Making Cookies

Today Alyce helped Mom and Grams make Christmas Cookies. Mom sent me a picture of Alyce helping out and I wanted to share it with everyone.


Thanksgiving was very busy this year. The family had two meals to attend. The night before we traveled out to Grandma's house to help get the house ready. We didn't do much at night, but us being there in the morning made sure that we hit the ground running on Thanksgiving. Seeing my side of the family was great. My brother and his family were there along with all of my cousins who had kids right around the same time Alyce was born. It was very neat this year because all of the babies are now toddlers and they are beginning to interact with each other. You can definitely see the impact of the next generation. There was an entire table crammed with parents trying to get their children to eat something. The afternoon at Grandma's culminated with all of the kids and parents going down the hill to play on some playground equipment at the school.

After dinner and the playground at Grandma's we had to load Alyce in the car and get ourselves to Gram's and Grandpa's house. By this point it was past Alyce's nap time and we were hoping that she would fall asleep in the car. Our prayers were only partially answered because she fell asleep the last 10 minutes of the drive. Luckily dinner was running late and I could stay out in the car with Alyce and we both took a little cat nap.

Once both dinners were over we went back home, got Alyce into bed, and took a little break for ourselves. Alyce did great. We couldn't have asked her to be any more well behaved. Throw on little to no nap and it made her positive attitude even more impressive.

Dad's Night Out

A few weeks ago even before our trip that yielded the Sharing story Alyce and I attended another event at the Early Childhood Center "Dad's Night Out". It was an event held for the Dad's to bring in their kids for some father kid quality time. The event is fairly low stress with no scheduled activities. It is a lot dads playing with different things alongside of their children. The main items for Alyce anyway were the Little Tykes toy cars, heavily padded climbing blocks, and a plastic toy house. These are all things that Alyce has played with in the past but they still hold her attention. The blocks were especially a hit as Alyce has been practicing her jumping skills and a place where everything is padded is a great location to do it.

Here are some pictures of the event.

Sharing

Mommy and I witnessed something tonight that left us speechless. Alyce, our daughter shared! And it wasn't a little share; this was a big share.

Tonight Mom and I went to Locomotion Commotion. It was a one time class at the early childhood development center of our school district. Locomotion Commotion consists of a bunch of kids all playing in a gym with a myriad of different toys. Alyce is a big fan of the gym. Every time Alyce attends they put out a different set of toys with a few larger pieces of equipment sticking around. One of Alyce's favorite things to do is to go down the slide.

Another one of Alyce's favorite things at the center are the push cars. Push cars are the same childhood toys that mom and I had. Whenever Alyce sees one of these toy cars she HAS to have it. Tonight was no different when we showed up. Alyce made a bee line to the car and claimed it as her own. After a while we pulled Alyce away from the car and onto other things like the slides or stacking blocks. Later in the evening Alyce again took possession of the car. However she took possession in front of another pint sized playmate.

This is where things get interesting. Alyce noticed this other boy crying about the car. Alyce got out of the car, held the door open, and gestured towards the boy. She was willing to share the item she held most dear. Mom and I were dumbfounded. It was great to see a milestone right in front of us. Our little girl is growing up right before our eyes.

At a Party: Updated

Weekend after last the family including Grams and Grandpa went to the birthday party for Mom's cousin Tony. There wasn't much for a kid to do there but Alyce managed to find a way to pass the time by dancing to the live music. Not content to dance in the corner or the back of the room Alyce worked her way to to the dance floor and danced the night away. Update: The video seemed to be giving some problems. So I am hosting it on a place other than youtube. Sorry for the inconvenience.



Alyce was kind of shy at first and didn't immediately go up front. She hung out around us for a while playing underneath a nearby table before moving on. She started hanging out by Mom and myself and would walk forward about 5 spaces and then come back. She did this about 10 times and after every cycle she would get farther and farther away. Eventually she was walking around the place like she owned it. Naturally everyone in the hall thought Alyce was the cutest thing (we agree) and came up to us to tell us about it.


The other item of note was that Alyce got to eat peanuts! Now that she is two we don't have to worry about peanut allergies. There was a bowl of trail mix that Alyce was snacking on all night. We weren't really worried about her having allergies to peanuts, but better to play it on the safe side and avoid them since she really didn't know what she was missing.

Emotion Explosion

I can see why some people say the twos are so terrible. You have this person who has the physical capacity to do just about anything, but lacks the mental capacity to grasp complex concepts or verbalize their wants and needs.

A good example of this today is Alyce and a kitchen table chair. She pushed a chair into the corner of the kitchen and stood on it to play with some bowls. I didn't have a problem with her doing this because she is sure on her feet and I could use her diversion to get some kitchen cleaning done. Later on when I was finishing up with the kitchen and Alyce had moved onto make a mess someplace else in the house I moved the now vacant chair back under the table. You would have thought that I closed Alyce's hand in the door with the fit of screaming she let out. Why would something as simple as moving a chair cause so much distress? I can only assume it is because she processes things differently than us or can't vocalize that she wasn't done with the chair yet. Luckily she didn't dwell on it as we started playing with her wooden train set she received for her birthday.

I look forward to Alyce making that mental breakthrough. It will be refreshing to hear her opinion on subjects. Like does she prefer chocolate or vanilla? Or whether blue or red is really the best color (it is red by the way). I'm sure with that increased understanding there will be other obstacles. I've heard the threes are more terrible then the twos.

Dancing Queen

This weekend it is only Alyce and I. Mom joined all of the ladies (cousins, aunts, and grand parents) of the family for a Christmas shopping trip to the Lake of the Ozarks. This is the first time ever that I have been alone with Alyce overnight.

Mom and Grams left yesterday after having lunch with Alyce and I at McDonalds. We stayed at Macs for a while longer as I wanted Alyce to have some active time on the playground as it was nasty outside. The majority of our first day together was uneventful. However, something extremely cute happened Friday night.

Last night Alyce and I spontaneously started dancing. Well Alyce really. She just pulled me into the fun. I'm not sure how it started, but Alyce grabbed my hand, pulled me off the couch, and into the kitchen. Alyce then pressed a button on her toy barn she got from Grandma and Grandpa for her first birthday. This toy plays one of three country songs whenever the banjo button is pressed. Once the music started Alyce started jumping, dancing, running, and stomping around the kitchen. When the music stopped she would run over and start it up again. Of course Alyce would not let me sit idly by. She came over grabbed my hand and we both started dancing around the kitchen. We would dance in circles, or I would spin her like a ballerina, or we'd play a bit of ring around the rosie to the music.

After twenty minutes of hearing the same three songs over and over again I needed to stop. Alyce was more than content to dance away the night. Luckily I was able to divert her attention without too many tears. My only regret was that I didn't get this on video. I'm sure the sight of a dad and his daughter cavorting around a kitchen would have been a great video to come back to when Alyce brings home her first boyfriend.

I Guess She Is Paying Attention

I have a great story that highlights the need for parents to think about what they are doing in front of their children. Last night Mom and I were watching some TV and Alyce was sitting in my lap doing a puzzle (I love that by the way). I started to lose focus on the TV and Mom wanted the remote control so she could jump through the commercials. Normally I would just toss Mom the remote but instead I asked Alyce to take the remote to Mommy. Alyce takes the remote from me, walks halfway to Mom, and then tosses the remote in her generation direction! Mom and I were too stunned and laughing to hard to reprimand her that we don't throw things in the house. On top of that we couldn't reprimand her without being hypocritical. I guess we need to examine what we ask of Alyce without asking the same of ourselves.

So all the parents out there take note. Your kids are paying attention and will imitate you even if it is hours, days, or weeks later.

Alyce Likes Heels

Alyce is such a girly girl. She has taken to wearing Mom's shoes around the house including her heels. It started off by Alyce digging through Mom's closet and pulling out a box of shoes. After a few tries Alyce finally got her feet into the straps and off she went.

Later on it was time for dinner and we brought Alyce and the shoes down with us. Big mistake. What is even more fun the wearing heels to a kid? Wearing heels on a loud floor. The shoes on our kitchen tile made an awful racket which Alyce thought was just great.

Taco Pictures

I found some pictures of Alyce eating those famous tacos.

Alyce Is A Jumper

Mark off another physical milestone for Alyce. She is now a jumper! For the longest time we have been trying to get Alyce to jump. She has seen us do and she has tried to emulate us but with poor results. This week however she must have put all of the pieces together. After dinner with neighbors Jeff and Liz earlier this week Alyce started jumping on the way back to the car. She even said jump when she did it.

Later this week Mom calls me to tell me that Alyce was jumping again but this time instead of saying jump she was saying TADA!

So now that Alyce has mastered jumping I'm not sure what is left. She can crawl, walk, run, climb slide, and now jump. She still needs to learn how to swing and pedal a bike so she hasn't mastered everything.

Eating a Taco

This past weekend the family went out to Taco Bell for lunch. We got Alyce a taco. This wasn't her first one. In the past we had to take the tacos apart and Alyce would eat the parts. This time Alyce picked up the taco in its entirety and started eating it without any assistance. This might not be a milestone like walking or talking, but Mom and I see it as another step towards independence.