Ramblings

Please be forewarned that this is a very long and boring post. Recently I've been posting with pictures and little text, but this will be text and no pictures. We got a new laptop, and while it is ten thousand times better than our last one, it lacks an SD card reader, which means I'm going to have to find a cord for this camera before you get pictures. Sorry!

But in addition to all of the fun vacations and visitors, I thought it was time to put a little up here about our normal everyday lives. We've been having a great summer, and Alan is getting to be such a funny little kid. It is amazing to see how much he learns and grows, even from one day to the next. He is starting to know what he wants, and gets more and more frustrated when either he can't communicate that to us, or when he just plain doesn't get what he wants. He just sits down on the floor and is so mad that he starts shaking. Kind of sad and funny at the same time. He's going back and forth trying to decide if he wants to take one nap, or two, which is quite an adventure. I'm trying to hang on to the two nap deal as long as possible. He did decide to take a morning nap today, which is why you get to read this rambling blog.

We're also trying to get Alan over his fear of loud, sudden noises, on the off chance that he'll be able to come to some football games this fall. We've been to a couple of the open practices, and he has freaked out at just about every touchdown. He did fine at one of the scrimmages when we went up high in the bleachers, away from everyone else. Then he only freaked out on really big plays, but managed to calm down a little more quickly. He now knows he is supposed to clap for the football team, so now he is usually clapping and crying at the same time. Sooo sad! So we ended up only buying football tickets for Scott this year, and I'll go to a couple of games that I can get tickets to, and we'll probably get a babysitter for Alan. Too bad. At least he got to go to every home game last year. :) And speaking of football... WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON????? Nelson or Heaps? MWC, WAC, Independent? It's not just Alan, I'm beginning to freak out too! All of these rumors and no real news...crazy. At least the media has something to keep them busy. :)

Anyway, here are some of Alan's loves that keep us busy most every day:

• Outside- That's really the place Alan would love to be every second of every day. He wakes up in the morning and asks to put his shoes on before he even gets out of bed. It's kind of funny. He loves the stairwells in our quad and is constantly running into them. He'll climb up and down the stairs, yell (because it echoes), and knock on everyone's door. Good thing he's so cute or everyone would hate him by now. :)
• Old King Cole- This is hilarious. My Grandma Foulk sent me this old VHS that we used to watch when we were kids. Wee Sing's King Cole's Party. Oh my gosh Alan absolutely loves it. Any other show I put on for him, he could really care less about. He gets up and walks away, but he is glued to this one. I'm pretty sure it's because of the constant singing. When the talking part starts at the end, he's through. But he does the little actions and just claps at his favorite songs. We're having to limit the amount he watches this though, because he is asking for it at all hours of the day if we're not outside.
• Throwing things off the balcony. No explanation needed. Thankfully this has decreased a little in the last few days. We find amazing things in the bushes below our house. :)
  
• Water- He plays in sink with the water and dishes, and in the shower while I'm showering. When we go on walks he loves going through the sprinklers. We even took him to the pool this last week (lucky guy) and he loved it. He's a happy boy when there's water around.
  
• Packing supplies- Luckily we've been getting all sorts of packages for my sister's wedding and they're filled with fun baby things, if the boxes themselves aren't fun enough. Packing peanuts, plastic popping bubbles, crinkly paper...Alan is in heaven.
  

Anyway, that's us in a nutshell. We'll try to get some pics up soon!