Diary of Alex

When we are getting ready to start Alex's homework he always gets to choose the order in which he will complete the tasks; there is usually 30 minutes of reading, practice spelling, math or language arts, and they just introduced some math fact practice. Invariably, Alex picks math first... He says it is his favorite class, especially when they get to do practice tests and he gets to figure the answer all by himself. I suppose the love for math must come prepackaged in the genes.

Alex finished level 3 of hooked on phonics, which completes the first grade level material. He was super excited. He decided that instead of getting a little Lego, he is going to save his points so when he finishes the next two levels (and completes the second grade material) he can get a big Lego set!

I got up this morning at 6:15 and found Alex halfway dressed with his tiger cub uniform. He gets to wear his scout uniform for school on den meeting days (which are right after school). I asked him why he was up so early, he said he wanted to make sure he was ready! Alex looked handsome in his uniform (just my biased opinion).
Alex had a blast at the meeting and is looking forward to more meetings and to selling popcorn for their annual fundraiser. So, if you leave near us, don't be surprised if Alex shows up in your front door asking if you would like to buy some popcorn to support his troop.

Alex is well enough to go back to school. Alex's friend Megan brought Alex's school work every day, so Alex was able to stay caught up on school work, but he was quite surprised when we walked into his classroom and all the tables were rearranged.

Alex's fever is gone but he still looks pretty pale. So we decided to take it easy for the day. He is feeling better and now is playing with Paula and Danny, woo-hoo!

Alex seems to be doing better, he was hungry and had some life (no milk) for breakfast. His fever starts going down for shorter periods of time. He and I get to stay home while the rest of the family went to NI's picnic at Six Flags.
Alex and I played checkers, Candy Land, shutes and ladders, jenga, UNO, connect four, read, and kept ourselves busy pretty much the whole day.
I got Alex some steamed rice and he was very excited, since he is finally getting hungry.

Alex's fever is hanging in there, and Thursday afternoon he started with diarrhea, 14 times in 12 hours... So off we went to the doctor Friday morning. The little buddy lost 8% of his weight in the last 3 days. We need to keep him hydrated and we also got a kit to take samples to the lab.

Alex was still not feeling well this morning, so we went to and he thought that maybe his sinus infection wasn't completely cleared, so he extended his antibiotic for one more week.

Alex was running a low grade fever when he got home from school and saying that he wasn't feeling very well.

Alex's first cub scout meeting was today. He really liked it and is looking forward to the next meeting.

Alex asked if we could go to a pool with a diving board instead of going to Lifetime Fitness. He had a blast jumping off the diving board.

Alex started first grade today. His teacher is Mrs. Thompson. He came home very happy saying that first grade was way more fun than Kindergarten.

We flew back from Mexico today. Alex got a Mexican bug and the poor guy had diarrhea all day. We went to the pediatrician straight from the airport and he got medicine to kill the offending bugs.

During our trip to Mexico Alex wrote down the things he was going to put in his summer journal about the trip, here is the list:

• I got to play with Doc's doctor tools
• We went swimming
• I got to blow bubbles with Doc
• It was raining in the restaurant (it actually started like rain and then became hail, it was cool to see)

We flew to Queretaro, Mexico today! Alex was very happy that they let him see the cockpit and the pilot even explained a few thing to him. He also liked the idea to have a seat in the single row all by himself. He flirted with the flight assistant the whole flight and she absolutely loved it! He colored, played and behaved really well.

While in Canada, Alex got to do a lot of fishing, went sailing with Nick in the sunfish, visited Peterborough's lift lock , saw Jupiter and 4 of its moons in the telescope, got to do all sorts of arts and crafts with Grandma, played with a little Amish girl named Anna, and also got to explore the cabin's grounds all by himself. He had a great time!

Alex and Nick flew to Canada today for a week long fishing vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Warren in Canada. They flew to Toronto and from there Grandma and Grandpa were picking them up and taking them to Rice Lake.

Today was bring your kid to work day at National Instruments. So Alex got to go to work with Nick this morning. He was so excited! They had a bunch of activities planned for the kids and Alex had a blast.

Alex emptied the shelf with all the baby blankets and got a hold of the tape and built himself an office under the table in the game room. His office had rooms, a lamp inside, a place to work... It took him about an hour to build his office and a whole role of tape and a bunch of shoe laces to complete his project.

Alex is working on learning breast stroke and butterfly at Nitro Swim, he has the breast stroke down and is making progress on butterfly. He is itching to finish the 10 stations so he can join the big kids in the swim team.

We got back from Rockport today. Alex had a blast in the beach. The first day we went to Port Aransas; Papi, Alex and Uncle Bob would pump crab from the sand and then throw them to the birds, there were some waves in there, so Alex was happy just playing by the shore. The next day we went to Rockport beach and Alex played in the sand, got buried in the sand, built castles, tunnels, lakes and also had fun floating on his raft.
The three kids made home made ice cream with aunt Linda and uncle Bob, they loved it and also, they got to put M&Ms on their ice cream.

Alex is into guacamole. For the last 4 or 5 days he had asked for a tortilla with guacamole for lunch. He also keeps asking when we are going to have fajitas again.

We went to the botanical gardens this morning, Alex kept trying to catch the fish and the butterflies; he was a little bit upset that he couldn't bring a net to catch the butterflies, but he understood.
We also went to the dino pit at the Nature center, Alex had fun digging for dinosaur bones. At some point he turned around and asked Nick if those were real bones.
To conclude the adventure, we went to see Wall.E a the movies, Alex was super excited to go see the movie.

Ms. Stone came to Lifetime fitness to swim with us today. Alex, as always, was very excited to have her join us. We all had lots of fun at the pool.

We met with some friends at the park this morning. Alex was having a blast spinning with Emily, I lost track of time, but he must have spun for at least thirty minutes or so... It was fun until his breakfast came all up back out. I am not sure he'll spin for that long next time.

Alex finished his swimming lessons with Ms. Pam today. He learned how to take his clothes off underwater, how to swim the breast stroke and also began learning how to dive properly. He swam the lenght of the pool (50 yards) at least once every day in both freestyle and got to jump off the 1 meter diving board too.

Alex went to a birthday party today where they had rock climbing and swimming at Life Time Fitness. He loved climbing and had fun playing in the water with his school friends.

Swimming lessons with Ms. Pam started today. Ms. Pam noticed how Alex's stroke had improved from last summer and how he had learned to breathe from both sides while swimming freestyle, probably from what he learned at Nitroswim.

Alex had a good time camping. We swam in the lake, he caught 4 fish, roasted marshmallows, and the highlight of the trip for him was that we helped Nick start the fire.

We are leaving for a two day camping trip at Inks Lake today. Alex is soooo excited to go camping again.

Today was Alex's last day for kindergarten. The 4 of us joined him for lunch at school and then we went to get an ice cream to celebrate the beginning of summer. Alex brought home his school journals and we had fun looking through all his hard work.

Alex looked at the pantry today and told me that it needed to be organized, so I told him to help himself and organize it however he wanted. He was thrilled with the challenge, so he worked shelf by shelf categorizing and organizing everything until he got to the top. He loves to have everything organized just like his Mom.

Alex moved up to level 7 after today's swimming lessons. Now he is going to learn the breast and butterfly strokes.

Alex's hives are much better and he has been fever free for a while now. I'm giving him Benadryl and it seems to be helping. He feels fine and has been acting normal.

Alex has hives on his face and arms and the thermometer reads 99. I remember him getting hives from a virus in the past. They don't itch or bother him.

Nick is building a box to keep all of our camping supplies contained and organized. Alex just loves to sit outside with him and helping. He was in charge of most of the screwing and also of nailing the back part.

Alex is in charge of bringing snack to his class next week. So today we went to Sams after school to buy the snacks. He was very excited to get to pick what to bring (given some healthy boundaries).

I took Alex to the doctor because he still had fever yesterday. It turned out it was croup, if he is fever free today he can go to school on Wednesday.

Besides the fever, Alex has this dry cough that sounds like a seal and he is starting to get hoarse.

Today was the carnival at Alex's school. Alex had lots of fun playing in all the games, especially the shooting ones. When we sat down to eat lunch I noticed that Alex looked very tired, I touched his forehead and he was running a fever. So we went straight home after lunch.

We got to celebrate Doc's birthday with her here in Austin. Alex is now proficient at blowing bubble gums,but still loves to practice with Doc.

We got to celebrate Doc's birthday with her here in Austin. Alex is now proficient at blowing bubble gums,but still loves to practice with Doc.

Alex had field day at school today. They had lots of games and activities for all the classes to do. Doc, Paula and I went to watch him for a little while, he is going to sleep well tonight after all the playing (not to mention the Texas heat).

Alex moved to station 6 on his swimming class today. Off to work on back stroke now. He was very excited and he can't wait to get to level 10 so he can swim with fins in the big pool.

Alex had his 6 year old well check today. He 45 1/4 inches tall (50%) and weighs 42 pounds 13 ounces (30%). Dr. Ellis said that this is probably the skinniest he will be if he continues in the same line where he has been in the growth chart.
Later today we went to visit Ms. Stone's class during recess. When Alex's old classmates saw him they started chasing him over the playground and then he got a hug (or big squish) from about 20 kids, it was cute.

Happy 6th birthday Alex!
Right after breakfast Alex made a list with the things that we needed to do for his birthday, I need to scan it and post it later. Here it is for now:

• buloons (balloons)
  
• brthtay kak (birthday cake)
  
• swep the polen (sweep the pollen)
  
• buy hsoohse (buy sushi)
  
• prezins (presents)
  
• kleen the house (clean the house)
  
• kandes (candies)
  

Alex is looking forward to his birthday tomorrow. As he was going to bed, he told me he needed to make a list for tomorrow with all the things that we needed for his birthday dinner like presents, cake, candy, etc. So he is going to get up early and make a list to make sure we get everything done.

Today we took brownies to Alex's classroom to celebrate his birthday. Alex got to distribute the brownies after lunch, he wore a crown and everybody sang happy birthday to him. He had a big grin on his face.

Alex advanced from station 4 (crawl) at the end of his swimming lesson. Next week he will be in station 5 (freestyle). Way to go bud!

Alex got to go with Papi to have ice cream and hot chocolate (don't ask me about the combination) to celebrate him finishing the hooked on phonics kindergarten level.
Alex was very happy to be able to go celebrate with Papi. He came home and was ready to get started with the first grade level.

Alex started swimming lessons at Nitroswim today. The first class is more of an evaluation so they can place the kids in the right station. He enjoyed the class a lot and was happy to see that his friend Amy from school was in the same class. Next week he is going to start in station #4 where he will master the crawl style.

Alex finished the Kindergarten hooked on phonics reading adventure. He was so excited. We all get to go have ice cream to celebrate!

Alex didn't have school today. We stayed at home most of the day and he came up with all sorts of games that he and Paula and Danny played; they built houses with sheets, then got the railing from Alex's bed and made slides with pillows, then played with the tea set, and came up with all sorts of things to stay entertained.

Happy Easter! Alex had fun looking for all the yellow eggs in Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob's yard... The Easter bunny was very diligent hiding his eggs in the most conspicuous places, even inside the bird feeder! Needless to say Alex had a blast looking for all his eggs.

We went to Rockport beach today. Alex had a blast building little swimming pools in the sand with rivers connecting them and going back and forth to the water filling up buckets to add to his pools. Halfway through the fun he asked me if I had dry clothes for him in the car, after I told him I did, he ended up wet all over!

The other day we got a tub full of beads for the kids because Alex had finished the box making all sorts of shapes with them.
Alex asked if he could start his rest time earlier so he could start sorting them. He spent about hour and a half sorting the beads and enjoying every minute of it. He loves to organize and categorize things.

No fever this morning! Alex is feeling better and just played and played all day.

Alex woke up with a fever of 104. I took him to see Dr. Ellis and it turned out to be strep throat.
He felt so bad and was so tired that he slept 4 hours after we got home from the doctor, woke up for about 3 hours and went back to bed at his normal 7:30 PM bed time.
He got started on antibiotics so hopefully he will be better by tomorrow.

Alex started running a fever tonight after having a runny nose for about a week. And around 11 he called us because he had thrown up (all the way from the side of his bed, through the dresser, through Danny's bed and to the carpet). Alex could not keep water or anything down until about 3:00 AM when he finally went back to sleep.

Alex told me today that instead of me reading a story after bath time, he was going to read Green Eggs and Ham to me, and he did. He did a really good job, I didn't need to help him at all and he was reading fast enough that even Paula sat down and listen to him. He read, I think 62 pages and was very proud!

Today was the Run with the Angels race, it is a fund raiser for Holy Family where kids can get donations based on the number of laps they run. Nick and Alex ran 9 laps during the kindergarten slot and 4 more with the Pre-K crowd.
We went out to lunch to Rudy's to celebrate with the runners and then to Amy's for ice cream.

Pau and I went to have lunch with Alex today. We got there a little bit early and we got to watch part of the math lesson, even Paula got to sit right next to Alex and examine a nickel with a magnifier. I sat by the door and it was kind of neat to watch Alex participate in the class and watch Mrs. Dailey teach.
Alex was really happy to have us there, I got lots of hugs and kisses, he even read me two books after he was done with lunch.

I had forgotten to write down that Alex can clip his own fingernails now. For the last 4 months or so he always wanted to try to do it himself, until one day, I let him do it and now he just does it all by himself and actually does a good job!

After checking the mail this afternoon, Alex wanted to go to the school to visit Ms. Stone, she wasn't around, so we went to play on the swings. And on the way out she saw us getting in the car and invited us over to her classroom, Alex, Paula and Danny got to do I spy work and I got a demo of the "Tooty Ta" song. We had a great time!

Alex didn't have school today, so we went to visit the Monkeys at Ms. Stone's class. He got to see all his friends and even got to practice writing the letter E with them.

As we are getting everybody ready for bed Alex said "Look, look, if I press where it says h o l d, it opens" as he held an empty Walgreen's child proof medicine containers. So I asked him, what does h o l d spell and he says hold, that's why I was pushing it.

We had no idea that an electric sharpener could be so much fun for Alex! There are no unsharpened pencils or color pencils left in this house.

Ms. Stone came over to have sushi and smoothies with us today. Alex was sooo excited, he kept riding his bike to the end of the cul-de-sac waiting for her to come. And when she arrived the three kiddos were bouncing up and down! Alex had a great time showing her his room, toys, and playing with her. what a fun Valentine's!

We got to go to the theater today and watch cousin Olivia on her stage debut at the Zachary Scott theater. Alex sat right next to Aunt Linda during the play and apparently he has a good commentator during the play explaining to Aunt Linda that some things weren't real. I also caught him trying to find the speakers and figuring out where the lighting was coming from. Afterwards we went over to Kim and Dwains to have grilled Oysters and shrimp that Aunt Linda had brought from Rockport. Alex played board games with Olivia and had lots of fun.

Whew! Alex finished all his valentine's! They are ready to go for next week :)

I forgot to write earlier, Alex says he is working on his "Valentimes".

I got to volunteer at Alex's classroom today, they had different stations set up for kids to do Valentine's crafts. Alex was very happy to have me there and it was good for me to start meeting some other Moms and putting the names and faces of his new friends together.

Alex is working on the Valentines for his class. He chose cards with puppies and kittens, cut them all up, and signed his name. We melted some crayons in a hart shaped mold to include with is valentines. Now he is working on writing the names of his classmates on the envelopes (he has done 15 and has 10 to go). He is pretty excited about the project, especially peeling and breaking the crayons.

We went to visit Ms. Stone after school today; Alex told her all about his new school and visited with her in the classroom for a little bit. When we got in the car he asked if we could come visit her again soon.

First day of school at Holy Family. Alex was up way before it was time for him to get up!
He came out school smiling and saying that he had a good day.

Today was Alex's last day at Naumann Elementary. He got a class hug (he got squished in the middle) and got to bring home his report card, testing paperwork, his monkey folder and his toolbox (a cup with his crayons and pencils). We are going to miss Ms. Stone for sure!

Today we went to get Alex's school uniform. He can wear khaki pants or shorts, with navy blue or white (long or short sleeved) polos, brown belt and tennis shoes. He was very happy to see that his pants had buttons just like Nick's.

I went to register Alex in his new school, met his teacher, Mrs. Dailey, and got his list off school supplies.

We got a call today from the Principal at Holy Family Catholic school saying that there was a good possibility that a spot would open up for Alex to transfer on the 22nd and asking if we were still interested.
About an hour later another phone call confirmed that indeed the spot was available, and we took it.

Alex also had his first tennis lesson today. He really liked it.

Alex decided to make his lunch tonight. He made himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut in a pumpkin shape (so that bread crusts got removed), freeze dried apples with cranberries and a cheese cube. He was thrilled that he was packing his own lunch, it is a good deal for me too!

We decided to trim the iris plants to be a couple of inches tall because they were blocking the entrance to the house. I started cutting them with the garden scissors, when Alex saw what I was doing he asked if he could do the cutting and he finished the job. He loves to do outdoor work and we like our helper.

Alex came over all excited and said: "I know, I know, God is made out of air"

The Wii that we got for Christmas from Doc and Tio Felipe has been a big hit with Alex, his favorite game is baseball.

Alex was the first one up and was very happy to find presents under the tree and to see that Santa had eaten the cookies.
Alex got what he had asked for and some Legos.

We made sugar cookies this morning, Alex helped Nick the whole time and enjoyed the whole process.

In the afternoon we went to church and sat right in front of Mrs. Noelix (Alex's Pre-K teacher)and her family. Alex was very happy to see her; he sat with Mrs. Noelix and her family the whole time.

Alex wrote his letter to Santa today. He made drawings and then with some help wrote the words of what he wanted. He asked for a dry erase board and markers, a tennis racket with balls and a camera.

Alex is still learning how to roller blade. Today he put his roller blades on and decided to go practice in a driveway that has a little incline, he managed to get down the driveway without falling a couple of times, and then he figured he could jump at the end... I kept trying to get him to practice a little bit on the street where it is flat, but he would rather go the dangerous route! He is getting better and his moves are starting to look closer to roller blading moves.

Papi went to have lunch with Alex at school today, and he took him sushi for lunch. Alex was really excited when he saw Papi at school and even happier to find out that he had some sushi for him.

Alex keeps making progress reading. We got him a couple of beginner books and the third set of the Bob books and he is working on those.

We decorated the house for Christmas today. Alex was really looking forward to set the tree and put up the lights… After we drove home tonight he was very proud showing us how good the lights look. Alex and Danny got to put a green and a red light bulb on their ceiling fan, they think it looks cool.

I decided to surprise Alex and show up to have lunch with him at school. He saw me from the other side of the hallway and was bouncing up and down saying hi to me. He liked the surprise.

Alex helped Aunt Linda make pazzelles, he was in charge of watching the light go green and eating all the little crumbs and the pazzelles that didn’t turn out right. Talk about a good way of spoiling your lunch.

We drove to Rockport to spend Thanksgiving Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob. Alex got to stay up late to watch Ratatouille.

Alex read his first Dr. Seuss book, Hop on Pop, all by himself. Way to go Alex!

Alex went shopping to Ikea to get our office furniture with Papi. They spent most of the morning there and they even ate lunch. Alex was in charge of reading the map of the store.

The kids got to have Christmas before Thanksgiving this year! Grandma brought their Christmas presents from our family in Ohio… Oh boy! That was fun, check out the video

Alex got up and went to play by himself without waking us up. Sweet!
In the afternoon we went to ride the Cedar Rock train, Alex was very excited to get up and sit at the very front.

Alex had a Thanksgiving feast at school today. His class sang three songs and they were all dressed in Indian vests and wearing feather crowns. Alex chose his own name, he was "chief creepy mouse." After the show Grandma, Paula and I ate Thanksgiving lunch with Alex and headed to the playground with him.

As we were leaving school today, Alex got to help to put the US flag down and fold it. He as very proud to be able to help with such important job.

Made a foam Christmas house with Grandma and absolutely loved the process of building it and the special time with Grandma Warren. They had so much fun that Grandma took Alex shopping so he could pick another art project; Alex picked a princess castle decorated with Christmas motives.

We had a conference with Alex's teacher today. Ms. Stone said that Alex is doing very well, that he is obedient and behaves well in school. She also said that Alex always tries to be the first one in line so he runs very fast to get there before the other kids on his class.

Alex has saved about half of the money he needs to buy the camera, but he decided yesterday while we were at the grocery store that he wanted to buy a dart gun instead. He was short about two dollars, so he read 2 dollars worth of Bob books (25 cents for every two beginner books and 25 cents for each new book he reads) in a day and a half so he could earn the money he was missing.
He is very happy with his new toy and we are happy that he is making progress in his reading.

Alex has a list of about 20 sight words that he needs to learn for school. We have been practicing them with flashcards, but he can only look at flashcards for a little while before getting bored. So today I made up a new card game which Alex calls "word UNO"; instead of numbers, our game has his sight words in four different colors, draw twos and draw fours... We have played almost every day and he probably knows about 80% of the words now, so we'll keep playing as long as he wants.

Alex decided that when he grows up he wants to be a Kindergarten teacher.

Alex went back to school today and was feeling like his normal self. He brought back a piece of card board shaped like a feather to decorate; we are having fun with that project.

Alex got to stay home alone with me. He is feeling better, so we played games and he helped me with the laundry and the rest of the house things that I normally do when the kids are at school. He definitely liked to spend all morning with me and I enjoyed it too!

Alex had pirate day at school today. He was the most handsome pirate in the class! As part of the activities of the day, Alex's class had a treasure, but sometime during lunchtime somebody stole the treasure (pirates Monica and Paula stole it from Alex's class and hid it in our backyard), so Alex's class had to follow a map to come find the treasure. The map took them to our backyard where the kids had a snacks, decorated some halloween cookies and recovered their treasure. Alex was a little bit shocked and excited to find out that the treasure was in his own backyard... It was a fun activity for the kids... Great idea Ms. Stone!

In the afternoon Alex started running a fever, after Dr. Ellis took a look at his nose he got a prescription for an antibiotic, apparently the inside of his nose looked pretty bad.

Even with the fever, Alex asked if he could go trick or treating, dressed up as a clown, so Nick took him around the culde-sac for a 30 min round of trick or treating.

We went to a Halloween party for kids at NI, the kids got candy, snacks and got to visit several attractions, including Nick's office

We went camping this weekend, Alex had lots of fun, he fished (by himself) and caught 3 fish, swam, played, help Papi with the camp fire, and just had a good time. When it was time to leave he said he wanted to stay 3 or 4 more days. We hadn't even gotten home and he was asking about our next camping trip.

Alex is convinced that there is a word called "copit", I've tried to explain that it is copy it, but he is just set on his ways, he even showed me how to spell it... too cute!

Today was the transportation parade at school but the taxi driver is still sick. Ms. Stone said that Alex can take his taxi to school on Monday.

Alex got the stomach bug that Danny had, but he had a fever of 103.7 along with the not so happy stomach, the poor guy didn't feel well at all.

Nick took Alex to school the last two days while I stayed here with Danny. Nick dropped him off on the car drop off line instead of walking him to his class. Alex did make it to his room and wasn't really concerned about going solo, I think he actually enjoyed it.

Alex and Papi have been working on Alex taxi for the transportation parade. They built it out of card board and painted it yellow with the black checkers and everything. We are going to put some suspenders and Alex is going to wear his taxi for the parade at school and as his halloween costume.

Alex put together a 100 piece puzzle all by himself. I had worked with him with 100 piece puzzles before, but this time the work was all his.

We took out all the seats in the minivan to move some furniture, and once we realized how dirty it was we decided that it was time for some good vacuumng job. Alex quickly volunteered himself and vacuumed the whole thing. He did a pretty nice job and he even taught Paula how to vacuum for a little while.

Today was the shield parade at Alex's school (they are the Naumman knights). Alex was his happy normal self during the parade, we got to see him in two different spots; the second time he saw us, he came over and gave me a big kiss and then got back in line.

To get Alex motivated about this reading business, we told him that he can earn a quarter for every new book he reads. He has finished 10 out of the 12 beginner Bob books and he is actually excited when is time to read a new book.

Alex got some homework today. He couldn't wait to get home and do it. He had to find two or three red things in a magazine and cut them up. He ended up cutting 7 things!

Alex started swinging by himself on the swings today. He had known how to do it for a while, but he always wanted to get pushed. But today, at the Pish's swings he did it all by himself.

Alex really, really wants a camera, so he is saving all the money he earns so he can buy one.

Alex woke up before us again and was all dressed and ready to eat breakfast before I made it downstairs, talk about an excited little one. He even forgot to say goodbye to Papi when he dropped him up at school.

Alex got up before I went to wake him up and said he was ready to go to school… Woo-hoo!

Today was the first day of kindergarten for Alex. Alex got up quickly, ate breakfast, got dressed and was ready to go in less than 40 minutes. He was the first one to arrive to his classroom. He had a good time and said that his teacher was really nice… He even included her in his prayers at night.

Alex played UNO, Candy Land, and checkers with uncle David who came to visit us along with Aunt, Nancy, Uncle Rich, Aunt Julie and cousin Sara from Dallas.

We spent the day swimming at cousin Olivia’s house. Alex got in the pool at around 11:30 and spent 4 or 5 hours swimming with a little break for lunch. Alex had fun jumping off the waterfall rocks and playing with Olivia in the pool.

Besides Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jan and Joanna, we got to spend the day with Aunt Linda, Uncle Bob and their two dogs. Alex played checkers and UNO with uncle Bob.

Alex went fishing with Grandpa in the morning and in the afternoon we went to the Kindergarten open house. Alex met his teacher, Miss Stone, and got to distribute his school supplies in different buckets. He liked the idea of having a locker with his name on it.

Cousin Joanna and Aunt Jan came to visit us for a week. Alex met Cousin Joanna (6 months) and was very gentle with her.

Doc and I took the kids to Sea World today. Alex's favorites were the tubing river, the kids roller coaster, and the Shamu show.

Alex took Doc on a tour of his school; he just couldn't take the smile off his face.

Alex and I went to kinder camp at his school. They took the kids for a tour and the parents stayed behind for a short orientation.

Alex made a paper chain to count days until school starts; I gave him the strips of papers and he took care of the rest.

Alex is very excited about starting kindergarten, he tells everybody he runs into that he is about to start kindergarten in the big school

We went to the beach in Rockport and Alex had lots of fun, the water was about waist high and there were almost no waves, so he swam and swam and played with the sand

Alex made pizzeles with Aunt Linda today.

Today Alex decided to go swim in the lap lane at Life Time fitness and he swam 25 meters

Alex's free style is starting to look more like the real thing. He can come up and breathe on one side without turning his head all the way out of the water.

Alex can build complex train tracks, that include double size bridges, changes of tracks and a second story train house.

Alex figured out how to dive to the bottom of the pool.

Alex swam 50 meters all by himself without stopping. He was proud of himself and so were we.

Alex started swimming lessons with Mrs. Pam today. He was ready to jump in the water as soon as we got to the pool

Olivia, Alex's second cousin came over to spend the day with us today. Alex had a lot of fun playing with her. They played hide and seek, Mr Mouth, Elefun, trains, and UNO. They also cut pieces of paper, made magnets for the refrigerator, made flowers with Magic Noodles, and rode bikes. It was a fun day for all of us.

We were at the park today and Alex was talking to the lady that was in the swings right next to him. He told her how he got to put his pajamas on and go to sleep in the car instead of taking a bath the day we went to NASA... Apparently he thought that it was kind of cool!

We went to the Johnson Space Center near Houston today. Alex enjoyed looking at the rockets but his favorite part was a huge play scape for kids just about his age, it was a 3 story thing with balls, slides, climbing things... I went up to get Alex and on the way down we took a slide that went down 3 stories, it was sure fun!

Alex loves to organize things and likes things better when they are organized. Today at the grocery store I asked him to pick some flossers and instead of picking dinosaurs or character flossers, he chose some crayola ones that were neatly organized and sorted by color. He said he liked those ones better.

We went to a 4th of July party at one of Danny's friends house. The had inflatable jumping toy, an inflatable slide, swimming pools for the little ones and lots of food. Alex had a good time playing and running from one place to the other.

Never underestimate the endless entertainment that can come from a kitchen scale. Today Alex asked me what it was, so I pulled it out and showed him how it worked. He and Danny spent a long time weighing things and figuring out which ones were heavier than other ones. Good math lesson!

When we go to the grocery store now, Alex is in charge of pushing a little cart. He loves to load his cart with things; he is in charge of picking the bananas, grapes and most of the dairy stuff. We are still working on remembering not to run with the cart, but he is a lot of help and stays busy that way.

Alex is absolutely loving the gymnastics classes and he likes to be close to the coach. When they form a line he tries to scoot all the way so he his holding coach Katie's hand.
Alex is pretty coordinated so he is able to do most of the exercises and do a good job at them. He wants to keep going to gymnastics after school starts.

Brianna came over to play at our house. She and Alex decided to find presents for each other and wrap them. After using about half of my stack of colored paper and of the tape; they opened presents and ate lunch. Alex had a good time!

We went to jump to Inflatable Wonderland today. Alex did a great job helping Danny climb up the ladder to go down the big slide and encouraging him to go along on the different jumping artifacts. Alex had a good time and burned lots of energy.

On the way out of jumping Alex found some crickets on the Mall floor, he caught them and put them in a pot so they could be happy by the plants. It was really funny to watch him chasing those crickets.

Alex went to the movies with his friend Brianna (and her Mom and sister) today. They watched Charlotte's Web. Alex took some money for popcorn, a drink and he also got Skittles.

We came downstairs and found two stools stacked on top of a chair from the computer room right under the door frame (evidence will be published soon). Apparently, Alex wanted to reach the key to open locked doors...

We went to the children's museum today. Alex just had a blast; he had a great time in the construction zone building structures with screws and also in the dairy area sending milk bottles over to the other room. As we were getting ready to leave he asked if we could come back tomorrow.

Alex decided that it was time to organize the pantry again. So he went ahead and organized everything in rows and categorized it. He just likes to have things organized, I wonder where he got that from??

Alex learned how to make chalk by crushing a big rock in the park along with his friend Adam.

We went to the zoo today. Alex's favorite thing to do was to feed the deer; we started giving them the hay that was lying in the grown and ended up giving them grass; they just loved the green stuff since the area where they were at didn't have any of the green stuff.

Nick and the boys were talking after dinner while I was changing Paula; I didn't hear the beginning of the conversation, but here is the piece I heard:

Alex had his first gymnastics class today. He really liked it. He hadn't taken a class before but he seemed very comfortable with the stuff the coach had him do.

We went to get Alex new tennis shoes today. He really wanted some shoes that light up when you run... So now he will light the way when we are walking in the dark.

Alex got to pet sting rays, watch the dolphin show, watch the dolphin swim, and look at a lot of fish at the Aquarium in Corpus Christi. He had a great time.
In the evening he got to ride Jet and feed him carrots (video coming up soon).

Alex caught his first fish while fishing with Uncle Bob in Rockport. It was fun to watch him learn to fish and get all excited. Check out the video .

Today was Alex's graduation from Preschool. Off to kindergarten!

After four years of training, Alex has finally mastered the art of blowing bubble gums. Congratulations to Mr. Alex for his accomplishment and to Doc, his skilled tutor.

Today was a big day for Alex:

We went to see Dr. Bussee this morning, Alex did pretty well on his eye exam and it looks like the lazy eye is not that lazy anymore.

Then in the afternoon Alex decided to put a tiny ball inside his ear; after looking at the "foreign body" in his ear which was stuck somewhere beyond reach we had to take him to see Dr. Ellis to take it out. Thankfully it was only one ball and it came out right away, that was a good self taught lesson about not sticking things in ears and/or nostrils.

On the way back from Dr. Ellis' Alex said that he wanted to be a construction worker when he was big like Papi so he could drive all the tractors, but upon more thought he said that he would rather be a police so he could drive really fast and buy things with the money they get from handing tickets. The police job didn't seem as attractive once he realized that he wouldn't be able to keep the ticket money to go buy things at the store.

Oh! And Alex started showering by himself, we get the water ready for him and then just make sure that he gets all clean. He did a pretty good job and is all proud of himself... And so are we!

We went to pick strawberries at Sweet Berry Farms in Marble Falls today. Alex loves strawberries so he was in paradise; he had strawberries and strawberry ice cream for lunch. He also did a good job picking the big, red and shiny strawberries. On the way back he asked if we could go again soon.

Today we asked Alex what the most important house rules are. He listed them in this order:

1. No throwing balls in the house.
2. No stapling yourself. (!)
3. No stapling others. (!)
4. No putting your finger in the fish tank then licking it off. (!)
5. No hitting.

I don't know how #2-#4 even made the list. There have been no related stapling or licking incidents to date that we know of. Next time we'll have to ask what the Ten Commandments are...

Alex's preschool Spring festival was today. Alex's class sang a train song and Alex was very happy to be performing; he spot us from the audience right away and he kept smiling at us.

Alex had his 5 year checkup today. He weighs 40.5 pounds (50%) and is 42.5 inches long (45%). He has all the bruises and scratches expected from a 5 year old and everything looked good.

Paula and I went to eat lunch with Alex at his school. He was very excited to have us here, he kept telling all his friends that we were there!

Alex is learning about bees at school. Today I asked him what he had learned and he gave me a whole lecture about bees. He knew the different types of bees and their jobs, also how the honey is retrieved from the bee hives, and was also able to describe the outfits the bee keepers use.

Alex got some diving rings and rockets for the pool on his birthday. We went swimming today to try them out. Alex had way too much fun diving to retrieve the rings and the rockets from the water... He has gotten to the point where swimming is fun and not work.

We had a birthday party for Alex at the park today. This time, he made the list of the guests he wanted to invite to the party. Alex rode his bike, climbed trees, played in the playground, and found rolly-pollies under rocks before we had hot dogs and brownies. Then we had a Nemo-shaped piñata.

Alex turned 5 today! We went to a field trip with his class during the morning and we had beef strogonuff for dinner followed by home-make chocolate cake with ice cream and opening of presents.

The Easter bunny found Alex at aunt Linda and uncle Bob's house in Rockport and left a basket full of goodies. Alex also went for an Easter Egg hunt at the church in Rockport and another one at aunt Linda and uncle Bob's house.

Alex rode a horse today! Gail, Aunt Linda's neighbor has two horses, Jack and Simon. Alex fed Simon carrots and then got to ride him for a little while. He also got a ride in Max's four wheeler and got to pick fresh farm eggs from Irene's farm.

Alex learned to play UNO during his airplane ride to Disney World and he loves it! He has been asking to play UNO almost every day. He understand all the rules and is starting to figure out that there can be a strategy in the game.

Alex's words of wisdom:

Nick: What is water made off?
Alex: Melted ice
Nick: So what is ice made off?
Alex: Frozen water

Nick: What do sugar ants eat?
Alex: Toothpaste (we had sugar ants coming to the kids bathroom and eating the toothpaste about a year ago)>

At lunch time today Alex very seriously told Danny the following:
"Danny, Danny! Do you know what? When I was three I was about your age"
(Alex is 4 years old and Danny 3)

Alex decided that the pantry needed to be organized this morning, so he proceeded to empty the cereal shelf and move everything to the very top shelf, then he got items from other shelves, categorized them and set them in rows (ordered by category) on the cereal shelf. This task took him about 45 minutes... He was very proud of his accomplishment :)

Alex pointed out that Mickey Mouse doesn't have a tail like int the cartoon (we have a DVD with cartoons from the 30s). Oh! and he also told us all about the birds in the Tiki-tiki room.

Alex keeps telling us bits and pieces about his vacation. He had Mikey Mouse shaped waffles and pancakes and he said he drank 5 sprites while he was on vacation... what a treat!

Alex went swimming with Grandma and Grandpa. He has figured how to swim underwater and stay under for longer periods of time. He also practiced his diving, sometimes he goes straight to the bottom, and some other times it looks more like a real dive.

Alex got back from Dinsey World yesterday. He said that it was a lot of fun. He showed us his pictures with Mikey, Minnie and some other characters. His favorite part was "It's a small world"

Alex and Doc took off for Disney World today.

Alex found out today that he is going to Disney World with Doc and Tio Felipe. After jumping up and down he asked me, "how long are we going for?" I said 6 days, he thought for a little while and said, oh, so you are not going to be able to see me... And went off to tell me that he was going to go in an airplane, stay at a hotel and go see snow white's house.

Alex had a great time making pasta and Pezelles with Aunt Linda today.

A nurse asked Alex if his sister cried a lot. He said "she only cries when we hurt her."

Alex figured out how to tie his shoes today. He was so proud and excited that he was bouncing up and down. He even tied a double knot. Good job buddy!

About a week and a half ago Alex showed us how his sucking fingers were getting better because he had stopped sucking on them. He said that he is a big boy and doesn't need to suck on his fingers anymore. Good job big boy!

Alex was riding his bike today and I noticed that he was cutting his turns very close to our neighbors pick-up truck. Whenever he came back to our driveway we had the following conversation.
Monica: Alex, what do you think, is that the truck hard or soft?
Alex: Hard
Monica: What do you think will happen if you miss the turn and run into the truck.
Alex: It is going to hurt.

I was feeling pretty good about the lesson, until I saw Alex peddaling pretty fast making a straight line towards the pick-up truck; except this time he didn't turn he just ran straight into the back wheel... Off flew Alex to one side and the bike to the other. He got up, picked up his bike, came back and told me "you are right, the truck is hard"
I think next time I'll just skip the lesson and maybe he won't have to go test my theories.

After we came back from the grocery store today Alex asked to ride his bike; I suggested he tried the pedals. I held the back of the bike for about 2 meters and then let go, he did great until he turned around to see where I was an fell. Once he realized he could ride by himself he asked me to get him started again and that was it, he took off and rode his bike up and down the driveways, through the sidewalk and in the cul-de-sac. He was so proud that he kept bouncing up and down once he got down from the bike.

Alex's balance in the bike improves a little bit every day. He can now push himself with one foot and coast along until the bike is ready to stop, and then he gives himself another push. He is also able to turn the bike and control it better.

Alex decided that is time to learn to ride a bike without training wheels. We got a second 12 inch bike without training wheels for him to learn. Nick took off the pedals and today he practiced pushing with his feet and balancing on the bike; towards the end he was going down a slanted driveway with his feet up in the air all the way to the street.

Alex has been practicing with his roller blades, he still spends a good portion of the time in the ground, but he is making progress.

Alex got a pair of roller blades with protective gear, a t-ball bat, glove and ball, some rubber bands, and Lincoln logs from Santa Claus. He was a happy camper opening presents this morning.

Alex had fun bowling with tio Felipe and the rest of the family today too!

Alex has been napping this week and saying that he was very tired. He had a barely runny nose this week. It seemed to me that it could be a sinus infection so I took him to the doctor... And sure enough! The X-Ray showed that he had a sinus infection, so he got started on antibiotics today.

Alex spent about 3 hours playing with Sydney, our 6 year old neighbor, today. The climbed the fence between our houses, played in our sand box, climbed trees, made masks with paper and strings, colored, wrapped a present, and then played some more. Alex was a tired boy at dinner time.

Alex's latest hang out place is our neighbor's trees. He'll climb up there and just hang out with Sydney and Taylor.

For the last couple of days Alex kept telling me that he had to go outside to get rubber bands. He would run outside, and sure enough, a few minutes later he would come back with two or three rubber bands to add to his collection. After some research I found out that the rubber bands were coming from all the neighbors newspapers!
So we've asked our neighbor Kerry permission to get the rubber bands off and Alex already drew a picture of the rubber bands that he wants Santa to bring him.

Alex met Santa today at Grandma and Grandpa's church.

Alex had lots of fun at cosi playing with Danny, Paula, cousin Ellie, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Chris and Aunt Camille. Check out the pictures in Alex's 4.5 to 5 years photo section.

Alex was determined to climb our neighbors tree today. He got our toy car and climbed on it to see if he could reach, but it wasn't tall enough; so he went ahead and got some of the landscaping rocks and put them under the car, but it wasn't tall enough, so he went ahead and stacked two more rocks on top of the car and was able to swing from the bottom branch like a monkey... I got the camera and took some pictures of our 4 year old monkey.

We moved Alex's bed into Danny's room. He is very excited to get to sleep on his bunkbed again.

Alex has been trying to learn to whistle for the last couple of weeks and he has gotten to the point where the sound that comes from his mouth is recognizable as a whistle. He is very excited to be a whistler.

We went to the Children's Museum with Grandma today. Alex stayed at the construction area the whole time, she had a good time and didn't want to leave. Then we went to have lunch at Central Market and he requested to have his favorite meal; spaghetti!

Alex is into climbing trees. If the trunk is slightly slanted he can go up like a monkey.

Alex came back from his second camping trip today. This time he and Papi went camping with other Dads and boys from our church. Alex got to drive a 4 wheeler and to use a bow and an arrow. Alex had way too much fun and is ready to go on another camping trip.

Alex was very proud of himself after he figured out how swallow a pill, always a good skill to have.

As I write this, Alex is busy hanging a Jack-O-Lantern he made at school. He chose the top of the door of the guest room as the display area and he has put his desk chair, on top of another chair and he is very busy trying to attach the string to the corner of the door. His scissors and the yarn are carefully positioned in the blinds so he can reach them easily. We are just waiting for the day where two chairs are not enough and he decides to stack a stool on top of the second chair.

Alex scored a goal at a soccer game today (but on the others team goal). He was still excited though!

Here is how a conversation about Alex's latest bruise went:
Monica: Alex, que te paso en la pierna?
Alex: En donde?
Monica (pointing to his bruise): Here
Alex: Nada, asi estoy hacido.

It was hard to keep my face straight and not laugh, it was a very cute grammar error in spanish to say hacido.

Last Saturday Alex bit a chunk of our neighbors ball. Sunday he and Papi went to the store to buy a new ball. Alex agreed to pay the cost of the ball (15 quarters) during the week by earning three quarters per day and paying them back before bedtime. To accomplish his goal Alex has been doing extra chores around the house and so far, his payments are on track.
Hopefully at the end of this exercise he will get an idea of the work it takes to reaplace something you break. Meanwhile, I am getting lots of help around the house.

Alex scored his first goal at the soccer game today

Alex figured out how to add. The other day he told me two and two were four, so I kept asking him to add numbers and he could do the math on his head for the smaller additions. Then I showed him that he could use his fingers, and he was able to give correct answers when the result was 10 or less.

After a year long boycott, at dinner time Alex decided to try his chicken; he actually liked it and ate the whole thing.

Alex went camping with Papi to Inks lake today. I don't think he knew what camping was all about before leaving, but he certainly seemed excited about the adventure. We'll post more on Alex's first camping trip when they get back.

Alex had his first soccer game today at Town and Country. His team is the Yellow Jackets; there are 3 boys and 3 girls. 3 members from his team get to play 3 members of another team, there is a goal but there is no goal keeper and they don't keep track of scores. Alex had a good time, he ran with the rest of the pack of kids trying to chase the ball.

The top of the refrigerator used to be a safe place to keep things out Alex's reach... until today; I found Alex standing on top of a stool, which he had placed on top of the counter, trying to climb up on top of the refrigerator. Here is a 100% Warren boy!

Alex started his last year at Saint Thomas More preschool today, he is in Pre-K. The class focuses on developing skills that helps kids get ready for kindergarden.

We got Alex two Kumon books. One is to work on cutting skills and the other one is to learn about numbers. He likes to work on the books and we like it that he sits still for a little while and learns at the same time.

Alex swam across the 25 meter pool today. He swam with a combination of free and doggy style. He swam all the way to one side, then took a short break and swam back about 20 more meters. He was very excited about his accomplishments and we were very proud of him.

Alex is convinced that he can fly, he says that he just needs to go see tinker bell to get some magic powder.

We went to Hamilton pool today with Grandma and Grandpa Warren. Alex practiced flying as Nick threw him up on the air like Superman. He would swim to me after landing. We'll post some pictures of his flights soon.

Alex had a blast at a picnic in Queretaro with Monica's friends from Mexico and all their kids (21 kids total). Alex got to play with lots of kids and practice his Spanish. Alex has very good pronuntiation (like a native speaker), what gives away that he doesn't live in Mexico is the intonation he uses while speaking in Spanish (he uses an Enlish-like intonation, go figure!).

The grocery store that Doc and Tito go to has carts for little people to push. Alex enjoyed pushing his cart around full of groceries and then unloading it all by himself.

As soon as the plane took off from Austin Alex, very excited, screamed from the top of his longs: "Papi we are flying" "Mami estamos volando" and then we heard all the passengers in front and behind us laughing... He was so excited he could have jumped out of his seat, good thing he was buckled. It was very cute.

Alex jumped off the one meter diving board and swam across the pool to the ladder.

As I was leaving to go to the grocery store today Alex asked me to wait and he went to his room. He came back out running and gave me two cents and asked if I could buy a small box of fruit loops.

Alex floated on his back and swam a little bit while floating.

Alex swam across five lanes today at swimming class. In the last three days he has learned to kick underwater and to take both arms out of the water to swim... He is enjoying the class and making good progress.

Alex informed me the other day that for his next birthday he wants a Snow White party. And today he asked if we could go to Snow White's house, I told him that Snow White lives in Disney World and we need to wait until everybody is a little bit older to go visit her. So he asked if she come play with him, oh! And the seven dwarfs too.

Alex finished saving four more quarters to buy one of those handheld fans, he said he was going to use it to trim the lawn. So off to Target's 1 dollar bins we went, they didn't have the fan, but Alex found some bubble blower that he liked.
He stood in line at the register and handed the cashier her toy and his four quarters. It turned out that the toy was on sale for 25 cents; he was thrilled during the whole process and very proud that he was able to buy something with his own money.

Alex brought home a helium filled balloon that he got at HEB, and as soon as we got out of the car, he ran to the driveway and let go of the balloon. As he was standing there watching his balloon, jumping up and down of excitement, he said: "my balloon is going to go see God"

We went to the Ringlin Brothers circus today. Alex had a great time, he got to see an elephant up close before the show started. He kept asking to go down and jump with a clown that was doing acrobats in a trampolin that had color balls underneath. There were also some acrobats that were climbing up some ropes just with their hands; Alex said he was going to try that trick next time we go to the park.

It all started when I asked Alex (again) how much he cost. This time he answered with a number. So I explained that you couldn't buy people with money because people are worth much more than all the money in the world. So then I asked him who made him. He answered "God". I told him that his answer wasn't exactly correct, but close. I explained that God could create people on His own, but I've never seen that. Instead, Mami and I helped God to make Alex. Mami and I don't know how to make a body, only God knows that. But we helped Him by inviting God to make a new person and providing some materials. And that's the same way that Danny and Paula were created. I explained that this is why Alex looks like me and Mami - because he is made from us.

This "Who made you?" question is also a good strategic and straightforward question for us to use in the future. Today when Alex is treating Danny badly, I ask Alex "Who made Danny?" He usually answers "You, Mami, and God." So I say "Then treat him like he is that important. I am very proud of the job we did." This idea can also be used to help Alex someday correctly understand marriage and sex. It also sets him up to correctly honor the conception process in line with Catholic Church's teaching. It's also an anti-abortion message. So we're going to continue using this idea for as long as we can.

Alex still likes puzzles. Today when I went over to his room after rest time was over, he had put together and lined up (in two rows) seven puzzles.

Here is a snippet of a conversation that Alex started yesterday:
Alex: "If I have to do things that I don't want to then I am going to go live somewhere else"
Monica: "Oh, really. Where do you think you will go"
Alex: (Thinks for a little while). " I think I am going to go with Doc (Monica's Mom) to live in her house"

I have no idea where he came up with the thought of going to live somewhere else... Probably the same place where he got the idea of getting some wings so he can fly up to the sky.

Alex has earned four quarters. He decided that he still wanted to use them on the car rides at ToysRUs. So off we went, he put two quarters in one car ride and the other two in the Bob the Builder truck. He enjoyed the rides. On the way home he said he was going to keep working hard to earn more money, but next time he is only going to do one car ride and maybe get some candy.

Alex got to try his new swimming goggles at the pool yesterday. He liked being able to see better, he kept trying to reach one of the water spouts at the bottom of the pool. He is starting to get very comfortable in the water, he kept telling us to back off when he was jumping so he could swim further, he is also more consistent about coming up for air and he is trying to use his arms a little bit more.

Alex gave Papi a nice paper dress shirt for father's day. Inside the shirt was the following text (Alex's responses to a Daddy questionnaire):

My Daddy's name is Nick
He is 33 years old.
He weighs 35 pounds and is 45 feet tall.
His hair is black and his eyes are black.
His favorite food is spaghetti.
He likes to drink wine.
He is handsomest when he goes to the office.
His favorite thing to do is to work in his computer.
I love my Daddy because he plays with me.

Alex is starting to ask questions about the controls I use while driving the car. A couple of days ago he asked me what happened if I let go of the pedal while we were stopped in a light (so I took my foot off the break so he could see). We also had a demo about the functioning of the speedometer, he was in charge of telling me when it got down to 0.
Today he discovered that when I change the gears different letters get lighted up in the panel, so we went through the description of the P, N, and D.

We went to see Dr. Busse this morning. I knew that they have a couple of candy machines there, so before we left the house I asked Alex if he wanted to take his coin or save it until he got three coins to put in the ride at ToysRUs. He said he was going to save it. But when we got to the doctor's office and saw the candy he changed his mind and asked if I could give him a coin. Oh, the teaching opportunities!
Since Alex didn't have his coin with him I told him he could have one of mine if he gave me his when we got home, he agreed to the plan and got his candy (which lasted until we got home!). Once we were at home he wasn't too thrilled about letting go of his money, which was in his train piggy bank, but he stuck to his word and gave me his coin.

Alex was all about his little sheet with stickers. He finished all his tasks and was the proud owner of a quarter at the end of the day. He used a train shaped piggy bank that Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Bob had given him when he was born to keep his money.

We were at ToysRUs today and Alex asked if he could have some coins to put in the little cars that they have outside. Here is a summary of our talk after his request...

Monica: How do you think we get money to buy what we need?
Alex: They give it to Papi when he works hard at the office.
Monica: So what do you think you have to do to earn some money?
Alex: Work very hard.

So we made a little sheet of paper for Alex where he can put some stickers after making his bed, taking his dirty dishes to the dishwasher after meals, and picking up toys.
The days he finishes his tasks he will get a coin (a quarter so it can work where he wants to use them).

Alex asked Nick if he could have some money in circles as we were walking out of church today and he saw one of those candy machines that takes a quarter and gives out M&Ms.
We didn't have any coins but we quized Alex on his money knowledge.

Here is the conversation:
Nick: What can you use money for Alex?
Alex: To buy things.
Nick: Like what?
Alex: Candy, food, houses, cars.
Nick: What about kids, did we buy you?
Alex: Nooo.. (similing). You got me at the hospital, I was in Mami's belly.

We have a jar where we put our spare change. Alex and Danny were tasked to sort out the coins and put them into the baggies; Danny got the nickels and Alex the rest.
At the end of the task, which took about 20 minutes, Alex was trying to talk Danny into trading bags because Danny's had more coins... If he only knew that he actually had more money in his bag than Danny!

Last night Alex asked if he could sleep in his play house instead of in his bed, so off he went to sleep there; no pillow, no blankets, just him on top of the house floor... When he woke up, he was on his bed,so we are guessing that the initial sleeping arrangements weren't as comfortable as his bed.

Alex has started to make his bed on his own. He was so excited today when he finished that he called me and jumped up and down while I admired his good work.

Alex and Papi started building a model rocket today. Alex has been having fun helping and testing the parachute; he runs to the top of the steps and then lets it fall and then comes back to get it and repeats the experiment. Tomorrow the rocket will be painted orange (Alex's color choice) and it may be taken to the park for take off.

We were playing outside this morning and Danny wanted to dribble the ball, but some of the air had leaked and he was having a hard time. I told Danny that we could wait until Papi came home to fix it. But Alex had other plans... He brought out Nick's bike pump and said that he had an idea on how he could fix it; somehow he knew where the valve for balls was, he put it in, and proceeded to inflate Danny's ball. I am glad to have a handy boy around!

We went to Alex's end of year school festival today. Alex saw us as soon as he got in the stage, so we got a personal show (he kept looking at us, waving and smiling instead of looking at his music teacher), he even tried to say something to me and when the boy right next to him looked at him Alex said, "I am not talking to you, I am saying something in Spanish to my Mommy". Of course all this happened during the performance, so it was quite entertaining as usual.

Alex's CT scan showed that his sinuses are finally clear. Yeah!

We got to school a little bit earlier today, so Alex and I were walking around the school when we ran into his old classroom and he said, I liked this class, but I didn't like this other one (pointing to his old nursery room --he was there 3 times when he was 1.5)... So the theory about kids not remembering anything before age three has been proven wrong by Alex.

Alex had another CT scan done today to see if his sinusitis is gone. This is the fourth one, so he knew exactly where to go and what to do, he even told everybody before we went that if he behaved and stayed real still while they took the picture he could go pick a toy from the treasure box.

We had a Mother's Day Luau lunch at Alex's school today. Alex has been pretty excited about the Luau all week... The doors of the Family Room where the luau was were closed and then they opened the door and called the Moms in by class, so when Ms. Cathy's class was called I started walking in looking for Alex and I couldn't see him first, and they I saw him jumping up and down, he was so happy he couldn't start jumping. After my hug he gave me a special necklace he had made and then we ate lunch together.
There was a folder with a portrait of Alex's Mom and Alex's description of his Mom; here it is:
My Mother
By Alex
My mommy's name is mommy and everything.
She is 6 years old.
She weighs 489 pounds and is 4 feet tall.
Her hair is black and her eyes are green.
Her favorite food is dessert, and she likes to drink chocolate milk.
I love the way she cooks me spaghetti.
Her favorite thing to do is helps me.
I love my mommy because she helps me.

Alex decided to go help Nick mow the lawn today. He was outside and I was upstairs. I heard someone running in and then the door shutting, then I heard the same noise again but this time it was followed by Alex saying (in Spanish) "Mami I need new batteries for my lawnmore they need to be like this one", so I went to the place where we picked the batteries and he picked one that looked like the one in his hand and took off again... Well, the little guy ran in the first time to get a screw driver, then opened his lawnmore to see what was wrong with the battery, then came in to get one and then put everything back together so that his lawnmore could work and blow bubbles again. Alex is the official battery changer boy in this house now.

Alex is in charge of blowing the driveway after mowing. Last year he needed a little help, this year he goes into the shed to get the blower and the extension cord, after Nick plugs the cord into the garage (the extension plugs into the ceiling), he blows the grass and then puts everything back into the shed.
Nick jocking asked Alex if he could put the lawn mower away, and to our surprise, he got it in too... The shed is about 15 inches off the ground!
Alex loves to help Nick with outdoor projects and he actually works and helps.

During nap time today, Alex asked me if he could have the tool to tighten the futon screws; I gave it to him thinking that it would keep him occupied and out of trouble. About 30 minutes later I went to his room and he greeted me with 5 screws in his hand, instead of tightening the futons he decided to take the screws off, he had only one left before the bottom support of one of the futons...

As we were walking to the car after picking Alex from school today he told me that they have been working on a special project that is a present for me, but it is a surprise. It was so cute. I don't think he quite understands what a surprise is.

We got the results from Alex's latest CT scan. The nurse said that the sinus infection only showed minor improvement, so off we go for a 4th round of antibiotics, this time is a stronger one (cephalosporine) and for 14 days. Hopefully this will do.

When Alex was undressing to take a bath tonight he showed me that he had put 3 pairs of underwear on... We just laugh about the things he comes up with now that he does more things by himself.

Alex had his 4 year old checkup today. He is 41 inches long (55%) and weighs 34 pounds (30%). 3 weeks ago he was 36 pounds, I think the sinus infection and that virus he had made him loose 1.5 pounds.
I think his favorite part of the visit was to fill up a little cup with pee-pee. He was very proud and got a round of applause from the nurses.

He wasn't too happy about the shots, but he was brave and we all survived.

Happy Birthday Alex! 4 already, it seems that not that long ago he was kicking inside my belly. He woke up without a fever today :)

4 days with fever and counting... We hope that Alex's fever breaks tomorrow so he can go to school on Wednesday and be a line leader and have his little birthday party.

Alex woke up with 103.9 fever this morning. New record in the house!
Anyway, after a visit to the doctor, we learned that he didn't have the flu, and X-Ray showed that his sinus infection is not completely cleared, so he got a prescription for another round of antibiotics.
There is another possibility that the fever is just the 5 day fever that has been going on around St. Thomas More and that Danny just got over from.

Alex got a fever this afternoon. So we decided to go ahead and postpone his birhtday party. It was going to be tomorrow, but it won't be fun if he is sick.
We hadn't told Alex about the party, it was smart move, that way he won't even miss it.

Alex is a master negotiator - far more advanced than anything I can pull off even with my extensive Karass training. I learn a lot from this three year-old. Here's the exchange between he and Monica that took place today after dinner (translated from Spanish).

Alex to Monica: "May I please have a cookie?"
Monica: "Yes."
Alex gets the cookie bag, takes a cookie and promptly eats it. He takes another cookie, licks it, and quickly puts it back and closes the bag.
Monica to Alex: "Did you just lick a cookie and put it back?"
Alex (smiling): "Yes."
Monica (a bit angry): "Which one did you lick?"
Alex: "I'm not sure."
Monica: "Then the rest of the bag is trash. Nick, please throw it away."
(Nick throws the bag away and smiles)
Alex to Monica: "Now that I've finished my dinner can I please have dessert?"
Monica: "You just had dessert."
Alex: "No, that was part of my dinner."
Monica hesitates. Sometimes cookies are considered part of the meal here in the Warren household (Monica's rule, not endorsed by Nick).
Alex: "May I please have a gummy worm for dessert?"
Monica: "ok."
Alex climbs up to the appropriate cabinet to get his gummy worm and Monica returns to feeding Paula.
Monica turns around and Alex has three gummy worms hanging out of his mouth.
Monica: "You only get one! Take the others out of your mouth."
Alex obeys. Two gummy bears fall to the ground.
Monica walks over to Alex and takes him from the counter and puts him down.
Monica (angrily): "You are done."
Alex puts on his saddest face. I think he was hoping Monica would cheer him up by giving him the gummy worms now on the floor. After, they are now considered trash by the Five Second Rule.
Nick laughed out loud and looked at Alex, very proud of his son's performance.
Monica: "Nick! Don't encourage him on or else you'll have to negotiate with me later tonight!"
Nick put on his saddest face and hoped for a gummy worm.

Alex just informed me that he doesn't want "pupcakes" for his birthday, he wants brownies. So brownies here we come!
He is very excited that he will be 4. He says that he is a big boy now and can do lots of things by himelf. Good job Alex :)

Alex is finally feeling better. Today he asked to go play outside. I found him sitting in the trampolin with both ends of the garden hose; in one side he had put a balloon and he was trying to inflate it from the other one, it was hillarious, we'll post a picture soon! Later, after he got tired of playing with the balloon he came inside and asked for my watering can, later I peeked out and he was putting water in the can, then pouring it into the hose and later blowing on one end just to see the water coming out in the other end. Alex's unscructured play is very creative and entertaining.

We got the results of Alex's CT scan yesterday afternoon. He has sinus infection #2. The most interesting part is that he barely had a runny nose, it was mostly a sore throat and just being tired and grumpy.

Alex got another CT Scan of his sinuses today and behaved like a champ, he stayed still the whole time :)...

As the kids were getting into the minivan at a parking lot today, a lady that was overweight parked right next to us and was getting out of her car. Alex looked at her and said: "This lady has a big belly; I know why, she has a baby inside that hasn't come out yet." It was one of those times when I was happy that Alex speaks to me in Spanish.

Alex is my big helper. Here are some of the things he did today:

- After breakfast he took the dishes to the sink and wiped the table off.
- Alex said that the house needed to be vacuumed (he was telling me that while he was holding his vacuum cleaner) and asked if he could vacuum. I said he couldn't vacuum because Paula and Danny were napping, so he asked if he could vacuum the deck, but that wouldn't work either because there is no carpet outside... All of a sudden he said, well, what if I vacuum the car, it has carpet and it is outside, so he spent the next 10 minutes vacuuming the mini-van having a blast.
- Paula woke up when I was going to move a load of clothes from the washer to the dryer, so he just moved them while I went to get her.

And he has fun doing all this things, what a deal!

Alex figured out how to buckle and unbuckle himself from the car seat and he is very proud of his accomplishment. He can get out very quickly, but it takes him about 3 minutes to get the 5 point harness strapped... I figured it is worth the investment to let him practice to do it by himself because eventually it will reduce my "loading kids into the car" time by two thirds and my "unloading kids from the car" time in half (he can get him and Danny unstrapped pretty quickly).

100% boy... Today Alex took out the ladder for his bunkbed (which is temporarily stored under his bed until he and Danny share a room again) and decided to build a jungle gym with it; he put one end of the ladder on the carpet and the other on top of one of the futons and he and Danny were taking turns climbing up and down the ladder.

Alex went to the dentist today. He behaved very well and opened his mouth real big so they could clean his teeth; all his teeth are white and shiny. He was very happy and is pretty excited about brushing his teeth and flossing so that his teeth stay white and shiny.

Alex figured out how to inflate a balloon all by himself. He was so excited that he kept jumping and moving his arms up and down.

Alex made a dog for his art project today. Ms. Helen told me that all kids were asked to name their dog, Alex named his dog "Paula"... I hope that is a sign of brotherly love :)

Alex's favorite words this days are: "¿Por que?" (Why?) and "¿Que pasa si...?" (What happens if...). He is very inquisitive and wants to know why things happen, how they happen and what will happen if he does something or if he behaves in a certain way.

Maria called today to let us know that she wouldn't be able to make it, her daughter broke her leg in athletics class.
When Alex asked where Maria was, I explained that her daughter had broken her leg and that she was going to take her to the doctor. He said: "oh, she is going to the doctor so they can put a new leg in because hers broke and doesn't work?"

The last couple days Alex ran experiments to find out who the boss was. After three days he must have concluded that he can't win and that Mami and Papi rule in the house, so he has given up and gotten back to his normal self. He has also started to play more with Danny and teach him things (i.e. how to jump from the couch, how to string beads, how to climb, etc.).

Alex is still into cleaning. He saw the carpet cleaner spray today and asked me if he could clean the carpet. So I gave him a damp rag and the carpet cleaner and 30 minutes later he had cleaned all the dirty spots from Paula's room and from the steps.

Question: What is the location of Alex's latest bruise?
Answer: Left eye lid.

I think I am going to start posting the location of Alex's bruises, he seems to be able to get bruises in the strangest places. :)

Ms. Cathy has informed us that after the Christmas break Alex started sharing toys nicely with other kids and not taking things away. We are happy to hear that our little buddy figured it out.

I think Alex has figured out that he is bilingual, he just told me that he can speak in two ways, he said he could speak like Mami and like Papi, and then he went off telling me who spoke Spanish (Doc, Tito, Tio Felipe, and Ms. Carmen) and who spoke English (Papi, Grandma, Grandpa, Ms. Cathy and Ms. Helen).

Alex had a CT scan today to verify that his month lasting sinus infection was finally clear. Kids Alex's age usually need to be sedated so that they stay still for the 2 minutes of the procedure. I asked the lab if they would be willing to give Alex a try before sedating him, and they agreed... Alex behaved very well and held still for the CT scan (with Elmo lying right next to him) so he didn't need to be sedated. We were very proud of him and so was he. We went to get a doughnut and chocolate milk to celebrate.

Santa brought Alex a new charger for his vaccum cleaner, a hopping ball, and an indoors trampolin. We got a picture of Alex as he came down the steps and found all the presents.

Today we went to Alex's Christmas celebration at school. His class sang three songs and Alex did a good job singing and seemed to enjoy the performance.

Alex came upstairs very proud to show me how he tied a knot in a string, he figured it out by himself and practiced all day.

Alex has spent about an hour playing with hour Hoover vacuum cleaner the last couple of days. He doesn't turn it on, but he pretends that he plugs it in and vacuums his room during nap time, he also connects the hoses in different configurations... Who would have thought that the vacuum cleaner could provide hours and hours of entertainment to a 3 year old.

Alex and Papi went to a field to shoot rockets, Alex had a lot of fun.

We put out our moon-walk last week and Alex had a blast jumping and turning it on and off.
Alex is still into taking things apart. Nick handed him an old CD-ROM Thursday morning and he sat in the co