Instead of sitting at home, being completely lazy, I figured it would be a good idea to do something. So, I asked a friend to join me in a trip to the zoo.

Alex had school, so I went back and forth thinking about taking him out of school or not. Should I let him enjoy the zoo for the first time this year? Or should I let myself enjoy taking pictures? It really, truly, was a tough call.

With the zoom lens Zach bought me for Christmas in hand, I made the decision to keep Alex in school. We dealt with the hot day and wandered around the busy, busy, zoo.

I felt some guilt as I looked at all of the animals. “Alex would love this!” I kept thinking. And he would have, but I wouldn’t have had the amazing opportunities to sit and take tons of pictures of animals. Alex never would have been willing to stand still while I click-click-clicked.

And I gotta say, it was totally worth the guilt.

The tigers! I had no idea that we have four tigers and that they do anything other than sleep and pace.

I picked Alex up early that day, and we looked through the pictures I took. He frowned, saying that he wished I had brought him with me. When I explained that literally all we did was take pictures? He was okay with that. “I don’t like when you take pictures. Pictures are boring.”

Now I just have to hope that the next time I go, this time with Alex, the polar bears are in the water. Because the polar bears were awesome.

(I took Alex out for ice cream that day. Any hard feelings were instantly gone.)

Two Thousand and Nine

Two Thousand and Ten

Two Thousand and Eleven

Two Thousand and Twelve

They say the first year is the most change. But every year–every single year–brings about astonishing changes.

Filed under: Alexander, Pictures ]]> http://allisonsays.com/2012/05/27/may-through-the-years/feed/ 2 allisonbarton 2008 2009 2010 IMG_6556 Batman! http://allisonsays.com/2012/05/25/graduation-2/ http://allisonsays.com/2012/05/25/graduation-2/#comments Fri, 25 May 2012 16:53:45 +0000 allisonbarton http://allisonsays.com/?p=2236 ]]> Yesterday morning, Alex and the 20-ish other children in his class “graduated.”

He will stay in the same room, with most of the same children, until the end of the summer.

But in the fall? In the fall he will move on. He will go one class up, to the “K-kids” classroom, with two new teachers and a Kindergarten curriculum. He will, as he is now, be the youngest in the class. And at the end of the year, he will have options. It is that option that makes me know that no matter what, everything will be okay.

After the “graduation ceremony,” he got to spend the rest of the day with his grandparents, with a new toy and the promise to play quietly while they both worked from home.

My little man, the preschool graduating class of 2012.

One last summer to go before I can can feel like I don’t need to put quotations around “school.” It really will be school.

Now, I love the heat. I don’t care that I turn into a sweaty, frizzy, mess. It doesn’t bother me that my face is instantly shiny. Who cares that I am less comfortable wearing summer clothes? I’ll take that over being cold any day.

Alex, however, seems to have taken Zach’s stance on the whole heat-issue: extreme hatred.

I’ve never heard a kid complain so loudly about the heat. “The sun is too hot. I don’t like being outside when it’s hot out. It makes me too sweaty. The sun hurts my eyes!” All in a super whiny, gonna-rip-my-hair-out, voice. He just doesn’t like it.

So, what am I to do on a day when all I want to do is be outside and all Alex wants to do is be in air conditioning?

Run an errand to the hardware store and buy a sprinkler!

Problem solved.

It’s amazing that something so cheap could bring so much joy and hours of fun. Of course, the first thing Alex said after running through it, giggling and smiling, was, “Mommy, this isn’t as fun as Alexis’ water thingy.”

But he very quickly forgot about the existence of the coolest inflatable water slide ever.

Who knew water flying into the sky and then falling back down could be that entertaining?

Eight bucks well spent.

I’ve taken at least 2 pictures every day for the last two weeks now. A few days were last minute “oh-my-god-I-need-to-take-some-picture” days. Many days were just me taking pictures of…life.

Life happens, and it’s pretty cool.

Even the most mundane thing has been on my camera these days. I used to only take pictures of events. Now I just capture.

So, Project 365 is a go. I think I can state that two weeks in I’m pretty happy so far.

Alex, on the other hand, is not. “Don’t take my picture! I don’t want that camera here!”

He really doesn’t enjoy the camera in his face. At best, he will look at me and make a funny face.

At worst, he just runs away each and every time I put the camera up to my face.

But that’s okay.

His butt is pretty cute.

On Saturday, we drove back home.

It may have been an extremely short trip, but it was lovely.

My Uncle and Aunt, from California, were in DC on business, so it was the perfect excuse for a quick trip away from home while seeing family that we otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to see for who-knows-how-long.

Alex warmed up to his Great Uncle and Great Aunt within about ten minutes. Once he warmed up he never cooled down. He talked everyone’s ears off the entire time we were there.

We spent Friday walking around, checking out various places, museums, food. Ducks.

“Hey, Alex, what was your favorite part of Washington, DC?”

“The ducks. I wish we were could have taken one of those baby ducks home with us.”

As we approached the white house, Alex pointed to the security building and excitedly asked if it was the White House. I think he was disappointed that it wasn’t.

And now I can never, ever, complain about Alex’s behavior to his Great Uncle and Aunt. He was the most well behaved kid…ever. He was a perfect angel.

Even though he still wouldn’t pose for me for pictures.

Our weekends are busy. Maybe I’m catching up for all of the lost weekend time from last year, or maybe this is just how it will be forever; either way, I love it. I love spending this time with Zach and Alex, going out to movies, enjoying nice dinners at night with Zach, going to ice skating and hockey class, having lunch or brunch with grandparents, enjoying meeting friends out on the farm…

On Saturday afternoon, I took an introductory photography class from the wonderful Burgh Baby. After having a nice camera for almost 2 years, I had yet to explore anything but the automatic settings. It was time for a change.

Fortunately, I had just the chance to practice some of the things I learned the next day. Sunday morning, before the sun even came up, we were all awake and getting ready to take Zach downtown for the Pittsburgh Marathon 2012. He ran in the relay with some coworkers, and, of course, Alex and I had to be there to cheer him on.

We had a long wait. After dropping Zach off at his relay exchange, we went to where he would be finishing and waited for the fun to start.

I enjoyed exploring the manual settings of my camera. While the vast majority of the pictures turned out horrendously, I did get a few that I greatly enjoy.

Finally, after at least 45 minutes, the marathoners started coming. Alex enjoyed the sights. From the strange spectators to the strange runners, we saw an array of sorts: a Batman, a mustache-dude, people with paint all over their bodies, an Iron Man, and a few familiar faces as well.

All in all? I love weekends.

Now I just need to figure out how to have more of them. And have them last longer. More weekend, more often!

(And I am going to partake in my own marathon-of-sorts, hopefully: Project 365. We’ll see how long it lasts!)

He grew up, almost over night. From toddler to preschooler just like that. In the blink of an eye, he changed.

Four is, without a doubt, a lot of fun. Beyond the fact that Alex is now a true conversationalist, he’s just downright entertaining.

Of course, he’s always been entertaining. From the day he was born, I have always been able to just watch him. I mean, he’s a very small human being. He’s, like, a miniature person! So, of course he’s fascinating! Who doesn’t want to watch a baby look around the room in complete amazement as shadows form and light dashes across a wall? Who doesn’t want to watch a toddler learn that not only can he walk, but also he can run? Who can take their eyes away as a child tastes a lemon? Or giggles at an older child?

But the fascination in watching him hasn’t stopped. I guess I assumed that this watching-their-every-move thing would at least diminish, and I suppose to some extent it has; I no longer feel the need to watch him for his safety. I know he’s safe. (I still obsessively check, but I’m getting better about not doing that so much.) But I still feel the desire to watch him just be. To watch him exist in this world. To watch him as he shows me the things he has learned, the words he somehow knows, the facts about life he deduces… it’s all entertaining. No longer can we discuss something behind his back when he appears to not be paying attention. He hears everything.

“Why are you talking about me?” He’ll ask, seemingly out of the blue. We had been talking about him, but he was talking to himself and his action figure over in the corner and I just assumed he had no idea.

But he always knows. He seems to know everything.

He knows exactly what to say to end my anger, to get me to hug him, to get me to smile. He knows exactly what to say to make me apologize if I’ve been hard on him. While he generally is a pretty good sleeper these days, which we totally deserve after four years of him not sleeping through the night, there are evenings here and there when he fights bedtime. Hard.

“Mommy, I just can’t sleep.” The first words out of his mouth before his head even hits the pillow.

“Alex, you haven’t even tried.”

“No, mommy. I really can’t. I’m scared a skeleton is going to eat my body and brain.”

I’m never sure with him if he’s serious or not. In this case, I’m 99% sure he wasn’t actually concerned a skeleton was going to eat his body and his brain. Oddly enough, he has quite a good grip on reality. He knows when things are “in this life” and if he isn’t sure? He asks, and is comfortable with the response. “Monsters are not in this life. They are pretend. Dinosaurs are not in this life, but they are real. They are just aggstincted.”

He knows how to say something that means I have to respond. When he’s scared, I always respond, and he knows this. We had a conversation about, well… about zombies, basically. “They aren’t in this life?” “No, Alex. They aren’t in this life. Now put your head down, and I’ll rub your back for two minutes. I love you. Good night, my sweet boy.”

“Good night my funny and pretty Mommy.” This kid, he knows how to end my frustration with his little bedtime-prolonging-games.

It’s not just me, though.

“Daddy, can we play hockey outside?”

BAM. Bedtime paused. How can Zach say no to that?