I just love his frog jammies. I have a pair for myself, as well. Here he and the cat were making toilet paper art. Here's a picture of Caira's earlier TP art (at the bottom of the page).

Unlike the cat, however, Alex puts things away. More or less. After days of playing and resorting the bathroom cabinets and closet, he decided to put everything away. Not quite the same as my organizational thoughts, but everything was out of sight. Notice the lack of child-locks - my theory on this being that only the doors that contain something TOXIC DEADLY OR SHARP get locked. Otherwise, if it's just for our convenience, it's unlocked. Again, it goes with that evolution of what's appropriate for baby. This theory doesn't work so well when it comes to decks of cards or a DVD collection.

(And yes, the wall of the room is actually light green.)

Here we are at the duck pond where I spent much of my time growing up. Alex and I come here fairly regularly, but this time, we were having a FAMILY DAY. (Often during the week we feed the ducks and look at the fire trucks - nicely shaped firefighters jog on the trails. And do we wonder where he gets his enthusiasm for fire trucks?) This time, we decided to go up the BIG HILL. Next time I remember, I'll get a picture of it.

Alex ran up the aforementioned BIG HILL. Not that this was very fast, and it was probably the first time I'd ever been up it without being at all winded. He does like running, and the way his jowls and cheeks jiggle is so cute!

Here we are on the slightly downhill side of the BIG HILL. (Top in background). When we got to the top, Alex discovered that lo and behold, the hill contained dirt. Dirt! Dirt! Yeah! So he didn't want to go down.

Here's proof that Travis was with us. Alex only had one tumble while careening madly down the hill, and luckily recovered within a couple minutes (had to have a good cry on Mommy's shoulder). And then, when we were almost back to the car, Travis discovered that his phone had come off while walking (he was carrying the baby for a particularly steep segment). This would've been unnoteworthy, except that Alex surprised both of us by being very upset that Papa had gone back the way we had come. He did not want to proceed back to the car. But luckily, Papa caught up with us a few minutes later, and all was well in the world... When Alex gets tired, by the way, he will walk in front of me, turn around (hopefully I've stopped by this point), and reach up and grab at me until I pick him up.

The Thanksgiving Slinky.

On Turkey Day, we went to my mom's house where we had a lovely meal. Here is Alex playing with Grumpa and the slinky. Note Alex's preferred stairs position - he lies like this at our house, too.

On National Consumers Day, we decided to go to Torrey Pines State Park, where there were more trails for Alex to explore. I hadn't been there since high school days, and the "free between Labor Day and Memorial Day" era was apparently long past. Anyways, we also had remembered the camera AFTER we were well on our way, and didn't go back. So here, in ultracolor, are Travis and Alex posing in front of a cliff. It was a nice path, with trees and cactus and birds...

...and there were dolphins playing with the surfers down below us. It was one of those really amazing moments when we really wished we had gone back and gotten the camera. You could see them under the water when the waves were cresting! They were doing those perfect Sea World leaps among the marinators! There were zillions of them! (15-20 in rational speak.) I should've gotten a picture of the other hikers all looking down at the marvel below us. But then, I was busy looking too.

Under a giant Shari. I think it's fun to have obstacles like this on a path. I'm not sure why, but they do make a walk more exciting.

The new show that (we) watch is Curious George. When the opening credits come on, he perks up, grins, and points. Sometimes he starts dancing or singing. I think the show's as entertaining for us as it is for him, although it wouldn't be on our Season Pass if it weren't for him. But I don't understand - why doesn't he have a tail? All monkeys have tails! Or it's an ape! But since it's hardly the least realistic part of the show, I let this pass. When Alex is older, I'll explain that an anatomically correct monkey has a tail. (There is a song on making fiends from the first season, I believe, that has a lovely and catchy tune for remembering this.)

Travis and I are thinking of making a drinking game involving frequently used phrases on the kids shows... such as "but then there was trouble", "Luckily, nobody was hurt", and "Naughty NooNoo!" Anyways, it would make the repeats more exciting.

Why buy toys? Oh, so we can make forts and caves and most importantly, railroad tracks out of the cardboard shipping boxes that they came in. This top box, btw, is the shipper for Travis's Millenium Falcon LEGO set. I added the other decorations, and was quite pleased that in fact, the baby was able to recognize what everything was. I picked words he could say, so we have "tree", "rock", "duck", "train track", and "Cow" (aka "moo cow"). I'm amazed at how he recognizes symbolic representations of objects. Maybe the line drawings of hippos wearing bikinis isn't so bad after all.

Here he is moving Gordon along the railroad tracks. Being very vocal all the while. He did just start talking, after all. He doesn't have much to say, but he'll say it often. And he doesn't mind that the railroad tracks disregard most conventions about gravity and gentle curves. I love my baby's tolerances!

Red Lobster still appears from time to time, emerging from whereever it lurks when not in hand. Here is Alex showing it to Caira, who doesn't understand why Alex has to be in her new cave. Really, there's no point in buying toys. It doesn't stop me though.