Party Fun

Over the weekend we went back to our old complex for Ben's friend Aiden's birthday party. It was nice to be back and see some old friends. Ben didn't seem to care much because he was pretty fixated on his fancy balloon sword.

All the kids lined up to play pin the belt on the kung-fu panda...

...and I'll tell you who didn't win. That's Ben behind the ladies talking, a good 5 feet away from the goal. Better luck next year!

Mama and my boys!

Alex had a great time cruising up and down the railing and watching the kids in the pool. We all took a swim a bit later to cool off.

He's a busy kid these days. His favorite activity by far is eating and it consumes many of his waking hours. Now if he's not crawling or climbing on something he wants to investigate other things. I let him pick up the check for our lunch on Sunday.

Ben loves his new school and I love that it's so close! We're there in 5 minutes and that includes a few stops to pick flowers and look inside other people's gates. And I think Ben is extra cute in his little uniform every day.

I've been having trouble with our photo printer. I think I've narrowed the problem down to two suspects but I only caught one on film.

The beloved walker is no longer useful in the house because there is very little safe, flat space for Alex to roll on so instead he's trying out the baby car. Not sure it's a big hit yet by looking at that face. He's becoming more expressive all the time.

This picture pretty much sums up our days. Ben finds something interesting. Alex also thinks it's interesting. Alex crawls over to it and touches it. Ben freaks out. Alex gets upset. Ben gets upset. Mama steps in and restores calm for 1.5 seconds. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat...
I know it's just a phase, like everything else. Ben has never had to share so much in his life, although he's always been really good about other kids coming over and playing with his toys. I think it's constantly having to share with the same little brother that is wearing him down. And Alex has never known anything besides fighting for what he wants so he's probably had enough of Ben waltzing past and swiping his toys so he's doing something about it! They do have enough moments of laughing at something silly or imitating one another to reassure me that they can truly enjoy one another's company.