Sitting at mommy's computer. Key things to note here are that he will instinctively find the one or two pieces of paper that really aught to not be scribbled on. And scribble on them. But he likes sitting up in the chair, being important. And watching Badger.

“Baby Hat” He proudly told me, pleased with the discovery of the bed lifters in my collection room (also the place where everything in the house that doesn't have a place goes – you should see the collection of antique computer cables we have!). To get into the room, he knocked politely on it, and looked at me, asking “Go in there?” Yes, well. He has special Alex toys there – dinos and everything that used to be a toy of mine that he's found. I use it to lure him to the diaper changing station which is outside. “After your diaper, you can go in there”.

Thank goodness for Curious George. Alex really wasn't liking having baths, until he saw the episode of Curious George where George played in the bubble bath. Now he wants a bath three times a day, and if allowed to his own devices, will stay for up to about an hour and a half (I made this somewhat arbitrary time limit on baths). But even after an hour, the baby is pretty soggy looking. (He gets a fairly deep bath so that the water stays warm.)

“Drive Mom Truck”. He loves sitting in my seat, pretending to drive. When he was pre-walking, we would sit across from the airport waiting for Barbara to arrive, and he'd play with the dials on the Nav system. And the climate control. Now, his coordination has increased, and while playing at “drive mom truck” (his phrase), he requested the keys. So I gave them to him, and watched him as he worked to get them in the ignition. And then jiggle to try turning the key. So I suppose he pays attention, and this is a drawback to having a baby situated in back so he can see what it is Mommy is doing. Now we keep keys to Travis's old Chrysler in my car, which fit in the ignition, but don't turn. And Alex doesn't play in there when I'm not riding shotgun anyway.

Bob's Hot Wheels. At Joanie's house, Alex has some special toys. Baskets with cars are his favorite (at least right now). He knows almost all of them by name, and Yasha will watch him with a great deal of interest. Bear and Casper only seem interested if Alex fills his pants.

The baby is often serious, and at this time, he was a bit overwhelmed by the raucous party we were having. Well, Barbara and Jack were over, and we were looking at Alex videos.

Alex cuddling with his mama. He likes having his hand securely attached to some part of an upper body, if it's a female part, even better.

Here's Alex watching Alex on TV. See his long curly hair? Hasn't been successfully cut yet! I found myself surprisingly sentimental and loathe to cut off the curls.

Alex is somewhat a finicky eater, and I found a good way to get him to eat is to distract him by having him watch TV. So in the mornings he gets his Yobaby drink, which makes him cold, then he hunkers down on the couch with an ugly quilt over him, I turn on George, and then fix his breakfast. Breakfast usually consists of fruit, nuts, sometimes a grain product, and as often as possible, peanut butter and jelly (sandwich).