Way to Go Mike!!!!!

Congratulations to NASCAR driver Tony Stewart AND HIS FABULOUS PIT CREW for winning last night's All Star Challenge. Sean's nephew Mike Casto is the jack man for Stewart and the number 14 car. We are so proud of Mike!!! Here are a few pictures of Mike from Thursday night's pit crew challenge. The Old Spice/Office Depot crew made it to the semi-finals and Mike was the second fastest jack man in the entire competition!!!!!!

Hey Mike!!!! Alex likes tires too!!!! Do you think you could teach him a thing or two?

Spring Update

I can't believe what a slack mom I am. Here it is almost Alex's second birthday and it's been MONTHS since I've posted an update. Alex has been a busy growing boy. He can't wait for warm sunny days to go play at the park. He has also adjusted nicely to playing with "kids" at the gym daycare a few days a week. Winter break was spent in WV where it finally snowed!!!! Spring break it was back to WV where he and cousin Elizabeth had fun playing on the farm. Alex likes to feed chickens, help Granddad in the garden, and feed Uncle Charlie's horses. We got to go see the Mets play this spring with my school in the new Citi Field. He cheers "Go Mets!" and he has a Mets shopping bag that he puts his toys in and walks to the door and says "Mets!" as if he's leaving the apartment to go to the game. His Aunt Sonnie cut off his curls for us in February. Then he had his first "Big Boy" haircut this week at the barber shop around the corner where Sean goes. He cried at first but by the time they finished he was OK, except for the hairy lollipop he was trying to eat.

We are lucky to have a smart boy. He says well over 100 words (that doesn't count the 10+ animal sounds he makes). He can identify the letters in his name and mostly can tell you the correct order to put them in. He knows the letters in Mom, Dad, and Elmo too. He can identify the colors blue, green, and yellow. I think he knows red too, but refuses to say the word.

Aunt Jennie is busy planning his 2-Year Birthday party at his Aunt Jane's next weekend. We think he will like the Sesame Street theme!!!!

Summer will be here soon. We are excited to get a lot of time to spend with our family in WV!!!

Happy New Year!!

We are getting settled back into life in NYC after the new year. We all loved watching the inauguration of President Obama. How sweet that sounds!!! Speaking of sweet, Cousin Elizabeth has turned three years old. The most amazing invitation for her Candy Land themed birthday party arrived in the mail. As you can see from above, Alex really enjoyed the giant lollipop that was attached to the invite.

Sean and I made a list of all the "words" Alex says now.....well, OK a lot of them need mom and dad near by to translate, but he is talking more each day. Here's a list of what he says:
Bye-bye, hi, Dad, up, down, ball, bite (he's been saying these for a few months), toes, bath, kick, beep, sit, oops, boo-boo, open, duck, bunny, George (for his Curious George), blanket, book, balloon, hat, help, thanks, tree, eewww (for yucky things on his hands or high chair tray), spoon, bowl, apple, bread, egg, cheese, pizza, bomb (for playing "pillow bomb"), tent (played in mom and dad's bed with the sheets), Jane (for his Aunt Jane), ho-ho (for Santa), doh! (for Homer Simpson), and occasionally he will say mom. He also says and sings "A-B-B" when he sees letters or words (they are all A-B-B to him).

He also makes a variety of animal sounds: chicken (a silent bock-bock), dog/puppy (pants with tongue out), cat/kitty (beow), horse, cow (mmmmm), sheep (a-a-a-a), pig (grunts), baby chickens (peep), rooster (a high-pitched hum while throwing his head back), bear (grrrrr with his "paws" up), beaver (smacks teeth), elephant (uses arm for his trunk). We're working on a monkey (ooo-ooo while scratching his sides) and an owl (whooo-whooo). He also makes the "kssss" sound for Spiderman and will signal touchdown when we say it or he sees football on TV.

In addition he can identify his head, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, ears, fingers, belly, penis, knees, and toes by pointing to them when asked. He also recognizes the flying WV and loves it when I sing "Hail West Virginia." He even knows when to pump his fist in the air for the "Rah! Rah!" part and again at the end for "Let's Gooo! Mountaineers!!!!"

Yes, sadly I've become one of those mothers obsessed with everything her son does and thinks he must be the cutest and smartest kid ever born. Leave me alone; I have no life!!!!!!

Santa Love!!

We took Alex to see Santa on Saturday at one of our favorite shops in the neighborhood, April Glass. He was fine with Santa as long as he was standing beside him....waved, made animal noises, and even went "Ho!" (Alex only says one or two "Ho!!"s....we can't get him to do three.) However he was less than pleased when we placed him on Santa's lap. He didn't cry. He just dropped his brows (oooooh he is my child with that look!!!) and looked rather annoyed with Sean and me for not immediately taking him. All was well once we were done with pictures and he was off jolly old St. Nick's lap. He even blew him kisses when we were leaving.

Season's Greetings

Time flies by. It seems like just yesterday I was walking down the street with my little Spiderman on Halloween. And just last weekend we were picking out our Christmas tree. Under two weeks to go until Santa arrives and I still have a lot of shopping to do!!!

Our niece Marla came to visit us in NYC with her two kids Shana and Mason. It was the coldest weather we've had yet this year, but we still did our best to show them around Manhattan. Shana stayed a few extra days so she and I got to see the Rockettes at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Her uncle Sean took her and Alex to the Statue of Liberty.

Then it was a whirlwind trip home to WV for the Thanksgiving weekend. We were busy traveling from Burnsville, to Webster Springs, to Sutton. Alex and his cousin Elizabeth are sure cute together...Aunt Jennie had bought them matching M & Ms shirts. (You can't have just one M was her excuse to buy a shirt for Alex too.)

We are all sad to see Patrick White's career with WVU coming to a close. We watched his final game at Mountaineer Field and wished we were there in the snow and cold to see it in person. We still haven't decided whether or not we'll be making the trip to Charlotte for the bowl game.

Alex helped Sean pick out our Christmas tree. We just got a small one that we could put up on an end table.....mostly out of Alex's reach. It's decorated with all our NON-breakable ornaments. Alex seems to be enjoying the lights. Santa is going to be at one of our favorite neighborhood stores "April Glass" this weekend. We're taking Alex and hoping to get a good picture.

Happy Halloween!!

The Wine family has been enjoying the autumn weather and all the festivities that go along with fall. Alex was a super cute Spiderman for Halloween. Cousin Elizabeth played along with the super hero theme and was Wonder Woman. They sure made a cute couple!! We thought it was appropriate that Alex be Spiderman since our street in NYC is the street where the opening scene to the first Spiderman movie was filmed....where Peter Parker is chasing the school bus up the street....that's our street. We celebrated in Burnsville with our families last weekend. Then on Halloween itself, Spiderman came to see me at PS/MS 194. We walked around the neighborhood too see the other kids, but didn't go trick-or-treating. Since Alex is too little to eat candy I would have felt like I was begging other grown-ups for a handout of free candy. We're not that poor yet!!!

Last weekend we had an excellent time in WV!! We loved visiting with all our family. We spent all day with the Wines making apple butter the old fashioned way. Everyone took turns stirring the big pot over an open fire....even Alex and Elizabeth. It was quite a scene watching the hustle and bustle as the apple butter came off the fire and everyone pitched in to pour and can it. What a great experience it was. We also had a lot of fun helping our great-nephew Mason celebrate his birthday. Family fun!!!!!!!!!!

The Mountaineers seem to be playing much better. That makes us a much happier house on the weekends!!

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE THIS WEEK!!!!!!

Hanging Around the House

We haven't been doing much. Just hangin' around the house being amused by Alex. I know that all kids play with regular house-hold objects and that all parents think the things their kid does is something special. But I swear, we just sit around and laugh at him all the time. He has spend hours playing in his Pampers box. And we love it when he puts on his "helmet" (a clear tupperwear bowl) to play who we call "Space Captain Stinky!" Sean and I are easily entertained by everything Alex does. He has really started to take an interest in his books lately. He will bring them to us to read to him or simply sit and look through them by himself. He loves selecting his bedtime story books for me to read.

We took him to the doctor for his checkup. He is now 33 inches tall and weighs 28 pounds 4 ounces putting him at the 88th percentile for his age. He is a big boy.

Today was a wonderful fall day perfect weather. After we watched the Mountaineers hold on to beat Rutgers we went to the park. Alex played on the swing and the slide...his favorites. The Red Sox are 2-0 in post season play. We are watching election news closely and pulling hard for Obama. So far it's a good fall. We miss all of our family back home in WV and can't wait until we get to see them at the end of the month!!!