Alyce's Friend

Alyce loves to play with her friend, Reagan, in our Gym Time class at the Early Childhood Center. They go to school together, so they think it's great when they see each other in this class. They play together almost the entire class. Here are some pictures of them playing together.

The Cozy Coupe

Alyce got the Cozy Coupe for Christmas from her Grandma and today she finally got to really play with it. On Christmas we didn't have enough room in the car to bring it home, so we decided to leave it at Grandma's house until the next time. Well then we decided to put our house up for sale and in order to keep the clutter down, we decided the car should stay at Grandma's. Well today it was a nice day and we were at Grandma's for awhile, so I brought it up from the basement and Alyce loved it. She even decided she needed to get gas.


After she would get gas, she'd come visit me at my house, which was really Grandma's front porch. After she said hi, she'd have to go somewhere, most of the time it was to get gas. So cute!

Hugs When You Need It

When you are having a bad day it seems your kids know exactly what to do.

Easter Baskets

Easter morning Mom provided Easter baskets for Alyce, Luke, and myself with lots of candy and in my case some Legos.  As Alyce and I were digging into our baskets Alyce noticed something amiss; Mommy didn't have a basket.  She said to Mommy that "the Easter Bunny forgot your Easter basket...  He'll bring it later".  Mommy responded with silence as she wasn't prepared for such a statement.  Before Mom came up with an answer Alyce said "you can have some of my candy".

Isn't this just the sweetest thing ever?  I'm sure a child psychologist could outline all types of developmental milestones.  I just know that I have best little girl in the world.

Easter

Our Easter weekend this year was a rather busy one.  Alyce got to pet some barn animals, ride a pony, and search for Easter eggs, three times!

The Easter events started off on Saturday for us.  We met up with Grams and Papa at GiGi's apartment for an Easter celebration.  The management there puts on an Easter egg hunt along with a petting zoo and a pony ride.  Alyce petted the animals for a few minutes but the pony is really what grabbed her attention.  Alyce patiently waited her turn for a ride and when it was her turn she was very eager to go.  We placed her on the saddle and off she went.  We didn't hold on to her while she rode pony up and down the parking lot.  I was however about two steps away and ready to jump in to catch her if the need should arise.  It didn't.
After the animals it was time for the Easter egg hunt.  The management set out 300 eggs full of candy, money, and other assorted goodies.  The kids ranging from age 2 to 10 were all joining in on the hunt.  However, it was a group start and all the kids went at one time.  The older kids were a little forceful during the hunt with one almost stealing an egg that Mom was guarding for Alyce as she came over.  Mom turned on the full force mommy attitude and told that kid what for.  When it was all said and done Alyce had 13 eggs.  The overly pushy boy, 46.  Still we had a good time and are looking forward to next year.

The next day, Sunday, we met Onermark Grams at church for Easter services.  Following that we went over to my Aunt Marilyn's and Uncle Eric's for lunch and an Easter egg hunt.  It is always great to meet up with my family and catching up on events.  It is also neat to see how much my cousin's kids have grown.  After lunch Sam and Jared went outside to hide the eggs while the kids were sequestered in a bedroom to playing with toys.  Once the eggs were hidden they came in telling the kids that they saw the Easter Bunny hopping off into the woods.  The kids totally bought and the level of excitement went through the roof.  Alyce being one of the oldest kids in the hunt did particularly well but more importantly than age she had a plan.  All the other kids went right while we went left.  Leaving us half the eggs with zero competition.  I'd say that for a few minutes Alyce "dominated".  It was really cool to watch Alyce spot an egg, run to it, and grab it while running past 4 eggs in the process.  Whenever she'd say "I see one" I'd get the biggest smile on my face.


After hanging out at my families we journeyed to Gram's and Papa's house for Easter dinner.  When we first came in Alyce had her 3rd and final Easter egg hunt.  This one was much easier as all the eggs were hidden indoors in two rooms.

The Park

Alyce and the rest of the family are enjoying a nice afternoon at the park. It's the first time we've been to this park. It is small enough to never have anyone here but big enough to have slides, swings, and a merry-go-round.

Coloring Easter Eggs

On Saturday, Alyce, Grams and I colored eggs for Easter at Grams' house. We were a little disappointed in the colors, but we still had lots of fun and the eggs turned out really pretty. Alyce's favorite part was putting the eggs in and out of the dye. She got to pick out a few wrappers to put on the eggs. The first one she chose was a pink wrapper with yellow suns on it. Then she picked out one with butterflies on it. Here are a few pictures.

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.