Butt Beans

Alaena has reached that nice chatty little age. Some of it is recognizable language, and some of it is jibberish, but she's getting really good at repeating things you say. Well pretty much.
She repeats body parts. If you say nose, she'll point to her nose and say, "NNOOOOOSSSEEE"
If you say belly, she raises up her shirt and says, "BEELLLLLLYYYYY!" This turned out to be pretty funny the other day because she had a one piece outfit on. I said belly, and she spent 5 minutes trying to pull up her outfit so she could get to her belly and point to it. She couldn't get to her belly, so she refused to say the word.
We'll get her to repeat the things she is eating as well. However today mom got her to say butter beans, and it came out "BUTT BEEEEAAANS!" Somehow it doesn't seem quite as appetizing that way.

A Night in "Future Daddy" Training

I'm sure all of you parents out there have been where I was last week. Alaena had strep, and she was on several different medicines. And in a word she was ORNERY. She didn't want to be held. She didn't want to be put down. She didn't want her cup. She didn't want her food. She pretty much just didn't want anything. So finally I laid her in her bed because I knew what she really needed was rest.
I must mention that my boyfriend Shawn was at my house while this cry fest was going on. He says he wants children. And he got some training let me tell you. Because he is used to happy Alaena. The Alaena who rarely ever cries. The Alaena who goes to sleep almost the very second you lay her in the bed. But he got introduced to sick Alaena. And sick Alaena isn't the happy-go-lucky baby I normally have.
So as I said above, I laid Alaena in her bed. As most of you can probably guess, the real screaming commenced. And she put up the battle to end all battles in fighting sleep. She would scream, then she would whimper, then she would hold her breath, then she would stand up and yell "MAAAAAAAAA!"
And although it was breaking my heart, I knew that I had to hold to my resolve because I know my child, and rarely does she EVER fall asleep outside of her bed. And she was crying even when I was holding her. So it pretty much was just a wait and see how long it takes her to cry it out.
And through it all, Shawn was saying, "I can't stand it. Pick her up. Let her play."
And I would say, "She needs her rest. She was screaming before I put her in the bed, and it's not playtime, it's sleep time."
To which he would say, "I know you're right."
This conversation went on at least every five minutes for two hours. That's right I said two hours. When she finally fell asleep Shawn said, "I know that's what's best for her, but I sure am glad I'll never be a MAMA because I sure couldn't do it!"
And I just laughed thinking he sounded pretty much like a typical dad!!

Being Me, Being Free

Last night I went to my niece and nephews end of the year program, and if you've never been to a program where 60 to 70 three and four year olds sing and say parts, well let me just say, you haven't been living life!
Anyway, it was all really cute and sweet about how each of us have a promise from God that He has a plan for our lives. They had little lines about what they wanted to be when they grew up, and my nephew said he just wanted to be bigger. This drew a lot of laughs from the audience because he is quite obviously the shortest child in the class.
But the best moment of the program came during a song called "Being Me." Apparently my nephew really took the words of the song to heart because he broke out of his shell during that song. He was the loudest one of them all. Literally, and it was quite obvious because he held the notes at the end of each and every line at the top of his lungs.
So it went something like this:

BEING MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
BEING FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
BEING ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL I CAN BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The entire crowd was almost in tears with laughter. Bad part about it? The battery on the video camera died. Hope we can find a copy of it somewhere!! Because it was so adorable.
And of course Alaena danced during the whole thing and clapped her hands. Which I think probably nudged Trace on a bit more. Ahhh, to be three and carefree again!

Once Upon a Time in Raegan's World

Since moving in with my sister a few months back, I have been driving Raegan and Trace to school each morning. This has led to many interesting moments...some good, some bad. Some mornings the begging not to go to school lasts the entire ride to school. Other mornings the two are totally happy little campers who joke and tell stories. And on mornings like that, I hear Raegan's once upon a time stories. Here are a few snippets I have overheard from the backseat in the last few months:

"Once upon a time there was a princess who had to kiss frogs, but it was gross."

"Once upon a time Goldilocks went to see her grandmother, but the wolf ate her and said my what big teeth you have."

"Once upon a time there was a little baby named Alaena and she had a sister named Raegan." (Raegan is fully convinced that Alaena is now her sister because they live in the same house.)

"Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a tooth growing in from behind that went to the dentist." (Some of her stories are based on real life. Her permanent tooth is growing in behind her baby tooth. In her mind this was apparently good story making material.)

"Once upon a time Raegan and Trace went into the forest and saw deers, and they dropped the hammer on the four wheeler." (This story was a bit disturbing to my mom since she's told my dad in no uncertain terms that "dropping the hammer" on the four wheeler is strictly forbidden)

The best thing about these stories is the tone of voice she takes when telling them. She could definitely have a career at Disney one day because a story teller she is. I'm just glad I get the chance to smile at these little stories now!

Moon Sand: A.K.A. the Ruin of All Things Neat and Tidy

If any of you have children around the age of 5 or so, I'm sure you've heard of Moon Sand. Nifty sand that molds into shapes and gives children hours of enjoyment. But this wonderful invention for children is the cause of many hours of cleaning for parents.

My sister had the idea to get an outdoor table for Moon Sand that had a lid. A great idea in theory. But a 3 and a 5 year old get little enjoyment out of keeping Moon Sand IN the table. It looks better to them on the Carport. Because who doesn't love a multi-colored sandy carport?

Especially when it starts raining? My poor boyfriend. He had just blown off the carport and had everything looking really good. He said, "We'll have to make some ground rules for when I clean off the carport." But he was laughing.

If he can lay down ground rules on getting Raegan and Trace not to make any messes on the carport, we're gonna get him to lay down some rules for the inside too. For example, "Don't take your change banks out because Alaena may try to eat pennies." Fortunately she's never swallowed any, but it hasn't been for lack of opportunity.

Aahhh life with kids. Definite fun times!!

Don't Drink and Drive

Well, Alaena is only 14 months old, and I thought I had raised her better, but she had a drinking and driving mishap today. My mom babysits her, and she gave her some milk, and Alaena was sitting on her little car drinking it.
She has a habit of leaning way back when she drinks her cups. Well, this time she leaned a little too far back and fell off the car.
So my mom said, "Alaena, don't you know you shouldn't drink and drive?"
My nephew heard this, and he is now following Alaena around the house saying, "Don't drink and drive, Laena. Don't drink and drive."
At least she's learning early I guess! Guess I'll have to check that milk...

Ha! Ha! Ha! Grammy!

Well, yesterday I learned that my child has quite a sense of humor. My mom didn't quite see it that way, but everyone else got quite a laugh out of it. My mom comes to mine and my sister's house to keep Alaena everyday.
A few weeks back we re-did all of the locks at our house. And the new locks don't have to be unlocked to open the door from the inside. Which may not be a good thing apparently.
We have a gate that closes on our driveway where we can let Copper roam the backyard. Yesterday morning my mom went out to close the gate to let Copper out, and she left Alaena standing at the kitchen door watching her which is what she always does.
However, just standing there wasn't enough for Alaena yesterday. She wanted to play with the door. So she pushed the door closed. Unfortunately mom hadn't unlocked it to open it.
So she got locked out, and her key was on the kitchen table beside Alaena. Thankfully the next door neighbor was home and was nice enough to allow mom to call me. So I ran home on my break and let mom into the house.
Alaena was standing at the door laughing at mom when I got there. Here I was expecting her to be screaming or to have fallen down the steps, and she was standing there laughing. So I laughed with her!
I believe I have some quite interesting years ahead of me!!