Ink

I'm pretty sure John was the only male, perhaps the only HUMAN in the greater Portland area without a tattoo.  Until today:

He's been talking about getting a tattoo for years.  Back when we were still living in Utah even.  A couple of months ago, just as Alex was starting school, John had him write his name on a piece of paper intending to have that tattooed on his arm.  And it sat on our desk until this afternoon when he took it into a tattoo shop and had it permanently inked on his arm.  When Max turns five, he plans to have his name put on his left
 arm in Max's handwriting.

(the blue line around it is just from the transfer paper, it will wash off.  The ALEX won't)

I LOVE this.  I love it so much!  My own dad had my name tattooed on his shoulder and it always made me feel happy and special to see it there.  John has gone a step further by having Alex actually design the tattoo.  It isn't just the word 'ALEX', it's a snapshot of this time, when Alex just started writing, started school and made the transition from baby to boy.  I love it so much I'm tempted to do something similar myself!

Smaller

We started using our fireplace this fall, after 2 years living in this apartment, cursing the fireplace and it's uselessness and bemoaning the huge chunk of space it takes up in our tiny living room, and one day I looked at it and thought, huh, maybe we should USE it.  Even though we've always had a fireplace, we haven't used one since Alex was a tiny baby (when I nearly burned the house down).  We had 2 beautiful fireplaces in our old house and never used either one.

We didn't even bother bringing a fireplace screen or tools with us when we moved here, even though we had 2 sets, I don't know if we just didn't remember we had a fireplace or what, but we had to re-buy them a couple of weeks ago.  I'm kinda glad though, the screen we ended up with is very pretty and very sturdy and opens up in the front so we can get into the fireplace without having to move the whole thing.  I LOVE it and the best part was we picked it up at the Goodwill along with a set of fireplace tools for a fraction of what they would have cost new!

A nice warm fire crackling in the fireplace gives our apartment a much cozier feel nd makes me ridiculously happy.  Until recently I've treated this apartment as our temporary housing until we could move into a bigger place, but lately we've finally been settling in and feeling more and more at home here. It's strange that it took me two full years to feel like this apartment was home, I suppose selling the Utah house (2 years and 17 days after we left it) had a lot to do with it. It aso took that long to get used to living smaller.  Moving from 3000 sqft to 1000 sqft meant we had to give up a lot of our stuff and utilize every square inch of our apartment. We live in every inch of our home, no corner is wasted.  The old house had tons of space we didn't use, whole empty closets and rooms we never went in.  What a waste.

Also helping to increase the liveability of our home we got rid of our huge corner couch and replaced it with a small sofa (with hideabed - instant guest room!), chair and ottoman (another Goodwill find, $60 for both sofa and chair! The ottoman we bought new for $50).

We rented a tiny little storage unit and were able to clear out a lot of stuff we don't need easy access to and that freed up some space in both of our closets allowing me to put the boy's dressers in their closet giving them more space for toys and playing.  

Going through our closets also prompted us to get rid of more stuff we dragged up here and didn't need.  I thought we did a great job of purging uneeded/unnecessary stuff when we left Utah, but we'd still been holding on to so much stuff we'll never need or use again. When space is at a premium, suddenly all that stuff is less valuable than the space it can free up.

We're not just downsizing our living space though, when we moved here we only had the one car, the Dilliermobile, our beloved minivan.  But a few months after we moved I had to get a job and with both of us working, one car wasn't cutting it, so we bought a used VW Jetta.  Well I'm not working anymore and it turns out we can get around just fine in the little Jetta and don't need all the space in the minivan, so the Dilliermobile is probably going to go too.

Smaller.  Everything is getting smaller, closer, tighter, more manageable. Learning how to give up conveinience, cool new stuff, getting less, spending less, having less, doing less even.  We may have been forced into this small and frugal life, but the longer we live this way, the more I like it. The more I realize how the things I do have are wonderful.  The more I appreciate every little thing I have.  Two years ago a fire in the fireplace wouldn't have given me nearly the amount of joy it does today. 

Human cloning

I ask John if it weirds him out at all to look at Max and see a 3 year old version of himself. 

He says "I don't see it. I don't think he looks much like me"

...Are you BLIND????

This kid couldn't be more Dillier!  It's as if John simply cloned himself, my DNA was tossed aside.

School Boy

That boy right there, yeah he's my son. My six year old Kindergartener.

What a handsome little boy we have.  Or, "medium boy" as Alex likes to refer to himself because Max is a "little boy" and Dad is a "big boy".

He's not just a pretty face either, he's smart and talented.  Our first parent / teacher conference was yesterday and we met with his teacher about how he's doing so far in school.  He's doing fantastic actually.  He started school with a good understanding of the alphabet (sounds and letter recognition), some writing, and reading skills, numbers and math and he's been able to expand on that with leaps and bounds in the few weeks he's been in school.  He loves doing the work, he loves his teacher, and the other students, school has been a very positive experience for him so far. 

The teacher commented that he is very good with scissors and coloring, which is to be expected because he's been an avid cutter and colorer for years now.  She says he's the best in the class and one of his cutting projects (circles) was nearly as good as her example project.  Naturally we're bragging about it every chance we get :)

She said that when she asked him who his friends were, he said Addie and Robert.  Addie is a little girl, and Alex has always been quite the ladies man, so I was not surprised.  Robert is a little boy with Downs Syndrome in his class.  His teacher said that when kids like Alex are kind and friendly to Robert, it helps him to adjust and makes school a better experience.  Alex talks about Robert a lot, says he doesn't or can't talk, has trouble writing etc.  I am proud that Alex has been able to befriend someone different from himself.  He notices the differences between them but rather than be afraid of them he has chosen to focus on the fact that they are both little boys and they are both 6 years old and they are both in Kindergarten and they both like cars.  I know this is easier for little kids, and as he gets older it might be harder to see past differences in his peers.  For now though, people are just people, everyone is different and the same and everyone is worthy of kindness.  I hope he will continue to think this way...forever.

Starting school has proven to be just as exciting as when he was a baby.  New experiences almost every day, new milestones and so many things to look forward to.  In fact, this age might even be funner than when he was a baby because back then only John and I got to keep the memories.  His first smile, his first words, his first steps, his first poop on Daddy...  Now he's making memories for himself too. 

Happy (Late) Birthday Alex!

 
 
Alex turned six on September 25th, but Typepad and IE were not getting along and I was having trouble posting about it.  They seem to be on a truce right now, so I can FINALLY wish my first boy an offical Blog Happy Birthday.  Since this blog is basically his baby book, it must be done.

 

 Alex started begging for a birthday party in the Spring, he didn't get a birthday party when he turned 5 because we didn't really know many people here yet and with John and I both working it just seemed impossible to plan a party on a day when both John and I would be home.  But this year Alex has made a lot of new friends and had been invited to a lot of parties and there was just no way we were going to avoid it, kid wanted (and deserved) a birthday bash.

He immediately decided he had to have a Hot Wheels theme, but the artist in him didn't want to buy Hot Wheels stuff, he wanted to make it himself.  So he set about designing his invitation, and with some help from me, we came up with this:

 

We held his party at a local pizza parlor that has a big play area inside, we invited all of his local friends (he was very quick to correct me when I told him we invited all of his friends because Lily, Kennan and Caden were in Utah and couldn't come) and almost all of them showed up! We had about 16 kids and an equal number of parents and took over the restaurant. 

It was great and laid back.  The kids played their hearts out in the play area while the parents hung out and watched them through the big windows. We had pizza and sodas and juice boxes for the kids (ignoring the restaurant policy to not bring outside food).

 

I'd made cupcakes for everyone with the number 6 and terribly drawn cars out of icing, but at the last minute that morning Alex decided he REALLY needed a Hot Wheels cake, so with my left over batter I made him a wee little cake:

 

 

 

 

 

Then there were the presents.  He made out like a bandit.  So many cool toys and art supplies!  He loved each and every one of this gifts, and many of the presents have been unexpected fun for the whole family.

 

According to Alex, the most important part of any party is the goodie bags.  Sadly I forgot to take pictures of the ones we handed out, but Alex meticulously picked out the stuff to put inside and we found some really cool goodie boxes at a party store that looked like tool boxes with Hot Wheels cars on them.

Alex was thrilled with the party, it was exactly what he wanted, lots of friends, lots of cake, lots of pepperoni pizza, lots of playing, lots of presents and really cool goodie bags.

I love you my Alex Boy, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!