YOU'RE MY FAVORITE DEPUTY

I bought Alex tickets to see Toy Story3 on Ice a while back and he thought the day would NEVER come!!  It finally did (yesterday) and he couldn't wait.  It was a really great show and we had lots of fun.  Before I bought the tickets I showed him the preview of the show online and he said he would not be scared of the costumes.  Right as the show was about to start, he looked a little anxious, covered his eyes with his hands and looked at his lap.  Then when the first skaters came out (Mickey and Minnie) he looked up and cracked the fingers over one eye, peeking out.  It was so cute!  He saw Mickey and Minnie and it was all over, not scared!  Whew!  He kept saying throughout the show, "I'm not scared mommy!"  He was sad when the show was over but wants to go again! 

 Who doesn't love $12 popcorn????

On a side note, Alex did say that he thought it was Uncle Charlie in the Woody costume and Aunt Kelsey in the Jessie costume!  He doesn't forget a thing, even from Halloween 3 months ago!

BIKING THE CURBS

Alex has been really practicing riding up and down the "curbs" (breaks in the curb at driveways) and I think we're there.  The training wheels are actually hindering him at this point so I think we'll try taking them off in a few weeks when my dad comes to visit.  Great job today Alex! password to video is "alex" below.

Biking the curbs from Carrie Cornelius on Vimeo.

REWARD CHART

Alex got a reward chart for Christmas...it is awesome.  You pick the 5 chores/things (sharing, not whining, get dressed by yourself, put toys away, etc) and then he gets a star for each of the 5 he does each day.  Then mommy picks the number of stars for the goal.  There are lots of rewards to pick from and we were going for "Trip to the Zoo" in week one.  Alex is VERY motivated by his chart and easily got the goal so he and I headed to the zoo this past weekend.  We had lots of fun!  He already earned a "special treat" (ice cream cone) for last week that we'll cash in this weekend.  This week we're working for a trip to the movies for 27 stars!!!

 The sheep's head is actually looking towards the camera but he/she is so wooly you can hardly tell!

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

Alex started YMCA PeeWee soccer this month and he loves it!  Has has a game every Saturday morning and he is so excited for next weekend already.  I have to say he's pretty athletic and that's not just coming from old mom...other parents can't believe this is his first time.  Good job Alex!  I'm still trying to get the "no hands" thing down, to include touching the ball and pushing other kids but they all do it so it's a group effort.  It is so hilarious to watch them all just run around in pure chaos after the ball, on the next field, dribbling it wayyyy past the goals even.  I'm so glad Alex is enjoying his first team sport experience! 

 He got his first pair of soccer cleats Friday night and he couldn't wait to wear them yesterday!

 Wide open field!!.....He just kept going past the goal to the fence you see in the background and said, "I won!!"  Hilarious!

 This is RIGHT after he actually scored a goal!  Way to go Alex.  He just walked away with no celebration.  It's clearly not as exciting as dribbling the ball all the way to the fence!

team huddle at the end of the game.."Go Maroon Team!"

VISIT FROM GRAMMY

I had another trip for work in mid-December so I was really fortunate that my mom came to visit for a whole week.  She came in on Saturday, Alex and I picked her up, and we went straight to two Christmas parties, where Alex got over his fear of Santa!!  My mom and Alex had a really fun four days together before I got home, then we got to spend three and a half days all together.  I took Friday off and we went to Legoland in the afternoon, after attending a potluck lunch at my office.  It was a GREAT week and Alex and I were sad to see Grammy go.  Thanks again Mom, I really appreciate it and had so much fun just hanging out together for a few days.  Alex is already talking about the next time we go to "Wegowand with Gwammy!"