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• Weeks 5-8
• Weeks 9-12
• Weeks 13-16
• Weeks 17-20
• 5 Months
• 6 Months
• 7 months
• 8 months
• 9 months
• 10 months
• 11 months
• First Birthday
• 12 months
• 13 months
• 14 months
• 15 months
• 16 months
• 17 months
• 18 months
• 19 months
• 20 months
• 21 months
• 22 months
• 23 months
• Second Birthday
• 24 months
• 25 months
• 26 months
• 27 months
• 28 months
• 29 months
• 30 Months
• 31 Months
• 32 Months
• 33-34 Months
• 35 Months
• 36 Months
• Third Birthday
• March 2005
• April 2005
• May 2005
• June 2005
• July 2005
• August 2005
• September 2005
• October 2005
• November 2005
• December 2005
• January 2006
• February 2006
• Fourth Birthday
• March 2006
• April 2006
• May 2006
• June 2006

• Main Alec Page

23 Months

Only one more month until your birthday! I can't believe my baby will be two years old! Ack. And I need to get on the birthday party ball and get some invitations out....not to mention cake making!

I am on a major house cleaning binge and we are seriously purging stuff. I walked into the living room with a big bag of your dad's clothes for the Salvation Army and you wanted to know what I had. I told you they were Dada's clothes that don;t fit any more and you said "Fit ACCA! Fit Acca!" You were so cute and sincere - I think you really wanted to wear his clothes.

You need everything. This is your new expression - which is doubly cool because you say "I need..." not Acca need. Today your train set bridge kept falling down and after fixing it ten times in 5 minutes I told you when Dad got home he would glue it for you. So all day you ran around saying "I need glue-y"

You had a hot dog fro lunch and you need to have ketchup and mustard to dip it in. I gave you some cucumber sticks on the side to make it somewhat nutritious and you dipped your cucumber in eh mustard and ketchup too. As soon as you did it you turned to me and laughed and said "Silly Acca!" - so at least you knew cucumbers don't go in ketchup. But you really liked it and ate them all that way!

You want me to tell you stories now all the time. Especially before bed. You like the 3 little pigs, but your favorite is for me to tell you about things that we have done. Especially going to the zoo. All the time I hear "Mama tell zoo more" So cute. You were also really into hearing about the Japanese restaurant we went to with Mimi and Granddad - you love the hibachi cooking! You say that the man cooks "woosh!" - cause that is how the fire goes.

Did I mention you are a singing sensation. I may have last month. But you really love to sing now, are singing everything. In addition to Wheels on the Bus and Frosty - your top two favorites, you now sing along to Mary had a Little Lamb and This Old Man. You also sing the Kindermusik "time to put the toys away" line with me now. Fun!

Conversation with you at lunch:
Me: Oh Alec, what should we name your baby brother? Zachary?
You: No. Um, name him Elmo!
Me: No, that's silly.
You: Silly Acca! Um, Name him Jay-Jay!

We were going to a white elephant party and I was wrapping our present to give and you were so upset that it wasn't a present for you. You flung yourself into my arms (drama king that you are) and said "I need presents." Then you were rolling around on the chair moaning and I asked you what was wrong and you said "I sad. I need presents." Poor needy boy.

We were reading a book and there was a farm field and you pointed to it and said "stripes" then you pointed to my shirt and said "stripes" then did the same to yours (and yes both our shirts were striped). I think my jaw dropped open. I can't remember ever talking about stripes with you. You probably learned it on TV. Bad mama that I am!

You like to tickle my belly button. Let me tell you, a stretched out almost flat pregnant belly button is very very ticklish. It drives me crazy and you just laugh and laugh. Crazy kid!

We're starting to read "big" books now - long books, real story books. And you sit there and soak it all in. You just love to read.

You and your friend Marshall are just always at odds. Last year when he was in a biting stage you were his favorite victim. Now it seems he is your favorite target for tackling. You really have some wrestling moves - which is amazing for me to watch - where in the world could you have learned this stuff. Talk about hard wired. Pretty much you lie on him or sit on him. His mom told me tonight that he was going around all day saying "Alec doesn't ride me mommy, I'm not a horse." Mean Alec - traumatizing your friends!

Your new absolute favorite thing in the world is for me to "tell zoo" - which means I tell you 5000 times about various trips we have taken to a zoo. I'm sorry bud, I can only take so much. But you love it! So now I've tried to turn it into more of a song - we sing "old AlecAlec had a zoo, EIEIO...." - you love it. "Sing Acca had zoo mama" is what I hear all the time :)

I love that you say "tell song" when you want me to sing you a song.

You are just such a great kid right now. You are a little human. We have such a great time together. But part of me misses you even though we spend all the time together. You're so much moor independent. You play choo and Little People and Legos for a long time on your own. Yes, you will run up to me and say "mama play mama play" - but it's so different from when you were a baby. I don't hold you as much as I used to. You give me tons of spontaneous "mama" hugs, but I miss snuggling you close for longer periods of time. You are growing up and I love it and I am sad all at the same time.

You counted to 7 today. That's the highest yet!

You sing the kindermusik "time now, time now, time to put our toys away" all on your own now. If I don;t sing it and just tell you it's time to clean up you'll sing it to yourself while you put whatever it is away. I had to get it on video - so sweet.

We were going to the science museum and you were watching Dora when I told you we were going. You got up, turned off the TV and said "only mama acca go science, no dora" - I had no idea you knew the word only! You just come out with new words every single day. Then you told me "I need go science" - you are really using "I" so much more now.

Dada left for school and as he was walking out the door you said "i love ooo" - he didn't hear you so I am counting the next time when you said it to ME as the first time you ever said it. I am selfish like that :)

I'm going to steal this from my blog....I dropped M and A off at gymnastics class this morning so that I could have an hour to myself (which was of course spent running errands, but still - BY MYSELF!). As M was getting A out of his car seat, I said "Bye A, I'll miss you, have fun with Dada," he replied "ok mama, bye-bye, I wuv ooo."

Tears instantly sprung to my eyes and I felt this light feeling - the only thing I can describe it as is pure joy. The same feeling I had when I first held A in my arms, the same feeling I had during some late night nursing sessions when he was a little one and it was just me and him alone in the world, just pure and absolute love and joy over this little human being who is my son. I'm teary now typing this out. I knew that the first time he told me he loved me would be sweet and special and of course I looked forward to it, but I just didn't know just how sweet it would be.

He's 23 months. I'm not sure he really gets love, but at the very least I think he gets that it's something we say to those we are close to. I think. I am sure tomorrow he'll be telling the cashier at Target he loves her and my bubble will be burst. Oh well, for a few moments that joy was all mine and I'll always remember the first time I ever heard "i wuv ooo."

I love doing stuff with you Alec, and one of our favorite things to do is to go to Barnes and Noble and play at the train table. You love the train of course, and I get to sit and relax with some coffee. It's great while we are there. It's leaving that makes me want to run screaming. Because that's what you do. Major tantrum, major crying, major kicking, flailing, etc. You are way to heavy and I am way to pregnant to deal with this. I don't know how to make it better. Some days it just seems easier to stay at home.

You put your hand in your pants pockets now. It has to be the cutest thing I've ever seen. Little man.

I couldn't stop staring at you at story hour the other day. You just look so different now. Maybe it's the haircut. Maybe you've just grown up.

We look through my Fisher PRice collectors book and when you come to a toy you have you get all excited and yell "I have that one!" - of course when you see one you don;t have and that you like I hear "I need that one acca home". I hear that a lot when we are shopping at Target too :)

You love your CD player. It's really cute. You have your "sleep music" and your "wheels bus" music. One is for sleeping and nap obviously and the other for playing. You are religious about making sure the right one is on at the right time. The only problem is that of course the CDs are getting totally abused form your grimy fingers. Not sure what to do about this. I don't want to put the CD player on a shelf where you can't reach it because you are so into it I know you'd climb to get it.

You are so affectionate, not even just with me but with your friends. Everytime one of them comes over or we meet up with them you get so excited and yell their name and give them a huge bear hug. Sometimes everyone ends up on the floor from your enthusiasm!

Another great new phrase "i found it!"

Your friends were over and you put your play music CD on and you ran out into the living room and shouted "come play Clio wheel bus on!" - like don't you know you should be playing if the play music is on?

You are saying "my" now. My train, my car.

You are really into coloring and play doh right now. WHen you are coloring you want to use my lap desk - you'll ask for "mama's table"

Coming home from the indoor playground the other day I hear very faintly from the backseat - "I tired mama." - I think we need to go there more! It was so good for you to run around. Though you did summersault head first down the slide. I was a bit freaked but you seemed fine. You loved this red motorcycle, pumping the gas and the see saw the best.

Today I went to the doctor's office and you stayed with your dad. I came home after a not so great appointment only to be greeted by you running full steam ahead into my arms saying "i miss you mama." - doesn't that just melt your heart? It did mine.

You give a running commentary on your life now. You are so proud of your new words. You talk all the time. When you are playing you say things like "sonya drive green tractor have apples". You tell me what you are doing "play little people mama" or "i coming kitchen mama"

You now answer me with "yes mama" sounds so sweet but so formal, it makes me laugh.

We were looking through my Fisher Price collectibles book again and I stopped on the dolls page. You got very upset and said "no dolls! I need boy toys!" Ack - I am telling you it is all nature over nurture.

Whenever we get a package, you get so excited. You run to the door saying "package for acca! i get package!" and then if it turns out not to be for you, you have a complete meltdown on the floor sobbing "i need package" So sad, but I'm sorry it cracks me up.

You sang your ABC's today for the first time (2/17). I was so proud of you. I am completely convinced you are a musical genius. You love to sing, you sing the little people theme song while you play with them, love to play CDs in your room while you play and get down right jiggy with them. We were playing with an electronic toy today that plays the instrumental of favorite nursery songs - you recognize them all in just a few notes and start singing the words. You recognize the songs faster than I do - honestly I find it very amazing.

I love to hear you sing. Especially Old McDonald and This old man.

You haven't been napping lately (very frustrating!) so you have been falling asleep in your dinner food the last 3 nights. It's hysterical to watch you fight it, and then bob your head and eventually drift off into perfect sleep usually with your arm still half raised to your mouth. You must nap Alec!

You say sorry a lot. The other day I said I was having a bad day and you looked at me and said "sorry mama" - and i thought it was so sweet. But you're also saying it just if stuff happens - like if a toy becomes unhooked. You say "sorry mama" - I'm a bit worried about this, I don't want you to think you have to apologize for everything because I know I do this and I hate it.

Tonight after your bath I was giving you your massage and you wanted to help, so I put the lotion on your hands and you were rubbing it into your feet. Then when it would disappear from your hands you would look a bit confused - like where did the lotion go? Then we were talking about how you will help me massage baby brother when he arrives and you wanted to massage him NOW. So you rubbed the lotion on my big old belly. It was really so sweet, my sweet baby Alec.

Tonight you took both of my cheeks between your hands and pulled my face close to yours and started making your "geeeeeee" saliva rolling noises that you still make that you made as a baby and which I just love. I felt like you were telling me this wordless, amazing story. It was a very special moment for me. I'm a sap, what can I say.

I accidentally zipped your coat up and caught your chin in the zipper. Ouch. So now every time I go to put your coat on you, you lock your chin down flat and say "Hurts." I feel so bad. But I keep telling you that it won;t hurt so now you say "Hurts. No Hurts. All better." Though you still don't love to put your coat on.

The other day I got you up from your nap and you ran into the living room and yelled "Trains! I wake up!" - I guess it was time to play trains :)

I was working on my laptop at the kitchen table and you crawled into the seat across form me. The screen was blocking me and you got really upset and yelled "Can't see you mama!" It was kind of sweet, you sweet boy.

Now you are starting to tell me stories. You say "I tell zoo now mama.....Once when Acca was little baby, when Acca was baby...." It's really too cute.

The other day you were happily playing with your train table and next thing I know you are headed towards the front door and trying to put your boots and coat on. I asked you where you were going and you said " I going mall, buy more trains. Bye Mama." - Smart guy. I'm surprised you didn't just ask me for my credit card.

You're new phrase is "I doing something"

How could I ever say no to anything you ask when you come up to me give me a huge hug and say "I love you so much" My heart absolutely melts.

Second best was when after I left you with Dad while I went to visit a friend in the hospital, I came home and you gave me a big hug and said "I so glad you came home Mama." I love this stage you are in - please let it last a long time. No terrible two's....please?

We went to lunch with your Mimi, Granddad and Grammy the day before your 2nd birthday. And we were trying to get you to count. You always say "1,2,1" - never "1,2,3" so we counted up to 10, hoping you would count along with us. You didn't. But when we stopped you kept going - "11, 12, 13.....up to 19". Needless to say we were all pretty speechless. You can;t count to 3, but you do OK with the higher numbers. You are a funny kid Alec!

You are currently obsessed with the Circus. And I told you we could go when the snow melts. Well it's melting so I guess I need to find a circus! This is now the newest story you want me to "tell."

If I ask you if you need something like a diaper change, a hand washing, etc., you'll say "No, I all better."