Counting

Four year olds, as we're finding out, occasionally fixate on something. The question gets asked 50 times even though you've told them the answer 50 times. One such incident occurred near Halloween on the ride home from daycare. The weather had been a bit chilly that week and we'd busted out the warm winter coats, hats and mittens (yes this statement is relevant).

I can't remember the exact topic, but Jeb immediately deployed a distraction tactic. It went something like this:

J: Hey, Alanna what's 5 plus 5?
A: 8
J: Noooo. How many fingers do you have on one hand?
A: umm...2.
J: 2! Noooo. How many noses do you have?
A: 1.
J: Right. How many ears do you have?
A: 2.
J: Right. Now count. How many fingers do you have?
A: 1...2! I CAN'T COUNT RIGHT NOW!

She was right. She did have 2. She was adamently holding up her mittened hand at the time.....

Spaceship

Alanna has been enamored with Backyardigans for the past several months. Their most recent episode is titled Mission to Mars. So astronaut has now been added to Alanna's "What I want to be when I grow up." Currently she wants to be an astronaut, veterinarian, teacher pilot. I think she's going to be busy.



We have these big buckets in our house for storing toys in. One is upstairs and the other downstairs. Both have now been emptied and Alanna's using them as her 'spaceship'. She sits inside with it on it's side and rocks it back and forth singing the 'We're Going to Mars' song.



The other night my mother called and I put her on the phone with Alanna in her 'ship'.

Here's how the conversation went:



A: Hi Grandma.

G: Hi honey. What are you doing?

A: I'm going to Mars.

G: And what are you going to see on Mars?

A: Martians.

G: Can I come with you?

A: No, your butt's too big!



I nearly died..I think tears were streaming down my face from laughing so hard. My mother is an itsy bitsy petite woman which made it that much funnier. I got on the phone and consoled her, "Don't worry, Mom, it's a small bucket..."

The World We Live In

I never wanted to be one of those parents who was content with their child thinking that eggs and milk come from the grocery store or that atm's just spit out money on demand.

I've tried diligently to make sure our daughter knows that eggs come from chickens and milk from cows and that atm's are like piggy banks--you have to put money into them in order to take money out later.

Last week on the way home from ballet class, Alanna asked what we were having for dinner. The conversation went something like this:

A: "I'm hungry. We have dinner when we get home?"
M: "Yes, sweetie. Mommy made Pork chops and hashbrowns and it should be ready when we get home."
A: "Where do hashbrowns come from?"
M: "Hashbrowns come from potatoes."
A: "No they don't!!! Hashbrowns come from McDonalds!!"

Apparently, I'm that parent....damn evil clown.

Mawwiage...And wuv. Twue wuv.

Last Friday as I was making dinner, Alanna called in from the dining room, "Mommy, can I have a baby?"

Nothing quite stops you in your tracks as the 4 year old asking for an infant from the other room. To say I did a double take is probably inaccurate. It was just lucky I didn't have a hot casserole dish in my hands...

I gathered my composure and walked to the dining room, "No, sweetie, but you have a baby doll." Hoping that the conversation would thus end with an "oh, ok." Yah..no such luck.

A: "Why can't I have a baby?"
M: "Well honey, someday when you get to be a grown up you'll fall in love and get married and then maybe you can have a baby."
A: "Are you and daddy married?"
M: "Yes."
A: "You're in love?"
M: "Yes."
A: "I'm going to marry daddy."
M: "Sweetie, you can't marry daddy. Mommy is married to daddy. Someday maybe you will find a man a lot like daddy who loves you and cares for you, then you can marry him."
A: "Then can I marry Uncle Adam?"
M: "Honey, you can't marry anyone you're related to...those are the rules."
A: "Then who can I marry?"
M: "Someday you'll meet someone you really like and fall in love and when you're all grown up you can get married to them."
A: "Ah, I can marry Dylan!"

Well, I'm glad we have that all figured out. Anyone have a good shotgun cheap?

Catching Up

It's been a busy past month. Alanna's birthday went very well. She wanted a ballerina birthday and there was far too much pink in the house, but it was a wonderful time. She twirled and twirled--the sugar may have had something to do with it.




While waiting to blow out the candles she struck this pose. It has the "Oh no, I'm already 4!" look to it.











We visited Severs Corn Maze this past weekend and dove around in the corn pit. I'm still finding kernals of corn around the house...

4 Years

Happy Birthday, Alanna.

I can't believe four years have passed so quickly. You've become such a beautiful and kind little girl and we are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Enjoy your special day and Mommy & Daddy love you very much!

Renaissance Festival

We made it out to the Renaissance Festival on Saturday and here are a few pics:

Jaq, the Hamster

I was able to get a fairly good picture of the rodent last night. So far so good..he doesn't smell nearly as bad as I thought he would so I'll just keep being vigilant on keeping his cage clean. Alanna took this picture to daycare today and was soooo pleased; she's still telling EVERYONE "I've got a hamster!"

Our New Addition

Ok, so I still need to get a better picture of Jaq, the hamster, himself. But here is a pic of Alanna's new friend and his hamster mansion in her room. Jaq entered our lives Saturday as a hamster rescue where I was going to just find him a good home...apparently ours is the good home.

Power of Observation

I've learned that as adults we take for granted things we see on a daily basis as perfectly 'normal' and don't think twice about how odd they must appear to children or if an alien race were to just come take a look around.

For example, we were in Kohl's yesterday shopping. Out of the blue, Alanna looked up at some mannequins and made this shocked *gasp* while exclaiming, "Who took their heads!!!???"

They were the stylistic body only mannequins and indeed they did not have heads. I had to explain to her that those types of mannequins/dollies were only for showing clothes and they didn't make them with heads.

I think in between her exclamation and my explanation though both the cashier who overheard and I nearly peed our pants laughing.

Milestones

It's amazing how time flies. I know people always say that and yet, I don't think I really ever experienced how true it was until I had a child. A lot has happened in the past month and every day I blink and wonder where the day before went.

Alanna is truly a 'big girl' now and no longer wears Pull-Ups even at night. We still wake to the occasional small holler of 'Wipe Me!!!' from the bathroom, but I'm ok with that. It's such a weird feeling to finally be at that fully potty trained stage where I don't have two drawers taken up with diaper related stuff.

We got hit with our first 'Are We There Yet???' this past weekend when I took Alanna to Morris to see her cousins and her Grandma Jackie. Luckily it was only two occurences and not repeated the whole drive.

Alanna is doing fantastic with her swimming lessons and I think we're just one lesson (maybe it will happen tonight!) away from her going under water on her own. She's sooooo close and just loves being in the water. I took her to the Grand Rios waterpark over the 4th of July weekend and she has not stopped talking about it since. We'll need to go back again sometime this summer with Daddy along so that Mommy can just float in the Lazy River for a while.

Daddy Magic

Like many daddies, my husband revels in performing 'Daddy magic' for Alanna. This behavior can also be witnessed in grandfathers. It normally amounts to him pulling something from out behind her ear--a quarter, a crayon, etc.

Yesterday, Jeb took Alanna to the park in the wagon. Once they got there and she'd run around for a few minutes, she came up to him and exclaimed, 'Daddy, I need to go potty!'

There isn't a port-a-potty or a restroom facility at the park, so Jeb explained, 'Ok, honey get in the wagon and we'll go home to use the potty.'

She didn't like that answer. Likely she was concerned that if she went home she wouldn't get to come back to the park, so she looked up and asked hopefully, "You have a pull-up?"

Jeb explained that he didn't bring a pull-up because she's a big girl and uses the potty, so they'd need to go home to do so. She tried one last ditch effort, convinced it would work, "Can you look behind my ear for one?"

Ah, if only it were that simple.

Alanna and Frankie

Alanna and Frankie were playing out back last night. Frankie has been trained since a kitten to stay close to her people when outside and never strays more than a few feet away. Alanna had a lot of fun "keeping an eye on her" while she explored the yard.

Saved by Princess Alanna

Alanna's not really a morning person...well at least not 75% of the mornings. We try to distract her in the morning to entice her out of bed. For example, this morning I woke her up by asking her if she'd like to help feed the kitties. She said, "Yes! I do it all by myself!" and sprang out of bed. Keeping her going can also be a challenge. If she's not engaged she'll decide that she doesn't want to go to daycare and wants to go back to bed.

This morning Jeb pretended to be an ogre while getting her dressed...attacking her feet and talking in a big ogre voice. She ran out of the bedroom giggling after she was dressed and I called out, "Oh no! Did you turn that ogre back into Daddy?" Jeb proceeded to do the ogre voice while coming into the bathroom where I was to finish getting ready. I called out again, "Alanna, I need you to save me from the ogre and turn him back into Daddy! Get your magic wand!!"

About a minute later Alanna showed up not only with her magic wand but also her princess hat from the renaissance festival on her head. She waved the wand and exclaimed, "Daddy, you're a daddy not an ogre!"

Phew, saved. My only concern is that she took the time to accessorize before saving me. I guess a girl has to have her priorities.

Photos From Alanna's Visit to Hot Springs

Alanna LOVES the pinball machine at Grandma & Grandpa's house. She's declared that she wants it. Sorry, Scott, but it's now in the will as hers.

Alanna's a pretty good cook. She and Grandpa made Grandma's birthday cake. The beaters are always the best part.

The Calves weren't quite sure what to make of Alanna. They'd get pretty close, then she'd giggle and they'd rush off.

The Cows, on the other hand, were all about getting treats from Alanna.

Here's my little Bull Rider. That's Ferdinand, and yes he's HUGE.

Alanna got a chance to ride Grey, with Grandpa Joe's help. She smiled the whole time out at the Barn and has absolutely NO FEAR.

Both Hank and Buttercup got their first taste of 'cake' from Alanna. They definitely approved.

I think if we lived closer, Joe would put a wood block on the accelerator of the hay truck and Alanna would be driving by age 6. She had a blast feeding the critters.

That's Alanna making the same face/noise that Kicks did. Sounded something like 'Ppbnnnthhbb'.

Favorites

Alanna has reached the point where she's starting to be able to express which things are her favorites. It turns out she has expensive taste.

In searching for a babysitter, Alanna decided that she liked the one from the furthest away who had the highest hourly rate. Don't get me wrong, I really also like the sitter that we've chosen to use from time to time for those night outs, but it speaks to Alanna's taste.

Then, on Oscar night we had decided to treat ourselves to curbside to go from wherever we wanted. I ended up getting Prime Rib. Turns out Alanna LOVES prime rib. She literally ate about half of my 10oz steak that night.

So when we went to Timberlodge Steakhouse about two weeks back, we decided that we would just order her a dinner salad and I'd order a 14oz prime rib and split it with her. She easily gobbled down at least a third of my steak saying "yummmmmmm" the entire time.

For some reason last night during the car ride home, she was talking about Timberlodge and how they have apples in a basket next to a fireplace in the waiting area. I asked if she remembered what she had for dinner that night and she told me yes! This is what followed:

Mommy: "Alanna, what's your favorite food?"
Alanna: "COW!"

Public Service Message

It's frightening that for most parents, their luggage is more identifiable than their children.

We actually just got two of these (and heaven forbid we ever need to use them). They're simple, effective, easy to carry and contain everything you need to help find your child quickly.

Check it out: Amber Stick

Alanna Moments

It occurs to me that I haven't posted many Alanna moments as of late, but there definitely have been some. So here are a couple:

Alanna has been infatuated with the idea of the Easter Bunny this year. As it's not even April yet, I didn't really feel like digging out the Easter decor and instead took the Capitalist way out. I picked up a pink egg decorated ice cream bucket and some plastic eggs during my weekly grocery shopping to the tune of about $1.50 total I believe (in my mind far more economical than spending an hour digging through decor in the garage to find the right bin, bring it in, dig through for the eggs and a basket, and then put the rest back until April). She's been busily hiding eggs in the living room and then searching for them. It seems that each time she hides them she manages to not find all of them, but then the ones she didn't find the last time turn up the next time with two new eggs missing. Here's an example to make that a little less confusing for you, she'll hide 12 eggs (2 of each color) then find only 10--say a pink and green one are missing. The next time she'll find 10, but this time it will be a blue and purple one missing.

I made Alanna a fort this past weekend using sheets, card table chairs, and duct tape--duct tape is the bond that holds us all together after all. She promptly moved her doll houses in and declared that no cats and no brothers were allowed in her fort. I'm really not sure where she got the idea that she has brothers since she's an only child, but she seemed rather adament that they were NOT allowed in her fort.

More Watchful Waiting

So the plan for now is more watchful waiting. The dr agreed that Alanna's facial cyst (technically a vascular malformation) had definitely changed. He stated that sometimes they do that unexpectedly and that his recommended course of action for now was to watch and see what happens. The likelihood (crossing fingers) is that the swelling will reduce and color return to normal. Apparently, these can change due to an accidental bumping of the area or viral infection. He did agree that surgery was the ultimate resolution, but would still prefer to wait until she's a little bigger to further reduce the risk of any damage to the facial nerve. He requested that we call if it begins to look worse rather than better and he'd get us right in and to come back in a month.

Where do Hiccups come from?

Last night on the way home from picking up Alanna from daycare, she got the hiccups. She proceeded to tell us that she needed to get home to look in the mirror. I asked her why and she explained that she needed to look in her mouth in the mirror. Again, I followed this up with a why honey? She told me that because she had hiccups, she needed to look in her mouth to see the frog that was there.

Now, before I thought it through, I explained that there wasn't a frog in her mouth and that hiccups don't come from frogs. This then immediately was followed by her asking...well where do hiccups come from?

Awwww....shit. I hadn't really considered that I'd have to try to explain to a 3 year old where hiccups come from. I should have stuck with frog in the mouth--that one's easier ;)

Jeb piped up that hiccups are an involuntary reaction of your diaphragm..blah blah...to which Alanna looked unimpressed. So, the final verdict from Mommy was that hiccups happen when you get to laughing too hard.

I'm not sure I'm up for the next hard questions to come...