Balex

Alex probably deserves the biggest update just because he is growing and changing so much right now, but I'm short on time, so I'll just have to try to get in as much as I can...

• First off, he is just precious.

• Don't let that sweet sleeping picture fool you, though. He can spell trouble with the best of them.

• He thinks he is SO big and smart now that he is talking. I adore his little toddler language: Hayne (Shayne), Daisy (Gracie), Aw-ee (Aubrey), Doo (Thank you), Duice (Juice), and on and on. Probably my favorite is "Wat Dis!" (Watch This!) He's in that stage where he will repeat a word over and over until someone acknowledges (and repeats) the word back to him so he knows he's understood.

• He is such a mimic. I see him studying out his siblings' every move so that he can copy it exactly. The picture below is a good example...he saw the big kids strapping in with the regular seatbelts in the car, so he pulled the middle one over and put just his arm through it. He wants to be a big kid, too! (He was also pretending to sleep in this picture--a little game he likes to play with me in the car.)

• He also knows his place in the family, though. Whenever I ask him if he is a big boy, he says "No, baby!" I think he plans to milk that position for all it's worth.

Sharing Mom's earbuds at naptime. Special privleges for the baby of the family.

• Check it out: He has moved into a bed. He stays there. And he goes to sleep on his own at night! Really it's just a matress on the floor at this point (that's how we've transitioned all the kids), and I still lay down with him at naps, but definite progress! Hooray!

 "Helping" Daddy take down the crib.

• He loves to pray. We laugh because at the end of our family prayer before bed, he'll immediately start hollering, "By Men! By Men! By Men!" It's hard to tell if this is his word for amen...or vitamin, since the kids routinely head for the gummy vitamins each night at that time.

 Not a related picture, but a cute one of the first time he saw his favorite animal.

• He still loves balls. If there is a shirt with a sports ball on it, that's the one he's wearing. If there is a ball to be found, it is in his hands. (I think we have found our theme for his birthday party next month!) Here is an awesome video of Alex playing ball, wearing Gracie's pink batting helmet. Watch for the drunken walk at the end when the weight of the bat gets the best of him. Hee!