Alexander, Declan, and Brendan: Alexander

Alex,

You are 18 months old now. I don't know how my sweet little baby boy turned into a very active toddler, but here we are. Lucky for me you are still sweet and if it is even possible, I think you may be even sweeter now! You have done so much in these past 6 months.

During your 13th month, summer was still in full swing. We did a lot of water activities including playing with the hose and water table in the back yard as well as dad and I taking you to the City Garden to swim in the little pools and splash in the fountains.

We also did the Color Run with Heather, Mandy, Aunt E, Robby and Grace. We has a blast. You weren't quite so sure about all those colors being thrown on you, but you definitely went with it. You were exhausted at the end of it and you ended up falling asleep right in mommy's arms.

Here is a before picture of you:

Here is a picture during the Color Run:

And a couple after:

You have become quite a smoothie aficionado. Mommy likes to make a smoothie every morning for breakfast and every time you hear the blender running in the kitchen you are on it! You even like it when mom makes green smoothies. I have started making 2 smoothies in the morning now so we can both have one. Here are some pics of when you were still "stealing" mommy's smoothie:

We also went apple picking this year! We went to Eckert's Farm in Belleville and you really enjoyed the tractor ride as well as strolling through the orchards to find some yummy Honeycrisp apples.

As I mentioned before, you took your first steps right around your first birthday. From then on, you have only improved. By 13 months you only needed a little assistance from me or from a toy. You really enjoyed the little carts they had at the Eckerts Farm Store:

Of course you could also take a couple steps all by yourself at this age too. We just couldn't be too far away yet:

During your 14th month, the weather started to cool down a bit so we could do some things outside that didn't involve water. You and I went to the zoo one day. It was a gorgeous day and you had so much fun looking at all the animals. You loved the hippos and orangutans especially. It was a glorious day with just you and me walking around the zoo and enjoying life.

We also went to the park quite a bit. I would get up with you in the morning and you and I would spend a couple hours on the swings and slides just playing up until nap time.

You have also been enjoying accompanying mommy to the grocery store. You love the carts they have these days. They look like cars. Daddy and I call them CARts. I know, we are so clever - haha!

By the time you actually turned 14 months, you were finally walking on your own, which opened up a whole new world for us! During your 15th month, you finally fit into the cool Indian outfit that Auntie Sabrina gave you. You were walking around in it just happy as a clam:

The Cardinals actually did really well again this year and we celebrated during the post season this fall. We put you in your Cardinals jammies and you would run all over the place in excitement! It was so much fun to see you get so excited when we were all excited.

During this time, you started taking swim lessons. I thought you would love it so much since you tend to like playing with/in water. It was a little bit of a rough start, but now you LOVE swimming lessons. You love to jump into the water from the side of the pool. You are also good at putting your head under the water. They took a picture of you under the water. It looks a bit creepy, but it's also pretty cool that you are able to do this!

One of my favorite little quirks that you do now is that you cross your ankles while you sit in your high chair. I don't know why I get such a kick out of it, but I do. And of course I took a picture of it:

With the weather being so nice outside, I decided to take you to the zoo again. It was great since this time you could walk all over the place. We went early so we could pet the Sting Rays and get into the Children's Zoo for free. You LOVED the goats again! Especially now since you were able to run around and chase them a bit. You were just in heaven!

The zoo was also decorated for Halloween this time, so we took advantage of the fun scenes:

After the zoo, we went to Adriana's. You and I had a great day that day!

We also went to the pumpkin patch with Braden, Cate and Anna and Matt. It was a beautiful day outside that day. You really liked pushing the cart around as well as riding in it with Braden. You also enjoyed playing the "drums" on the big pumpkins.

And it is a REALLY good thing you started walking earlier this month, because you were Aunt Debbie's Ring Bearer. Before the wedding, we decided to get your first haircut. You could have probably gone a little longer, but since your hair was getting a bit long and we wanted you to look nice for the wedding, we went for it! You weren't a big fan of it at first, but once Abby gave you some combs, you did great.