Dad Flys Solo for the Evening

Mom got a well deserved night out with friends tonight. So, while she went out for dinner and a movie, I relished in the opportunity to watch Alex for the night---and I only had to call Nikki once with a question!

Here are some videos of the evening's activities:


Pushing and walking behind her cart.




Reading Where Is Baby's Belly Button?, and flipping up the tabs.




Reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and turning pages.




Expressing her appreciation for Thor the cat.




Taking a bath (even Thor checks this one out).




Saying good night to Garfield, a nightly routine that signifies bed time.




Reading Goodnight Moon, another nightly tradition.



Tomorrow night, Nikki will return the favor to me when I go to watch the Twins play the Rays. But she's unlikely to blog about it as if she had invented parenting (like I just did)...

Baby Alex At Ten Months Old

Alexis turned ten months old today. She is talking a lot, mainly baby babbles, but she likes to say "mamama" a lot and words that sound like "dadad." She loves to stand up and walk along coffee tables, chairs, walls, book shelves, mom's and dad's legs, whatever's handy. She also loves to have us read to her. Her favorite books at the moment are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, I'll Find You Kitty, Whose Tail Peter Rabbit, and That's Not My Polar Bear.

She has also been expanding her palate lately. You probably read about her love of Cheerios. She gets a real kick out of feeding herself. She's recently introduced beets and Dal to her palate.

So how to she spend her ten month birthday? She took a dip in the pool. She loves baths and has been in the inflatable kiddie pool a couple of times. She loves to splash and pour water out of containers and place tub toys in the containers and take them out. It's all very complicated, but she's got a system she is working on. We're hoping to take her to the YWCA's pool this weekend and introduce her to her first real pool.

Enjoy this short video of Alex splashing and giggling in the pool.

Attention General Mills Casting Agents

4 June 2010

1 General Mills Boulevard
Minneapolis, MN 55426

Dear General Mills:

Allow me the opportunity to introduce you to your next Cheerios spokesmodel, Alexis Mahon. As you can see from this thirty second audition shoot and promotional head shot, the future of Cheerios, and the entire General Mills corporate family, is here. The cutest baby in the world is a big fan of your signature product and she is available to promote it to the consumer public.

But she does not come cheap. The specifics of her contract demands will be forwarded in future correspondence, but generally she requires one cat on the set at all times, lots of mirrors to admire herself in, and a significant contribution to her college fund and her parents' retirement fund.

Act now. She is in the midst of preliminary discussions with Kellogg's and Gerber Foods and is only interested in an exclusive business relationship. Please view the audition tape and promotional photo. We are open to discussion on the direction of any advertising campaign, but insist on veto power with any creative decisions.

We look forward to hearing from you and to a long and successful partnership.

Best wishes,

Daddy
Agent

Nine Month Update

As has become the tradition of this blog, this one month update is coming a few weeks late. On May 18, Alexis had her nine month wellness checkup with her pediatrician, Doctor Dietz. Everything checked out great. She seems to have stopped her rapid growth. At her six month checkup she was in the 75th percentile for both height and weight. At her nine month checkup she was still in the 75th percentile for height, but in only the 50th for her weight. There's no reason for concern, but we've started to feed her even more solid food at her twice a day solid food meals. She currently has two solid food meals and nurses with mom a couple of times a day and has three bottles at day care. One of the bottles is pumped breast milk, and the other two are formula.

Here's her measurements from her May 18 appointment and here's her measurements from her August 17 birth date:

• Weight: 18lbs 10.5oz
• Height/Length: 28 inches
• Head circumference: 17.52 inches
  

Baby On the Go

Alex has been crawling for a few weeks now and she is extremely mobile. She is all over the place, pulling herself up on chairs and tables, and crawling after the cats, especially Thor. She is even walking---sort of. Grandma Lael bought her a nifty wooden cart that she can support herself with and walk across the room. She is extremely proud of herself, as the video evidence proves it. Here's a couple of short videos with her and the walker and some photos of her moving around the house.