Busy, Busy

Rishaan and Axel continue to have lots of play dates. Here they are in Axel's 'dog cage' last weekend.

Speaking of dogs, last weekend we visited Touis. Touis was just placed in a really nice home in Oakland with a retired couple who have taken rescued pugs for the past 28 years. They currently have 4 pugs with the addition of Touis. He has been there a month and absolutely loves his new home. Before he was placed with Ia, Touis was with the pug queen (Susan). Apparently, Susan fell in love with Touis and didn't want to give him up, but since Susan is good friends with Ia (Touis' new owner) and she has taken other rescued pugs from her in the past she finally gave Touis up after having him for a year and a half.

It was so nice to see Touis. He looks great and appears to be quite happy. Axel was in pug heaven and loved playing with them all. Our one hour visit turned into a three hour visit. It was hard for Axel and us to say goodbye, but Ia wants us to visit regularly, so we will likely see Touis a couple of times per year.

What about Louis? Well he is happy as ever, especially in Axel's 'heap of animals.'

After months of not wanting to go to the 'big park,' Axel finally decided this past Thursday that he wanted to go again. It was perfect timing because we were headed to Grandma Susan's house during nap time.

He had fun, not only with the sand, but also with the play structure. It was one of the longest times he has played on the play structure. He went down the slide almost 10 times, which is about 5 times more than usual!!!

I thought the park would wear him out so that he would sleep on the long ride to Grandma's house, but that is not what Axel had planned. He was out cold for the first 20 minutes snoring away and then was rudely awakened by me quickly breaking as I was cut off right before the red light at Mission. I thought for sure he would fall back to sleep, but he stoically looked out the window for the next 2 hours. Luckily, Grandma bought new toys for Axel, which provided for a happy, tired child when we arrived at Grandma's house.

He loved the chalk board and dry erase board combo along with the other outdoor toys. Thanks Grandma! More fun to look forward to when we return in two weeks for Shannon's Bridal shower.

The one thing Axel struggled with the most during our visit with Grandma is that he didn't want to sleep in the pack and play. He thought it was a crib and for babies. He managed to sleep Thursday night in the pack and play, but put up a fight for his nap on Friday. We compromised with the new bed that Grandma bought for Lucy (Grandpa Brian's dog). Lucy doesn't care for it because of her arthritis, but Axel loved it. He can't wait to go back and sleep on it again. :)

We managed to make it to the local park after Axel managed to make it through shopping for Auntie's shower. Axel's climbing skills continue to improve as he grows. I love the following picture because he looks older and independent climbing the "fake rope ladder".

We had the privilege of seeing the McFarren's on Saturday for lunch. It was so nice to have Sophie and Axel play together and Keith and I really enjoyed catching up with Kristi and Kris. We hope to see them again with their future trips up to see Kris's parents.

Jack looks wise and sophisticated with all of his hair. Sophie has such a calm demeanor for someone of her age. It was great to see them in action. I felt like I knew them well because of the blog that Kristi does about them, but children in person are nothing compared to what we get to enjoy in real life.

Sophie and Axel appeared to be instant friends. I really hope they get to have a good relationship as they grow up being that they are only several weeks apart in age.

Other news is Axel woke up with a cold on Sunday, but he appears to be feeling a bit better today. Daddy taught Axel how to color "between the lines" and he is doing a great job. I was extremely proud when I saw him coloring tonight. It is truly amazing how much he is growing up. We are gearing up for his birthday next month and are planning his first kid birthday party. Ok, that is it for now. Hope you enjoyed the long weekend!

Tough Boy Axel

I went to pick up Axel on Wednesday and saw this on his face.

It looked awful to me as it reminded me of road rash. How on earth could he get something like this? Well, Axel proceeded to tell me the story of how he fell going up the cement stairs into Angela's house. It is still hard for me to believe that he fell going up stairs and that was the result, but he was in such a great mood and continues to be a happy camper without a complaint. That is great news! I have a tough, big boy now!

Axel continues to amaze me at how smart he is. He figured out his magnetic balls and sticks, stick to his trains. He was extremely proud of the long "choo-choo train" he made. He just wasn't happy I was trying to take a picture of it :)

Speaking of smart and thoughtful, today while on our morning Burley ride Axel told me, "Mommy, be careful", "Mommy, go slowly", after I descended a small twisty roller. I thought it was really funny because in the past he has wanted Keith or I to pull him fast, in circles or in squiggly lines riding side to side.

Axel is learning to be a charmer. Daddy insists on teaching him to tell me I am pretty or that I look nice. Well, last night, as I closed the door to his room, he said, "Mommy I like your shirt." What! I am wearing a plain pajama top, I thought! "Thank you Axel, good night Axel," is what I said. I had a big smile on my face as I walked down the hallway. How on earth did he come up with that, at this time of the day?

Axel still has this fascination with pretending to be a doggy. Last night we received a box that has now become his dog cage. Here Axel is in his dog cage.

We spent all morning today playing in his dog cage. Axel also likes to play fetch. He uses a plastic top to one of his containers as his "frisbee" and asks me to throw it for him. Sometimes during snack time if he is eating pretzels I throw them for him and he picks it up with his mouth. I don't want to necessarily encourage the behavior, but at the same time I don't want to ruin his imagination.

The big news of the week is that Axel has all four of his 2nd molars coming in or in. He has really been biting on "Bunny" the past month or two. My suspicion was that he was teething. Yesterday, I finally took a look and saw the right bottom one completely in and the other three over half way in. It is hard to believe he now has all of his teeth and that in just a couple of years from now he will begin losing them and getting his permanent teeth.

Axel is absolutely a blast. I wish you could all experience him first hand. He is funny, sweet, loving, charming and incredibly smart. I will leave you with a clip of his funny/crazy side. Sorry if the clip is side ways!

Oakland Zoo and more

This post is going to be a long one with lots of photos because again, time has gotten the best of us. We have been busy, busy and trying to enjoy as much of the busy as we can.

I will start a couple weeks back. We had a play date/dinner with Rishaan and his parents. Hema made delicious enchiladas and Axel enjoyed fish sticks in a tortilla while Rishaan ate his usual dinner.

The boys continue to play well together. The fights and competition for the same toy is almost entirely gone. I feel like they are both maturing as their interactions with each other are becoming more sophisticated. They are almost always engaged in the same play and hardly play next to each other. The first few times they played together, over 50% of the time was side by side play. Now they want to interact with each other the entire time. This past Friday, a couple of days ago, Axel had a huge break through. He said, "I am ready to share my toys with Rishaan. Can Rishaan come over here and play tonight?" Typically Axel does great at Rishaan's house, but takes over with the bossiness and control at home. On Friday, I could hardly tell there was two almost 3 year olds in the house. They even managed to do a couple of puzzles together without any competition or fighting. I was so happy and proud.

Axel continues to have a love/hate relationship with Louis. He mostly loves him as you can see above, but every now and then when Louis is getting "too much" attention from mommy or daddy he gets jealous and says he doesn't like Louis.

Axel absolutely loves the park across the street from our house. The sand is still his favorite part. His imagination is blossoming and recently we built a big mountain and "train tracks" for his trucks (pretend trains). It is often hard for us to leave the park because he doesn't want anyone to ruin his creations, but I remind him that we can always recreate it another day.

Axel is much more into independent time and play. I have really noticed a big difference over the past month. Instead of getting upset that mommy or daddy are unavailable he chooses to entertain himself. The picture above is showing him a few nights ago while Keith and I were eating dinner. Axel finished early and was bugging me to read him the new books we found on his bookshelf. I told him once I was done eating I would be happy to read to him. Well, he sat down and proceeded to go through all of the Magic Bus books in the box. He entertained himself for 45 minutes. It was really nice to talk with Keith and I was so excited he was into the books I didn't want to interrupt him. Of course, I had to eventually interrupt him for bed time, but he was excited to finally read "what the picture said".

We received a gift card to Crate and Barrel for Christmas so we decided to head over to the local store and see what we could buy. We hardly ever go shopping. Axel was thrilled to go up and down the escalator several times as well as see all of the cool kitchen supplies and furniture. He told us he found his new bed and wanted to take the above bed home with him.

Yesterday we headed up North to go to the Oakland Zoo with Auntie and Ry Ry. Everyone had a blast.

Uncle Ry Ry and Axel are such a cute duo. I love how much Axel loves to hang out with Auntie and Uncle.

We saw energetic monkeys, gorillas, tigers, bears, snakes, turtles, reptiles, elephants, giraffes, walliroos (sp?), ostriches, ect.

Axel played on almost all of the structures in the children's section of the zoo. Here is Auntie and Axel on the turtle.

Axel and me on the red frog.

Axel in the turtle.

Ry Ry and Axel having fun.

Axel coming out of the reptile building through the little door.

Axel willing and without coaxing or asking climbed up the tree slide by himself.

And played with Auntie inside the fake big tree trunk.

He bravely stepped on the frog lily pads with the assistance of Auntie.

The highlight of the day was the train ride. The 4 of us squished into the second row as Axel loves to be near the train whistle.

After the zoo we went to Ick's sandwich shop. There Axel had his first lollipop. As you can tell it didn't take him long to get the hang of licking it.

Here Axel is relaxing while enjoying his apple caramel lollipop.

We had so much fun. We can't wait to go back. Next time we will definitely stay longer to make sure we get to enjoy the carnival rides as well as see all of the animals.

Ok, time to watch the superbowl. Go Patriots!