Teeth Brushing

This is a story retold to me by Mom.  Earlier this week, Tuesday, a dentist came to visit Alyce's class at school.  to talk about tooth care etc.  Alyce came home with a bag full of goodies including a 2 minute sandglass and a new tooth brush.

Forwarding in time to Wednesday morning Mom tells me this story.  She was brushing her teeth with Alyce in the room and Alyce says "I'm gonna go brush my teeth by myself".  By myself is part of another post.  To continue on this story.  Alyce leave's our bathroom and goes into her own.  By the time Mom catches up Alyce has already turned the water on and is trying to put toothpaste on her toothbrush.  Mom helps Alyce with the toothpaste and Alyce asks Mom for some privacy.  Mom moves into Alyce's room to keep an eye on her while she is brushing her teeth.  After a time of brushing Alyce turns and asks Mom "has it been two minutes yet?".

Goodbye Mommy, Goodbye Daddy

Hello Mom and Dad.  Starting just recently Alyce is making a transition from calling Mom and I Mommy and Daddy and instead she is calling us Mom and Dad.  We're not sure where she picked up Mom and Dad or why she is saying it the new way but we don't like it.  Well we don't like it yet.  Our little girl is still 3 not 13 and we really enjoy hearing Mommy and Daddy on a daily basis.  Most likely she picked it up a school which is where she is picking up most any new behavior.

Can My Little Girl Stay Healthy?

Tonight Alyce got sick.  Again.  Instead of it being an ear infection like the past two times tonight she caught the same stomach bug that afflicted Mom on Monday night.  If Alyce's run is like Mom's it will be pretty rough for the first 24 hours and then signs of improvement.  Right now Mom is laying in bed with Alyce so that if she were to get sick again Mom can get Alyce to a tub before she ruins her sheets and pillow.  I'm hoping that Alyce empties her stomach out pretty soon so she and Mom can get a decent nights sleep.

This whole experience tops off a rather difficult winter for Alyce.  It seems that since the start of the year we can't keep her healthy.  It might be ear infections, colds, and now a stomach bug always knocking her off her feet.  If I had to guess I'd say that Alyce's longest running sick free streak is about 2 weeks since the start of the year.  With all the snow we've had lately and school being canceled Alyce has probably been to school 5 times since the start of the year.

This Winter has been holding on for far too long.  Because of these long cold streaks everyone is cooped up inside and indoor spaces are becoming a breeding ground for infections.  We need a break from the cold and a break from cabin fever.

Happy Birthday Song

Either through repetition or through school Alyce has learned the happy birthday song.  Her rendition isn't perfect as she misses lots of words but she has the melody down pat.  Other than a high number of birthday parties as of late Alyce likes to sing the birthday song when I read her a Winnie the Pooh book called Pooh's Birthday Book and it is part of the Read With Pooh All Year Through set.

The plot of this book deals with Pooh and Piglet deciding to have a birthday party for no one as a way to get a piece of honey cake that Rabbit was cooking; pretty sly.  At the end of the story when they are all sitting down to birthday cake the ask they ask the question of who to sing to?  Conveniently a set of baby birds hatch in a tree above them and are noticed by Christopher Robin.  As the book finishes I ask Alyce if she would sing the birthday song to the baby birds.  Her rendition:  "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday birdies" and as she finishes the last phrase she takes in a big breath and blows it out pretending to blow out the candles on the birthday cake.

Valentine

Alyce received her first Valentine from a boy today. It was from her best friend, Gideon. He also gave her a box of chocolates. Here's the Valentine.

Artwork

Alyce colored this picture today at school. I think it's my favorite picture she's done at school, so I wanted to share it with everyone.

She Made a Tree

Today and tonight Alyce was playing with some Legos.  Mom showed me one of Alyce's original creations, a tree.  I love it that Alyce likes to play with Legos.  They can be anything you want them to be.  Tonight she and I made a spaceship, an airplane, a tricycle, and a car.  With the spaceship and airplane we played Blastoff.  I'd count down from 5 and when we hit zero we would say "blastoff" and fly them both around the house.  Luke enjoyed the show.  He was smiling at us the whole time; probably thinking we lost our minds and was just humoring us.  Here's to Legos, the best toy since the ball and the stick.

Another funny that happened tonight while we were playing Legos and Mom was out of the house.  Alyce was flying the spaceship around the room and dropped it bursting it into a million pieces.  I didn't make a big deal out of it and Alyce moved on to flying her plane around the room instead.  When Mom got home she asked who broke the spaceship?  Alyce's quiet response...  "nobody".  I proceeded to pick her up, tickle her, give her hugs, and told her that she dropped the spaceship but it wasn't a big deal.  I probably should have used the situation as a learning experience about fibbing but the moment had passed before I thought of it.  I'm sure there will be other opportunites.

Trash Can For Her Clothes

This weekend I was sitting down to breakfast with Alyce while Mom was upstairs sleeping.  While we were eating our Fruit Loops Alyce looked down at the packaging for her new clothes hamper that was sitting on the table.  Alyce said "that's my trash can".  I corrected her saying that it was a hamper for her clothes.  She then corrected me and said that this was in fact a "trash can for her clothes".

I've Got My Little Girl Back

Today I've finally gotten my little girl back.  Last weekend while I was in Minneapolis with my brother Alyce came down with a double ear infection.  This infection hit her like a ton of bricks.  Alyce was knocked out and turned into something I'd never met before a whiny kid. 

When I first walked into the house Monday after my trip Alyce was just laying on the couch watching tv barely acknowledging my presence.  That night and the next few days Alyce was in a terrible mood.  She couldn't cope with any situation that didn't go her way.  To keep her happy or at least not crying Alyce watched a lot of T.V. and missed most meals except for juice, milk, and water.  She was so pathetic she wouldn't even feed herself.  Mom and I had to feed her each and every bite.  By the time we got her to bed every night Mom and I were exhausted.  Once she started antibiotics her symptoms improved slowly culminating today.

Tonight I caught up with the family at Gram's and Papa's house and I was greeted by my little girl.  She said "daddy!", came running across the room, and into my arms.  I don't know where she was the past week but my little girl was back.  We played like we used to.  I wrestled with her, hung her upside down, and tickled her; it was great.  I hope that we get some time off before she gets sick again.  It seems since the first of the year Alyce has been sick more than she's been healthy.  Just the side effect of going to school with a bunch of other boogie nosed kids.  The pain we're experiencing now will be worth the gain when she isn't missing tons of kindergarten.