Alden's Photos

Alden loves stealing my camera from time to time and taking lots of photos.  Some are super blurry or of the floor but some aren't bad and they are interesting.  I always love looking at what my little boy takes photos of because I feel like it gives me insight into what he finds interesting and worth taking a picture of.  Here is a sampling of some of Alden's photos from the last few months.

Occasionally he likes to take photos of me, especially when I have been taking photos of him but they are often blurry.  This was one of his better ones.

Alden really enjoyed taking pictures of the ornaments on the Christmas tree.

This was a really close up picture of some presents that Alden helped me wrap.

Alden liked taking pictures of the Christmas tree.

Sometimes he enjoys taking photos of random things in our house like this light fixture...

...or this couch.

 This was a picture that Alden took of the Christmas tree at my parent's house.

 As I said, he liked to take pictures of Christmas trees.

 This was Alden taking photos of the TV when he was watching his videos of Daddy reading books to him.  I think he liked taking photos of Daddy.

 Apparently his feet are interesting to him.

 Taking a picture of the sky when it was really sunny in California.

 Alden really finds trees and plants of any kind interesting.

 This was at Drew's grandparent's house.  It doesn't surprise me at all that I have a whole bunch of photos of their dog.

 Alden did really like their piggy bank and putting coins in it.

 Apparently the turtle tissue cover was also interesting.

I love my little boy and his interest in taking pictures.  Maybe he will follow in his Grandpa's footsteps and stay really interested and involved in photography throughout his life. =)

Watching Videos of Daddy

Alden got a couple DVDs from Daddy around Christmas time that show Daddy reading books and talking to Alden.  Alden was so excited to watch these and loved being able to watch Daddy.  It is really cute because he will respond to Daddy as he talks on the video.  Sometimes Alden will just want to watch the videos over and over  and over again.  I think he likes having Daddy's voice in the background.  I love watching Alden watch these videos because it means he is still interacting with Daddy and it shows that Alden really misses having Daddy at home.

This was the first time that Alden saw this video.  Here is a video of him watching it but I'm sorry it isn't great because Alden insisted on sitting on my lap.

He was so happy to see Daddy!

Here is a video of Alden watching Daddy and talking back to him at some points.  It is cute to see him try and follow along in the books with Daddy.

Also, just as a side-note, Alden came in the room as I was writing this post and immediately asked if he could watch Daddy again.  So, he is currently watching Daddy and I can hear him talking to Daddy and trying to read along with him in the books. It is so sweet!

Chocolate Santa with Alden's New Game

Alden loved looking at the chocolate Santas in the stores all through December but I never bought him one.  So, the lucky boy got one in his stocking from Santa.  I was surprised but it actually survived a little over two weeks before he broke down and ate it.  It was just cute that he wanted one so badly and once he got one he was content to just look at it for awhile before eating the whole things in one sitting.  Here is Alden eating his chocolate Santa and telling me about it.

Alden got really excited when he discovered a new family game that we got.  Once he figured out how to play Ker-Plunk he just wanted to play over and over and over again.  It got to the point where I told him he had to figure out how to do it on his own because I couldn't sit on the floor and play for more than 30 minutes.  He actually did pretty well on his own and he figured out ways to have fun with the game.  Here are some photos and video from Alden playing Ker-Plunk.

This is Alden putting the game together on his own and here is a video of that.

Taking Down the Christmas Tree

After we got back from our trip to California we still had all of our Christmas decorations up and Alden and I left them up for at least one more week before finally deciding that it was time to take everything down and put it away.  Alden was very sad to see the tree go but he was also an amazing helper when it came to getting ornaments off the tree.  He would take the ornaments off and bring them over to me and then I would put them in the boxes.  Here are some pictures of Alden being my big helper.

This picture also shows how Alden wanted to have his video of Daddy on in the background the whole time that we were taking ornaments down.  Every time the video would end he would ask for me to turn it on again.  I think he was just enjoying hearing Daddy's voice.

This was Alden getting ornaments carefully off of the tree.

He would help me put the less fragile ornaments in boxes and hand me the fragile ones and then go back to get more.

So if you look closely at these pictures you can see Alden is in the back corner behind the tree.  He would crawl back there to get the ornaments off that side of the tree.

Here he is crawling out from the back corner again.  I was so grateful to have such a big helper!

Coming Home

Alden and I had a great time being in California for Christmas and I am so glad that we got to go!  It was wonderful being surrounded by so much family and I really appreciated the fact that there were other people around to help with Alden for a few weeks so that I could rest a little more when I needed to.  However, we were excited to go home when the time came.  Alden was just excited to go on a plane again and I was ready to get back to our routine.  It was a wonderful Christmas and New Years and I am so grateful that I could be in California for so much family time.

The morning we left my mom made cinnamon rolls for breakfast which Alden was really happy about.

I love Alden's smile and crazy hair in this photo.

This was me the day we left to come home.  I was two days shy of 30 weeks.

Alden was really excited to look at the window out the airport and see the planes while he ate his snack.  I am so grateful that he is an amazing traveler!  He is really good on planes, in cars and even just walking through the airport when he needs to stay close to Mom.






Alden was sad when we finally got home because my family was not there to play with him but I take that as a good sign.  It means we both had a great time in California and it will be fun when we get to go back again!

Magformers at Grandpa and Nana's

A couple days before we came back to Washington, we went and visited my grandparents again.  They got out the Magformers for Alden while we were there and Alden had a lot of fun building things out of them or watching people build things out of them and then he always loved to smash whatever had been built at the end.

It was really nice to be able to sit and talk with Grandpa and Nana again while I was there.  My grandpa had been getting sicker and weaker over Christmas break, which was sad, but he was still very mentally alert and it was wonderful to be able to talk to him and tell him more about how Alden, Drew and I have been doing lately.  I also always loved the stories and things that he has to share with us!  I have always loved any chance I got to see my grandparents and this visit was no exception!

Alden making stars out of the magformers and then sticking them on the side of Grandpa's bed.

Maren had fun creating this cool patterned circle for Alden that was smashed by him a few seconds after the photo was taken.

Erik had fun using the instruction booklet to build different things, like the boat shown below, for Alden.  Alden enjoyed playing with the different things for a little bit before he would smash them.

Maren figured out how to make this heart out of all the triangle pieces.

This was a dumbbell (according to the instruction booklet) that Erik built.  The Magformers are a lot of fun to be creative with and it is fun because they can be a lot of fun for all ages!

Grandpa and Grandma Play Time For Alden

Alden had a lot of fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa while we were in California.  Alden enjoyed lots of different activities including sitting and reading, putting puzzles together and playing with Grandma.  He also enjoyed being taught the finer art of playing Angry Birds as he watched her play on her tablet.  When playing with Grandpa, Alden enjoyed going on walks, setting up Duplos, playing the Noble Duke of York (see another post) and playing football (see another post) among other things.  It was really cool that Alden got to play with all of my family over Christmas break and it was fun to see how different people became associated with different activities for him.  I love watching Alden be social with so many different people and I loved having my family around to help entertain him.  Here are a bunch of pictures from Alden playing with his grandparents.

Alden got these really neat plane puzzles for Christmas and he had a lot of fun putting them together with Grandma's help.

Alden got a new Duplo train set for Christmas and he had a lot of fun getting it out and setting it up with Grandpa and my help.

This was Alden watching the train go around the track for the first time after we got it all set up.

Watching the train and a high five with Grandpa.

This was Alden figuring out the crane with Grandpa. 

Alden enjoyed his train but he actually got a little scared of it after awhile.  Since we got the train home after Christmas he has enjoyed playing with it and is no longer scared of it.  He now thinks it is a lot of fun to have mommy set up the track and then he will push the button to make the train go.

Alden enjoyed story time in the evenings with Grandma, especially when he was really tired!

This was Alden learning the finer art of playing Angry birds with Grandma.  He was very entertained watching her play and was content to just sit and cuddle with her!  So cute!