Alex is a little late with his picture-taking this month because of a bad cold. The past few weeks have been physically challenging for him. Two colds in one month, a very painful shot and blood draw at the doctor's office, a wheat sensitivity diagnosis, plus several bumps and bruises from running into the corner of the dishwasher, doing a face-plant on the tiled patio floor, and making a belly flop off the bed. In other words, he's a toddler.

Alex has been working really hard on walking this month and has been spotted taking up to four steps at a time. More commonly, he takes one or two steps, and then plops down on his bottom and continues crawling to his destination. He's picked up a new hobby, though: climbing. Chairs, couches, large boxes, it doesn't matter to him. He climbs them, slides off, and then climbs them again. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

On the social level, Alex has started "sharing" his toys. He'll wander over and hand us an object for what seems like no good reason. On the flip side of that, he gets really, really mad if something is taken from him. He's also started to be bashful around strangers and hides his head when he's upset about something or thinks he's being scolded.