Final Potty update?

We've been potty training Alice for about a year now and I think she FINALLY has it during the day. She's been in underwear for the past week and doing great. She still wears a diaper at nap time (mostly dry) and bed time (nowhere near dry). Yay!!!! Maybe by next summer she'll be officially potty trained. ;)

Sentences and spookies

Lucius may not like kindergarten but he sure is learning a ton! He wrote his first sentence today... All by himself.
"look at the pond." So exciting.
His second sentence was:
"My Dad es bolt."
Translation = My Dad is bald.

hahahahaha. We're still laughing about that one.

On Wednesday Alice decided that she was finally scared of the dark. This was completely out of nowhere. I turned off her bedroom light to put her to bed and she started throwing a fit. "Put light on! It too scary! I need light on!" I gave her Lucius' old twilight turtle to sleep with and that seemed to do the trick.

Besties

Yesterday our neighbor asked Alice who her best friend was and she said "my mommy" without skipping a beat. OMG. Too sweet. Of course Tom asked her again a little while later and she gave 3 different answers, none of which were "my mommy". But she named me first so I'll take it! She's also started saying "I need my Mommy." She knows she can get me with that every time. Lots of hugs and kisses typically follow.

This morning I heard her singing to herself in her room.
"The mommies on the bus say I love you...I love you...I love you...all through the town"
The babies on the bus go waaa waaa waaa....

I asked her why the babies were crying and she said that they wanted milk.

Stats

Alice and Lucius had their wellness visits today. It's so weird how they seem to mirror our two cats, Ichabod and Tacit.

First there's Ichabod/Lucius...the big boys with strong personalities. Ichabod is currently on a diet and Lucius needs to drop to 2% milk.
Current Stats:
Height = 45 3/4 inches (75th percentile)
Weight = 51.5 lbs (90th percentile)

Then there's Tacit/Alice...the much smaller, more independent yet slightly submissive ones. Lately Alice has had to exclaim (repeatedly) "my pants fall down! my pants fall down!" while trying to hike them back up.
Current Stats:
Height = 36 1/4 inches (59th percentile)
Weight = 24 lbs. 6 oz (6th percentile)
Head = 46 1/4 cm (9th percentile). At least her head is proportionate with her weight now!

Poor Lucius had to get 5 shots. That did not go over too well. At least he's set until 11.

First day of kindergarten!

First day of kindergarten!



Wow. How quickly things changed. Lucius was over kindergarten after one week. Getting him on the bus is difficult and he repeatedly tells his teacher that he just doesn't want to be there. At least his teacher is great!






Poor Alice. She wants to ride the bus too. "When I odder I wide buth too????"

Love it. Hate it.

Alice is into loving things and hating things.

I love Ichabod. I love Tacit. I love candy. I love chocolate. I love it!

Tom picked out a shirt for her to wear: No, I don't want it. I hate it. With emphasis on the hate.


Never!!! Is another favorite. Following in her brother's borderline footsteps...

Future vegetarian?

Alice: What dat? (pointing at the pulled pork on her plate)
Tom: Pig.
Alice: Pig?
Tom: Yes.
Alice: Eat pig?
Tom: Yes.

Later on that night...

Alice: Dis pig?
Eve: No, that's a marshmallow.
Tom: We also eat cows and chickens.
Alice: Eat chicken?
Tom: Yes.
Alice: Chicken crying.
Eve: Why's the chicken crying? Because we're eating it?
Alice: yeah, chicken crying cuz eating it.

Uh oh. Alice is now very curious about her food and asks what everything is. She's a little hestitant to eat meat now.

Green Lantern

Alice and Daddy being silly

Vacay 2011

We're getting ready for a month of vacation time over here. I have no desire to pack which is why I'm actually updating the blog.

Here's some pics from a bday party that we went to a few weeks ago. It was at the Okey Doke ranch.

Waiting for some pony rides.


Lucius and Drew.




Peanut on a "Pink" Pony

White balance

I just learned something in Photoshop that I should've learned 5 years ago. White and black balance! It can make a huge difference in pictures. Man, I need a photoshop class or something.

Alice "unbalanced"


Alice "balanced"

Do you see the difference???!!!!


Here's the tutorial I used:http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/2011/02/photo-tips-with-emilie-lets-try-this.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlueCricketDesign+%28Blue+Cricket+Design%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Like father like son

Lucius broke his right elbow this morning and it took an entire day with 3 trips to 3 different doctors to figure it out. Luckily it was Tom that had to handle it and not me. ;)

Mom and Lu day

Lucius went to the dentist and has one wiggly tooth! And more importantly, no cavities. We had an entire Mommy and Me day with a trip to the diner for lunch (Lu wanted soup) and to the movie theater to see Rio. In the car Lu commented on how quiet it was without Alice saying "it's like a vacation!"....yes, Lu...now you know how me and daddy feel.

Perfect!

Alice has started saying "perfect!" when she's done something that makes her proud. She's also asking "why? why?" and "what dat?" to everything. Alice also refused to say "sorry" after her timeout the other day. I asked if she was going to sleep on the stairs the whole night and she shook her head yes. I finally squeezed a mumbled "sorry" out of her. She's definitely a full-fledged 2 year old.

Pronunciation

I love the words that Lu mispronounces...I just can't bring myself to correct him.
Mush-stache
smarsh-mellow

He's still having trouble with his L's, but he's getting there. Too bad that his name starts with an L (U-shus) and Alice has an l (ah-yis).

Alice calls phones "hellos", stars "twinkle twinkle", and clocks "tick tocks". Too cute.

Alice came very close to having her first ER visit yesterday. She was down for a nap and I was cleaning up cat puke off of our white duvet cover when I heard her start crying really hard as if she were hurt. I ran into her room and she had her hand stuck in her mouth. I thought that maybe she bit her check until I removed her hand and saw her tiny metal barette at the back of her throat.

If you're eating stop reading now.

I did the finger swipe and couldn't get it...luckily (?) that made her throw up (into my hands and I didn't get a single drop on her Tommy Hilfiger duvet cover, thank you very much). Long gross story short I managed to retrieve the barrette and put her butt back into bed for a nap. Hopefully she learned a lesson. I sure did! No more barrettes at nap time.

2011 School Pictures (Preschool)

2011 Target Pictures

The session went much better than the first time we went.

Happy Birthday Alice!

Alice turned 2 today. Everytime I sing her "Happy Birthday" she smiles wide and giggles.

I tried to recreate the pictures I took of her on her first birthday, but it didn't go so well. Luckily, she loves to copy everything Lucius does so if I can get Lu to smile she'll do the same.

Happy Birthday Big Girl! We love you!

The birthdays approach

The big birthdays are approaching. Lucius will be 5 (FIVE!) and Alice will be 2 (TWO!).

I had to give Alice her first official time-out yesterday. I caught her dumping handfuls of cat food into their water dish. I was very serious and told her "no,no" and then tapped her hand and said "ditty, ditty" which REALLY made her upset. She had to sit on the stairs for 1 minute...which she did very nicely...she just wailed the whole time. When the timer went off we "talked" about what she did and I made her say sorry ("saw-wee mama")...then we had lots of hugs and kisses and everything was OK. ;)

Lucius is maturing by leaps and bounds...the things that come out of this child's mouth are just hilarious. He keep us and his teachers entertained. The other night I asked him to get me a napkin and he said "what am I like your service or something? ha ha I'm just kidding". His teachers told me he had requested his "water service" at lunch the other day. LOL. I had to explain 1) that it's servant not service and 2) what servant even means.

What's between love and like?

Like any preschooler, Lucius asks questions all.day.long. I try my hardest not to get annoyed and answer them...but I don't always succeed. When I asked him why he asks so many questions he said it's because he doesn't know what's going on in my mind so he has to ask about things. His way of saying that he's trying to figure out how the world works.

When I was away for the weekend I talked on the phone with Lu...something I rarely do. I was shocked at this kid voice talking back...using complete sentences and words such as "actually" and "realized". Who is this kid? Where did my baby boy go?

I never know what's going to come out of his mouth. On the way to the doctor's this morning he asked "What's in between love and like?"

In other news...Tom lost Alice's last pacifier while I was out of town and so Alice is now a big girl without her nuk! She still asks for it though. She's been crying herself to sleep for the past 4 nights. Something she's never done before. She'll be fine in th car for awhile but then she'll stop chatting and just cry out "nuk!" and start pouting. We'll ask her "where is it?" and she'll say "I da know" and then we'll start talking about something else to distract her. The poor girl.