Plate-licking good!!

A new favorite food for Alexa: Bread and almond butter! Yum! We haven't tried peanut butter yet. Soon! But check out how much she loves the almond butter. It's plate-licking good! Yum, yum, yum!

Play date at the National Building Museum

Another great visit to the National Building Museum! We met Alexa's daycare friend Avery and her sister and parents at the museum for a morning of fun. First, we played in the kids center. Then, Alexa and Avery ran around the museum like little crazy girls! They sure blew off some steam. Alexa also got to color a little and play with blocks. What a fun day!

Play date with Evie and May!

Today was a very important day for Daddy. It was time to draw numbers and find out the order of his annual fantasy baseball draft! Evie and May came over with their parents to help draw numbers and play with Alexa. We tried to let Alexa draw a number but she wasn't interested. That's OK, Daddy still made out with a good number - 4!

Alexa had fun playing with her friends... But she had a hard time sharing! Check it out: She has TWO guitars, but she wanted to play with BOTH of them at the SAME TIME! Luckily, Evie and May were very understanding and had fun playing with Alexa anyway.

Of course, no play date with Alexa would be complete without BOOKS! Again, luckily, Evie is a very good reader and was more than willing to read several books to Alexa! So cute!

Flash from the Past: Here is Alexa meeting Evie for the first time! She was only 1 month old. And here she is playing with Evie and May when she was 10 months old. She also played with the girls at her birthday party! So much fun. We can't wait for our next play date with Evie and May!

Daddy's little girl

Alexa took a really long afternoon nap on Sunday and when she woke up, she wanted her Da-da. She cuddled up in his arms and laid her head on his chest. So adorable! I snapped this photo before she woke up and wanted down so she could play. It reminded me of the photo our photographer took when Alexa was a newborn... Isn't it amazing to see how much she's grown? At least some things never change. She'll always be Daddy's little girl.

Alexa and her baby dolls

Awwww, so cute! Look at Alexa rocking and feeding her baby doll. She carried her doll all around the house, patting her back and thumping her on the floor to shove a bottle in her mouth. Adorable!

Another afternoon walk, but where's the snow?

No more snow! It all melted, thanks so a few VERY warm days. Yay! We can't wait for spring. And summer! In the meantime, here we are taking a very nice walk around the neighborhood. Go, Alexa, go!

Sunday brunch - Waffles!

We took Alexa out to brunch today. And she got waffles. Do you think she liked it? Um, yeah! She LOVED her waffles! She sort of liked the fruit. The veggies we offered her? Not so much. Why eat veggies when you can eat WAFFLES! Yum!

Running around town

Oh no, she's on the loose! Go, Alexa, go! Run, Alexa, run! Wait. Stop! Come back! Toddler on the loose!

More fun in the snow

These are also from last weekend. Alexa and I were at home on Saturday afternoon when she went and got her shoes and brought them over to me. Then she pointed at her jacket and said "hat." Um, do you think she wanted to go outside? Funny girl! Grandma E says Alexa has the "out gene." It certainly seems like it!

Alexa loves her Daddy!

From last Saturday... I was able to snap this quick picture of Alexa playing with her Daddy. She pushed him down and climbed on top of him. And she was giggling the whole time. It was so stinkin' cute!

Yum... Spaghetti!

We had spaghetti for dinner tonight... After playing with her food for a while, Alexa finally dug in! She had a little trouble figuring out how to eat it. But once she got the hang of her fork, she shoveled it into her mouth. Not sure how much she ate, but it sure was entertaining!

Who's the cutest little girl in town?

Well, that's easy. Alexa is! Here is our little cutie pie modeling her new Valentine's Day outfit from Grandma E. Very comfy. I love how the yoga pants flair out. And check out the cute patch on her bum!

Alexa gets valentines on Valentine's Day!

Alexa enjoyed opening her Valentine's Day gifts and looking at all of her cards tonight! She can now recognize people. So when she opened a card from Grandma and Grandpa that had a photo, she pointed at it and said "Papa?" Then when she was looking at a card from her friend Kaitlyn, I asked her "Where's Kaitlyn?" She promptly pointed at her friend! She also liked looking at her new book from Grandma E that has lots of pictures of animals. Thanks everyone for making Alexa's Valentine's Day special.

Alexa gets used to the concept of "shopping"

We were at the bookstore today and Alexa started putting several doll boxes on her arm, then parading around like she was carrying tons of shopping bags! It was hilarious! She kept walking around the room, putting them back, and then picking them all back up again! If this is how Alexa likes to shop, then we are all in trouble...

Alexa goes shopping with her girlfriends!

My friend Marcie invited Alexa and I to join her and her daughter Cella Marie for an in-home shopping trip! We got to check out tons of Kelly's Kid's dresses, swimsuits and outfits. So cute! Reba and tiny baby Rigby (the youngest) also came shopping, as did Kristin and Kaitlyn! Yay! Here are the girls on their 1st (of what will be many) shopping trips! (And in case you are wondering... This is what I bought Alexa! Yes, of course I got it with a hot pink "A" on the front!)

Alexa is 17 months!

I know, I know, running a little behind here! Anyway, here are Alexa's 17-month photos. We ended up doing two photo shoots this month. I really, really love her funky outfit in the first shoot, but it was so windy out that she didn't smile much! She is absolutely adorable in the second shoot, which wrapped after just four shots. But tell me what YOU think? Which is your favorite photo? If I stick with my current favorite, then we'll revisit her funky "Love" outfit with the pink boots for 18 months.

Photo Shoot #1

Photo Shoot #2

And now, a little bit about Alexa at 17 months...

• Alexa's vocabulary is exploding. She talks and talks and talks. Sometimes, she uses words we understand. Apple, apple, apple. Other times, it's a whole rush of made-up words. Or she'll sing along to her favorite song, "Barbara Ann" It cracks us up!
• Speaking of words, she can say the names of several of her friends... Hugo and Tai Tai are her boyfriends at daycare. She'll say their names over and over and over! And when she sees Hugo's mom, she'll point at her and say "Hugo?" She also has said Avery, Blythe and Vivien.
• Another new word that surprised us... Purple! Alexa was leaving daycare one day when she pointed at one of her teachers, who was wearing a purple shirt, and exclaimed, "purple"! We showed her some more purple things at home and she kept saying it. Purple, purple, purple! So maybe she's not a pink girl. Maybe she's a purple girl. Who knew?
• Alexa is learning how to get ready for daycare... She runs to get her shoes, and then holds them up and says "shoes"! She also says "socks" and tries to put them on. And when I put her legs into pants, she reaches down to try to pull her pants up. She also sticks her arms out to put on her jacket. And, of course, can put on her own hat!
• Alexa's hair is so long that she now wears her hair up in rubber bands for daycare every day. Still no hair cut... But it's getting close. We may need to find a stylist to do her bangs!
• Alexa is also learning how to interact with her friends. She still doesn't get the concept of sharing, but she certainly knows how to stand up for herself. On Valentine's Day, her friend Hugo tried to give her a hug and she pushed him away! Then, later, after she touched her friend Eleanor's head, she made it up by giving her a hug. Awww.
• Alexa's favorite toys of the month are not toys at all... BOOKS! BOOKS! BOOKS! She can say the word "book" and she says it over and over and over. She loves all of her books! And as soon as I sit down, she'll run over and sit on my lap for me to read her a book. Her favorite book of the moment is P.D. Eastman's "Go Dog Go." She also loves "Goodnight New Jersey" and "Goodnight America."
• Also this past month, Alexa learned to crawl through a tunnel at yoga class and then got one of her own. She loves it! She also has started to use crayons to color! It's more scribbling on paper, but she's coloring more than eating the crayons, so that is a change! And, of course, she loves playing dress up!
• In terms of food, she is still a pretty picky eater. Some new favorites are toast with almond butter, dried apricots, perogies and apple slices! Oh, and of course, SNOW!
• Finally, Alexa visited several new places for the first time this past month -- The Baltimore Aquarium,  the National Museum of Natural History, and the Building Museum. As you might expect, she loved them all!

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And now, check out how much Alexa has grown!

More cute Alexa photos!

These are from last Saturday... Check out how cute our little Alexa is! She was climbing under and onto everything. Oh boy, oh boy. Look at her expressions though. Love it!

Alexa cheers the Steelers on for the Superbowl!

Daddy has proclaimed that this photo of Alexa from last night's Superbowl is the cutest one ever taken! I have to agree that she looks pretty darn cute. Our little Steeler! Too bad the Steelers lost... No more cute football outfits for Alexa. :-(

So anyway, after modeling her Superbowl outfit, Alexa got down to watching the game. Or, er, watching will riding her giraffe... And pointing at the TV while telling us fuu-ball! fuu-ball!

Finally, for dinner, Alexa enjoyed a Pittsburgh favorite... Perogies! She loved them!

Play date at the Natural History Museum

Another great play date idea from our friends! Sure, it was a pain to drive downtown and find parking, but Alexa slept most of the way. And once we got there, the museums are FREE! So off we went to the Natural History Museum. Alexa LOVED it! First, she ran round and round a giant elephant. (Ran around, literally, screaming!) Then she explored the stuffed mammals exhibit and saw giraffes. Then it was off to see the dinosaures! And, finally, an orchid exhibit. (Alexa, honey, don't pick the orchids!)

Alexa had a ball with her friend Avery! (Don't be confused, she has two friends named Avery. This is the older one who is 2 1/2! The other one was born on her same birthdate.) Anyway, here are Alexa and Avery cracking each other up. We were in a movie theater exhibit and the girls had fun climbing the stairs and giggling. So cute!

After the museum, we took a walk to see the sculpture garden and Capitol. And before we knew it, Alexa dozed off. So we walked around a little and ended up at the Building Museum where we sat and had some hot cocoa while Alexa napped.

When she woke up, Alexa was very excited to check out the wide open spaces of the Building Museum. Fun! She ran around like a crazy girl, screaming and exploring the whole room. Then she lay down and started giggling. Such a funny girl!

Finally, we got to play for about 20 minutes in the museum's Building Zone, which is the kids play area that is free but first come first serve, so it fills up fast. Alexa enjoyed it, but she liked running around the museum more! All in all, a great day. We had a blast at the museums and Alexa got to burn a lot of energy!

Play date with Eli at Great Kids Village

Another winter weekend and we needed a way to blow off steam. Thankfully, our neighbor friend Eli and his mom invited us to join them at Great Kids Village. This is an open play kids gym near our house that our neighbor was looking at for a possible birthday party site. It certainly had lots of kids! It seemed pretty overrun with older kids, however. And it was crowded with several parties going on at the same time. Not sure I'd go back, but it was fun to play with Eli. And certainly fun to get out of the house!

Alexa enjoyed the climbing castle and slide. But her FAVORITE toy by far was this plastic car! She had a hard time sharing it with other kids. She loved it so much!

There was also an arts and crafts station and Alexa surprised me by grabbing the crayons and coloring! Wow, time to get her some crayons... She liked all the colors and scribbled on anything I put in front of her! What a fun day... Thanks, Eli, for the fun play date!

By the way, isn't this a cute outfit? Perfect for Valentine's Day! Thanks for the stylish outfit, Grandma E!

Snow day photo shoot with Mommy

Check out these artsy photos I took of Alexa on our afternoon walk on Sunday. I used my new camera and we had some fun! Alexa enjoyed watching all the dogs running around at the park. She also enjoyed eating snowballs! I had to go make them with clean snow and then she would drop them and point for me to go make her more. Oh dear, what have I started?!

Playing with my doll house and tunnel!

Two of Alexa's favorite toys of the moment... Her Play Town doll house, which she fills with people and then dumps them out, and her nylon tunnel. She loves her tunnel! What a silly little goose. How cute!

Reading books and being silly in my room

When we got home after Starbucks and the Sunday Fun Day play date with Avery, Alexa took a nice loooooong nap. But when she woke up, she wanted to play! So I grabbed my camera and we had some fun. Alexa loves opening the drawers, taking things out of the drawers and putting them back in. She also loves putting hats on! And, of course, she LOVES reading books! Our little bookworm...