Poor Alex

I thought I would share Alex's battle wound with you. He fought the dirty clothes hamper and I think he lost!

This was right after it happened.
His nose had been bleeding......it was lot's of fun trying to clean him up!

This was tonight after his bath. Pretty, huh?!?!

I am not exactly sure how he did it. It is possible that he was trying to climb in the dirty clothes hamper but I really don't know. Also tonight, I caught him trying to crawl inside the "little" cabinet door on our entertainment center. He got stuck. I tried to take a picture of that too but he got out before I got the camera. Then he was climbing on the step stool in the kitchen. I have a feeling this will not be the last bloody nose, bruise, etc. that we will see with this kid!!!


Update on St. Louis trip: We are home......and still worn out. I took a rather long nap today when the kids were sleeping so I didn't get a chance to work on a Caring Bridge update. I will start that tonight but mostly likely won't be finished until tomorrow sometime. I will say that we has a GREAT time and we really hope to get to go back again next year!

Alex

Well, Alex started “school” on Tuesday also. Technically is it not school, it is Parent’s Day Out. But we call it school. I am not sure if he gets the fact that he is at “school” because his room is also his Sunday School room so he is very familiar with it already. When I dropped him off on Tuesday, I let him walk down the hallway. He was smiling and signing please as he walked towards the door. He walked right in a started playing with the toys.

I am not sure quite what to expect out of the year for Alex. He has some adjusting that he will have to do. Cory and I have talked about how good he is at home. He entertains himself really well and will just roam around from room to room looking for something to get into…..oh I mean something to play with! This works well for us at home. If we are all trying to get ready to go somewhere or get things done he is usually very low maintenance. But this is not so good at school because he doesn’t want to sit still for long. They do circle time and I can just imagine how hard it was to keep him still. He will be there on Sundays (for SS), Tues/Thurs, (for school) and Wednesday (for Awanas) so he will learn soon enough how to sit in circle time!!

Alex is growing up really fast. He is definitely not a baby anymore. Every day he wants to do more things on his own and he figures things out. At times he is very patient while trying to figure something out but other times he screams with anger because he is mad that he can do something the way he wants to do it. Alex is very loving to all his family and greets each one of us when we walk in the room with “Hi, Mama or Hi Bubba”. He copies most of what Hayden and Hayley do. This is not always a good thing either. He is already learning how to fuss and grumble like his siblings. He usually copies them right after they do it and that is funny because he is not really mad…..he just wants to be like them. That also give us the opportunity to show H & H how silly they sound. ;)

We have found that Alex thinks anyone that comes to our house is there is see him. He usually has therapy here at least once a week and he really likes his therapists. But when friends come over it is almost like he expects them to play only with him. In his mind, the world revolves around Alex!

His new favorite toy is a vacuum cleaner. Any kind will do!! If I leave the closet where I keep out big vacuum he will drag it out and start pulling it down the hallway. We finally got him a little that is just his size. He really could vacuum all day and the noise that it makes is fabulous!?!?!

Alex is very stubborn and persistent when he wants to be. We know that he will need the qualities in life but sometimes it is hard to manage a two year old with such spunk! With each of our kids, Alex being no different, I pray that Cory and I would have the wisdom to direct them in the path that God has for them. God will use each of their personality traits for His glory. We just have to guide them in the right direction!!

We are so proud of all that Alex has accomplished in his little life. Alex is a wonderful little boy with lots of love and life in him, but he is also a Stroke Survivor!! Things are harder for him but he will figure them out. He will be held to the same standards as we hold Hayden and Hayley and that is to try your best and never give up!!

We love you Alex!! You are an amazing little guy!

Hayley

It is Hayley’s turn to start school tomorrow. She will be starting the Pre-K 4 class at our church. The location is not new and her teacher is a good friend so I am not quite sure how this year will go. Last year she was in a class with four boys. I heard she tried to boss them around but they ignored her. This year her class consists of one of her good friends and one other little boy. Just three of them….not sure what she is going to think when she gets to kindergarten next year with a room full of kids!

I am very excited for her to start this year and I think she is too. Hayley is quite a character and she is either all or nothing. She is either very excited about going or she doesn’t want to go at all. But she is that way with everything. She tends to worry about things that shouldn’t even concern her. Things like what Hayden is doing to if I will be able to find our way home from Wal-mart in the dark.

She definitely keeps us on our toes. Just when we think we have something figured out she hits us with something else. But I guess that is the case with all kids. It just tends to be a little more dramatic with Hayley. She talks just to talk…..all the time! She even repeats almost every movie she watches and also tries to repeat all family members in conversations. As you can imagine, this drives Hayden crazy!!

She is very thoughtful and always wants to get Hayden and Alex a treat if she is getting something. But she can also pick at both of them so much to cause some sort of retaliation from both her brothers. Most of the time I am not sure who or what started it but they can have some good ones going (and usually occurring about 2.7 seconds after I exit the room).

Hayley is a ball of energy. One of her favorite things to do is pretend she is a dog or a horse. She makes very accurate sounds for each animal and can walk, run and gallop according to which animal she is at the time. The sound she creates really does sound like an animal running through our house. Just ask those who have heard it…..it is almost disturbing. And I guess I shouldn’t explain how she sits like a dog and scratches her ear with her foot. That might be too embarrassing for her in the future!

Hayley has taught us a lot about being parents. She has given us many lessons in patience as well as lessons in love. She is almost an exact opposite of Hayden so it is like we are learning everything all over again. She is a great kid and lots of fun to be around (even though she doesn’t sit still long). I will leave you with a quote about Hayley from a good friend of ours, “everyone needs to experience Hayley for just a moment to appreciate how fun and silly childhood should be!”

I love you Hayley!! I know you are going to have a great year!

Updated:

Hayley was excited to get her backpack on and take her picture this morning. But when we got to school she was a little timid to go in. I know she will have a great day and I can't wait to hear how much fun she had!

(Alex starts "school" tomorrow too but I will wait until Thursday to do his post)