1 on the 4th!

My baby is 1! I can’t believe it has been one year! I wasn’t sure I was going to like having a baby born on the 4^th of July, but I have to say it was A LOT of fun! The other two kids were born in the fall and we’ve always had to do indoor activities. This was our first opportunity to throw a summer party and we did it up big with a BBQ, a pool, a slip n slide, and a piñata! It was fabulous!

Instead of blowing out his candles he dove into his cake with both hands!

He was NOT amused that we all thought his mess was so funny!

He was even less amused when I tried to clean him up!

We had a cowboy theme. We all had a blast with the mustaches and badges!

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve updated you on Alex’s doings. There is so much to tell you!

• He is walking! He actually took his first steps a couple of months ago, but he still only pulled himself up on a table or the couch and he only took a couple of steps before throwing in the towel and crawling the rest of the way to his destination. It wasn’t until the last couple of weeks that he really began to stand himself up wherever he was and walk to wherever he was going. His little walk looks like a waddle, it’s the cutest thing. I told Joel he looks like ET!

• He is starting to eat more table food than baby food. If he could live off of yogurt and avocado he would! He was doing really well with the baby food until we introduced him to yogurt (again, this was a couple of months ago). He LOVES yogurt and it wasn’t long before he was turning his nose up at anything that wasn’t yogurt. He is a bit of a picky eater, but we have been trying other things slowly and have found that he does like some other things (almost) as much as he likes yogurt:

Avocado is something we can usually guarantee he will eat! It’s too slimy for him to feed himself – he usually ends up smashing it all over the place in his attempts to pick it up –so we have to feed it to him, but he gets excited when he sees it!

Black olives

Chicken– especially if it comes from Chick-fil-a

Mashed potatoes

Pasta

Cheerios!

He will eat some baby food, but only if it comes out of a squeeze pack.

Spaghetti (what kid doesn't love spaghetti??)

• He is saying a few words!!! He can say bye-bye, all done, mama, dada, uh oh, and peek-a-boo. These words all sound pretty much exactly the same, but you can tell by the context which one he is trying to say. Many of them are accompanied by hand motions to help us figure out what he’s trying to tell us!
• He’s very expressive even if he isn’t saying any specific words. He does a lot of squealing and squawking and he always looks you right in the eye when he's communicating. He has always had the most expressive eyes. Even when he was just born. I remember the midwife and I both commenting once that his eyes looked happy and one time at church a man commented that his eyes looked like they could see right through you. That is so true! He has the brightest, most expressive eyes I've ever seen! I love that we can have "conversations"!
• He has 4 teeth!!! He has his 2 front teeth on the top and the bottom. He loves to smile and show us his teeth!

• He loves to throw things! He thinks it is a great game and very funny to throw things down. He'll throw food from his high chair. He'll launch his cup after he has a drink. He has recently discovered that throwing toys down the stairs is HILARIOUS! He often visits me while I'm in the shower and he usually comes to throw things into the tub. He'll throw clothes, stuffed animals, and the contents of my bathroom cabinets into the shower. One time he attempted to retrieve the thing he had thrown in and ended up in the tub with me!!! Mommy and Daddy do not find this game as amusing as Alex does so we are working hard to discourage it. :)
• Alex also loves to play with trucks! It hadn't really occurred to me to get down some of Gabe's old trucks, but one day Gabe was playing with them and had left them down on the floor and Alex discovered them. He kept himself busy for a very long time, so I began to get out the other cars and trucks we have from Gabe's babyhood. They are a favorite!!! He instinctively knows what to do with them. He'll take one and "drive" it all over the place. It amazes me!
• He loves his Daddy! He lights up when Joel walks into the room! It's very sweet!

• We are pretty sure Alex is going to be the ham of the family.  He is always eager to entertain us and if he knows you think he’s funny he will keep doing whatever it is that makes you laugh!  He has great faces and he is so playful! 

“I’m so excited, I have to bite this zebra!”