Videos

The other night I was reading Alex a book from the library and he just cracked up laughing at it. I think we read it at least 7 times before I finally said that was enough. Enjoy the 3rd or 4th time that I read it to him.




Kent got out the flute to play for Alex as he loves to hear it and in turn, he ran and got his plastic recorder to play a duet. It was so cute. Before he started playing, he was actually singing to match the sounds of the flute.




When he opened his easter basket on Sunday morning he didn't realize the eggs were so great until he "accidentally" opened one and found the chocolates. Then it was a different story.

We have a 2 year old?!?!

I can't believe that Alex is already 2!!! It's crazy! We celebrated his birthday last weekend and will celebrate again in a few weeks when Grandma and Grandpa Thompson come. Alex is excited to be able to celebrate twice with cake and ice cream! My parents, sister's family and my Grandma came up to go to Brookfield Zoo with us and then have cake and ice cream. It was a fun time. It was actually the first time that my Grandma saw a lot of the animals at the zoo, so it was great watching her experience some of God's creation for the first time. At one point my mom said, "Does this make you realize how creative and BIG God is?" So true! We came back home after a few hours at the zoo and by the time we got home (only 3 miles) Alex had fallen asleep, so we laid him down while the rest of us ate at late lunch. (I had forgotten to put lunch in the oven before we left. Oops!) When Alex woke up he ate a little and then opened gifts. He got some great new toys and bike from Kent and myself. He loved his "dump-truck" theme of a party. The pictures of him with his cake don't really show how much fun he had since he had just woken up, so trust me when I say, he had a great time! :) He was a little confused on Sunday when I told him it was his birthday because Grandma and Grandpa weren't there. We've just been talking about Grandma and Grandpa coming for his birthday. It's tough to explain it to a 2 year old!






















In other news, Alex is making progress with his speech therapy. He now consistently says: Mama, Dada, Bye Bye, and More. On the list of not so regular words: Milk, Ball, Down, Done, and a few others. He's really starting to try to repeat what we say consistently, which is great!! It's really slow, but we're starting to see the fruits of all our labor of speech paying off. Keep praying that he'll continue to make progress. The more he is able to communicate with us, the lower the frustration levels of all involved! :) He does still continue to learn more and more signs. He has to know at least 75 or more by now. Such a blessing!

This is Alex saying "TaDah!"


We also dyed Easter eggs the other day. Alex had a lot of fun, but he did come away with a blue hand. Oops! It faded after one bath, so we didn't have to deal with it for too long.













We were playing at the park the other night and he just thought this was hilarious when we would make a sound when he ran into us on the swing. His laugh was contagious!


I think we have a keyboard perform/dancer in our household. What do you think?


If you listen closely you can hear him sing "Row Row Row your Boat" while playing the keyboard. Talented, right?

Other Random Things...

Here are a few other random pictures and videos from the past month.

Playing at the Park









Trying on Mommy's Shoes


Playing with Claire
Note: We typically don't let them jump all over the couch! :)


Alex's Favorite Picture Book

Let's go Fly a Kite.....

We have really enjoyed the hints of Spring finally being here. Now granted as I write this, we are expecting snow tomorrow, but still. A few weeks ago we decided to make a little trip to Target and get one of those cheap little kites for Alex to fly. We walked to the field close to our condo and showed him what to do. He loved watching the kite fly in the sky. When we handed it over to him, he just ran and ran and ran. Unfortunately, he ran right into the trees. No worries, he wasn't hurt, just a little muddy. The kite survived too. It was hard to get pictures of both him and the kite as he ran so fast and the kite was very high, but we tried.

Big Boy in the Thompson House

I was on praise team this weekend at church, so Kent and Alex dropped me off yesterday at church for practice and then they headed to the Children's museum. They came back at 5pm for church so that this morning they could stay home and Alex wouldn't have a long morning at church. So this afternoon I get home around 1pm and it's time to lay Alex down for his nap. Kent opens his door and says, "Show mommy how your a big boy now!" Well, Alex has learned how to climb out of his crib, so Kent changed his crib into a toddler bed. He actually had climbed out once while I was at church and bonked his head on his toybox pretty hard. (He's got a big knot on his head.) So, we're now in the transition of using a toddler bed whether we like it or not. Alex is such a climber that it doesn't surprise us that he's learned to climb out, but we were hoping to keep him in his crib for a little longer. Oh well. At least our crib easily transitions and we don't have to go out and buy another bed for him. Enjoy the videos that Kent took! I think they speak for themselves. :)

I should add that it took about an hour to get him asleep for his nap. That was constant taking him back to his crib, over and over again. Tonight it took about 30 minutes to get him down for bed and just a few more trips returning him to bed. For now, it looks like he's asleep. We'll see how the night goes.

An update

Okay, so it's a boring title to this post, but my creativity is lacking today. I have some pictures and videos to get to up on the blog.

A few weekends ago, Kent was on a business trip in DC, so Alex and I headed to my parents for a short trip and then spent the rest of the weekend here in Chicago. We had a lot of fun playing, coloring, climbing, and just having fun.

It's hard to believe that Alex is getting close to being 2 years old.

Pictures and Videos

When the weather hits 60 degrees in February in the midwest, we head outside and play! Yes, we know that it is just a tease and it will shortly (already has) return to the cold frigid temperatures, but at least it was nice for a few days and we got to play outside. We took Alex to the park and just stood back and watched him climb. Okay, so we couldn't really stand back or we might have had a long trip to the ER, but we did watch him climb. He ran right over to the "big kid" playground and started climbing this ladder that turns as it goes up in the air. He loved it and didn't realize that he wasn't quite old enough to really be able to climb it. We definitely have a climber on our hands. It is fun to see just how much he improves at things even over the course of 4-5 months.

He also has been working hard at his speech therapy. He is starting to imitate some animal sounds that we make and also tries to say words. Tonight we were reading his ILLINI book before bed (in preparation for the game). I said, "Say Illini" and he really tried! It didn't come out quite right, but he tried. He's also trying to say car, go, mouse, boat, meow, cock-a-doodle-doo (quite cute), woof, and a few other ones. We're encouraged with the progress and are really working with him intentionally every day.


You'll notice a theme with some of these pictures and videos! :)

Climbing to his booster seat



Climbing on the "big kid" ladder



Playing at the McDonalds playland


Playing at the Park










Overpopulation?

A Special Song

Here's a special song just for your enjoyment.




In case you can't recognize it, he's singing 'Row, Row, Row, your Boat!'

Nothing really new.

I don't really have anything important to update as far as information, but we've taken some cute pictures lately, so I thought I'd post a little something so I can get these pictures up on the blog. We've been doing well. We're a little tired of winter already, but are confident it will be over soon. :) We've had enough snow already that we're just ready to send it all to other people, so if you're missing some snow, let us know and we'll send it your way.
Alex loves playing outside, so it makes it tough when we're stuck inside. We've been heading to McDonalds, the mall and the museum a lot lately to play.
He's still doing well with his speech therapy. He has really started to imitate Ms. Emily a lot more when she works with him, which is encouraging. We've been having fun with the few new "tricks" that Alex has learned, too! He loves to pat you on the back and also instead of giving you a high-five, he'll give you knuckles! I love it! :) Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Reading to Mr. Frog


"I love Guacamole!"



Reading in my crib


My ILLINI book


Playing at the Mall



The snow was so deep, he couldn't move, he could only stand there!

Speech Therapy Progress

I took a video the other night to show some of the progress Alex is making with his speech therapy. We feel like he's right of the verge of talking, but we'll see. For now we're happy that he's making progress. I showed him the video after I added it online and he continually asks to watch it. It's funny! He sits still through the whole thing and then signs more.

A Good Cause

Check out this video and website for more information:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOkvCTJF-lQ

http://ahundredforahome.com/

They're so close to their goal!

Vacation time and 2008 review.

I've had the last week and a half off, so we'd had fun with family for Christmas and also just hanging around home. We spent the week of Christmas at my family's place since we had Christmas things Saturday, Sunday and of course Wednesday and Thursday. We had a good time and Alex was actually interested (or more interested) in opening gifts. We didn't go overboard on gifts since he already has a lot of toys and clothes. Plus we knew Grandparents would be getting him some things. :) He got a few remote control cars and another fire truck that he loves. He also got a new hopper bike (difficult to explain) from Grandma and Grandpa that he loves, too.

We've had a pretty good year and realize that we are definitely blessed. We're so thankful for family and friends. Alex continues to bring us joy (and headaches at times). His speech is starting to come. He has been babbling more and trying to imitate us more in the last few weeks. I counted his signs the other day and he has over 50 signs that he uses regularly. It has helped with frustrations, but we're learning lately that talking would be so helpful in lessening meltdowns. He continues to amaze us with his physicality and the way that he figures things out. We're convinced that he'll be some sort of mechanical engineer. If there is a way to get things open, he'll figure it out.

Enjoying his Christmas Cookie


The painting I did for my dad


Playing with his firetruck


Family Photo


Christmas Eve, ready to go to church


Lovin' the sunglasses


His new John Deere outfit


Must get down on the ground to play with the farm


Sporting his firetruck outfit


Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa Thompson