Barbie House

I've been remiss in posting and will try to catch up with a few items of note over the past few months.

Santa brought Alanna a Barbie Dreamhouse for Christmas this year. Alanna asked Santa for something 'Big' and she vigilantly went through her toys to find things she no longer played with to donate and to make room for something 'Big' that the elves were going to make for her. The elves came over the month of December and did a few inspections to make sure there would be enough room for what they were building and that she was keeping her toys picked up. After each visit, Alanna found a Barbie dress that had dropped out of one of their pockets. On Christmas morning, the Barbie house was completely set up where she had made room for it and all of her dolls were in new dresses inside. She stood there for awhile after coming out of her room with her mouth wide open only uttering a small, soft "wow".

Chapstick

Things I never want to hear my daughter say to a boy again:

"Can you guess what flavor my chapstick is?"

This was said to her little friend Dylan on our way to get lunch while he was visiting. It was completely innocent, but Daddy and I immediately turned around and said, "NO!!!"

SuperMom

I have superhero powers. Not that it should come as a shock to anyone; all mom's possess superhero powers. However, my child truly thinks I have powers now.

Last night I informed Alanna that she would have to practice her karate before bed. She asked me how I would make her practice if she fell asleep before then. I replied that I had superhero mommy powers and could wake her up.

A little while later Alanna was hiding under a blanket to avoid going up to practice. I pulled the blanket back and yelled, 'Ah ha!!'

She looked astonished, "Mommy, is one of your powers the ability to see under blankets??" I told her it was.

After practicing for karate and putting her to bed, we heard this little voice from her room, "Mommy, can you see through walls?"

Taking this as a perfect opportunity, I promptly replied, "Yes. But Mommy can only see through walls when you're doing something you're not supposed to!" That should get me a year or two of good behavior until she catches on.

Halloween

How do you know that your child is really sick? She wakes up on Halloween and announces, "I don't want any sugar today." Poor kiddo. She's had a fever for two days and is just not feeling great. Jeb is taking her to the doctor today to rule out strep throat.

Here is a stroll down Halloween memory lane:

By Request

I had a comment on an older post about Alanna's rocking horse. She did enjoy her rocking horse and still does play with it from time to time. This picture was from that Christmas after she had unwrapped it.

Jokes

Alanna has somewhat mastered the art of joke-telling. Well, at least for regular jokes. We're still working on how to tell knock knock jokes.

Her favorite jokes right now are:
Q: Who can jump higher than the highest mountain?
A: EVERYONE! Because mountains can't jump!!!


Q: What newspaper do cows read?
A: The evening mooooooooooooos.

Generations

I was going through old photos and found this interesting. Here's three generations on my side.

Karate Kiddo

Alanna started karate this Fall and so far is loving it. She's earned one ribbon so far and is just too much fun to watch during her lessons. She's the littlest one in the class, so Sensei keeps her right in the front in the middle. She is working on her next ribbon for this week and has to do three kicks then run away screaming...so far her favorite part is the running and the screaming, guess we have a little practicing to do on the rest yet.

House Rules

A couple weeks ago we had a coworker coming in for a week for work and the hotel that our workplace normally uses was booked. We worked things out so that she would stay with us and we'd all come in to work together in the mornings. We explained to Alanna that we'd be having company.
A: I get to tell her the house RULES
M: Oh really? And what are the rules?
A: No splashing water out of the bathtub.
A: No coloring on the walls.
A: When it's bedtime, stay in your bed.
A: Daddy can play with his computer when he wants.

It was super hard not to just laugh. I just kept wondering how our coworker (who has grown children of her own) was ever going to enjoy herself at our house if she couldn't splash water and color on the walls!

Food Preferences

On the way home from daycare while discussing what we would eat for dinner the following occurred.
M: I think we'll have fish fillets for dinner.
A: It doesn't have EYES does it?
M: No, it's like chicken nuggets just with fish
A: Oh good. Because I won't eat anything with EYES!

So this of course begged the question, when did I ever fixed anything with eyes on it? Turns out Daddy had told her about sardines....yep Daddy's fault again ;)

Once dinner was made, Alanna sat down and looked at her plate and declared:
A: Oh good! I'm glad my dinner is this because I only eat food that is the colors of the rainbow!
M: Oh? And what colors are on your plate?
A: Green Green Beans and Brown Fish

Not quite sure when 'brown' made it into the rainbow, but I was relieved. I was either going to argue for the fish fillets being more of a yellow or explain that the rainbow is really all colors we just only see certain shades.

Bedroom Makeover

We had a project weekend and redid Miss Alanna's room. For the full details, please visit here: Bedroom Makeover

A Pox on your House

While our babysitter was watching Alanna out of the blue Alanna declared:
A: When you have children, they're going to get sick.
Babysitter: Do you mean that all kids get sick sometimes?
A: Nope, just yours will.

Later, Alanna picked up her bag of dinner mints that she had really wanted when we were at the store and handed them to Babysitter, with the following statement:
A: Here are some mints for your bad breath.

I'm fairly positive that Alanna was just explaining in the only way she knows how things work. That kids all get sick and that eventually when babysitter has children that they will likely get an ear infection just like she had recently gotten over and that mints are for making breath smell good. Or she's just found a new way of getting even when she doesn't get her way. The 4 year old's version of declaring a pox on your house!

Funny Things

Here are the most recent Alanna funnies:
I took Alanna to the large farmer's market downtown a few weeks ago. She'd been to our little suburb farmer's market once or twice before and really loves picking out vegetables and fruits. When we got there and she looked around, she exclaimed, "It's a mall for vegetables!!!"


On the way home from daycare on an evening where our date-night babysitter was scheduled to come over, the following conversation ensued:

Alanna: Can and I go to Como Zoo tonight?
Mommy: No, honey. Mommy's really not comfortable with you and Babysitter going anywhere this evening.
A: What's 'comfortable' mean?
M: Well, 'comfortable' means you feel good about something. So Mommy and Daddy's job is to keep you safe and it's easier to keep you safe when you're at home rather than riding in a car or going to a zoo at night.
A: But Sammy the Seal is more 'COMFORTABLE' when I'm there!!!


Another conversation on the way home from daycare.

A: Mommy, when I die will I go to heaven?
M: Yes, honey.
A: But what will I DO in heaven?
M: Well, you can play in the clouds or fly around and watch people on earth.
A: I don't have wings.
M: When you get to heaven God will make you an angel then you will have wings.
A: Do angels need to eat?
M: No, they don't need to eat.
A: But they POOP! They have butts!!!


Alanna has been a bit fascinated with babies for a while now. I've had the pleasure of answering the question about where do babies come from and how do they get out of a mommy's tummy multiple times. So far my standard answer has involved no real details outside of a mommy and daddy loving each other very much and the doctor helping the baby out. We've now reached the realm of that's not a good enough answer as apparent by the below interaction which occurred in a Red Lobster around lunch time:

A: Was I in your tummy still when you went with Uncle Scott to get Angel (kitty) or was I born? M: You were a baby so you were already born.
A: But what I don't GET is HOW DID I GET OUT???
M: Well honey, what do you think?
A: DID I CRAWL OUT YOUR BUTT???!!!!!!!!!
Needless to say I've since bought a book that she and I will discuss the next time this question arises. All I could think about in between laughing/crying was what must she think could possibly happen when she farts?


Alanna's baby questions are not isolated to Mommy, here's a conversation she had with her Aunt 'Woogie':

A: I want a baby cousin
W: Well, honey your Uncle and I are working on that
A: I want a BOY cousin
W: You'll have to talk to Uncle Scott about that, he makes that decision I just cook 'em.
A: Like CHICKEN???!!!!!


Alanna is very fond of swimming and doing extremely well in her swimming lessons. One of the things we're firm on though is that all of her swimsuits are one-piece suits. It amazes me actually how difficult it is to find cute one-piece suits even at her age. We were looking for swimsuits when this conversation happened:

A: Mommy, when I get older can I have a swimsuit with breasts?
M: Honey, all girls get breasts as they get older. Breasts don't come with a swimsuit.
A: Yes they do!! See!!
M: OH! You mean a bikini....


We bought a new vehicle a couple months ago and I purchased a cute pink big girl booster seat for the car to make it special for Alanna as well. Alanna wasn't quite sure what to call the new car or the old car...

A: Mommy, what do I call the blue car?
M: You can just call it the blue car or the Mazda.
A: And what do I call the new car?
M: You can call it the Versa.
A: I don't like the Macaroni, I like the Versa.
So our Mazda has now been named the 'Macaroni'. I think you could market that, I should contact the big auto makers; we've discovered their next auto.

Dance Recital

It's been a long while since I've posted here and thought I should continue my tales of the things Alanna says that make me laugh out loud.

Alanna has been in tap/ballet class one night a week now for almost 6 months. She's gotten a bit tired of it, but Mommy and Daddy have insisted that she see it through. Most nights she enjoys it once she gets there, but doesn't really want to go in the first place.

Last night on the way home the conversation went something like this:
M: Only a couple more classes until you're big dance recital!
A: What's a dance recital?
M: A dance recital is where you'll get up on stage with your classmates and do your dances for Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma Jackie.
A: I LOVE Dance Recitals!!
M: That's great honey.
A: Because after dance recital, dance is ALL DONE!!!

Guess we know her motivation for getting to the dance recital ;)

Bareasts

In the mornings when I do Alanna's hair, I typically sit her up on the bathroom counter. I put in her piggytails and she eats her vitamins and brushes her teeth at the same time. Oftentimes, I'm not ready yet myself; this morning was such a morning. My curling iron was heating up and I was still in my bra while I was doing her hair.

This conversation ensued:
A: Mommy, I want bareasts.
M: Sweetie, you can't have breasts yet. When you get older then you will get breasts.
A: But I want bareasts today!
M: Honey, it's all a part of growing up. When you get older and your body grows, you'll get breasts then.

Alanna then opened up the drawer we keep her hair doodads in and pulled out a bag of....
BARRETTES!

She dangled it in front of me and said, "Mommy, I want THESE BAREASTS!"

She wore barrettes today. I guess we need to work a bit on enunciation.

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...