabbed his penis and watched himself pee. As soon as he was done...mo'? mo'?

Sorry dude. I can't help you out on that one.

He wins.

Alex was on a roll yesterday. Or more specifically a roller coaster. An emotional roller coaster. One minute he was giggling, the next screaming. Having fun outside turned into me carrying a screeching toddler football style into the house after he thought it was hilarious to run into the street. Playing with the shop vac was great fun until we didn't want to vacuum with his supervision anymore. Result: stomping, red-faced, screaming Alex. According to the book of Alex, going to bed was the worst thing ever last night. Which was expressed with more red-faced screaming and forced me to make up a song about how much fun it is to have a 2 year old. Until I let him put his squirmy little fingers in my ears. Apparently that is humor with no bounds. It was just extreme ups and downs all evening.

After I put him down, I exhaustedly sat down next to Travis. With both of us crumpled into pathetic piles of beaten down parents, we sat in silence for a bit. And then I declared that there is no way we ever did anything to deserve this. Without skipping a beat, Travis responded, "Oh I for sure did. We are screwed."

To top the evening off, I managed to screw up dinner...which I made in a crock pot. Impressive, no? Seriously, how is that even possible? I was all proud of myself for getting the damn crock pot. Now that I am a crock pot cooking moron, crock pots are stupid.

Once again...I rule at being a mom.

In my continuing quest to earn the title of Most Responsible and Fantastic Mother on the Planet, I have achieved the following:

-My child now says No Way instead of No Thank You. Took me a hot minute to realize that is from me telling him No Way José when he is doing something he isn't supposed to be doing.

-Saturday morning Alex wanted to play in the sink. So while I was making breakfast for us, I pulled a chair up against the counter for him. I didn't think twice about the fact that I pulled the chair up to the right side of the sink instead of the left side like normal. So I also didn't realize this put him within reach of the counter the dirty dishes rest on before being washed. That was made clear when I turned around to see my 22 month old with both hands holding my wine glass from the night before up to his mouth with his head thrown back trying to get that last drop of wine that never comes out. And to top that amount of classy, I also didn't think twice about the fact that being in front of that sink allowed access to the knife block, until he was grabbing for a knife.

-Sunday Alex got pink eye. In both eyes. After being in an urgent care exam room for over an hour, we left with a prescription for eye drops. He couldn't go to daycare until he had been using the drops for 24 hours, so I stayed home with him yesterday. While I was toasting a bagel for him, I turned around to see him standing in front of the garbage can, taking a bite out of a moldy slice of bread he had retrieved from said can. Does penicillin cure pink eye?