Thirty Months

Alexander,

You are thirty months, officially two and a half, and have been for a few weeks now. At half way from two and three, you're accomplishing some pretty amazing things and throwing us for loops nearly daily. Today, as we were driving on our way to lunch, you pointed out a Jeep in front of us (you're incredibly astute when it comes to recognizing and correctly identifying cars - a talent, no doubt, that you've inherited from your father, and I'm sure weekly looking at the Consumer Reports 2009 Car Guide with him doesn't hurt). I asked you what color it was (it was silver), and you replied, "white." When I said, "no, that's silver," you quickly retorted, "it is white, Mommy. Trust me."

I frequently use the phrase, "trust me," to underscore a point to you, to Daddy, to the world. What struck me about today was that you used this in perfect context, and even though the Jeep we saw was clearly silver, you were convinced it was white. This ability to jump so whole-heartedly into something you believe, whether it's clearly not accurate is something you have inherited completely from me. And it gives me great joy to see these little quirks of your personality show themselves. Your father and I are ever more convinced that you have a career in litigation or politics.



Earlier this month we visited Poppop and Mommom at the shore. On Saturday, when Poppop asked you where you would like to go you replied, "shopping to get a new car." You came home with eleven new cars. I believe it's safe to say that you have Poppop completely hooked. That was an interesting weekend trip for me, as it fell in the middle of a particularly long trip away for Daddy, and I went to the shore as much to have a change of scenery and some extra hands to help with you as I did for the visit. And I have to say that Mommom and Poppop delivered, brilliantly! We were fed well, taken care of, and I got to sleep in on Sunday, which my tired self needed.

Last week, I traveled to a conference for work and was away from Monday through late Friday night. In those short five days, I firmly believe that you grew at least three inches, your voice changed, and your speech took on an entirely new dimension. You're now correctly conjugating verbs and using the proper tenses (past and present). You also seemed to really enjoy your alone time with Daddy. And, I can't say that I blame you. It's rare that the two of you get any time without me poking around, so I'm sure it was fun for your both to have some male bonding time, to sit around in your underwear and pull-ups, burp, fart, and watch bad reality TV. The sweetest thing about this trip for me (other than the huge Heavenly Bed all to myself every night) was on Saturday morning when you woke up. At 7:00 am, I heard you getting out of bed and heading over to your door and the first thing you said was, "Mommy, are you home?"




















Yes I was - and I've never been happier to be anywhere.
I love you, Alexander.
Mommy

Snow Day!

We had some snow (finally) worth playing in! I imagine that if it weren't for Alex, I'd be grousing along with the rest of the world about snow in March, however I have to say that it was amazing! We had a brief, but fun time outside...

London Bridge is Falling Down

Rather than bore everyone with a play by play on our recent trip to London, I've decided instead to summarize in a best/worst list for each of us to cover the high points (and the humorous low points).

Favorite Sight:
Alexander - Big Ben and the Queen's horse guards on Whitehall
Carrie - Westminster Abbey
Skip - Windsor Castle

Least Favorite Sight:
Alexander - the inside of the Heathrow airport changing rooms
Carrie - the inside of the Accident and Emergency department at St. Thomas Hospital (A&E = ER)
Skip - Carrie's face prior to her trip to A&E at St. Thomas Hospital

Best Meal
Alexander - Wagamama - yummy edemamme and chopsticks for kids!
Carrie - Cafe Gerard - best steak frites and coolest staff - wonderfully accommodating of the boy
Skip - Giraffe - less than stellar food, but by far the most family friendly place in London

Worst Meal
Alexander - Giraffe at the South Bank Centre - focaccia pizza - too much bread and too little cheese!
Carrie - Giraffe at Heathrow on our way home - disappearing waitress, lazy service, Alex's scrambled eggs the consistency of chocolate syrup, ick!
Skip - Sarastro - more than terrible service and wierd velour napkins and tablecloths (who wants to wipe their face on velour - yuck!)

Best Transport Experience

Alexander - Making fish faces with strangers on first tube ride

Carrie - Boating down the Thames to visit the Tower of London

Skip - Having his own row on the train on the way to Windsor

Worst Transport Experience

Alexander - Anytime Mommy or Daddy put him in the stroller

Carrie - Walking around Westminster Abbey and Parliament on a Saturday with the stroller - what were we thinking???

Skip - The flight over...his seat did not recline.  This did, however score him free earphones. Thank you US Air for your terrific generosity!  Geesh.

Best Moment

Alexander - Remarking to Skip in the Kings Chapel of Westminster Abbey, "This is AMAZING!" Completely unsolicited.

Carrie - Walking up Bloomsbury to Gower Street to see Madison House, the British Museum, then lunch with my guys at Wagamama, where I pretty much lived for the last four months I was in London in 1998

Skip - riding the London Eye at night - amazing views of the city.

Worst Moment

Alexander - did we mention any time we placed him in the stroller?

Carrie - waiting 3 hours in St. Thomas' A&E to be seen by a doc for eight minutes for a lip laceration due to over zealous wrestling with the little guy.

Skip - poopy diaper blowout in Heathrow - so so glad I didn't volunteer to change that one!