Year: 2020

Alex's Sixisms

So right off the bat I’ll admit that this post is a bit daunting. I always like to post about “what makes the boy the boy” on birthdays, share stats and stories, etc. But Alex is such a complex character that I’m not sure how this is going to come out haha. 

I pulled up Ashton’s stats from his 6th birthday post and wouldn’t you know, I don’t even have to change anything to make them fit Alex! They are literally the same except Alex is an inch shorter.

Height: 47 inches
Weight: 50 pounds (I guess this is unofficial, we didn’t have his 6 year old well-visit yet due to the COVID-19 outbreak)
Shoe Size: 13
Clothes size: Really depends on the brand, mostly 6 or 7
Teeth lost: 2 (both middle lowers)\Cavities: 1 (flossing has since commenced)
Bike size: 20 inch

Other notables: Alex has hazel eyes and crazy blond hair. It is his most-commented-on feature.

Breakfast of champions: Raisin Bran. Every day.
“I know how to spell bran. B-I-N.”

“So, B-I-N spells bin, Alex.”
“Right, that’s what I was trying to spell.”

Favorite game: Chess. And this kid can play. More than one unsuspecting adult has lost to him. Like, not on purpose. 

Spirit animal: Cat. At least I think it’s a cat? He loves to press the side of his face against mine and then start rubbing his cheek with my cheek. Not unlike the way a cat rubs its body against the bottom of peoples’ legs. It’s very weird. 

Lovey: Pluto. He still clutches the little stuffed dog we got at Disney World (Pirates of the Caribbean) 3 years ago. 

Would most like for dinner: stromboli

At school: in Kindergarten with Mrs. Gregg. Before CV-19, she reported that he was the star of the class, that everyone wants to be like Alex N. and he loved being at the center of attention. He agreed this was true. 

When he grows up he wants to be: a YouTube sensation. We’ve had some pretty funny conversations about how people become famous. But Alex loves to record himself, take pictures of himself, and generally has that “showmanship” quality. These are the gems I find on my phone:

He’s great with people and is very confident. He strolls around and talks to grown ups like he is their peer. He’ll say, for example, “Hey Mark, did you see that play? That was AWESOME.” to the dad sitting next to him at the hockey game. Or he’ll walk by our neighbor who is just getting out of his truck and say “Hey Jim, how was work today?” Alex just has a funny way of being for a 6 year old. I’ve gotten texts from moms that volunteer at library about how social he is and how he cracks them up with his stories and attitude, and other parents that constantly comment on how much they love him. He seems to know that they do! And he basks in it. 

Strange talent: He throws a PERFECT football throw. Like, it spirals effortlessly and is like a bullet through the air. He loves to play and if we are tossing it back it forth he’ll say “Ok, try and catch THIS arm!” and then hurtle it at me. I correct him and tell him it’s a “throw” but he likes to say arm. 

Latest thing that he had to have and has used one time: skateboard

As a brother: Alex is a great sidekick to Ashton. He really does keep up and the two of them get along great 🙂 



Favorite pasttime: iPad games. Which I hate but he looooooves. The crappy ones with all the ads. UGH. Alex also loves to hug. I mean, ALL.THE.TIME. He still puts his arms up and says “Hug” like a thousand times a day. And sometimes I will have just given him one and he’ll say it again. And sometimes I catch myself saying “I can’t hug you right now!” as I’m in the middle of something but he’ll wait there, and then I feel bad and stoop down. The hugging has been quite amplified now that we are home all day every day together.

There is so much more I think I could say about Alex! But pictures say it better- here are some recent ones that do a pretty good job of capturing him 🙂 Let the year of 6 officially begin! (This post is exactly one month late but we’re in isolation over here and not a lot gets done lol)

 (it was not Halloween)

I’ll leave you with his latest Lego creation –
“It’s a hat store that also sells stuff you can get at Home Depot” 🙂

Alex turns 6 under very unusual circumstances

Well everyone. Alexander Michael is 6 years old and it is some interesting times we are having over here in Natick, Massachusetts. We are currently practicing social isolation due to the COVID-19 outbreak – that will be a whole separate post or set of posts. For this one, I want to focus on just how big Alex’s personality is and what turning 6 looked like for him.

Since we weren’t leaving the house, I tried to decorate as much as I possibly could with the supplies I had.

It was hard to get all in one shot but it definitely felt festive 🙂

So what did Alex do on Monday, March 16, 2020? He woke up, clutching Pluto by his neck like he usually does.

Got in a little exercise with GoNoodle
Worked on his studies
Dialed into the Mo Willems lunchtime doodle session
Helped with his cake

And of course, opened presents.

He wanted, quite specifically, a blue whistle on a blue necklace.
He also got some Harry Pottery Legos, a stopwatch, some games, and a 3D puzzle that he actually gave to Ashton. So that worked out, because Ashton needed Jason’s help. I call this 
“Heaven: In which everyone is busy and quiet at once.”


Of course he got to choose dinner (pizza) and then we had cake 🙂

And now – last but not least. I had put the request out to Alex’s classmates, friends, teachers, family, etc. to send me a quick video clip of them singing, wishing him a great day, etc. I dumped them all into iMovie and right before bed, I had Alex watch 12 minutes of all his favorite faces surprising him with birthday messages.

It was so fun and so neat. Link to the video is here. It’s not fancy (and also, I look like TOTAL garbage – being cooped up in the house, with no where to go and no one to see, does not inspire my best look hahaha) but we all had huge smiles watching it. Under the circumstances I really think he had a great time being “king”, as he referred to himself. As for me, I was trying not to remember his actual birth day (yikes) but I so love my new almost-too-smart-for-his-own-good 6 year old. Details on what makes Alex Alex is coming up next!

10 years and a trip to Aruba

Well Jason and I hit our 10 year wedding anniversary last fall on 9/26/19. Pic for attention:

So we were like obviously we need to go somewhere to celebrate ourselves. This blog did not exist when we were on our honeymoon on St. John (which was epic), and we considered going back. But, since we had also been to and loved Aruba (in 2012 and 2015 – I die when I look at Alex in those 2015 ones, but I digress) we decided to make it our destination (our kid-free destination). We got our flights and hotel all on points (why helloooo Ritz Carlton!) and from January 25-30, 2020 this was our…

We had an ocean view hotel room and the whole resort faces due west, so the views and sunsets were literally impossible to stop taking pictures of. From our room:

 

From the beach

And from the main resort balcony

Soooo, imagine all that in a panorama and you can maybe get it. AH-mazing. We just kept saying that over and over, plus “ahhh this is so good”, in between big sighs of happiness. See, Aruba has this constant, slight breeze – all day every day – that just bathes you in warm, softly swishing air. I swear my heart rate was about 50 BPM the entire time we were there. It felt so unbelievably relaxing. I barely left my beach chair (psssh, “beach chair” – no. It was a freshly toweled, padded, chaise lounge. 😀 )
Besides facing west all the time, we rented a car so we switched up our beaches, we paddleboarded, snorkeled, floated, jet-skiied and ate a ton of fish tacos. The food was amazing and the Ritz was simply beyond. We had to take a lot of selfies and honestly these don’t even come close to capturing what our days were but, nonetheless:

 

 

You guys, it was just perfect. We are so lucky to have had truly the most amazing five days with each other. We had our little speaker going the whole time, a full bar set up in our room, and our wonderful, could-not-have-done-it-without-you parents taking care of our kids 2,000 miles away. Thank you GG, Grandma and Grandpa for holding down our fort, and to Poppy and Mema for our delicious dinner at Flying Fishbone. Already can’t wait for our next anniversary trip. 11 years is a thing, right? 🙂