He Knows Comedy

Shoes!

Now that Alexander is starting to walk, we had to cave in and buy him some shoes. Seriously, this is his first pair of shoes EVER.



By waiting so long, we completely bypassed all those super-soft super-cute baby shoes and went right to the hardcore “you could wear these to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro” shoes.

Some may call it being frugal, some may call it neglect. Honestly, I just didn’t see the point of shoes on a baby who couldn’t walk. That’d be like giving Mr. Clean a comb. (Although he could arguably use it for those eyebrows...)


It didn’t take him long to figure out how to pull up the Velcro and then yank off the shoe. In the baby world, this is a feat on the level of Criss Angel Mindfreak. (So annoying, is what I am saying.) Maybe we should have gotten a baby shoe version of "The Club" so he couldn't take them off so easily. Or someone needs to invent a baby shoe LoJack system so we can find missing shoes when they get tossed behind the couch. There is a million dollar idea that you got for FREE just by reading this blog. You're WELCOME.



I still haven’t gotten a good video of him walking. Here is a super brief walk. If you blink, you'll miss it. I think his record is 5-6 steps before either grabbing something or falling on his butt. This is probably just one step, but it’s cute anyway…

Groovin’

Alexander likes to dance and sing along to any song. Even hummed half-remembered tunes…

Quick Trip to Iowa

Tim was planning to attend a wrap party for a movie he recently worked on, so we all decided to come along on a roadtrip to Iowa. Alexander was once again happy to be facing forward.


And he was super excited about getting to stay in a hotel room. He thought their flimsy $20 metal crib was far more fun than his Amish-built solid wood crib at home. I won’t tell our Amish friend… and he probably doesn’t read this blog.

His manic enthusiasm was short lived and he completely crashed in the hotel room before the party even started. So Tim went to the party, and I hung around the hotel room and watched a marathon of Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel. (Never quite got the "History" angle of watching a beefy bearded man who calls himself "Bear" drive big rigs in dangerous conditions, but it was surprisingly entertaining.)

While in Iowa, we were able to make two quick pitstops. One to see Great Grandma (AKA GG)


And one to see my good friend Amy and her family. Enjoy this picture of none of us looking at the camera, squinting, and being generally disheveled. We were all a bit tired and full of IHOP goodness.

Handybaby

Alexander helped to assemble the wagon his Grandma and Grandpa got him for his birthday. He has a screwdriver that makes cartoonish sounds when twisted. If the technology exists, I simply do not understand why carpentry isn’t the most whimsical of all professions.


Now, with the magical power of the internet. *Pooof* The wagon is assembled. Ta-da!


Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

Party Like It’s 2009!!

We had a little birthday party for Alexander this weekend. It included his little friend Riley, little hats, a little monkey cake, and other little adorable things. He enjoyed his first taste of cake. His first response was this:


“Ewwww”


His second response was this:

“Meh.”

And soon he was doing this:

“Can’t talk. Eating. Cake.”


He got some really cool gifts from everyone. (I’m totally on him to get started on his thank-you cards – but he claims they are passé. Since when is common etiquette passé? Geesh, one-year-olds…) For his birthday party gift, we were rather uncreative and got him a replacement book for the one he tore holes in. Here he is being very happy with a present that he sort of already had.


We are giving this book a 15-day life expectancy.


In milestone news, he’s officially walking now. If walking is defined as taking several steps, falling on your butt, taking a few more steps, falling on your butt, then crawling away. He showed off his toddling skills for his Aunt Rachel and Uncle Dave. He’s always trying to impress them:



His car seat can now be turned around – which totally ROCKS his socks off. Of course, he never was one to wear socks before, so… he continues to be barefoot. Barefoot and happy to be facing forward. He can finally stretch out his legs!


So now that he is a officially a toddler, he thinks he’s pretty tough stuff. Here he is giving a bear a piece of his mind.

(no actual bears were harmed in the shooting of this photograph)

Look Who’s Over the Baby Hill!

Alexander turned one today. Insanity.

Alexander was excited to get his birthday gift today. Excited, but not surprised, since it was sitting out in plain view for the last several days. We probably won’t get away with such present-hiding laziness next year. It’s a water table standing play thingie – now with boats!

A Daddy-Assisted Membership into the Clean Plate Club

Alexander likes to feed us his food almost as much as he likes to eat it himself. He also offers a dental exam for no extra charge.

Random Cuteness

Alexander and his Sock Monkey:



Alexander is sooooo happy walking around the house with his fine piece of German engineering:


Sometimes he takes a passenger out for the farfegnugen:


And here he is practicing poses for his Coppertone modeling campaign:

Sonya - You're Famous!

Family from my mother’s side were in town this weekend. It was great to see everyone, and Alexander loved being the center of attention. Here he is chatting up my cousin Sonya.


What can he say? He likes the ladies and the ladies like him. And now that he has a car (color: orange; model: Mattel) he’s even more of a chick magnet.

Good times...

Ah, the fresh cheesy air of Wisconsin! This weekend, we took the boy over the border to enjoy the smoother roads, the less corrupt government, and the big lake.


Then we saw Brad for his birthday. We gave him the gift that keeps on sucking up 12x it's weight in water: ShamWOW! The only guy I’ve ever seen get so excited about shamWOW is Vince, the ShamWow spokespaz.


Some guys just really like absorption, I guess.