Purina Farms

Last weekend the family along with Josh, Tammy, and Gideon all went to Purina Farms.  We had a fun albeit cold time as the weather turned unseasonably cold that day.  We did the best we could to keep Alyce and Luke out of the cold.  I think Alyce and Gideon had a good time.

 

 The first show Alyce saw was the dog show.  Purina Farms hosts the incredible dog challenge every year in October show casing all the neat things dogs can do.  From the agility course, Frisbee catching, to long jumping.  The Purina team showcased the dogs on their team and all the great things they can do.  Alyce's favorite event was the dog long jumping.  After every jump as the crowd was cheering Alyce would jump up and down clapping and squealing.

Later on we ended up in the barn where we got to see bunnies, chickens, pigs, and a very loud cow.  Whenever the cow would moo Alyce would giggle and say the cow was mooing at her.

Alyce also got her picture taken with the Easter Bunny.  We thought she was over her fear of costumed creatures but we were wrong.  It was our turn for pictures and I told Alyce to go stand by the Easter Bunny so I could take a picture.  Alyce's demeanor immediately changed and she clung to my leg with no intention of letting go.  I asked her if it would be ok if I held her while standing next to him.  I guess I was all the security blanket she needed as she agreed and Mom took our picture.

Green? Where are You?

Alyce has learned a lot.  A lot of what she has learned has come from school and other knowledge comes from that place that knowledge comes from.  Maybe it is repetition, mimicking behavior, or maybe it is time.  Regardless she has acquired a lot of knowledge.

One thing she has learned is what a stop sign looks like and what it is for.  She also understands the significance of stop lights and that the green light is much preferred over the red one.  I'm guessing she picked all of this up from school or watching how Mom and I drive.  She took that knowledge and applied it to some other time where she witnessed Mom and I talking to each other or no one in particular to create the following funny scene.

The whole family was sitting at a stop light waiting for the red light to turn green.  Coming from the back seat came the following "Green?...  Green?...  Where are you green?".  Mom and I roared wondering where exactly that came from.  Stuff like that is what makes being a parent great.

Potty Success From Nowhere

Coming completely out of left field we had some potty success yesterday.  When I got home from work I was greeted by my little girl and she was all hyped up I guess from school.  At one point she was in the bathroom playing around with a box of Princess Band Aids.  I asked her if she needed to use the bathroom and like normal her response was a "no".  After a few minutes she closed the door to the bathroom which isn't that unusual.

I checked on her to see what she was getting in to and to my surprise there was my little girl pants and diaper at her ankles putting her potty seat on the toilet.  After that she moved her bench into position to get up on the toilet.  At that point she discovered she had put the cart before the horse because she wasn't able to get a foot on the bench because her pants were at her ankles.  I told her to pull them up so she could step up and sure enough she did.  At this point Alyce was all about her "privacy" and wanted me to close the door.  Less than a minute later Alyce has taken care of business.  I thought I could go back into bathroom at this point to praise her potty success but I would be wrong.  Alyce still wanted her privacy while she was pulling up her pants and diaper.  She moved her bench over to the sink, washed her hands with soap, and dried them with a towel all by herself.  Finally she emerged from the bathroom having done all the potty stuff "by herself" to mountains of praise and candy from Mom and myself.

We thought we were on to something but we were wrong.  Later that night Alyce did her business in her diaper.  She is so close to being potty trained.  She is physically ready just not mentally.  You aren't supposed to force a kid to do this but how do you get them to want to?  It seems like Alyce only wants to do it when she wants to.  Oh well.  I'm sure one day she'll just start doing it.

Play Ball!

Alyce and I took advantage of the beautiful weather we're having today and played outside. At one point she said to me, "I want to play baseball!". So we got the bat and found her ball and we played baseball. Well Alyce would throw the ball to me and I would do my best to hit the ball. It wasn't always easy to hit the ball since she threw some wild pitches. Here's a couple of pictures of Alyce with her bat. Enjoy!