The Little Lobster

For Halloween this year our neighbors let us borrow a lobster outfit which is very appropriate for being here in New England. After they gave us the costume Adam said he wanted Alex to be something that has a mustache like Zorro. But after much looking, I could not find anything suitable. We decided on a lobster, with a mustache! He stole the show at the trunk or treat and caught on quickly to the idea of walking up to people and getting candy from them. But he got very frustrated a few times when I stopped him from stealing candy from other children's buckets.

-CS

Making Stew

I gave Alex one of my wooden spatulas that I never use to play with. He now loves to fill one of his many containers with a few toys and stir them up like he is making stew.




...and of course he has to taste test it.

-CS

Favorite PJ's

We got these long-john pajamas from Jason and Kristy Huish as a baby shower gift before Alex was born. Adam is a strong believer in long-johns and was so excited when he saw them. They now fit Alex and they look so cute on him.

p.s. Adam thinks Alex looks like Zach Willis (Adam's cousin) in this picture.

-CS

This is my pal

Alex loves his dad and he loves homemade strawberry icecream! We pick Adam up at the train station everynight after work. Alex gets so excited when he sees Adam through the window walking towards the car. He has also realized that if he wants a sweet treat he just needs to find his dad.

-CS

Crème Brulée

Adam had creme brulee for the first time when he visited his Aunt Tenney in France when he was 18 years old. I have been hearing about how much he loves it for a LONG time. He did not have it again until this past year at Modern Pastry. I decided to try to make it this past weekend. It was a lot of fun to make and tasted delicious! The recipe we used was from one of Julia Child's cookbooks. I can hardly wait to make it again.

-CS

Indian Christmas

Our neighbors from Nepal invited us down today to celebrate Christmas with them. We were greeted into their apartment with the strong smell of incense and Indian music. We were decorated with a talika (not to be confused with a bindi) on our foreheads and special flowers that looked like long pieces of grass to put behind our ears and an apple slice, a wedge of coconut, and a $5.oo bill. The Christmas dinner consisted of goat, bamboo soup, lentils, rice, and spicy vegetables. For dessert we had plain yogurt with a gulab jamun on the side. We had fun experiencing new traditions.

-CS

Axey

This is Alex with his next door neighbor and best friend, Maia. She has started talking over the last few weeks. "Ax" (aka Alex) was her second word. It is very cute--other than the fact that she started saying it before he did (she's only one month older). Also worth noting, is this is how Big Alex used to say his name when he was little, which earned him the nickname, "Axey," along with all its derivatives.

-CS

Feeding the chickens

Price is Alex's oldest cousin on the Sipherd/Armstrong side. Price showed Alex the ropes on the farm including how to handle the animals, tractors, and hustle Papa for candy. What a good cousin!

-CS/AS

(Photo by Kari - Inkom, August 2010)

Where'd you get that mouth?!

Adam as a baby.


Alex at 1 year old.


Alex a few days ago at 16 months old.

When Alex eats, laughs, and cries his mouth opens up extremely big. It is funny to watch him eat because it looks like he is waiting for an extra large serving spoon, filled to the brim, to be put in his mouth. When in reality, it is a baby spoon, half full.

By the looks of it, he gets it from his dad.

-CS

Favorite Pastimes

Before we left Idaho in August, Paige made Alex some small, laminated animal pictures and cut a hole in the lid of a plastic container so that he could slip the picture through the slot. This invention was a life saver on the airplane and continues to be a favorite item many times a day.


Alex has been enjoying his new freedom on chairs with good books.


Alex has been very fascinated with containers and lids since earlier this year. In this particular picture he has an old, spice container and is switching between the green lid and the red lid. Every once in a while he screws the lid on too tight and comes screaming to me for assistance.

-CS

The Fork

Alex loves eggs. This past week he started to master the fork.

Cowboy Tote

Word has gotten around that Alex loves to pack a purse. One of our good friends put her skills to work and made Alex his own "cowboy tote". He loves slinging it over his neck and filling it with his treasures.

-CS

Dad's Turn

I should preface this story with Alex's new achievement this week of climbing up on chairs. This story will tell one of the results of his new found freedom.

This morning Alex woke up bright and early disregarding the fact that it was Sunday and his parents wanted to sleep in a little. I almost always get up with Alex when he gets up in the morning but this morning I decided to have Adam get up with him so I could sleep a little longer. The next thing I knew I jerked awake to Alex screaming at the top of his lungs. I glanced at the clock and saw that Alex had been up for almost two hours and thought "Adam is probably about ready to break Alex's neck, I better go relieve him".

I went out to the living room to see what all the ruckus was about. Adam's eyes were wide and guilty. He said to me "two bad things happened, I did one of them and Alex did the other". He went on to explain that he had been laying on the couch just trying to entertain Alex and stay awake. The next thing he knew he awoke to the sound of the printer being turned on. He sat up and looked over to our desk where Alex was perched on all fours on the edge of the desk. The computer mouse was upturned, the web cam was tipped over, and the printer light was blinking. He called Alex's name loudly and Alex whipped around looking like a deer caught in the head lights. This is where I came in, with Alex bawling because Adam made him get down and had scolded him.


-CS