Our Little Gymnast

The Olympics are over in Beijing but they are still alive and well in our home. For a while Alyce has been very interested in balance beams. She isn't doing any tricks or maneuvers on the beam. She simply walks from one end to the other then loops around to do it again.

At home she takes all of her cardboard blocks and lays them end to end to form a balance beam about 4"-5" wide and 10' long. She walks very gingerly down the line and rarely ever checks her balance or steps off.

On Sunday all the family was over at our house for a little get together. Alyce thought it was time to show off her balance skills and setup her beam. She walked up and down the line time and time again to the applause of all in attendance. Some video and pictures of the event will be added later. So check back in for those. Update: We have some new pictures




Monday Alyce and Mom went over to Gram's and Grandpa's house for dinner and Grandpa setup a quick beam out of a 2x4. It looks like Alyce's balance beam skills transfer from cardboard to something close to the real thing.

I'm not saying I am going to enter her into gymnastics classes anytime soon, but the cuteness is undeniable.

A Two Word Sentence

A milestone has been reached! Alyce has said her first two word sentence. It happened Wednesday night and only now do I get a chance to write about it. When I get home from my spinning class I am usually wearing my cycling shoes. That night I took them off in the kitchen after Alyce met me at the door. This time she was very interested in them. So much that she slipped her feet into them and started clumsily walking around the kitchen. She then walked into the living room with them still on and promptly said "Daddy shoes".

Hard to believe that two words can signify something so profound. For starters just putting two different words together is a milestone, but to know and understand the possessive aspect of them being my shoes is also an important step.

Cooking Dinner With Dad

Last night Alyce helped me make grilled cheese sandwiches. Alyce helped butter and stack the bread while I grilled them. When I started the electric griddle it was time for Alyce to vacate the premises and well she was none to happy about that as she wanted to do everything with me. We redirected Alyce's attention by asking her to set the table. We gave her paper plates, silverware, empty cups, and napkins to put on the table. She did a great job as long as we pointed her towards the right places for each item.

A friend of mine at work told me that if you let your kids help make dinner they are more apt to eat it. I have to agree with him on that. Alyce ate all of her dinner, well most of it. She didn't eat the cut up tomatoes, but who is keeping score?

Round and Round

Why do kids do the things they do? Yesterday Mom sends me a message about Alyce standing in front of the TV spinning in circles going whoa whoa whoa and then practically falling down from dizziness. Only to get back up and do it again a few seconds later. On Monday night the family went down the street and sat with out neighbors for a while. Alyce used their slide about a million times while we sat there and she never tired of it. Sure she was distracted a few times by the multitude of other kids running around, but she always returned to the slide. The funny part is that she has the same slide back at home and she rides constantly there as well.

We all have done those things as kids and I guess at the time we thought it was something pretty awesome. Somewhere along the line spinning circles and going down slides loses its luster. I guess having fun with the simplest of things is a byproduct of having a carefree existence. Maybe we have kids to extract a piece of the joy they experience that we have lost.

Enjoy where you are in life and never be in a big hurry to grow up.

Whoaw Whoaw

There is a certain thing I do on occasion that makes mommy and daddy happy. They call it whoaw whoaws. A whoaw whoaw is when I look through the gaps in the banister and say whoaw whoaw. I do it at the top of the steps and at the bottom. I do it in the morning and at night. I'm not sure why I do it, maybe just because mommy and daddy like it.


Here is an old picture just to brighten your day.

I Can Say Ice Cream

And i can eat it too!

Fun at the Fair

Last Friday we went to the fair in my hometown. Every year the fair gets a little bit bigger and is now becoming a rather large event only second to the state fair. This year we brought our neighbors Jeff and Liz and also Josh and Tammy.

We didn't get to the fair until dinner time on Friday so we had to get as much in as possible before Alyce got tired and turned into a pumpkin. After eating we all walked over to a new exhibit this year the Big Cat Cages. Alyce was rather taken with big cats or "meows" as she likes to call them.

Next we watched a little bit of the tractor pull. A tractor pull is when a supped up tractor pulls a weighted sled down a 300' track. If they make it past 300' then it is considered a full pull and is then usually accompanied by the comment of being "way down there." Alyce surprisingly was a big fan of the tractors. The excessive noise didn't seem to bother her and she was mesmerized by all of the smoke.


After the tractors we took Alyce to the petting zoo. All of the cute animals are in cages, but you can reach through to pet the animals. Alyce looked at some odd birds, a cow, goats, sheep, and baby chicks. She and I had a really good time playing in a big box of corn. Alyce would place handfuls of corn into a little trailer and then proceed to dump it out. Alyce had another plastic rake that she wasn't playing with, but apparently still wanted ownership of. A little girl came up wanting the rake and I gave it to her. Well Alyce wasn't keen on that one as she got up and started walking towards the girl with the intention to get that toy back. We intercepted Alyce before she got there, but it was good see that Alyce was willing to fight for a toy even if it was one that she wasn't using anymore.

The last event of the night was a stop by the midway. This is where all of the carnie rides are. We didn't have the time or the inclination to go on big kid rides, but we did put Alyce on two rides the carousel and the electric train. Alyce patiently stood in line for both rides. On the carousel she rode the big brown dog. She seemed to enjoy herself, but we couldn't get her to wave at mommy or Jeff and Liz. For the electric train she seemed less enthused by the ride, but she did smile at the people on the sidelines.

The day ended with a waffle ice cream sandwich and the slow walk back to the car for the trip back home. Alyce and everyone else in the car fell asleep (except for me) on the way home with us finally getting Alyce to bed around 10:30. We asked a lot of Alyce and as usual she came through with flying colors. There are always a few hiccups but there were no major meltdowns. We are truely blessed to have such an easy going kid.

Chili Dogs

Alyce surprised us tonight. During dinner dad had a chili dog and as usual he offered Alyce a bite. When he asked Alyce if she wanted a bite of chili dog she responded with a crystal clear chili dog. Both dad and I were speechless. We tried to get her to repeat the word unsuccessfully.

Alyce also had two other words today. Cheetah and girl. Alyce parroted me while I was showing her pictures of animals in a book we got from the zoo. She said girl while dad was playing with her after he got home from work. This puts her up to 45 words!

Accelerating Vocabulary

Alyce's vocabulary really seems to be taking off as of late. In the past few days we have added the words car, chicken, bowl, and peach. We are quickly approaching the goal set out by our pediatrician of 50 words by 24 months. At the point we are up to 40 words and she is only 21 months!

Parents as Teachers

Last week we had a visit from our Parents as Teachers counselor Ms. Cathy. Parents as Teachers is a nationwide initiative run through school district who's purpose is to provide parents with childhood development knowledge and parenting support.

This is the first time Ms. Cathy has stopped by since we started our blog. Ms. Cathy spent this trip talking to us about the developmental milestones Alyce is progressing towards. One issue we talked about was some issues Alyce is having with a boy at her day care. Alyce is in day care for an hour three times a week while Mommy is at her exercise class. There is a boy at the class roughly her age that is mean to Alyce specifically. By mean he has hit her, scratched her, and pulled her hair. Talking to Ms. Cathy she explained that all kids Alyce included are trying to learn social skills and some get it better than others. Ms. Cathy recommend we talk to the day care professionals and have the separated until the boy can interact correctly. That request has been implemented and it looks like it is working so far.