It has been so hot the last couple of days in Philadelphia. So hot in fact, that the entire Philadelphia School District had emergency school closings and all school closed at noon for two days. Fortunately, Alex’s after school program had in fall under the “snow day” policy and picked up the children at noon and kept them the rest of the day. And there was no extra charge for this …

It’s supposed to be a little better tomorrow so Alex’s birthday should be ok - it’s in two days and she is so excited to be turning 6.

I have some recent pictures from our visit to Wizard World but haven’t uploaded them yet - hopefully I will get that down soon. But I have been so busy and with the heat and getting ready for the birthday party there just hasn’t been any extra time.

Well, so much time has gone by since I last posted - I haven’t even done the Christmas photos yet. Alex had an interesting Valentine’s Day. We had a snowstorm and all the schools were closed - I think it’s the first time Alex has cried about not having to go to school. Marc stayed home with her and made sure that she had a really fun day - I had to work later so I was with them in the morning. Grandma Alma gave her a couple of books and Grammy gave her a beautiful doll. And then Alex got to have an extended Valentine’s Day because they had their school party and card exchange a day late on the 15th.

We’ve been working on registering Alex for Kindegarten in September and getting her into an afterschool program. So far, things have been going smoother then expected. Alex seems excited about Kindegarten and Marc and I are looking forward to decreased childcare expenses.

Alex had her two year check-up on Monday July 12th. She now weighs 26.4 (ugh) and is 33 inches tall. Some guesstimates of future height say that you are half your adult height when you are two, so there is hope that Alex will be taller than me

Overall, however, the appointment didn’t go very well. It was supposed to be at 5pm but the practice asked if I could change it to 3:30. So, I had to wake Alex up from her nap - she wasn’t happy about that and I felt bad for her because I was rushing her around to get ready and she was barely awake.

Then it was pouring out - not just raining - pouring like we were in the middle of a hurricane. It poured like this all day. We both got rather wet getting from the trolley to the dr.’s office. Once we were there Alex was pretty happy and was very cooperative until it was time to examine her. She wouldn’t do anything that she needed to do. She wouldn’t stand on the scale so we had to weigh me and then weigh me while holding her and to measure her I had to hold her down on the measuring board. She also had a fit when the nurse tried to measure her head and again I had to hold her really tight and hold her arms down to do this. Alex was probably thinking, “what kind of torture did you wake me up for?”

Alex is also really shy around men she doesn’t know and, of course, she doesn’t remember her doctor. As soon as he came into the room she put her head down in my lap and wouldn’t even look up. When he needed to look in her eyes and ears, etc. she got really upset again and I basically had to restrain her to get her examined. She is SO strong and I was sweating while doing this. Then after all this fun the doctor that one of her shots got missed when she was 15 months old and that she was going to need it that day. I thought, “great - this just keeps getting more and more fun.” She cried about the shot but she actually dealt with that better then she did with anything else she had to do. It was still pouring on the way home and by the time we did get home we were both exhausted.

All evening she kept pointing to the band-aid on her leg where she had the shot and said boo-boo in a very whiney manner.

The weather was wonderful this weekend and the three of us had a really good time - and Alex had a lot of fun playing outside. (It’s been a long winter). Saturday morning we went to the park for about an hour - Alex had so much fun running around and playing with Marc. She’s gotten so good and climbing that we don’t have to stand right next to her every second that she is on the jungle gym. She also really likes swinging - this is new because before she would get sick of it after a couple of minutes. It wasn’t quite as warm as I thought it was going to be so really only stayed at the playground for about an hour. We got some coffee and then decided to go to the thrift store nearby - and we found some good stuff. We each got a pair of pants, I got a shirt, a brand new pair of converse high tops for $3, a Pochohantas movie, and a Little Golden book about Bambi. By this point Alex was getting sick of being in the stroller and moody so we decided to go to a restaurant at the end of the block and have lunch. We got middle eastern food - I thought Alex was really hungry but she didn’t really eat anything and was busy saying hi and bye to everyone who walked in and out of the restaurant. After we ate we headed home - Alex was really tired and couldn’t wait to take her nap

Sunday was even nicer out than Saturday so we decided to go to St Johns where we used to go to church - we hadn’t been there in almost 6 months!!! Alex was really good until after the sermon and then was tired of sitting still so we took her into the back to play. This is a little harder to do at St. Johns because the church is a lot smaller than the one we’ve been going to. And Alex decided that she didn’t just want to play but that she wanted to run!!! A couple of times she got halfway up the aisle before we could catch her. But overall things went well and I realized how much I miss going to that church every week. After church we went to Rittenhouse Square and had a little picnic lunch that I brought with us and Alex ran all over the park playing and having a wonderful time. Because the weather was so nice there were a lot of people out and it was fun to people watch. Alex was playing with her little stroller - she likes to put baby doll in it and push her around - when eventually she climbed right in. We figured that was the signal that she was tired and ready to go home. Again, she couldn’t wait to get into her bed and take her nap. (It’s so funny when I think of hard it was teaching her to go to bed and night and take naps when now she knows when she is ready and she LOVES to sleep.)

Yesterday (Monday) was SO beautiful. It was sunny out and in the 60s. It the morning I took her to the park for about 2 hours. It was wonderful for us to be out in the warm sunshine and not be all bundled up in coats, hats and mittens. It was so warm that I took Alex’s jacket off and let her run around in her sweatshirt. There were a lot of little kids there and almost all of her friends. So because of the weather and being outside so much we had a great couple of days. (Unfortunately, it is raining today.)

It has been SO cold the last couple of days - we have had wind chills as low as -15F which just doesn’t happen around here. I took Alex out on Tuesday but we have both been in since. And her friend, Velo, couldn’t come over this week to play because he has been sick. Fortunately Alex has been really good and we have found ways to entertain each other. She especially loves to play with her baby dolls and pretend they are sleeping and that she is putting them to bed and taking care of them - it is really cute and she is so sweet about it. One good thing about this cold weather is that Alex has a new word - cold Marc taught it to her the other day and now she says it when she is looking out the window and when she gets out of the tub.

Her grandmother is coming over today so that should be fun for Alex. The other day Alex saw a picture of her and her grandmother and she tried to say Grandma and then she hugged the picture. Marc and I are either going to go ice skating (an indoor rink) or go to the movies.

Yesterday Marc and I decided to bundle up Alex and take her out in the snow for a couple of minutes. The wind was blowing and it was really cold so we knew that we wouldn’t be out very long. We put Alex in snowpants, a big coat, boots, hat and mittens. She doesn’t like wearing her boots so she immediately started complaining about that. We took her outside and she was a lot happier but she was just standing there like I’m not too sure about this cold air and this wind blowing in my face. Marc took a bunch of pictures. Alex finally decided that she wanted to play a little bit in the snow and immediately fell face first into the snow. It was funny but she got SO mad - forget this, I want to go back inside. She wasn’t happy at all after that so we took her back in - 15 minutes to get ready for 5 minutes outside. A little later we realized that the fall in the snow had scratched her face underneath her eye so that might have been why she was so upset.

It’s really cold out today but is no longer snowing. I don’t think Alex will be going out in it. The weather shows that it is going to be 50 by Wednesday so soon we will have a slushy mess.

It snowed a year ago today and now it is snowing. I’m anxious to take Alex out and see what she thinks of it. It is supposed to snow on and off through tomorrow. Hopefully she will like it because I want to do a couple of errands this morning before it gets too yicky out there.

It is raining so hard right now! If it doesn’t lighten up by 9am I’m not going to take Alex to music class today - we will get soaked. It isn’t just the hard rain that is the problem - it is also really windy and whenever the weather is like this public transportation is all messed up. I’m hoping, however, that is stops raining so hard and that we can go.

Alexandra and I got back from Vermont late last Wednesday night. And after we returned the weather was SO hot so we didn’t really go anywhere - we just stayed in and played and watched Teletubbies (Alex really likes this show - I guess there is something about it that babies really like). On Friday morning around 11am Alex was playing in the living room and I was working on the computer. I turned around and Alex was passed out on the floor with baby doll as a pillow. I scooped her up and put her in bed and she slept for 3 hours. I think she was still worn out from the trip and recuperating. Alex, however, NEVER falls asleep anywhere except in her crib and sometimes in the car seat so I was shocked.

Since we returned I have also noticed that Alex has become a lot more independent. She will wander off and play in a different room by herself, play with her toys alone, and she doesn’t cry when I walk out of a room. She’s become a lot easier and a lot more fun.

I haven’t been updating this site very much lately … I haven’t been inspired … I think the non-stop humid weather and torrential downpours are really starting to get to me. Everytime that we get a storm I hope the humidity will break but instead the sun comes out and it is more humid than it was before the storm. Anyway …