Toadfrogs and Elephants

It’s amazing how quickly Alex can go from happy and playing

to needing to be in bed:

We went to Small World Dentistry first thing this morning. I didn’t think to take a picture during the trip, but Alex did great. Dr. Rick was was a lot of fun. They looked over his teeth and brushed them. In 6 months they will perform a real cleaning. Alex enjoyed playing with his toothbrush when we got home.

Alex has also started smiling in such a way that all of his teeth show:

Then I got a kick out of watching Alex remove his hat:

It appears Alex might have all the teeth he is going to get for a while – thank goodness. I have recently noticed a decrease in the amount of drooling so I looked up a chart on baby teeth:

According to this, Alex got most of his teeth (8 at the moment) on the early side of the range. He should have a couple of months of no new teeth.

Tomorrow is Alex’s first trip to the dentist.

Wade and I both accomplished something today. He designed, built, and installed our custom baby gate:

I learned that cake decorating is much harder than I thought. First on the improvement list is color mixing:

And Alex is still loving on his bear:

Alex and I played this morning while Daddy slept. I think Alex is becoming attached to his Angel Dear blankets. We’ve always had one in the crib and he now wants to take it with him when he gets up. Then he carries it around while playing. He doesn’t seem to miss it if it is out of sight and has no preference over which one – we have the puppy, moose, bear, monkey, and frog.

Alex has also discovered that he can take all of the toys out of his drawer and get in it. I’m not sure what the appeal is, but he loves it

After church we did a lot of playing. I’m sure we did something productive, but I can’t seem to remember what.

Alex even stood still long enough for a close up. He wanted to show off his bottom teeth:

Alex loved watching Daddy outside shoveling snow (we got another couple of inches overnight):

After nap time, we went bowling with Amber, Nick, and Abram. I bowled a shocking four strikes in a row. Abram attempted to bowl, but had more fun trying to run down the lane before Nick caught him.

Wade took care of Alex for the evening and I headed out to make some returns at the outlet mall. I loved how empty the place was at 7 pm on a Saturday night.

I’ve been waiting for today all winter – we got lots of light, fluffy snow. It has snowed all day and is supposed to continue through till tomorrow morning.

Madison and I played a little while Alex napped:

We waited for Wade to get home to introduce Alex to snow. The only time Alex cried is when he stuck his face in the snow. Otherwise he just crawled around or was content to be carried. I’m not sure he actually noticed the white stuff.

Then Alex and I went to visit Amber and Abram while Wade cleared the driveway. Abram let Alex ride in his sled. The next picture was taken right before Alex dumped a mitten full of snow in Abram’s face.

We decided a fire was needed. Alex was very interested in the entire process:

I think Alex is trying to tell me something. I found him in the bathroom playing with his pajamas and diaper:

Alex decided he would rather not take a nap before Mother’s Day Out. I eventually agreed and so we played:

A new love in Alex’s life is the rubber coaster. We have them all over the living room and he loves to find them.