Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a great 2nd Christmas with Alec! We ran all over the place, and Alec was a total trooper. We visited friends of Matt's family on X-mas eve, where there were a bunch of people and kids everywhere. We thought Alec might be a little shy, but he loved all the action and had a great time pushing his cousin Reid around in a wagon - they were practing for Nate and Renae's wedding in Feb. Then we headed to my mom's house, and spent the night there. Alec was thrilled to wake up to a house full of people and presents from Santa. The mini broom in his stocking proved to be one of his favorite toys. We spent the morning with my family and then headed to Matt's parents where we had dinner. Alec enjoyed another round of presents and getting to love up on his cousin - he has gotten quite good at giving hugs and kisses lately. After dinner, we went to Nate and Renae's house to play some games and have a few drinks! It was a great, and exhausting, two days. Alec got totally spoiled and has had an amazing time sorting through all of his new loot at our house. A few faves are: a swimming pool full of rubber balls (unfortunately, Brody likes this too), leggos, golf clubs, which he is using to hit several of his other new toys with, a mini 409 cleaning bottle, and of course - his broom! Thanks so much to everyone who thought of us and has been so kind and generous to Alec in his first 15 months of life!

Pushing Reid

New clubs

Watching dad drive his new remote control helicopter - they both love this!

Hugging Reid - Alec's hug is more of a head butt than an actual hug, but the intention is the same.

Miles in his new hiking pack.

Grammy and her magic stacking egg

Modeling his new snow boots.

My own luggage

Hugging Miles

The broom

Some Cute Pics

Alec is thoroughly enjoying the holiday season. He loves to look at the lights on the x-mas tree inside and the outside lights and also enjoys carrying around and stacking the different presents under the tree. His new word is "yes," which he loves to say. Whenever you ask him about something he likes you get a very enthusiastic yes in response. He also has discovered eating clementine oranges, which we have actually had to hide in the kitchen b/c he would stand on the floor pointing at the box saying "dhat" and doing the sign for more food non-stop. We actually think he might have had about 7 in one day. He also LOVES to get toys he knows he isn't supposed to have, like the phone, and run around the house with them. As you can see from the pics - he loves this game.

Showing his baby the tree

Enjoying self-feeding - this is the first time he got the entire piece of toast.

Yep - Alec is reading US weekly in the background

Dad - I'm over here - why aren't you playing with me?

Brody has basically stopped eating his own food - Alec probably feeds him about 1/4 of every meal he eats, so Brody's dog food has taken a backseat

Mastering the cutlery.

Bed Head

Serioulsy, could he be any cuter?

Alec at Work

Sure mom, I'll make breakfast.

Why Crawl?

Alec has officially decided he is too big to crawl up and down the stairs, despite the fact that he literally isn't big enough to walk up and down them yet. He has spent the better part of the last two days precariously pulling himself up and down the stairs on his feet by pulling himself up with his arms on the side stair rails. It is a hell of a sight, and probably fairly dangerous, but there is no stopping this little monkey once he sets his mind to something.

Self Feeding

After talking to a few friends recently who have kids close to Alec's age, I've realized that I don't give him enough opportunities to feed himself. He definitely shows an interest in taking the spoon or fork from me and using them, but I always hesitate b/c I don't want to deal with the mess. So, in an effort to not inhibit his fine motor development for the sake of my clean kitchen, Alec has been working on self feeding for the last 2 days.

Mama's Little Helper

So I was wrapping x-mas presents tonight in the family room, and then giving the wrapped presents to Alec and asking him to take them and put them under the tree. He was a really good helper, and obliged every time I asked for help. However, you can see he got a little bit confused. I cracked up when I went into the living room and found an entire box stuffed inside the tree. Such a funny age!

Snuggles

Alec is not a big snuggler, so I was happy to get these pics (and of course - the snuggles!) On Sunday afternoon we went with my family to the CU holiday concert, which - like always - was absolutely fabulous, and when we got home I was singing Alec the hallelujah chorus that was stuck in my head before I put him to bed- I think he liked it!