Baby you can drive my car!

The San Francisco Zoo doesn’t have elephants — which Alexandra is VERY in to right now — so she and I made a Saturday morning excursion to Oakland Zoo. Lara took the opportunity to unwind and get a facial. 🙂

http://youtu.be/qA-573wElGY

http://youtu.be/JTag-3NEuzw

We know that posts here have become fewer and farther between, but look at how big she’s gotten! That’s a lot of kid to keep up with!

Is this thing on?

Can you hear me now?

Yes, it appears the blog is indeed still working, despite a total lack of updates in the last few months. It’s mostly due to exhaustion at the end of the day. And the fact that’s it’s MUCH harder to get non-blurry shots of Alexandra these days.

In lieu of trying to be witty and creative, I’m going to just try to post more pictures here and there. And continue to give you the medical updates (which just reinforce the fact that she’s awesome). From her 18-month check-up on Tuesday:

Height: 2′ 9.5″ = 93rd percentile (though I would have thought it was more than an inch of growth in three months, given that she’s now wearing 2T clothes)
Weight: 29 lb, 3.5 oz = 98th percentile
Head Circumference: 49.8 cm = 99th+ percentile (new system, so at least they don’t list “100th” percentile anymore)

In other family news, Ian is back at LeapFrog doing another maternity leave fill and I’m doing some consulting. (And due to the NDA they made me sign, that’s pretty much all I can say about it.)

We hope all is well with you and that 2014 is off to a great start!

Finally got ahold of a family shot of our race car driver and her crew!

Our musical prodigy at Aunt Melissa’s on Christmas morning.

Enjoying her rocking horse from the McCulloughs. 🙂 (January 7th)

Multi-tasking, playing with both the plane AND the lawnmower from Grams and Grandpa. (January 9th)

Continuing her orange phase. (January 16th)

Alex’s First Day of “School”

As hinted at last month, we decided to start Alex in daycare two days a week. We found an AMAZING in-home daycare that’s just over a mile away. She started at Kidink yesterday and had a great time. I think the drop-off was harder on me than it was on her, though she was very happy to see me at pick-up.

I’m still figuring out if I’ll be consulting for my former employer. (If anyone out there has about 10 hours a week of work that can be done from home, let me know.) But since Alex is so social, we wanted her to have more exposure to other kids. There are about 10 kids in total at her daycare, from just over a year through age 5. Her “teacher” has a masters in education, is certified by all the right places and is generally awesome. (Ian says I have a “caregiver crush.” He’s not wrong.)

Stay tuned for Halloween pics. I’m still waiting on a few pics from others (of us as a family), but will post soon. ‘Cuz she was more adorable than usual. In the meantime, here are some shots from the “big day” yesterday:

Awww!

Might be hard to see, but this is Alex playing with the other kids about 2.5 seconds after we arrived.

Having a good morning. (Teacher Teresa sent a “yes, she’s alive and having fun” note.)

Alex’s “house,” which I think is so cute. (Labels on people and animals to come once their label-maker is functional. Their insistence on the label-maker, NOT mine.)

Photos of a Feisty 15 Month Old

We went on Monday to get some more “professional” pictures of Miss A. We decided to capture her in the latest Michigan paraphernalia, as well as her Halloween costume. Given her love of cars, she’s a race car driver. When we go out in the neighborhood tomorrow, we’ll likely push her in her little red car. Ian and I will be her “pit crew.” So, until we have the official Halloween pics, enjoy these!