March 2011

Happy March to you! I hope it's warming up where you are. Here, we've had a lot of rain this month and in the last couple of days it's gotten really sunny and beautifully warm. That's good because that's how I feel with my health. I'm feeling so much better these days and hope it continues. One of the things I won't miss is having to blow my nose, although I did have some fun with the tissue. (See picture below.) I recently started to brush my teeth with "Kids" toothpaste so I have to learn to spit out the foamy stuff and not swallow it. I have to admit, I enjoy spitting waaay more than blowing my nose.
Being sick off and on, plus having rainy weather led to quite a bit of time inside the house. Did I also mention we had to stay around the house anyway because there were some people helping to get our bathroom fixed up? Yeah, so, being inside all those hours allowed me to help with some of the cooking, baking, lots of naps, and playing with my "baby."
On a couple of occasions--when we all were feeling better--we got to go out. One of the places we got to go was to visit the Swiss Club for some fondue. I had a blast swirling around my bread in the delicious cheese fondue. I also got to start to learn to ride my scooter. It's a lot of work to get the helmet on, but it's been fun practicing.
So, here are some pictures from those adventures. Have a good one.
P.S. Happy Birthday, Grossi!

I told my mom I was going to get a tissue to blow my nose. It kept unrolling and unrolling and was so fun...until I got caught using more than my nose needed.

That's me putting an egg wash on my first rolled out zopf.

Doesn't that look so fun?! Swirl, swirl, swirl...

I take my job looking after my baby seriously and asked my mom to make a "pouch" so I could always keep the baby near me while I played and did stuff around the house. It's good practice for when I become a big brother.

Enjoying the nice day and testing out my scooter.

Feb. 2011

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you had a good time with your Valentines. I don't know what this day is really about, just that I gave out little cards to friends and some family, and I had the best time signing my name. The other cool part of this day was all the candy I got to eat. At this last parent class we had, there were two big bins of chocolate and peanut butter cups right within my reach. In total, I am not sure how many I ate, but with other parents checking with my mom if it was okay, she had already counted up to 6 pieces. Needless to say, I was wired on the drive home and running in circles when I should have been going to bed. Ahhh, Happy Valentine's Day indeed!
Things got a little hairy this month with me getting sick a couple of times, but they are all better now. I learned that when you get sick you have to cover your mouth when you cough and you can't go out as easily to play with friends. So, my mom and I did the best we could at home and did some straightening out in the back yard. When I got to feeling better we went to a local exhibit about Noah's Ark.
I'm learning a lot and talking a lot as well. I still ask a lot of questions because I want to know the name of things and how they are used. We had some nice, clear and starry nights lately and my dad has been showing me Orion. The other night I was excited to see it and yelled out, "Look, it's Oh-Rhino!" You get what I was trying to say, right? There's just so much to learn, and often things are harder to pronounce when you first try it. I'm enjoying myself though. Have a good rest of your month, Valentines.

Even though I wasn't feeling too well, I felt like being outside and decided my car needed a cleaning.

Watering our thirsty grass.

More yard work.

Feeling better and checking out a zebra at the Noah's Ark Exhibit.

We were asked to help "clean up" after the animals at the exhibit and that was me cleaning up after a zebra and putting its pretend poop in a box.

January 2011

Happy New Year, friends and family! We hope your year is off to a wonderful start. Ours is going just fine. The holidays were so wonderful. My parents and I feel like I've been opening presents since my birthday in October. Some presents arrived early, some a bit late, then it was time for Advent, then Christmas, and then some more presents that arrived a bit after Christmas again. Some days I catch myself asking my parents if I can open a "pakli" (small package) out of habit. :)
The month has been nice with us visiting some friends and using the BBQ whenever we get a chance. I can now saw "barbecue" and no longer say "barbecute." I'm also still quite full of questions. Besides asking what peoples' names are, I also ask, "What's this for?" or "What's this called?" Sometimes I ask these things as a way to make conversation, even though I already know what it is. My parents are catching on and ask me back the same question, "Alex, what IS that?"
Lately, we've been waking up to sunny, sunny weather. It's been so beautiful and we've been outside every chance we get. This included a recent trip to the beach where I got to play in a small tidepool my dad made me. It was so warm and full of mud. I had a blast!
Take care!

One of the packages I opened a bit late came from my grandpa Wilson. He gave me my first horse. I asked my mom what his name was but she said I would have to think of one for him. So, this is a picture of me and "Ted." He's a fast, nice horse.

Stretching our legs a bit before we get on the road to see friends. I love crunching leaves.

Playing blissfully in the mud at the beach!

December 2010

December has come and gone and boy was it fun! We made it to New Mexico after leaving California's wet, rainy weather and were greeted by a bunch of snow in Arizona. After some white-knuckled, quiet driving, we rolled into Grandma Laura's place tired but happy to have arrived and get out of the car.
It was all names, names and more names after that. Now, when I'm very curious to see who is who and learn names, I might ask, "What's that's names?" If I do this to you, please don't be offended--I'm still learning the difference between "Who is that?" and "What is that?"
Prior to that, we had our share of celebrations with friends locally and with the Swiss Club up north. I learned about the Samichlaus and was so scared when he called my name. Here's this big man in a red suit, who I've never seen before, and he knows my name! He told me of some nice things I did this year and then he gave me a small gunny sack full of nuts and fruit. That part was nice, but the rest was a bit too much and I had a good cry.
I think some of my favorite things were getting a real tree for Christmas and lighting it every morning. If my parents forgot, I was sure to remind them. It was also fun to bake lots and lots of cookies for our friends and family. Next year I'll try to help more and not eat as much. I also learned a bit about Advent as I received a calendar and got to open little goodies. That was a lot of fun--thanks Grossi & Opa! Then, of course, there were the actual presents. Thank you family for thinking of me and for the great gifts. I am insisting on carrying them with me in the car, to bed, and have them all over the living room, too. :)
I learned so much in 2010. Thank you. A'hee'hee. Merci.

That's me in front of our tree.

That's my gift from Samiclaus.

Wrapping presents is fun!

Isn't it also great to know someone thought of you and to open the present you received?

November 2010

Wow, things must be busy, because we're getting to November's blog well into December. The funny thing is we can't really remember what kept us so busy.
We hope you had a good Thanksgiving with your family and friends. We had a nice and small Thanksgiving celebration here in SoCal. We started our drive to New Mexico but my parents decided it was best to turn around after having to stop on the I-15 two times to clean me and my car seat up from...let's say, food that came back up and out. Between that, the cold weather, and the holiday traffic, it was a wise decision to turn around. We don't give up too easily, though, so we're going to try again in a couple of weeks. :)
My mom has been working hard to try to explain all these holidays to me and it's hard to keep up. It's hard to remember how turkeys and Thanksgiving go together, plus who Santa is, etc... She asked me what type of present I would like and I told her I wanted my "Uncle Chad." So, my mom's going to see if she can convince him to be wrapped up for me. I wonder what that's going to look like?
Well, since we're already pretty close, Seasons Greetings to you!

Trying out my "winter" gear in preparation for going to NM for Thanksgiving.

Dad and I making the crust for pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day. I was thankful to be feeling better!

We got to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific one evening and I loved it!

It's hard to see sea lions at night. Dad and I looked and looked. We finally saw them and even barked with them for awhile.

October 2010!!!!!

Happy Birthday!
This month, I turned 2 years old. It's been such a blast because my friends also have been turning 2. This means we've been attending each others' parties and singing "Happy Birthday to you..." over and over and over again! I think I'll finally know all the lyrics correctly by the time this last birthday party is done.
October is also when my Chei Harrison, passed away. My mom tells me stories about him and plays games with me like the ones he played with her and with my cousins. One of them is a "Spider" game. He used his fingers to imitate a spider crawling innocently along, and when you least expected it, he would pounce the spider on you and tickle you. I like this game so much that I ask for it by name and say, "Mommy? Spider?" and I motion my hands like I imagine my chei used to do.
It's October, so it's also Halloween. My mom found a good costume for me despite it not being her first choice. As a back up, I think it was the better outfit for me. My parents got into the spirit of Halloween towards the end of the evening when they whipped together their costumes within an hour.
Wow, so now that I'm 2, what can I tell you? I definitely can speak way more words than I could a year ago. I'm still learning Swiss German from my daddy and I speak solely with him in Swiss German--it just doesn't work when I try to with my mom. Sorry, mom. I can tell my my first name and last name, as well as the first and last names of my parents. I sometimes can tell you where my uncles, Gotti, and grandparents live. I say, "Switzasand" instead of "Switzerland." You get what I'm saying though--it's a long word. Overall, I'm learning so much. When I get excited, I yell, and when we're in the car, this doesn't go over so well with my parents. I can't help it, I just get so excited and have to point out what I see and make sure to ask if you see it, too.
Okay, that's enough. Please enjoy the pictures...

That's me about to freak out when my parents tell me they have something important to tell me.

That's me all relieved when they tell me it's my birthday and I get to have a piece of cake, too!

Daddy made my birthday cake--it's a Swiss Carrot Cake.

I love books and got a great big one from my Gotti Monika for my birthday. Thanks, Gotti!!!

As it was my birthday, I could pretty much choose what I wanted to do, so I asked my mom if we could watch planes land and take off at LAX.

Mom took me on another day to watch this particular plane land at LAX. It's Air Force One.

Time for the Halloween Parties! That's me, Thomas the Tank Engineer.

Nearby where we live they had a street party and all the store vendors gave out candy. We saw this guy hanging out and I was all cozy next to him saying, "Cheese!" Then, from out of no where, I heard someone say "Candy, come this way." As you can tell, I got distracted for a bit.

That's me in my costume and my parents' in theirs. My mom is the Publishers Clearing House Winner and my dad is the Prize Patrol.

My chei Harrison with one of my cousins. Miss you.

September 2010

Fall is in the air! The days are starting to feel different and cooler. My mom says that's because the seasons are starting to change and it's soon going to be fall time. There seems to be a lot of excitement about school starting, school shopping and summer ending. It all looks the same to me since I don't go to school and because the weather has been really sunny and warm. Maybe the biggest difference I can see is that my toes are cold in the morning now, and they weren't like that before.
I'm also learning about the sun rising and setting. I seem to get it backwards when I try to show my mom with my hands that the sun is coming up, but it's actually going down and getting dark. All I know is when it's time to go to sleep my mom won't give me milk again until the sun comes up. Sometimes that seems like an eternity.
Guess what?! My dad had his birthday earlier this month! I have been going to birthday parties of some of my buddies and started to learn how to sing the "Happy Birthday to you.." song. I tried to sing "Happy Birthday, Daddy" a lot this month. My mom and dad also tell me that coming up will be my birthday. I'm going to be two years old. I guess those are some other things that we've been excited about at home, too.
My parents have been excited that we haven't had to drive anywhere too far lately. Just wait till they get antsy and we're on some 12 hour-plus drive to who-knows-where! I figure as long as they bring my "Wiggles" CD then I'll be okay. So, this months pics will show me on the local scene--at home. :)
I'm saying more sentences and asking more questions like: "What is that?" or "What happened?" Then there's my favorite question, "Watch planes with daddy?" I can also offer compliments provided you have a t-shirt on that I like. Just the other day I told my mom, "Nice shirt." I also surprised my mom by calling her "Shima." Which is "mom" in Navajo. I made her giggle when I altered it and called her "Shimama." I'm still working on dad--that one is a little harder to say so I'll stick with "dad" for now.
Happy September to you and Happy Birthday to my dad, Kara, and Kyra. Love you!

My 23 months old pic.

I found this flower in the back yard and offered it to mommy.

My favorite day of the week is Tuesday since I get to watch the trash trucks come and go.

Sporting a new hat like the train engineers.