 January 2021 We don't get much snow here in Sahuarita, Arizona. This might be Alex's first snow experience! |
Alex in snow (36 seconds) |
 The Hubelino marble runs are pricey, but awesome. (Alex was fascinated by dropping marbles in Gravity Maze; these marble runs are more age-appropriate.) |
February 2021 (20 secs) An iPad! (Besides being fun for Alex, it gives a new testing platform for my website). The Bimi Boo apps are very good. |
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February 2021 (14 secs) Singing ‘Wheels on the bus’ (at the end, she's saying ‘all through Halloween’) |
 February 2021 Valentine's Day crafts! |
 February 2021 ‘Alex is helping’ cooky monster! After helping Grandma, Alex gets to feed it cookies! |
March 2021 (28 secs) ‘The boom truck goes Vroom Vroom Vroom... The kids on the bus go Hi Hi Hi... all through the town.’ (My father-in-law has accumulated lots of stuff over many decades. We're gradually getting it cleaned up.) |
 March 2021 Nap time has never been easy at Grandma's house. (I think we just have waaaayyyy too much fun here!) The outside hammock helps ... so we got an inside hammock, too! |
 March 2021 Alex is fascinated with motors, and Ray (Grandpa) can teach her lots! |
 May 2021 (about 2 yrs 5 months) Who ever knew that a pair of pants could make such a good rocket ship!? |
May 2021 (12 secs) Learning to crack an egg! Julia says: ‘That was maybe not the one to catch on film!’ But she picked out most of the shells herself! |
First-ever haircut! (Starting to emerge from the COVID pandemic!) |
 May 2021 Fixing sticky keys on the old piano with Grandpa Ray. (Great beard, Ray!) In August 2021 we got a new Yamaha digital piano, so no more key frustrations. |
 June 2021 Grandma Carol went to Hawaii with Alex, Julia and Tony! |
 June 2021 A princess in Hawaii! |
 July 2021 Planting the vegetable garden at Pebble |
 September 2021 Our ‘hanging pumpkin’— the garden a couple months later! |
September 2021 (23 secs) Alex is about 2 years 10 months here. Scissor skills are coming along great! |
 September 2021 Important life skills with Ray. You never know when you'll need to change a tire on a massive compressor! Alex hand-tightened a bolt, and also used a wrench. |
 October 2021 Making oobleck! (1.5 cups cornstarch, 1 cup water, food color) It can be both a liquid and a solid (with pressure applied) at room temperature. (Don't throw it down the drain—it can cause a clog. Just put it in the trash or compost.) |
 October 2021 Cleaning out the home-grown pumpkin... |
 October 2021 ... and the finished Jack-O-Lantern (Alex chose the face— she decided she wanted a scary one!) |
 October 2021 She's saying: Aargh!! Usually, toilet paper is an opportunity for a discussion about not being wasteful... But—for a Halloween treat—I said we could use an entire roll to wrap her up like a mummy! (We didn't actually use the whole roll...) |
 October 2021 Making ‘buckets of worms’ from the Klutz Candy Book. We used small bathroom cups covered in aluminum foil; holes punched in sides and pipe cleaners for handles. Crushed chocolate cookies for dirt: a mixture of Oreos (filling removed) and a lighter-brown chocolate biscuit. There are ‘tiny worms’ (gummies) mixed into the dirt, and big ones crawling on top. Such fun! |
 Halloween, October 2021 Wonder Woman Alex (for daycare dress-up day) |
 Halloween, October 2021 Bonnie Shafto From Nursery Rhymes to Empower Young Feminists, What are Little Girls Made of? Bonnie Shafto's gone to sea, silver cutlass on her knee, fighting pirates, one, two, three. Ahoy there, Bonnie Shafto! Bonnie Shafto's brave and bold, though the waves are icy cold, and she's only six [actually, two!] years old. Yo-ho, Bonnie Shafto! |
 November 2021 First McDonald's Happy Meal! (She chose a burger.) First picnic on the upper deck of our play structure! This was extra special because Alex's Aunt Eris was visiting from Massachusetts. |
 Fall 2021 This is Alex's super cute potty chair at Pebble! Grandma Carol got it (she thinks) from the ‘Sharing Room’ at the Monterey dump when she was living in Massachusetts. We were lucky—when Alex decided that diapers were passé we got both days and nights at roughly the same time. |
