good times with Grammy

Alex has the best Grammy, who was willing to use her three day weekend to drive all the way to Dallas and watch him while Tim and I went out for Valentine's Day. This meant we could nix our original plan of leaving him at home with Murphy, a movie, and a giant bowl of Goldfish crackers, and instead, do what some people would consider more "responsible" or "legal".

Grammy got here Friday evening, so Alex got a nice surprise when she came to get him in the morning. We spent a lazy morning around the house, and Alex opened the V-Day gifts that Grammy brought him, including a fun card that makes kissy noises, a tennis ball and rackets, and a bowling set. He subsequently made out with the card, smacked the rackets together until my head hurt, and kept knocking the bowling pins over before Grammy could get them all set up. Needless to say, he LOVED his new toys and kept opening and closing the card, cracking up every time it kissed at him.

We had planned on making an IKEA run to get Alex a "big boy bed" while Grammy was here so that she could run interference while Tim and I put it together, so that was next on our agenda that day. We had decided that it's time to retire Alex's crib for two main reasons, the first being that he has pretty much outgrown his pack 'n' play, meaning his head and feet almost touch the ends when he lies in it. And considering his propensity to turn cartwheels in his sleep, I was feeling guilty about making him sleep in it when we travel. So we figured we would get him acclimated to a bed so he can sleep in a bed or on a pallet when we go somewhere.

The second reason is that the child can be a bit of a wildebeast regarding how he treats his things, and his crib has recently become his latest victim. He likes to hang on the rails and jump up and down and yank back and forth, not to mention the abuse he inflicts in his sleep. On many occasions, I have heard him kicking his crib slats over and over and over, and I just hope and pray that he is dreaming of being the next David Beckham and not the next cage fighting star. I was not very confident about the stability of the crib to begin with because the drop-down mechanism on the front rail has given us some problems in the past, and if we were planning on recycling this crib for Baby Evans #2, it would be nice if Alex hasn't completely destroyed it.

Anyway, we found him a new bed at IKEA and planned on putting it together on Sunday morning so he could nap in it that afternoon, so Saturday was his last night in his crib. Ever. SNIFF! Here are some pics of him enjoying his last few minutes of babyhood.

Timothy and I ended up having a nice dinner at a little Italian place, and while a late movie was also part of our official V-Day plans, we were both so tired and stuffed with pasta (and antipasto and salad and soup and bread and tiramisu) that we decided to rain check the movie and went home and crashed instead. We ended up seeing Slumdog Millionaire (excellent film, I highly recommend it) on Sunday night since Grammy was driving home on Monday, so we got to have two date nights instead of one. We had a fab time, as did A with his Grammy. I think she might have enjoyed it a little, too.

We did put Alex's bed together on Sunday morning, and he napped in it that afternoon with no problems whatsoever. As for that night...well, more on that later.