Tee-ball, Turkeys, and More

Slugger Aleaha makes contact. It's hard to tell from the pic, but she's very fashionable in her new purple shall, made by Jeanie Powell. Thank you, Jeanie!! It's darling!


Here's a shot of Aleaha in her new Fancy Nancy birthday outfit from Aunt Jodi. Wow, is she stylin' or what?!



Check out the visiting wild turkeys. They haven't been spotted around here in about 5 years, and suddenly we get two on the porch. For a minute, it looked like they would ring the doorbell and try to sell us something. ;)



Aleaha kept talking about a special bazzert made with "trat-ters and marshmallows and chocolate all over it". So we made Microwave S'Mores for dessert tonight. She calls them "S'Nores". Hmm, wonder where she gets that notion??

Birthday, Cont'd

Birthday time at school went OK. Not great, but OK.


Here she is before cupcakes. The Birthday Crown was tolerated, but she didn't seem too thrilled about the situation.


And here she is after cupcakes. Obviously the added feature of cupcakes made a difference in her outlook on things.


Friends Sylvie and Ryder knew just how to dig in.

Later on at home, after her favorite dinner of "meat, letters & numbers, and broccoli" (all her faves) we had more cake, this time with the requisite candles. She perked up a bit for this part.






"Yeah, Mom, that one is for me."

Birthday Morning!

It's finally here! Her birthday!!

I had to be at work extra-early this morning, so when I woke her up to get ready for school, I raised the shade on her window....

Mom: "Good morning, Birthday Girl! You're three years old now!"
Miss A, eyes tightly shut, fingers held up making "peace" sign for two: "No I'm not, I'm still two!"
Mom: "But it must be your birthday, because there are some presents downstairs in the livingroom. "
Miss A: "Reeeaaallly? Oh! I'm three now! Hooray!"

Here are a few terribly grainy shots of the morning. (Batteries in the good camera were used up. Nice timing, eh? Had to use cell phone camera.)


She got a horsie lunchbox, a horsie watch, and a new real, black horse helmet for riding Jake.


Here she is opening a package of sandwich-fixings. She got right into it with Daddy (noting "Great. Now she'll have skills for working at Subway."). Together they made a fabulous sandwich.

This obviously made an impression on her, because in the car a half hour later on the way to school, when I asked her what she got for her birthday this morning, she immediately said, "FOOD!" I thought she was referring to the toast her dad made her for breakfast (packed into her new lunchbox, natch, for eating in the car on the way). Duh, I'd already forgotten about the sandwich thingie.

So apparently food is her #1 motivator, and horses are #2. I guess that's evolutionarily beneficial, right?

Later today we move on to the Cupcake Scene at school. Can you say Sugar-Induced High? Look out, parents, it's our turn today!

The Pre-Birthday

Because her birthday is on a weekday... and because Monday was an in-service day at her daycare (meaning she would be staying home with one of us),... and because we as parents appreciate the value of peace and happiness that comes with giving a gift that can be enjoyed by oneself for about 15 minutes, we decided to give Aleaha her "big gift" a couple of days early.

It was worth it for all of us. :)


Daddy adjusts the stirrups.


Miss A feeds him an apple (note boots and hat in background -- essential items of the ensemble that we immediately had to don in order to continue with the experience).

Going to Class

I took Miss A to attend a class on "Becoming a Big Sister or Brother" at the hospital. I say "attend" and not "participate in"... because that definitely explains her level of involvement. The class was held during her normal naptime hours, so I couldn't have expected too much. Obviously they are set up to deal with older kids - she barely met their threshold for age.


Here she is during the opening movie. All the other kids (well, all 5 of them) were sitting in a half-circle on the floor around the TV. But not her. I had to threaten a few times that we would leave. But she knew that wouldn't have been a cool thing. Plus, there was a plate of cookies in the back, and she figured she wouldn't be allowed one if she didn't make it to the end.


And here she is sitting backwards in her chair, ignoring the teacher-- because the lady behind us was much more interesting. (It's true, unfortunately.)


Things got a little more interesting when it was time to hold and swaddle the "pretend babies" (uh, otherwise known as DOLLS). Aleaha knew how to do that part, so she felt a little more at ease.


This was as close as she would venture to the circle. That's the back of her pony-tailed head, with one hand firmly clenched to the table.

On the way home, Aleaha fell asleep in the car, as expected and appreciated. But not before I tried to drill her -- uh, I mean, reinforce with her -- some of the objects of the class. When I asked her what she remembered, she said: "Mom, we had juice and tookies!", and then the clincher.... "Mom, we got to ride in the elebator!"

So much for learning important things like, "Don't let Noodle play with anything smaller than your fist."

Obviously we will have to parent both of them closely! ;)

Our Little Helper

She doesn't look thrilled here, but that's just because she was self-conscious that Mom was taking a picture in the grocery store. We stopped in at the First Alternative Co-op store the other day, and they happen to have "doze yittle drocery tarts" that she has wanted SO BADLY to push. We went to Trader Joe's a while back, all jazzed with the expectation of her being able to push her own cart there. But it turns out that "bad people have stealed them all," and TJ's has chosen not to replace them. So, we were really happy to see that our local Co-op has a few.

Aleaha can do so many thing now. It's an amazing evolution to witness, really. I'm grateful for the chance to be a parent and see this.

We have FINALLY finished Aleaha's "Big Girl Bedroom", and she's moved in. I'm so proud of her! I painted the room last weekend, we had the carpet installed during the week, and Daddy replaced all the outlets and switches on Saturday. Then we set up her Big Girl Bed (twin bed). She has had two nights in there so far. It's such a big step. Although last night, at one of her awakenings, she asked to go "back in my trib".

Speaking of her, uh, accent, I've taken note of a few funny pronunciations:

Ba-dee-ya (tortilla)
Balicious (delicious)
Bamote (remote, as in remote control)
Bazzert (dessert)
Baputer (computer)
Tichen (kitchen)
Dop (stop)
Boke (poke)

There are a few more, but I can't recall them at the moment.

Oh, and then there's the little gem from this morning, on the way to school. We were following a police car...

Aleaha: "Hey Mom, yook. Dere's a pleece car in front of us."
Mom: "Yeah, there is."
Aleaha: "What are those letters on the back?"
Mom: "Well, how 'bout you tell me what those letters are."
Aleaha: "P-O-L-I-C-E"
Mom: "That's right. Do you know what that spells? That spells 'police'."
Aleaha: "Oh. Well. That makes sense."

hehehe. She's got a fabulous grasp of the obvious. :)

Another story....

I told Aleaha that her soon-to-arrive little sister (still called "Noodle") wanted to get her a special birthday present, and I was thinking that she might want to have it early. Aleaha was totally intrigued at this prospect -- not just the getting of a present, but the fact that Noodle had worked this out with me. It was a Bob-style stroller (3 wheels, with a little place underneath to store/carry more stuff, which she is REALLY into lately). She was thrilled, and immediately took to filling it with a swaddled baby doll and an assortment of other things to push around, one of which was her cell phone. She proceeded to push it around the kitchen, but then suddenly stopped, grabbed her cell phone, and had this conversation:

Aleaha: "Yeah, hi-yo. Are you dere? Yeah, uh, tank you for da Bob. I really, really yike it. It's just yike my udder one, but it hodes more stuff. Yeah. Uh-huh. OK. Yeah. Alright. Bye."

I asked her what that conversation was all about. She replied, "Noodle wasn't dere. I had to yeave a message. I wanted to tell her tank-you for da Bob."

And finally this little quip:

Mom: "Aleaha, if you were a horse, what kind of horse would you be?"
Aleaha: "Mom, if I was a horse, I wouldn't be A-yee-ah!"
Mom: "Yes, I know. But if you were a horse, what kind would you be?"
Aleaha, quick as a whip: "A bucking horse, Mom."

Touche!