Happy Earth Hour

Happy Earth Hour!
You know with the right marketing I reckon this could catch on as a yearly event where people 'give the gift of light' and have candle lit dinners.
That said we just settled for putting Alex to bed, lighting some old candles and taking photos.
My lavender candle smells very nice :)

The cow slept under the moon

Alex's new bed linen arrived yesterday. I wanted something fun for when he moves into the 'big' bed. I found this set online and decided it was perfect for his room. It matches his tree and sun.
I took some photos today after I'd washed and dried the covers and made the bed.
The applique is made of soft furry fabrics and the cows tail is a fluffy tuft. It probably wont take long for Alex to pull the tail off but it all washed well so it's well made.
This is the night time side with a sleeping cow and an awake owl

and this is the daytime side with the cow awake and the owl asleep.

I'll probably just leave it day side up. It matches his room better and he can have 3 suns :)

Take a walk in my shoes

Last night we went out to dinner with Tom and his family! Tom is Alex's 'virtual twin'. The two boys were born just a week apart in date and gestation and they have so much in common.
Alex was a bit quieter than usual, almost shy. I think he was a bit surprised to meet someone as bright and chirpy as Tom. Normally Alex is the life of the party and here was someone who could out do him! I was very impressed to see another lively child. I've become used to seeing Alex as the active one and I was starting to worry if he was too 'hyper' as he is always seems more active than other children. I don't know where these prems get their energy but it sure is impressive.
The two boys shared some drawing and some food, whether they were meant to or not. Alex kept helping himself to Tom's chips. Tom is such a neat eater compared to Alex who had food every where.
We took some photos of course.



Then when we got in last night Alex showed his Dad what he had been up to all day. He spent a large part of the day trying on our shoes and walking up and down the hall in them. A lot of the time he only wore one shoe but never did he wear a mismatched pair. Finally he decided he liked my pink Crocs best. He tends to wear just one, on the wrong foot and even back to front but it doesn't stop him walking around in it.
So last night he grabbed his teddy, my pink shoes and went for a walk around the house.

The TV was showing an ad for nappies so he had to stop to see the baby.

While I've been typing this Alex has come in to see me with one pink shoe on and asked for a kiss. Such a cutie!

Happy Birthday Nana

Happy Birthday Nana!

OK time for lots of catch up photos.
Firstly here's a portrait of Tilly,

and here she is walking down the hall and you can see Alex is finally taller than the cat.

Friday was Mom's birthday so Alex had a big day out with his Nana. We went shopping first, then out for chinese. Alex loves eating out and the Chinese restaurant is always fun. There's lots of food for Alex to play with and then on Friday nights there's a band with singing and dancing. Alex ate really well. He used a fork for the first time and it worked better than a spoon. Then his Nan took him to see the band and he took center stage on the dance floor with the other children. He didn't dance but he did get a few kisses from the girls (and a boy).
Then he went home for a bath (got to wash off those girl germs) and stayed up to help Nan blow out the candles.


He stuck his fingers in the cake and found it very exciting.

Alex's new trick today. If he doesn't want his nappy changed, he just gets off the change table.
It's amazing to see. He doesn't try to use his legs to climb down, he just uses all upper body strength to lower himself down. It's surprising that he is doing this but hasn't tried to climb out of his cot yet. He will climb up and down things but not over so I guess that's why he hasn't worked out the cot yet, that would mean climbing over the rail.




Today we went out for a BBQ at a friends place. It was really busy there with lots of kids.
Alex went flat out the whole time, opening and shutting all the doors and cupboards and climbing up and down the stairs outside (over and over). Yep he is doing stairs on his own. They had quite a steep set of stairs and after the first dozen times helping Alex up and down I decided to leave him to do it himself, figuring he wouldn't feel comfortable on his own so would stop. Nope that didn't work. He just did it on his own, no need for anyone to hold his hand or catch him. It was funny, he had no problem with these stairs but the doorstep just inside was a different story, he kept tripping over that.

the grass is greener

Alex was playing outside today, just before it rained (again) and it was that beautiful diffused prerain light that softens shadows and makes colours so bright. The grass was amazingly green.
So of course I had to get the camera out and try some colourful play time photos. I forgot that low light + fast moving toddler = blurry photos but we had fun anyway.
Then it rained.
Alex is getting up and down the back steps on his own now, he doesn't wait for me, and he was climbing on the garden chairs. He ended up filthy as usual and just a bit wet.




He thought this was a ball. It's actually a very heavy ceramic pot Dad made. I use it as a garden decoration. Luckily it's really solid because Alex threw it like a ball. He was so quick I only just got this shot.

A weed of my own

Saw this when I was hanging out the washing today. The only dandilion to have survived the mower and it was sitting in a beautiful patch of light with all the grass green from the recent rain.
I grabbed the closest camera which was the lower res 10D and the lens on it was my new Sigma 10-20mm. Very strange trying to take close ups with such a wide lens but the results were interesting.

Posers

More photos of Alex and some of Tilly.

Alex and his brother

Meet Alex and his brother. I wish!
Nah this is Alex at 1yo and Alex at 2yo.
We took Alex's 2yo photos yesterday and aimed to get the same look as last years 1yo photos. Here I've pasted one of each together to show how much he has grown. It looks like more of a difference than it really is because in last years photos he wasn't standing on his own so his knees are bent, he was leaning on Dad.

This years photos were a lot harder to take. He just doesn't want to stay put! We did get him to slow down for a while by giving him a camera of his own to play with.
So here's my little photographer.

There's a lot more photos but it will take me a while to go through them. I want to put together a collage like last years photos so there will be a fair bit of photoshop work to do when Alex lets me.

Time to mow

Took Alex's 2yo photos yesterday so I'll have a few to upload here soon.
For now though, here's a quick photo so Alex can show Tom he has a lawnmower too :)