Ouch!

The stairs have not been our friends this past week.
A few days ago, as I was stepping over the gate, and Alex who was standing at it, my back foot caught and everything crashed down. Alex ended up flat on his back, under the gate. I somehow managed not to fall on my huge belly. After a little cry and cuddle, all 3 of us are OK.
Yesterday, after we had bragged to BOTH G-ma's about Alex's downward stair abilities, there was an incident. Phil and Alex were upstairs and I was downstairs when I suddenly hear cries of "Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t!". I ran over to the stairs and caught Alex after a short tumble. (Good thing our stairs aren't a straight shot) One little foot placed in the wrong spot....
Aside from a small bump and bruise on the side of his face, and a really good cry, Alex is perfectly fine. After a thorough check and calming down period, Phil and I laughed so hard we nearly cried over his oh so appropriate word choice! (and yet effective, I knew exactly what was happening)
Alex still loves the stairs....it's going to take a lot more to scare Mr. Adventure!

As it turns out, we had an appt with the neurologist today, and he gave Alex a total thumbs up!

All the Eggs in 1 Basket

Our neighborhood had an Easter Egg Hunt and BBQ today. We don't technically live on the courtyard, but they have been kind enough to invite us these past two Alameda Easters. I don't think anyone knew how many kids live in the immediate area, I for one never see them out playing. It was a crazy kid mob scene, but Alex still managed to find some eggs. He might have found more, but he liked putting them in the basket and then putting them back where he found them. Then during the BBQ, he ate like we never feed him.

Frankenstein Lives...

...in Alameda.
Alex took his first steps tonight!!!!
No one saw him start, but we all saw him wobbling along. He probably went a couple of feet and then grabbed the table. Everyone clapped and Alex had his best "I'm awesome!" look on.
Phil had predicted Alex would walk on St Pat's Day, being the good, tiny bit Irish boy he is. A day early isn't too shabby! Since I'm back dating my entries, I'll let you know that today (18th) he has gone on a couple of little journeys. The best one being about 5 feet! I had called him over to me, expecting the more practiced and reliable crawl, when he let go of hippo and started on over! It is so exciting and funny!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Ok, we're a day early.
We had friends from Seattle visiting us this weekend so we went into the City for the day to shop and see some sights. I finally got to eat at the crepe place at Fisherman's Wharf and it was so, so yummy. Alex enjoyed bits and pieces of everyone's crepes too. All of our other favorite SF treats were enjoyed too! (and no, I'm not talking about rice-a-roni!)
As is usually the case, it was very windy, but other than that, the weather was beautiful.

Phil, Alex and I went home early so Alex could catch a nap, our friends stayed behind to explore more and take the ferry back to Alameda.
It was a fun and tasty day!

Zoo

We spent the day at the Oakland Zoo. It is a nice zoo, not too big so a few hours is plenty of time. There is also a little area outside of the zoo gates that has rides and a train ride to go around the zoo. At first we weren't sure if Alex would really be aware of the animals, but when he saw our first Sun Bear, his face lit up and he reached out to her. He also really liked watching the giraffes. Since it was a weekend, and crowded, we didn't get any good pictures of him with the animals. But we became zoo members, so we'll be going back often. (And, with our reciprocity, we can get into the National Zoo in DC for free! (hee hee))*
In the gift shop at the end of the day, we were looking at the wall of cute and cuddly stuffed animals. Alex wanted the tarantula. He kept grabbing it and hugging it. Yes, we're suckers, we now have a huge stuffed spider at home!

*for those who don't already know, the National Zoo is free to ALL!

Update!

We haven't blogged in a while, so here's an update of Alex's big activities.
We've been to some local activites, the crab festival, the Oakland museum white elephant sale, and storytime at the Library. Storytime is Daddy and Alex time, which is great for them both! Alex is very into stacking things and putting things into and out of containers. He'll help pick up the toys, but then he'll dump the bins out. He still loves books and brings them to us to read, he likes to turn the pages, especially when he thinks we're going too slow!