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...

Alanna on Sharing

We've been working a lot with Alanna on the concept of sharing. It's hard for a toddler and for the most part, she's pretty good about it.

In the mornings, she has a habit of wanting to bring something (usually edible) with her as we leave the house to head to daycare. So instead of simply saying no, we've begun telling her that if she wants to bring something along that's fine, but she has to bring enough to share with Trayton and Dylon too. Sometimes, she's ok with that and others she will leave whatever it is she wanted at home.

Earlier this week she wanted to bring an apple. We said that was fine, but that Gloria would cut it up so that she could share it with her friends. She held on to it all the way to Gloria's house and was pretty quiet actually. We got there and I took the apple from her to get her out of her carseat and found....she'd taken itsy bitsy nibbles out of it ALL over...each side had at least two or three nibbles. Not enough to eat it, but enough to mark it as hers. There would be absolutely no way to cut it without hitting a bite mark. Little turkey had basically used the "if I lick it, it's mine" strategy.

Get out of my Pumpkin!

I am beginning to wonder if perchance Alanna is struggling with the concept of sharing. In social situations which I've observed, she's done rather well....or so I thought.

Last night she was playing with her little Cinderella playset. Storybook Playset The companion set has a little pumpkin coach and I was watching her from the hallway when I saw her march the little princess up to the coach and state, "Hey, you're in my seat. You're in my car. Get OUT OF MY PUMPKIN!" She was apparently the voice of the princess talking to whichever little figure was in the pumpkin coach at the time.

After I stifled a giggle, I walked over and asked, "Honey, shouldn't they share the pumpkin?"

Her answer?

"No, Mommy. No!"

Cruisin'

So much to catch up on! Well, this is as good a place to start as any:

December 14-19 we went on a Cruise with 16 other family members. My mom and Joe decided that they wanted all the kids/grandkids together for the holiday this year and instead of us all trekking to someone's house we hopped on a boat out of Tampa to the Western Carribean.

In attendance were:
Mom & Joe
Nate, Rhonda & Tiffany
Grannie
Mac, Mystie, Chase, Tori, Dawsyn & Morgan
Ginger & Brian
Lori & Scott
Me, Jeb & Alanna

When we left it was pretty darn cold here...about 10 above or so. Florida was a welcome change and upon arrival that evening, Alanna wanted to get into the pool with her Uncle Mac and cousins. There was a small snafu with the flight on the way out due to a storm that morning. All flights into Chicago were cancelled, but I'm pretty impressed with Expedia. Our itinerary had already been adjusted and we were rerouted through Dallas with only an hour and a half difference from our initial flight time. Overall, we got there about 4 hours later than anticipated, but still no real hassles which was very nice.

Alanna warmed up to everyone by the next morning and she and Dawsyn were best buds for most of the trip.

The ship was absolutely HUGE. Honestly, the rocking didn't bother me and was rather relaxing really..especially when trying to go to sleep at night.

The major problem we ran into on the ship was the toilets. Alanna was absolutely TERRIFIED of them. Similar issue happened on the airplane. She has no problems with potties in stores like Target or what not, but is deathly afraid of the airplane and ship potties. This led to an accident on the airplane right before we landed in Tampa which meant Mommy and Alanna needed to open the suitcases off of baggage claim to change clothes, but we wanted to be in shorts anyway.

Back to the ship potties...Alanna is potty trained and even does pretty well at night. So, Mommy in her infinite wisdom (haha) only brought pull-ups for nighttime and to my credit I did bring a few extra, but not enough for her to wear every day all day. Alanna would look at the potty and flip out.

I thought I had the solution, I really did. See, there's this kid's daycare with activities on the ship called 'Camp Carnival' and they have a potty chair!! Problem was, she wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with Camp Carnival. And honestly, can't say as I blame her. They didn't let the parents come in at all. Now this may be fine for a child who's in a daycare center or in school, but for a child that is used to a family type environment, this can be very scary. Had they even let the parents in for say the first morning for an activity or two she would have been fine, because she would have had a chance to acclimate to the new people with Mommy or Daddy there to show her it was ok. Hell, she would have been fine if the waiters were the daycare staff since she got more of a chance to get acclimated to them in one meal than to the staff in the Camp. Soooooooo...no on board daycare for us and no potty! Luckily, her cousin Morgan is about her size and still in diapers so I was able to beg some off of Mystie.

The cruise was nice, although not something I would try to do again with a 3 year old. Maybe a Disney cruise where there would hopefully be more options to keep her entertained and let Mommy/Daddy have some time too.

We did port in Cozumel and the weather was gorgeous. About 91 degrees. We had to take a small transport boat into land as Hurricane Wilma had demolished (and I do mean demolished!) the areas where the cruise ships used to dock. The shore looked very banged up and there was construction going on everywhere. We went to Playa Mia which is a paid inclusive beach and it was beautiful. Deep squishy sand and clear blue/green water. Alanna had an absolutely wonderful time playing with Dawsyn and Morgan in the surf. I was able to sneak away (thank you Aunt Ginger!) for about 30 minutes to get a massage on the beach. The masseuse was good and the price far less than in the spa on the boat, but what made it very nice was the sound of the birds, the breeze, and hearing the water hit the sand. What I didn't think about (DOH) was that the masseuse would use oil on my back. Now, for the most part, I don't tan or burn really. Actually, I'm still rather pale even after sitting on the beach. But, my back was a different story. I wandered past the drink hut on my way back to sit in the surf with the kids, picked up my pina colada, and plopped down to promptly and literally BAKE my back. My back was as red as Santa's hat. Ah well..thank heavens for aloe.

Got some wonderful pics as did everyone else and waiting for the collected cd of photos from Mystie so that I can go through them and create our after the holidays greeting letter (in lieu of Christmas cards).

Santa 2005

The Logic of a 3 Year Old

Part of our weekend activities were to put up the Christmas tree and decorations. We got everything taken care of and Alanna was preoccupied for a bit with her Dora game, so I decided to go ahead and wrap the presents we have to just get it out of the way and remove them from their various closet hiding places.

After lunch, Alanna went into the living room and spied the presents. Here is what ensued:

A: 'Mooooommmmy, I pick a present to open?' In this plaintative little cute voice.
M: 'No, honey, it's not Christmas yet. We need to wait to open our presents.'
A: 'It IS Christmas, I pick a present.' Absolutely convinced in her knowledge of what day it is.
M: 'No, sweetheart, Christmas won't come for a while yet, we need to wait please.'
A: Stomping into the dining room and taking my hand, 'I show you, Mommy. It is Christmas.'

She proceeded to lead me over to the patio door and point outside at the snow.
A: 'See!!! Snow! It IS Christmas!'

Gotta give her credit for the correlation. I explained that the snow was part of winter and that Christmas is in the wintertime, but not for a few weeks still. She seemed to take that well and hasn't touched the presents since or asked about them again. Jeb's laying bets that we'll come into a living room full of wrapping paper one day this week. I think she'll wait....we'll see ;)