Rubber Duckie

A brief history of Alstan's bath time.

Big Boy Bath

Alstan's first bath in the full tub. He didn't know what to do at first, but then realized he could splash just like normal.

New Shoes

Here's a video montage of Alstan with his new shoes. He was really excited to have on shoes and spent more time trying to run with them on. They are little New Balance shoes with Cookie Monster on them.

The Beanbag

Here is Alstan flopping into the beanbag. I know there are videos of it already, but it's cute in pictures too.

Dad's Shoes

Alstan loves dragging shoes around when he's walking or crawling. Right now, these pair of brown ones seem to be his favorite.

The Knot Hole

Alstan has fallen in love with one particular knot hole in the kitchen. In the little hallway between the steps and kitchen cupboards there is a knot hole that he stops at every time he passes by. He feels the need to lay down and lick it. Usually after stopping for a few seconds, he moves on to where ever he was going. It's kind of hard to see, but in the second picture he is laying down licking the knot whole.

Newspapers

Mom caught Alstan digging into Grandpa's paper pile. It sure looks like he's going to be a reader (he must get that from his dad).

Grandma and Grandpa Zielicke's

Here are a couple of pictures of Alstan playing at Grandma and Grandpa Zielicke's house over the weekend.

Amie's Purse

Amie wanted a photo with the purse she made, so I figured I'd just put it on the blog. It's not the best photo so we'll have to try another one later. He's been running a fever the last two days and we're not sure if he's teething or sick. Either way, he wasn't in the mood for lots of pictures.

Bean Bag Game

This is a fun little game that we play where we fall in the bean bag. In the last day or so he's even walked a little bit to get there. This will be the last video for a while as we're sending the video camera in to get fixed. The microphone is horrible!

If you need a fix of Alstan videos while the camera is out, remember you can go to youtube.com and search Alstan to find the videos on this site.

Hanging With Mom

Here are a couple of pictures with Mom. Jessie and I need to work on having more variety with the cameras. I'm always in still pictures because she uses the digital camera and she's always in the videos because I use the video camera. Of course, I'm sure Jessie isn't too happy that the time I picked up the digital camera was shortly after she worked out. Oops.

Blog Stuff and More Videos

Blog Updates: First, I think I had comments disabled, but they should be up and running again. So I want to see some comments from Aunties! Also, at the left I set up a subscribe by e-mail option. That way people can type in their e-mail address and get all blog updates via e-mail and never have to check the site! To subscribe via e-mail just type your e-mail in the link and then you'll get an e-mail from feedburner.com that you need to confirm.

The videos are from this evening. The first is another attempt at walking. Right before I got the video camera ready to record he took 6 or 7 steps. The second video is typical Alstan at 10 months: Walking/running around while holding Mom's hand, making all kinds of noise, and trying to grab whatever Mom and Dad are holding on to.

Videos, Videos, Videos

The first three videos are from this weekend. Alstan and I were in the basement playing around. This is the best video of him walking/standing so far, but the audio is horrible. It seems like the cheap video camera we got already has the sound going out. Whenever we try to record Alstan walking he decides he doesn't want to do that anymore.

Walking

Alstan still isn't walking on his own, but he loves to grab your hand (he always uses the left) and run around. Often times in circles. Grandma Van told me a story about how my Uncle John didn't learn to walk... he learned to run. I'm starting to wonder if Alstan won't do the same thing. He grabs a hand and takes off as fast as he can.

The Vacuum

Now that we (by we I mean Jessie - she still cleans more than me) are getting back in the routine of cleaning the house, Alstan has been really interested in helping. He wants to go after the vacuum and the broom whenever he can. We also have a new gate for the steps and he has decided that he likes to try to climb it. I was going to take a picture of him scaling it, but decided I should pull him down instead!

Cool Scarf

Here's Alstan sporting his mom's scarf. He loves to grab everything now and carry it around with him if he can. I helped him put it around his neck though.

Playing Again

Last week was kind of a rough week as the whole family came down sick. Alstan ended up having a temperature over 104 degrees. His fever finally broke Thursday night though and he's back moving around all the time.

Spaghetti

Here is Alstan eating spaghetti. He's just starting to get into eating more foods that Mom and Dad eat. He is always sharing Mom's yogurt with her and also likes to eat apples. So far there hasn't been much that he doesn't like. He really likes to feed himself too.

Still Bouncing

Here are some pictures of Alstan in his jumper. He still enjoys bouncing and it's the best way to get him to sleep when he's fighting sleep. He's also got on his new Michigan jumper.

He turned 10 months last week too. After walking on Christmas eve he took a week long break from it (mostly he'd just stand and fall toward somebody), but he's back at trying walking again. He gets a few steps at a time before falling again.

The Tunnel

Here's a few pictures of Alstan in his tunnel for one of the last times. He's just getting too big to fit inside it. Another thing to throw in storage.

Stair Climbing

Here's Alstan climbing the stairs and shouting the name of his favorite person:)

Remember you can also see the growing collection of Alstan videos by going to YouTube and searching Alstan.

Using a Spoon

Here's Alstan using a spoon (and bowl) to eat. He hasn't quite perfected it yet, but he did a really good job in this video.

Sorry about the audio, I'm not sure why it's fuzzy sounding. Hopefully our cheap video camera isn't going bad already.

Superman

At Panchero's restaurant Alstan decided to flip his bib around backwards and look like Superman.

After walking on New Year's Eve he hasn't done too much walking lately. Lots of standing and then lunging or he'll just crawl to what he wants. I'm sure he'll be back at soon enough though.

Curious Alstan

Alstan digging through Mom's purse again. He loves to investigate everything except for his toys it seems like.

Christmas Slide Show

Here's a compilation of photos of the Christmas season. I don't have the music playing automatically this time, but there is music if you push the sound icon in the top left corner. Also, you can look at the pictures by themselves or download larger ones by clicking on View All Images. I have no idea what that Adopt a Pet button is. Part of using free stuff online I guess.

First Steps

On Thursday, December 31st, 2009 Alstan took his first steps. He actually did it a few times on that day too. It started in the morning when he took a few steps to get to Mom. Throughout the day he spent lots of time standing on his own and falling toward things. Then at around seven at night he took about three steps, changed directions, turned looked back at Mom and Dad, and took one or two more steps before falling down. What an exciting way to close out 2009!

Hopefully we'll be able to get some pictures and/or videos of him walking and standing on his own to put up soon.

My Mouse

Alstan used to love the remote control on the TV more than anything, but I think his new love is my computer mouse. He will literally hang from the desk trying to pull himself up. Plus, once he turns it over its got a bright red light that he can play with.