Family Time...

Today we went over Steve & Carolyn's house to celebrate Nick's birthday. This year was an even bigger reason to celebrate as uncle Paul & cousin Charlotte were visiting from Seattle! This was the first time Paul, Charlotte & Alexander got to meet one another, so it was very exciting!

Charlotte & Alexander played well together on the playset, although at first Alexander did not want to take turns using the steering wheel. Eventually, they came around. Charlotte is giving Alexander a hug, and not squeezing him. We promise!

Alexander also got to visit with Grandma & Grandpa, Steve, Carolyn & the boys, Uncle Matt, Laura & Michael... it was quite the family afternoon! Alexander even showed off his cast, new haircut and how he drinks from a water bottle without a straw!

Surprise...

Alexander & I were talking a walk this morning and guess who we bumped into????

Mr. Turtle coming out of the sand nest he buried himself in.

New Arrival...

Alexander has a new cousin.

Catherine & DJ had a baby girl today, Emily Josephine.

Congratulations! We can't wait to see pictures...

Athlete...

Alexander & Daddy, pre-cast, have been practicing throwing & catching. He's been doing very well. Since the cast, the throwing has decreased as has the catching...well the other night, we were trying to get Alexander to come inside and for some reason catching Mr. Monkey worked.

For the record, he actually caught Mr. Monkey one-handed!

School Picture Day...

Today, it is School Picture Day for Alexander. He gets his individual picture along with a class photo taken. Let's hope Aidan's in this one as he's been missing from the last 3.

Ms Sarah & Ms Debbie said he did very well and was one of the few kids who smiled. Must be all the practice from home...

I imagine we'll get them back sometime next week as we got them quickly last time.

Cool Dude...

Here is one cool dude who is enjoying his sunglasses...
This was Alexander yesterday on the way home from Marina Bay...

Celebrate...

A boy.
Dreaming of boats.
Or was he just staring at the ducks, who were happily swimming in the water??Mommy, Daddy & Alexander, at Marina Bay, as we went out to a late lunch to celebrate our anniversary. Anyone care to guess why the weather was SO bad on our actual wedding day but every year since has been warm & sunny??

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, May 18th - Sunday, May 24th, 2009)

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, May 18th - Sunday, May 24th, 2009)

Weekly Glance...

Weekly Glance (Monday, May 18th - Sunday, May 24th, 2009)

• Very interesting week
• Played outside during the week when it was nice out
• Loves going grocery shopping and putting items in the back cart
• Fell at school on Tuesday trying to avoid getting his hat on and he did a Superman dive on the floor and hurt his right side
• Went to the doctor on Tuesday to get checked out and then to the ER for x-rays: Nothing broken!
• Even though no bones were broken he still favored his left arm and wouldn't use his right arm much & if he did it was for a little bit and then switched back to the left
• Cuddled with Mommy at home on Tuesday after the ER, very content to sit and eat crackers
• Fell asleep ASAP on Tuesday due to the lack of nap
• Played with Daddy at home after school and they found a toad! Alexander was very excited watching it hop around. They freed it back in the bushes behind our house...
• Still afraid to use his arm Weds night/Thurs AM, and it's almost afraid or it hurts, especially to lie down
• Went to Target Thursday night with Mommy for our weekly visit & hot dog dinner
• Took a bath but didn't play because of his arm
• Friday AM, went to Dr. M because his arm was not better. See post about Dr visit/arm/cast for more details
• After Dr. Ms exam, went to orthopedic/x-rays - spent Friday afternoon at the hospital
• Showed us how good he's getting at drinking from a big boy cup with no lid while waiting for x-rays
• Alexander got his first cast and hated every second of it
• DESPISED the sling but once the sling was off, he seemed okay and didn't seem to want to protect his arm anymore
• On Saturday, hung out with Daddy in the AM then took a great nap (2 1/2 hours)
• Went to Peter & Arlene's house for the Spaulding annual Flag/Plaque dinner
• Was very shy at first but then loved playing with the kids and running around the bushes & tent
• Thankfully we were able to get shirts to fit over his cast without cutting them
• Sunday was a low key day on purpose because of his arm, and that we already had a very busy week
• Went for a walk with Mommy in the AM - went to the playground and then the grocery store
• Another great nap (2 1/2 hours) and then played outside with Mommy blowing leaves around the driveway
• Went for a haircut - cried but overall was not that bad
• Out to dinner with Mommy & Daddy and was in the restaurant when the hailstorm hit! it was super dark, windy, rainy & hail! We came home to find leaves everywhere, a screen ripped, and a hole in a garage window
• After some book reading, went to bed pretty easily
• Great job at counting (1,2, 6-15) on his own
• Does well with the alphabet but he really has to be in the mood
• Starting to say phrases - his latest are "I hear Mickey" "Let's go airplane"

Haircut #5...

Alexander's hair has been getting long and was in need of a cut. You knew it was bad when the poor kid kept wiping it out of his face. So we decided to bring him today after his nap and then go out for an early dinner.

At first, Alexander was uncooperative and did not want to go in the chair. And the lady was not all that pleasant either. She buckled him in pretty tight and I actually said something to her. I made up a story that he hurt his ribs too just to show her that she was man-handling my son. I was not impressed.

He cried a bit but there was no major screaming or kicking. And by the end of the haircut, he stopped crying all together and was just fine. I have to say we are fortunate that we've been practicing by using a spray bottle on him each morning and as well as practicing haircuts with "snip snip snip" as we touch his hair so he knew what was happening.

And the end result was one very cute little boy...btw, the haircut is prefect for a faux-hawk!!

Spaulding Annual Gathering...

We had the Spaulding Family annual gathering for the Flag/Plaque dinner at Peter & Arlene's house this year. Everyone except Mimi, Alyson, Amy & new Spaulding-to-be Diahann was there to celebrate.

It was a low-key yet fun, relaxing day to hang with the Spaulding clan. And because the cast was so new, Alexander got to show it to everyone althought he decided to play shy instead. Overall, it was a very time to be able to see (almost) everyone.

I love this picture of all the little kids - it's very cute! (Dan's holding Alexander up on the top)

Story of the Boo-Boo...

Finally the story of the boo-boo...

Tuesday morning, a little after 10am. I'm sitting in a conference room waiting for a meeting to start and my cell rings showing Alexander's school. Speaking to Jenn (one of the directors), who has called to tell me that Alexander fell and that he's still really upset. She explains there's no blood but he won't calm down no matter what they try, he won't let anyone hold him, and he screams if you try to touch his arm. She explained what happened that they were getting the kids ready to go outside to play and Alexander refused to put on his hat. Ms Sarah was trying to put it on and he pulled away and then he took a dive, a la Superman, and landed on the floor on his right side. Ms Sarah thought it was his head he hurt because of the sound when he hit the floor.

I calmly drive to school, thankfully school is only a mile away from my work. I think I expected him to calm down soon after but he wanted no part of it. He was afraid to be picked up and he screeched in pain if you tried to touch his arm/shoulder. He didn't even want to move to another spot - he just wanted to stand right where he was in the office. After about 40 minutes, I was finally able to pick him (using his buttcheeks) and get him into the car. He cried but couldn't fight all that much so it wasn't that painful. I called our doctor and they said I could bring him in for noon which meant I now had an hour to kill. I decided to bring him to Panera for a PB&J sandwich since he would probably miss lunch. I had to put his t-shirt back on and he SCREECHED when I put it on (this made me very sad). He stopped crying once in Panera and he sat in the booth, quiet, but didn't want to eat his sandwich. I had a book with me and he was able to tell me colors and how old he was so I felt he probably didn't have a concussion plus his eyes were not glassy and he was pretty coherent.

Finally in the doctor office, Alexander is crying again. Dr D is checking him out and doesn't feel anything broken or out of place. She tries the nursemaid's elbow remedy a couple of times in case his elbow popped out of joint and although he screamed when she did this, nothing major. She tells us that we should go to the ER to get x-rays to confirm that nothing is broken. We head down the street to N-W hospital and I fully expected to wait HOURS.

This is Alexander in the ER on Tuesday waiting to be called in. He was such a good boy, and while sitting here was one of the few times he wasn't crying. Getting the x-rays were just as painful for Mommy because he's crying, upset and saying "Mommy" but you have to let him lie there for the x-rays. We were there for a total of 2 1/2 hours - this includes registeration, triage, nurse getting vitals, billing, being seeing by the Pediatric nurse, x-rays, and finally being examined by the doctor. Even at one point, the nurse came into our triage room to see if Dan or I wanted something to eat or drink. I was impressed as I didn't remember the ER being like this when I was little.

After x-rays and examination, it was determined that he had a contussion and to keep an eye on it. If it didn't get better to call the doctor. Fast forward to Friday morning, and there is no improvement on the arm. He's using it maybe 10% of the time, he screams when you have to lay him down as if it hurts, and you can't pick him up under his armpit. So I called the doctor and they told us to come in right away and that we would probably be spending the afternoon at the orthopedic.

For the record, Alexander still appears to be afraid of Dr. M. As soon as he saw the doctor building, he started crying. Once inside he cried but nothing severe however once he saw Dr. M it was blood-curdling screams. Dr. M did a full upper body exam and could not find broken bones, resistance, or a different type of cry if he pushed on something new. He referred us to an orthopedic at the local hospital. Here we go for an afternoon of x-rays and back/forth!

We register at the hospital and Alexander's in a pretty decent mood. We go for radiology and they tell us to go to the dr. office since we just had x-rays on Tuesday and Dr. O can pull those up. We head upstairs, and wait a bit. Dr. O asks us to take off his shirt and just looks at him. He does a minor exam of the arm and tells us to go downstairs for x-rays. And thus began the process...we head back downstairs. I left the poor kid's shirt off because I wasn't going to take it on/off all afternoon. However while waiting to be called for x-rays, Alexander was showing off his new skills of drinking from a cup with no lid!
Back in radiology and I go in with Alexander for the x-rays. He knew as soon as we walked into the room what was going to happen and he screamed. He kept wiggling so we had to take more than expected. And he was very unhappy every time we had to position him. Once done the technicians who were super sweet brought him stickers which he decided to put them all over. We headed back upstairs to Dr. O, who told us, once back upstairs, that we needed to go back down and take more because he needed to see more but that we should expect to put a cast on him to stabilize the injury.

My stomach dropped. This poor kid.

Back downstairs. By now, we were all getting tired. I go back into the x-ray room and Alexander is miserable. We had a different tech and she was not as nice. She kept trying to move him and I would tell her that it hurts to move his neck or shoulder that way. I wanted to pop her one. We took several more x-rays and finally got the views they wanted. The mean tech lady was so much nicer when we were done and gave him his own bag of goldfish. So I thanked her for her help, understanding that she was probably just doing her job. I still wasn't that happy with her bed-side manner.

Now in Dr. O's room, he comes in and says he doesn't know what's wrong but we'll put on a cast for two weeks. He had no idea but it would help protect the injury and give him more mobility than he was giving himself.

Frank, another technician, comes in to ask what color cast we wanted. I figure blue would be appropriate for a little boy. It took 10 minutes to put on the cast but it was a very long 10 minutes because I had to hold onto him quite tightly because he wanted to leap from the table. He put the sock on, then some bandages, then put the blue bandage that hardened into the cast. It was pretty remarkable as to how fast it went on and how hard it gets so quickly. Two weeks, no water...let's see how this goes.This is Alexander right after Frank put the cast on and we put his shirt back on. This was a brand new shirt that we had to cut the sleeve to get it on. Figures!! He was okay once on the ground, but then when Frank put the sling on he FREAKED out. He kept freaking out until we took the sling off once outside the doctor's office. And as soon as the sling came off, he stopped crying and said "bye bye doctor". It was comical!!And here is a picture of Alexander showing his cast and just how cute he looks...

Monthly Update...

Since I decided I would still do a monthly update, but maybe not as specific, here goes...

This past month was pretty same ole same ole with the one exception that Alexander had to go to the ER because of a fall at school, got several sets of x-rays, and ended up getting a cast on his arm even though he has no broken bones.

Despite that, things have been well. He's vocabulary is improving where he's actually starting to form phrases. He does very well with the alphabet (when he wants) as well as counting. He counts from 1, 2, 6-15 all by himself!

I also bought him a book of 100 words (food, musical instruments, animals, colors, etc) and he's getting really good at telling me what the majority of the things in the book are. He also loves to finger paint. He'll tell you the color paper and then what color paint to use - he's quite the artist!

Clothing, feeding, sleeping are still the same as before. One other thing that may become a future topic is that I'm noticing he's starting to want to climb. The past two weeks, he's tried to climb back IN to his crib to get a stuffed animal or something. I'm hoping this doesn't turn into a "Alexander climbed out of his crib" topic!

Calm Before the Storm...

Here is a picture of Alexander waiting patiently in the ER. This was one of the few moments where he was not bawling his eyes out. I'm sorry for the lack of details but will be posting the whole story later tonight once I get home.

Long story, short: he fell at school, was in a lot of pain, went to the doctor, then to the ER. Got X-rays, nothing broken, just a sad, sore little boy.

Hands...

Before the week got as crazy as it was about to I thought it would be a cute idea to take a picture of Alexander's hands from school. There's a wall that they have all of the kids put their hands on and they right their names underneath it.

It's very cute and the kids love seeing their hands up on the wall. Alexander loves to point out his hands as well as his friend Connor's who is right next to him.
I then just took a close-up shot of Alexander's hands on the wall.

Then I wanted to get a shot of the wall as you walk down so you can see all of the hands...they also have pics & bios of the teachers lined on the wall (which has been helpful to Daddy who can't remember the teachers names) I've always liked this and thought it was really cute so I wanted to capture Alexander's hands before they do something else on the walls.

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, May 11th - Sunday, May 17th, 2009)