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Mommy and Me

Daddy had to go out of town today, so it was just Alex and Mommy all day and night on Saturday. We had a great time enjoying unseasonably warm weather, however. We took a nice long walk with Tucker to the playground, where Alex took his first ride in a big boy swing. We also thought about attempting the big boy slide, but then the darn thing was so static-y I couldn't bear to actually let him rub down it. Just placing him there made his hair stand up on end! He wasn't quite sure what to make of his new hairdo. During the walk, we got a lot of comments along the line of "it's hard to say who's cuter!" (meaning Tucker vs. Alex, I was definitely out of the running as far as cuteness goes as compared to those two!) That evening, Alex and I had a "date" and went out to dinner just the two of us. Alex is a good date in that the people around us were just amazed at how well behaved he was. He was a bad date in that he kept flirting with everyone else around us! I think those women at the next table were encouraging him, but still...

Splish Splash

Alex is really enjoying his baths more and more as he gets bigger. Now that he can mostly sit up by himself and has figured out splashing, there's no stopping him! I decided to capture some video of him splashing away. You can view the video here.

Aftermath

My little man is a neat eater, really, he is. He doesn't throw food (yet, knock wood), he doesn't play games when I spoon feed him. If I am doing the feeding, the worst that happens is I sometimes miss his mouth. He is even pretty darn good at feeding himself, and will pick up Cheerios, tofu squares, squares of steamed veggies, pieces of broccoli, chunks of banana, and pretty much whatever else I put on his tray. But he isn't 100% dextrous just yet, and sometimes he misses his mouth when he is trying to feed himself. And the tray on the high chair isn't close enough to his chest to catch all spills. So at the end of a meal, the high chair looks like this, no matter how neat he is. Always a joy to clean!

Zrbrt

This morning my son learned the art of the Zrbrt.* He was obviously getting bored with breastfeeding, and let one rip. On my boob. Cracked himself up quite a bit, too, the little stinker. I guess that's what lazy Sunday mornings are for...

Interesting etymology -- this term comes from an epsiode of the Cosby Show 20-ish years ago. I still remember little Rudy saying, "Daddy? What does Z-R-B-R-T spell?" Funny how TV affects our vocab.

Floppy Seat

Alex has been getting a lot of use out of his Floppy Seat since he has started sitting up in high chairs. It really makes restaurant high chairs both more comfortable, and more sanitary. He has a tendency to want to put everything in his mouth, and I would much rather it be this cloth than a wooden high chair rail mouthed by who-knows-how-many babies before him. He actually hasn't used it too often in the shopping cart yet, since I tend to carry him in one of the body carriers instead. But he did get both kinds of uses out of it today, as we went food shopping after a nice lunch out. Would you believe he was asleep when I put him in the cart, stayed asleep the entire shoping trip, and then stayed asleep still when I put him back into the carseat? Must have REALLY needed that nap!

Balance

Alex has quite good balance for a little guy. Not only does he handle the stairs like a champ (and getting quicker every day, I might add!) but he is starting to do a very good job of kneeling without support. Here he is in the kitchen last night.

Pashouki

This weekend Alex met most of Mommy's extended family for the first time. On Saturday, we visited with Tootsie Nani and met Uncle Chris and Aunt Rosie, Chris Michael and Teresa, and their daughter Bronwyn. According to geneology.com, that's Alex's Great Grandmother, Great Uncle and Aunt, First Cousins once removed, and Second cousin, respectively. Whew, that's a mouthful.

It was great to see Tootsie Nani with both of her great grandchildren. The second cousins didn't know what to make of each other at first, but promptly swapped keys and had a grand old time. It looked like Bronwyn even tried to kiss Alex.

On Sunday, we continued the grand Pashouki tour with a trek to Saratoga Springs for Wendy's baby shower -- Tootsie Nani's third great grandchild is due right around Easter. Wendy's house was beautiful, and Jennifer did an amazing job of decorating and organizing games and party favors. Andrew was a trooper for helping Jennifer prepare for the festivities by, among other things, hand writing many tags and almost losing an eye for the cause of decorating flower pots. Wendy and Kurt both looked so thrilled to be expecting their baby girl.
Uncle Ray met Alex for the first time, and he later said it really made it hit home that he is about to become a grandparent himself. Peter (that's a first cousin once removed, if you're making your own family tree at home) and Alex really hit it off, too -- they were even dressed alike.
That's why I wasn't surprised that Alex was so enamored with Peter's playing -- more on that in a minute. Alex had a grand old time climbing Wendy's staircase again and again, which was part of Mommy's strategy to ensure he was nice and tired and would sleep in the car.
The staircase had a barred landing, which Alex and Pop Pop thought was just a rockin' place to hang out. The still photo doesn't do my little soul man justice -- check out the Jail House Boogie Video!

After the shower, we went to Uncle Ray and Diana's new place for dinner. What a wonderful home! I can't wait to bring Alex up there again for horseback riding lessons once he is old enough. It was there, meeting their rather large dogs, that I became convinced that Alex first word is going to be (or already is??) "dog." Both when we were at Wendy and Kurt's place meeting their Yorkies, and at Uncle Ray and Diana's, when Alex saw the doggies he would get very excited and say D-uh, D-uh, D-uh! He wasn't quite hitting the G, but I think it was dog nonetheless. He also waved bye-bye to Diana at the dinner table, and I think did the sign to ask for milk. So it was a big day, communications-wise for him.

After dinner, we headed out to Bailey's Cafe to see one of Peter's bands, Soul Session, play. Alex was asleep when we arrived, but after a while poked out from the Ergo to just stare and stare and stare some more at Pete while he played. He even, at one point, pulled off of breastfeeding to hang his head back and stare in awe. He stared at Peter, not the other two guys in the band. The music was fantastic, and at least two total strangers came up to compliment me on how much of a delight it was to watch Alex enjoy the music. He was a trooper -- didn't cry at all despite it being pretty darn late.

Ya gotta have HEART!

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours. Someone in New York loves Alex -- several someones, in fact. So does someone in Florida. And New Mexico. And Louisiana. And Maryland. Virginia, of course, and D.C. Georgia, California, Connecticut, Texas. The Alex Fan Club is pretty nationwide, although we only had a T-Shirt for New York.

Howdy, Officer!

Somehow Nani can't resist placing Alex in any vehicle-like object we happen across. After dinner, we made a quick pilgrimage to ToysRUs, and Alex tried out a cop car. He really seemed to know what the CB mike was for -- either that, or it went into his mouth for the sake of going into his mouth. Either way, CUTE!

Extreme Closeup

No occasion except Wednesday. I loved this shot that Mike got of Alex very close up last night.

8 Months!

How in the world is Alex eight months old already? That's 3/4 of a year. I just can't believe it! This morning when I dropped him off at day care, the other kids sang him happy birthday. Very cute.

From left, on floor, Gabriel (13 months) and Manuel (2 years), in exersaucer, Nicholas (6 mos).

Godparents

Daddy was out of town this weekend, and Mommy was smart enough to call Aunt Mel and Uncle Greg to see what they were up to on Saturday. Alex and Mommy ended up joining Aunt Mel and a high school friend at the Fairfax Chocolate Festival. We enjoyed all sorts of chocolate concoctions -- even chocolate coconut ice cream. No chocolate milk for Alex, though.
We even popped in for story time, which was ironically housed in the...well, the picture speaks for itself. Later, we met Uncle Greg for Bar-b-cue. Alex had carrots. He also had a great time mimicking Uncle Greg's funny faces -- go to our AboutMyBaby site for the video entitled Funny Face. Finally, we ended up at the house, where Alex got to meet Greg's parents, who loved the little man. All in all, quite a fun day.

SuperBowl

Alex saw his first SuperBowl yesterday with his friend Arthur -- also known as Baby Elvis.
Arthur's parents used to call their annual SuperBowl party ElvisFest because of the music they played during halftime, but this year Arthur took it to a whole other level. Alex showed off his sitting and standing skills, although he was smaller than another baby that was 3 months younger than him. He was happy that Arthur was kind enough to share his toys.

Great Aunts

Alex's Aunt Katie is visiting from New Orleans this weekend, and having a great time with her little man. Last night, we went to visit Katie and Mike's aunt, Alex's Great Aunt Mary. Doesn't everyone need to have a Great Aunt Mary? I think every baby deserves to have Great Aunts and great aunts like the ones Alex has. Both aunts couldn't get enough of his every move, and who can blame them. Alex was fashionably dressed* and must have taken cute pills before we arrived. He showed off his neat eating skills in the travel chair, then amused himself with Mommy's water bottle while the adults finished eating (Water Bottle video here!).

We then retired to the living room, where Alex was the lucky recipient of two new toys. Much cuteness ensued as Alex played with his new toys, crawled and climbed around the room, and generally was the life of the party. He made a new friend in Buddy. He even showed off what appeared to be a new trick -- a newer version of peek-a-boo! He figured out he could make the adults say "Where's Alex?" by hiding his face on the floor between his hands, then make us all clap like fools and exclaim "There he is!" by then looking up at us. He had the adults occupied for quite a while with that one. Aunt Katie was inspired to test out the video function on her own camera, so we managed to capture that cuteness too. This was the tail end of the routine, and it was still quite funny. Enjoy. We did!

* Alex was so dressed up and cute, I feel like we have to have credits, like a magazine shoot. Shoes by Robeez, and highly recommended for all babies. Khakis by Carter's. French blue button down shirt by Old Navy. Sweater courtesy of Grandma via Nordstrom.com.