Two weeks have come and gone in the blink of an eye. Again, I apologize for the delay in posts. Axel continues to be a charmer and is becoming more and more comfortable around strangers and new faces.

Today was the first day that Axel had a babysitter that wasn't a Grandma, Aunt or family member. He did great. Keith and I, along with a few of our friends were able to get out for a little over 2 hours on the bike. It was so refreshing to enjoy the crisp morning air on two wheels with good company. Axel did a wonderful job of showing Sarah the in and outs of playing at the Szolusha house. She said Axel was super easy to watch and that she would love to sit for Axel again. Now Keith and I have to figure out our monthly babysitting budget, although if all works out, we are going to try to have Sarah watch Axel for 2 weekend mornings and one date night per month. I sure hope it works out because it will be really nice to spend some alone time together. we love hanging out with Axel, but now that he is old enough I don't feel nearly as guilty leaving him with a highly responsible high schooler for a couple of hours :)

Axel is still working on cutting his first molars. His bottom left came in really quickly, while his two upper first molars are taking their time to fully come in. Unfortunately, the little guy woke with a cold a couple of nights ago so he is a little under the weather and continues to have 1-2 times per week where he is up for an hour or two in the middle of the night.

Axel has several new games that he has made up to entertain himself. First is the cupboard game. He like to go inside and play with the pots and pans and even jump on them in order to produce noise.

Axel's other new game is bringing the Burley out onto the grass or trying to hook it up to his bike. I bring Axel to daycare every day by Bike/Burley so I find it very amusing how much he likes it when we don't have to go to daycare or work.

Axel and I made cookies together for the first time together. He is just like his mommy and LOVES cookie dough. Here he is helping me lick the bowl clean!

One of my close friends bought Axel baby Einstein Videos for his birthday. Well I finally decided to let Axel watch one. He was really intrigued for a few minutes. As long as an animal was on the screen he would look with fascination. As soon as the animal was replaced by other images he would turn away and play with something else.
He continues to want to walk Louis.

We went to a wine tasting/bring your dog day at a local winery today and Axel did a great job of letting everyone know that Louis was his dog. He also made sure to kiss as many dogs as possible. Yesterday we went to a work function at one of my co worker's beach house. We had a blast.

There were tons of kids and dogs there as well. Here Axel is smooching with my co worker's dog.

Good thing Axel finally learned how to kiss with his mouth closed :) Don't worry he likes to kiss everyone. Here he is giving a big kiss to Auntie!
I finally remembered to bring the camera to Axel's favorite park. Daddy invented a new game of having Axel's toy car slide down the slide. As you can see from the pictures and video, Axel loved the game.


GG Goldstein made Axel his own pillow. Grandma Susan brought it last weekend when she came to visit. I should have taken a picture straight away because now he won't let me take it out of the crib. He absolutely loves it and snuggles up with it to fall asleep. I will have to somehow sneak a picture in one of these nights as I am putting him to bed! Thanks so much GG!!!

Ok...enough for now. We are all doing much better. For those of you who are interested Keith goes back to work this coming Wednesday. He has been back on the bike for almost two weeks now. Yeah for my hubby!!

Park pictures

I finally remembered the camera this week when we went to the park. This park isn't his favorite park because it is a little intimidating for him as there are always several kids and one of the play structures is quite big, but he still has fun. I forgot the camera the day after this when we went to Axel's favorite park, but I am certain I will eventually remember. One thing I learned while trying to video tape Axel's adventures is there comes a point when safety overrides capturing the moment on film. You can see this in the video below of Axel climbing the stairs. He still has no fear so when he gets to the top he doesn't always choose the safe descent of the slide, but rather lunges for the side where the climbing rope is and no one to catch him :)


This past week is a blur. Axel continues to fulfill us with his cute antics. He can count to three as well as walk the dog himself. I sure wish I was able to get a video of Louis walking Axel as Axel belly flopped/face planted into the grass when Louis pulled a little too quickly for Axel to keep up. Yes, Axel thought he was walking Louis, but it was really Louis that was walking Axel. Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures. Sorry for the short post.

Here is a cute video of the Szolusha's getting ready to go to the park. The funniest thing is not Axel acting goofy trying to chase Louis down to put his leash on, but the fact that he realizes I am video taping him at the end, with the long inquisitive stare. :)

First Molars

Sorry for the long delay in posts.....
As you can see from the title, many changes are on the arise for little Axel. He had a few rough nights over the past week, with one night of crying for nearly 2 hours. I suspected he was cutting a tooth, but I was shocked at what I saw this morning while playing with him. His two top first molars are poking through. I was shocked because he has all of this gum space in between his lateral incisor and the molars. Being a first time mom and quite ignorant, I just assumed the teeth come in order. I was awaiting for his left bottom lateral incisor and wham mo out pops the first molars. What happened to the cuspid teeth that are suppose to come out first? :)

Over the past two weeks Axel has really taken off with his independence. He loves to run now, and sometime away from mommy! I am surprised at how quick he is. It is a breath of fresh air that he makes a decision to go do something and then does it without asking mommy to help.

Axel can now stack blocks and all kinds of objects. He can also figure out what box a toy is under if I hide it and best of all when he is unhappy or doesn't want something he protests with a big "NO". Luckily, he is slowly learning how to say "yes".

His vocabulary continues to amaze us as he repeats most words that we say. He has fully engulfed the concept of "hot". When I am done cooking and make his plate of food he says "hot" and then blows on it. He often waits for me to give him the okay that it is cool enough to eat.

He has also started the climbing phase. I was fully prepared for this after reading my cousin's blog about how their little boy was the ultimate climber....I just didn't expect it to start so soon :).



I still can't seem to remember to take the camera to the park, but it is truly amazing at how fearless our little guy is. He is already going down pretty big slides alone. Today he was too quick for me and was sliding down before I got a chance to put him on my lap. He did great, but decided he enjoys going down backwards on his belly the best. I do wish I had pictures to show how much fun he has, but the pictures below can give you an idea of the little grins and boisterous laughs that we see and hear on a regular basis.



Axel is extremely good at entertaining himself and making up games. The game of the week this week is tennis/basketball with our bushes and plants. Here is a play by play....
He sets up his shot...in deep concentration.

He shoots!

And scores!!!

And here he is with the bush.

Slam dunk for this one!

I had several cute stories that I wanted to share, but of course I didn't write them down and now a week + later I can't remember them. Let's just say the stories were about another "amazing instance" where I was left stunned at what my little 16 month old just did. Ok, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Grammy Goodrow comes to town

Although we don't have many pictures to show how much fun Axel had the past few days we do have this one photo of Grammy and Axel together. Here Axel is helping Grammy measure mommy and daddy's head circumference for winter knitted hats.


She decided Axel needs one to match the sweater she knitted for him. We all absolutely love it.

I still can't believe she was able to complete this the first three days of her 5 day stay. Thanks Grammy!

Here is Axel looking so cool with his sunglasses eating a yummy scone mommy made him.

Axel playing with Mr. Monkey and his bike before bed.

Our little climber. He is getting so good at playing at the big parks with the big slides and equipment. We just always seem to forget the camera so one of these days I will actually remember so you can see what a big boy Axel is becoming. You can also see the big puzzle Keith and I were working on. This is our second 1000 piece puzzle. The first one took 3 days and the second one only took two days! Don't worry we did not spend the entire day doing the puzzle. Only about 3 hours a day once Axel went to bed :)

Axel and his funny self. He is becoming more and more of the funny man with his expressions and goofy faces and laughs.


Keith and I celebrated our wedding Anniversary yesterday with a cute movie in bed...Penelope, after a fabulous salmon meal with barbecued vegetables one of my coworkers brought us. Axel made my day by finally deciding to call me "mama" on a more regular basis. I have been hearing daddy for ever it seems, so it is the coolest thing to have Axel look at me and call me "Mama" with his arms spread wide open ready for me to pick him up. Thank you dear lord for my beautiful family!

Have a blessed week everyone!

Fun times with Grandma, Auntie and Ryan

Axel had the luxury of spending 4 days with Grandma Susan and a couple of days hanging out and playing with Auntie and Ryan. I was shocked when I came home on Saturday night and the first thing I heard out of Axel's mouth was "Ry...an" as he walked towards the bathroom door that Uncle Ryan just happen to be in at the time.

Just a short 30 minutes later as Auntie, Axel and I were playing "I'm going to get you" I heard Axel squeal with delight as he proudly said "Auntie" while falling into her arms. The entire point of the game for Axel was to get caught so he could get some extra smooches and hugs from his favorite Aunt. Grandma Susan did state a little jealous comment on Sunday night when I got home as she said, "He has no problem saying Auntie, but not one peep of Grandma", :)

Well, I have mentioned how good Axel's vocabulary is, but the one word that he chooses not to say is ma, or mama or mommy, which means Grandma may have to wait until mama becomes a regular word. I do hear Axel occasionally say mama, but for some reason he doesn't say it with as much frequency and vigor as all of his other words. Oh, well, patience is a virtue!

Here is Axel and Grandma just before bed. They were like to pees in a pod. Axel was sad to see Grandma go and actually cried and threw a little tantrum about going back into the house and then about getting into the car to go to day care.
Here is a video I promised of Axel bouncing the ball. Unfortunately, it doesn't show how good he is at it now, since this was right after daddy taught him.

Here is the picture I promised that shows how Axel pats Louis and says, "good dog". I wish I had this on video because it is so stinking cute!

Last, here is a video of what we go through almost every time we feed Louis. Axel is getting better about first feeding Louis a kernel or two before shoving a few pieces in his mouth. Luckily, since daddy taught him how to spit he is able to spit it out for me with a little coaxing.

Independent walker

It has been an exciting week for Axel. After nearly 6 months of walking holding onto our finger he has finally decided he can and wants to walk on his own....most of the time. I see this internal battle where he wants to do what everyone else does and go where he wants to go, but at the same time wants mommy or daddy to be right there with him. The cool thing is he is finally getting his independence and is so proud of himself, as are we.


Keith's close friend from grade school sent Axel and us wonderful house warming gifts....here is Axel's. Thanks Matt and Sarah!


Axel's vocabulary and communication continues to explode. He says shoes and tries to put them on, as well as mommy shoes :).

He pats Louis and says, "good dog". He says crackers, cheerios, bread, and so many words I can't even think of them all. He now, not only brushes his teeth, but he spits afterwards, because that is what mommy and daddy do to get rid of the tooth paste. It is such a joy to see the brain development before our very eyes. Speaking of eyes, that just reminded me that Axel takes his eye drops (for the pink eye that he had) and put it up to his eye and says "eye". Amazing, isn't it? I know every child makes discoveries like these, but to witness it first hand every time those little neurons make more connections it truly a blessing and gift from God. Ok, enough of that!

After weeks of swollen gums, Axel's 7th tooth finally made its appearance on Monday. It looks like Axel is going to have lovely crooked teeth like both of his parents...sorry! I will make sure to get a picture once it is more visible.

Axel loves to explore. He got a kick out of taking daddy around the bushes in the back corner of the yard.

Axel also loves to pick up and throw rocks.

His new skills of the week are getting up and down from the floor without holding onto anything and bouncing a ball. I have pictures of both of these, but haven't downloaded them yet.

Axel is also strong enough to pull the lever on one of his toys Grandpa Brian bought him for his birthday. You can see how excited Axel gets when it makes animal sounds and sings "on this farm".

Off to bed....Good night!

Summer Fun

Axel and Daddy are getting lots of quality time in as Axel has a two week vacation from day care and daddy is on his 6 week sabbatical from work. He gets his 10 year award this Friday....go daddy!! It is truly amazing at how close the two of them have become over the past 10 days. Axel loves to do imitate daddy and take daddy everywhere he wants to go. It is really cute to see them playing together. The only bummer thing is that daddy didn't take any photos, although he did get a good video of Axel playing with his little soccer ball.

We were finally able to buy Axel a little pool. It only took three trips to the store for it to be in stock! Of course, Axel loved playing in his little pool. he spent an hour + this morning in it and was bummed to have to get out to eat lunch. The good thing was he ate more at lunch then he normally does. Who knew sitting in water burns more calories :) Next week Axel is going to go in a real pool at a friends house. We are super excited to see how he likes the big pool so check back next week for more photos.


We also picked up bubbles during our shopping trip. We were all a little bummed that magic bubbles did not work like "magic". Axel's new favorite word is bubble so when he actually got to see us make bubbles he was really excited. However, his excitement quickly turned to frustration as both mommy and daddy had trouble making bubbles.


Axel's vocabulary continues to grow. My two favorite saying are "Breakfast time" and "bath time". He does such a great job of saying it back to us, but let me warn you all "BATH TIME" has become a key word like "WALK" for the dog. You cannot say it without major excitement followed by crying or barking :). Axel will grab our finger and practically run to the bath tub. He then turns the water on and throws his toys in as he waits for me to undress him. So when it is not "bath time" he gets a bit frustrated when I don't remove his clothes for him to jump in.

When Axel is hungry he does the same thing by grabbing our finger and walking us to his high chair. He then says "up" and waits for us to feed him. It is amazing at how quickly his brain is developing now.

Today Axel tried an orange for the first time. He did appear to like it so hopefully it will stay that way. His taste buds appear to be ever changing like his wonderful moods from crying to laughing...oh the joys of being 1 years old.

Ok, the little guy just woke from his nap. Have a great week!