I Want, I Need

Alyce's vocabulary is constantly increasing. I can't even put a number on the words she knows. What is now even more fun / interesting is that she is learning to use her new found ability to communicate. Over the past few weeks Alyce has been starting to say I want and I need. Before then she would just say the name of want she wanted; apple juice being a good example. She would just say apple juice over and over again. So now she says "I want apple juice" and if we fail to get her some juice a few minutes later she says "I need apple juice". Her saying I want and I need is pretty cool with the one exception is that she will say it over and over again until we respond to her or get her some juice.

Rice Krispie Treats

Tonight Alyce and I made some Rice Krispie Treats. Alyce poured the cereal into the bowl and she counted out 40 big marsh mellows with Daddy's help of course. While I was melting the butter and marsh mellows Alyce was eating extra Rice Krispies one a time. When we finally got everything all put together and poured the mixture into 13X9 pan. Alyce said "woah" with a giggle as I was pouring it. Before we put Alyce to bed we gave her one of her treats and she didn't even want to try it. Crazy kids, don't know what is bad for them in a good sort of way. Eventually Mommy got her to eat part of one and of course she liked it.

Slowest Cookie Eater Ever

I'm not sure if you know this but Alyce is a slow cookie eater. Not all cookies just Oreos. She is very methodical with every one. She pulls the two sides apart, eats the cream, and then nibbles each cookie. By the end there is just as much cookie on her mouth as there is in her mouth.

Yes and No

We have had other big milestones over the past few days. Well maybe in the past few weeks. Alyce is starting to say yes. Well not say yes as much as nod her approval. For the longest time (seems like forever) Alyce has had "no" down pat. She can shake her head no, and can say no in O so many ways. Refer here if you would like to read about that.

Now that Alyce is nodding her approval we can cut down on all the questions we have to ask her like do you want juice? "No". Do you want water? "No". Do you want milk? *silence* must mean yes. So now we have the opposite. Do you want juice? *nods yes*. We still might have to ask all the questions, but at least we know for sure what she wants. Most of the time when she nods approval she actually means it.

We are hoping that in the future we will be able to ask Alyce what she wants and gives a specific response. It will happen, just not sure when. In the mean time we will just have to stick with 20 questions.

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.

Booster Seat

On Saturday the family went out to run some errands but before that we ate at a Lion's Choice for lunch. This common occurrence was made uncommon due to the fact it was the first time Alyce used a booster seat. I'm not sure why we even decided to try a booster seat, but try we did and it was a great success. Alyce behaved so well we rewarded her with a $.31 dipped ice cream cone.

Noooo

Alyce has a new favorite word, no. She says it a lot these days. She uses where you are supposed to use it I guess. In situations such as "Alyce can you please eat some sandwich?" the answer might be No. It might also be yes, but she doesn't say yes, she just does whatever it is we are wanting her to do or what she wants to do. What is kind of funny about her saying no is that she has so many ways of saying it. Sometimes it will be short quiet no, other times it will be a long drawn out melodic nooooo. One of my favorites and the most frustrating at the same time is that when we are sitting down for dinner and she doesn't want to eat what we are offering. She says no and proceeds to pull down on her face so that we can see the backs of her lower eye lids. How can you make eat when they are showing you the backs of their eyelids?

I figure this is all part of her developing as an individual. It would be nice to know what she would like rather than us guessing. I think a lot of issues we are having is that she can't vocalize what she wants, she can only vocalize what she doesn't want. I am hoping this will blow over like changing her diapers did. In the past she used to fight and squirm every time we tried to change a diaper. Now we can just ask her to lay down and 90% of the time she does it.

Hello Spoon

Alyce ate breakfast all by herself yesterday. Mmm Fruit Loops. Nom nom nom.