When our neighbors two doors down moved away, we inherited a sweet wooden art stand with a chalk board on one side and a whiteboard on the other. We keep it in the garage, and it has become a big hit with Alex. He loves to draw with the chalk, and then use the eraser to clean it up before starting the whole process again.
Yesterday, while he was drawing, he said "A-L-E-X Alex!" Awesome.
It seems that Alex is on the verge of self-weaning. W've dropped the morning nursing completely, and only rarely nurse after work anymore. Yesterday was one of the rare days -- he asked me for "gak, peas, mama" accompanied with signing for milk and for please. So I sat down and offered him one side. After maybe only a minute, he asked for "o-er side, peas, mama" and I obliged. After maybe only a minute more, he said "Bye bye, gak," pulled my shirt down to cover me, and went back to playing.
As cute as it was, I couldn't believe how said that little exchange made me!
In the past few months, Alex has become a very good sleeper. He goes to be somewhere between 8 and 9 pm, and stays asleep all night long, awakening somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 am. We think sometimes he wakes up a little earlier than he lets on, but amuses himself quietly in the crib. Unless we are in a rush to go somewhere, we generally don't go into his bedroom to get him in the morning until we hear him.
This morning, I finished getting ready and noticed it was almost 7:45 and I still hadn't heard from Alex. I went into his bedroom and he was standing up in his crib, looking refreshed and happy. I said to him "Good Morning, Alex! Time to get up and get dressed!" and he gave me a devlish grin and dived back down into sleeping position. As in, Mommy, I am staying in bed! He was laughing and smiling the whole time. Seeing as how I had just gone through a similar routine with trying to get Daddy out of bed, it was pretty darn funny. Like Father, like Son!
I think I need to start referring to my darling husband as Daddy from now on. The other day we were in Target and Alex and I get separated from Mike. I started going up and down the aisles shouting "Miiike!?!" and Alex joined right in. He doesn't quite get the M in there, though. So I would shout "Mike!?" and he would echo "iiiiike?" Then of course, I would say "that's 'Daddy' to you!" Alex's response? "Daddy! Ike!" It's hard to be to stern about it when I am cracking up so hard.