Meet My Ninja

ALEJANDRO GABRIEL TANUZ

NICKNAMES: NINJA, MONKEY AND EVEL KNIEVEL

OUR ADVENTURES STARTED ON SEPT 3, 2008

Here's the deal with my kid...he's a crazy person. An intelligent-hyperactive-attention-craving-overachieving child! Let's be honest: Ninja, Monkey and Evel Knievel describe my son better than Sport, Little Buddy or Squirt ever will. Alex was 2 months old when he started sitting up and rolling around, by 4 months he had learned to army crawl. At 5 months he was officially crawling & pulling himself to standing position and around 6-1/2 months he was walking alongside the couch. Needless to say, we weren't surprised when he took his first 5 steps two days before he turned 8 months old. Then he was running (really running) the week he turned 9 months. We had our first trip to the ER a couple weeks later....

He ran right into the sliding glass door giving himself facial contusion.

Apparently I was a spitfire as a child, but even my mom, grandmas and aunts are flabbergasted by Alex. I know it "comes back around", but COME ON! I am probably never going to be prepared for the things this kid dishes out. His ability to be naughty in the quickest, sneakiest and most dangerous ways has made me realize that Alex needs more structure, discipline and routine. I guess that's why God gave me a son like him. Structure & routines-that's my life, I'm having no problem in that respect! It's the precautionary measures. Before Alex was born I had NO intention of EVER putting my kid in one of those harness leashes, which now I won't go to the mall, airport, sporting events, flea markets, etc. without it! I used to be horrified about the idea of turning the locks around so a child would be locked inside the room, but if I don't do that and he wakes up before us...just look at the pictures below. I caught him doing all of that. Imagine what could happen if he was free to do whatever he wanted. When it comes to discipline...repetition, repetition, repetition, time out, time out, time out. And now that Alex is older than 18 months, I'm not against spanking. I don't want to get into a parenting debate right now, but I think that a reasonable spanking in response to a willful act of disobedience from Alex is good for him. (PS the ONLY times we have actually spanked him is when he opens the front door and walks out-even after we tell him NO). My objective (Thanks to Dr. Dobson) is to have a balance between mercy and justice, affection and authority, love and control.

I'm not going to lie, it's really hard to stay on track. Miguel and I both have tempers. It's a little too easy to scream at Alex when he chucks a bottle of red wine across the room and it shatters all over my carpet. Yes, sometimes I want to smack him when he purposefully rips my cat off the counter by her tail. But it helps to pray and vent. Oh man, God gets an earful from me about Alex on a daily basis! It also helps to have books like Bringing Up Boys and The Strong-Willed Child (both my Dr. Dobson). I would go CRAZY without my friends and family. And recently, Alex has developed a notorious reputation on Facebook. It has been serving as an outlet for my "Naughty Alex Stories" for about a year now. I was surprised, but thankful (that people empathize with me), when I realized how many wait to see what he does next. Ha!

Well friends, Alex has stepped it up a notch in the past couple months and his latest stints are much too long for just an update status. When I threw out the idea of a blog dedicated to Alex's "stories" the most popular response was, "What took you so long?" So from now on there will be a link to this blog whenever my little ninja has another story to share. :)

Here are some incriminating photos of my son:

First time with the oven...

Caught in the act with a flash!

A normal dinner experience.

I caught him bringing the broom into my bathroom...this is why!

This is what it's like potty training my son.

Yep. While I was taking the pic he was turning the burners on!

(Note: Little Ninja was not harmed)

Ta-da!

yep, it's coffee. a lot of coffee.

Coming Soon! A post recapping all of the stories from the past year. Some I have shared. Some I haven't 'til now. Talk to you soon.

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