Addendum

In the proccess of writing that completely not in-a-nutshell kid update yesterday, I totally forgot to mention a few of the biggest things I wanted to tell you about Alex.

1)  He's doing pat-a-cake!  He claps enthusiastically, he's started rolling his hands at just the right point, and does the cutest little high-pitched sigh, just like the way we always say, "and throw! it in the oven", while he throws his hands up in the air.  He anticipates the "throw it" part, so I can really see his memory working.  And he also initiates the game by doing any one of those things, getting you to play along.  He loves it, and it's so cute!

2)  He's getting so crazy tall!  He's figured out he can tip-toe while holding onto cupboards, desks, and bookcases... and oh boy, the trouble he's starting to get into!  He can reach the tops of our computer desks, and often pulls things down if they're too close to the edge.  And he just loves to terrorize daddy by fingering keyboard keys while Jesse's using the keyboard.  Oh, and of course, he loves to steal the computer mice, with their bright red laser sensors. And last night, he was working SO HARD to try and reach a half-eaten apple that someone had left on the dining room table.  He could reach it with his fingertips, but only managed to push it away further!

3)  He figures things out much too easily!  Yesterday he kept coming in the kitchen while I was trying to cook, and headed straight for the open dishwasher.  I closed it up, but he still went on over, pulled up to stand next to it at the counter, and then proceeded to wedge his fingers against the corners of it until he opened it and could grab at the silverware.  And while I was trying to pay the bills, I would only have my eyes off of him for about one minute, when he would crawl all the way from the front room, down the hall, through the entire length of my bedroom, through the bathroom door, and into the other bathroom so he could stand at the tub.  Fantasizing about splashing in warm water, I'm sure.  And he did this not once, but twice.  He just knows his way around the house, and can get anywhere he wants to go - and quickly!  And this morning, at the end of music class, Melinda put away an instrument that Alex had been completely absorbed in.  Alex wasted no time in crawling across the room, kneeling at the box, taking the lid off (it wasn't closed tightly, but still...), and then finding the instrument and playing with it again.

Growing so fast.  What's a poor mother to do?