June 2020

As you'll see in the photo album for June linked here, we have continued to enjoy a variety of outings to parks and such this month as usual. In addition to some of our usual spots, we discovered a farm nearby that also served food. We ordered pizza, and took a self-guided tour after so Alex could see some real tractors (and an old farm truck).

At peak summer temperatures and humidity, Alex is a bit less energetic outside and a bit more energetic inside the apartment which thankfully has central air. Letters, numbers and shapes seem to be his jam lately, although he hasn't forgotten about tractors. Occasionally, he will begin singing parts of the ABC song or counting on his own, so clearly those things are running through his head. He is still very particular about his diet. Some of the regular things he eats are sandwiches (usually tuna, peanut butter, or avocado), anything bread-related (bagels, waffles, pancakes), veggie chips, chicken nuggets, small hamburgers, bananas and dehydrated apples (but not other fruits), a few types of cereal, and of course cookies and crackers. As with most toddlers, it's a constant battle with anything of nutritional values. So each morning he gets some smoothie mix that includes fruits he normally wouldn't eat (pears, mangos, etc.), cooked yam or carrots, green vegetable (spinach, broccoli, etc.), yogurt and maybe some chia seeds. We can usually coerce him into eating this from a spoon, some days he resists more than others. He also won't drink anything unless it looks like milk. So he gets watered down almond milk. In other Alex news, he continues to make small steps of progress in his therapy and add words to his vocabulary. We think he's ready to start using more word combinations.

Here in New York, we've managed to really beat down this pandemic while it flares up in our home states of Utah and Arizona, so we wish our families well in dealing with that. Restaurants and playgrounds are opening again. We have no interest in eating indoors these days, but we are happy to enjoy playgrounds again. In one of the videos this month, you'll see Alex eating Domino's Pizza with us at a park - that's how we eat out right now. We still do church via Zoom. I am returning to my office one day a week, which reminds me that I do in fact still work at the university. Becky is still not working, but Alex is still able to go to his clinic.