Alex's words V

I wanted to get it as accurate as possible, but had to fudge a little as I left it too long to write down.

Tonight at dinner, Alex wasn't impressed that we wouldn't let her feed Sebastien until she'd finished her own dinner. Out goes the bottom lip, the arms cross in front of her chest:

"I am not going to be your friends anymore guys."

She turns to the wall - Brett and I try to contain ourselves.

"I'm not going to be your friends."

Then I manage a "But we're not your friends, we're your parents."

A second passes:

"I don't want you to be my parents."

Broad grins pass between Brett and I: "Too bad, you're stuck with us."

A brief sigh errupts from Alex and the ultimate punishment...

"Well, I'm not going to talk to you then." (Turns to the wall.)

Any guess as to how long that lasted?!

I'm trapped!

Once we realised Alex was tall enough to reach - and turn - the doorknobs in our apartment, we put childproof covers on them in an effort to prevent her going out the front door, going into our room (the only non-childproofed room in the apartment) and also on the inside of Alex's bedroom - so she would actually stay in her room when put there for a timeout.

Her words that first time in a room time-out were "Oh dear - I'm trapped!" Hard not to laugh despite the heat of the moment.

Well that was a long time ago now - actually the beginning of January 2008 whilst Brett was at the New Orleans conference. And so recently she has been able to remove (and hide) the doorknob covers herself.

Hmm, different strategy required.

New Kids on the Block - reunited!

I couldn't believe it when I heard that they were back - it just brought back some memories...

Here's Alex when she's just 12 months old...

Standing tall

Alex

Sebastien

A growing awareness

The other night we sold the kid's dresser and moved it out whilst they slept. Alex was concerned but her only comment when she woke up: "But now I don't have anymore underwear."

Today it was the coffee table that went. Alex was growing concerned: "Why's she taking our coffee table?" "Because she bought it." "But why?" "Because we can't take it to China, it's too big."

tick

tick

tick

"I don't want her to take the couch - I want it to stay here."

Thank goodness she hasn't wanted to ride with her daddy on the bike - the toddler bike seat also went the other night!!

Water Fun

I find it hard to believe that this time last year I was in my final trimester and seriously suffering in the Midwest heat and humidity.

With the heat starting to kick in, we've started been making more use of the pools.We've also had Alex taking swimming lessons for the past month, every afternoon. She loves it and can almost float front and back by herself. She's been promoted from Goldfish to Sunfish for the last two weeks of swimming lessons so we'll see how it all goes.

Urbana Indoor Aquatic Center

Sholem Pool

Quiet Time

It's been really difficult to get Alex to have a nap in the afternoon - we were trying to keep her routine as close to school as possible but she seems to have given naps away. Undeterred we pronounced (former) naptime as "quiet time" with the proviso that she be in her bed and not playing with toys. Well, it seemed to be too great a distraction for her so Brett turned her toy bookshelf around: and removed all the toys elsewhere to the top of the cupboard. Until she has consistent "good" quiet times...still waiting!Update: All the toys travelling to China have been packed and her quiet time has changed to playing quietly by herself in the living room - hoping that this way Sebastien will not be distracted and will get an afternoon nap...still waiting...

Winning a prize

We went to a local cafe and they had a competition to raise money for a charity at the cash register - drop your quarter into a huge enclosed vase and if you can make it land inside the (much) smaller container within, you get a free muffin/cookie/cake. So I gave Alex two quarters - one for her and one for Sebastien - which she dropped in together (I wasn't expecting that) and won! So here are the items she chose for her prizes. A chocolate chip cookie and a cinnamon sugar muffin. Very pleased with herself!

Dressed to Impress

It is for this reason that the dressup clothes are making the long trip to China...

Tests

Now that I'm exploring the world of couponing (in my final weeks here in the US - I really should have done this earlier!) I have spent a little more time in places like CVS and Walgreens. Something that I have definitely not seen in Australia (though things may have changed...) is the At Home Drug Test

Pretty amazing to me...

Tornado warnings - or is it watches?

***Post date June 9th***

Now that we're well into spring (though it feels like summer) we have all those storms starting up. With that comes the few times a season tornado warning siren. Tornado watch/tornado warnings

We had our first of the season recently - after a very full day - we'd just gotten Alex and Sebastien to bed and asleep for about 30 minutes and...sirens. Listening to the radio we're told to get immediately to shelter - a basement, crawl space etc - and wait with our radios. Brett and I look at each other...what to do, what to do...maybe we're getting complacent after our time here but we decided to take the "wait-n-see" approach before getting the kids up. Meanwhile, we prepared to pick up and go, go, go which included getting our shoes on. Hmm, Alex's new thing is helping people to tie their laces so when I go to get my shoes I see she's helped me with my laces (sorry - it was late and I didn't use my flash - click on it to show the enlarged photo):


Anyone for twisty laces? Not easy to undo when you're in a rush...though you'll note I still took the time to take the photo...

Train whistle blowing...

***So this visit was in mid May 2008***

Alex's friends (and families) came with us to Allerton Park for lunch and then onto Monticello Railway for a train ride.

The girls seemed to have a great time - exploring the garden's at Allerton Park while playing "ring a rosie".










Alex managed to take some photos - she's been asking us for a while whether she can use the camera - and here are two results:














Then onto to train - the conductor nicely stopped for a photo on the way through when he was punching tickets. In our discussion with him, he mentioned that ever since The Polar Express









movie came out, children expect him to maniacally punch holes in their tickets to make a word or letter. So first the girls (Em, Anna and Alex) were waiting nicely on the bench seat, then the conductor came to check their tickets (and pose for a photo), then the girls checked out their tickets to see what he'd done to them.

We had a nice ride, changing cars at the turn-around point for a different perspective. Oh, and Sebastien, Olivia, Thomas were there too - just no photos of them!

Then and now

***May 23rd***

The "batch" of babies that Sebastien was the tail end of last September is starting to turn ONE - I can't believe it!

Recently at a playgroup, we got four of the six together (still, enough) for a photo comparison:

Then:And now: (Rhylan, Evan, Olivia and Sebastien) Missing are Oscar and Garren

Sebastien can sit - he just likes to lounge all over Olivia...

School Week Nine

***Yes her last day of school was 29th May...but at least it's up now!***

Alex's last week of preschool in America. So sad - she has really enjoyed it. I never thought that her going to school 9am-3pm Monday to Friday would make her so happy. I guess I can enjoy that until her teenage years...

Let's see, her final week was a short week as it was Memorial Day weekend so no school on Monday - and school finished on Thursday. Brett's been working hard on his PhD, leaving really early in the mornings (thanks Sebastien for the wakeup call) so I've been taking Alex in to school as well as picking her up. Each day this week, something else had been packed away in preparation for the summer. I make sure she gets to school at the earliest time allowed (8.55am) and also that I don't pick her up until the last possible minute (3.00pm) even on the last day, parents picnic day, when some parents took their children home from the picnic at lunch time, Alex went back to school to finish out the day.

So last week, the class "pet" - Naymee the Chameleon - came home to our house.










Alex did some things with Naymee and in Naymee's diary drew some pictures of that whilst I wrote what she said happened (we went to a BBQ where it rained, Alex kissed Naymee gently before putting her to bed - in the diary case). We took Naymee and the diary back this week and Alex loved showing Mrs Brady what she'd done, and in particular, how she'd held Naymee on her forefinger at the weekly BBQ we'd attended.

So the main attraction this week was the parents-are-invited picnic at Prairie Fields Park in Savoy. Here Alex has finished her pizza and american-style lemonade and is posing in front of two of her teachers and the play structure. She had a great time - especially as she had convinced Daddy to play on the structure with her. It was a hot day!









One of the disappointing things with Alex going to preschool at Marilyn Queller in Urbana was that she was unable to ride the school bus to school each day - something that she has wanted to do since she was 18 months old. Well, she has had 2 field trips plus this picnic, all of which included transportation on a school bus. She was pretty excited!










Here is Alex with her three teachers: Mrs Brady, Mrs Byers and Mrs Shelmadine. It really helped that she loooved her teachers!















Going to school exposed Alex to lots of new things - not all of which I want her to "pick up" including sucking thumbs/fingers and a few choice words. Well, Alex has developed a habit of chewing her hair, oftentimes talking whilst it is in her mouth. So we will be scheduling another hair appointment to cut it off - short - next week. Maybe in six months she will have forgotten this habit??










So that's it - the end of preschool here. Sad- yet we're glad she was able to have such a positive experience with preschool as that will help her in the China transition when she (hopefully) goes to preschool there.

School Week Eight - yep!

**This post has been sitting and sitting - school's been over a month now so perhaps I should just post it***

This week there was preparation for the end of the year - as there is less than a fortnight of school left! I can hardly believe it and Alex doesn't believe me either! Here she is ready to go - it's still a little cold on the bike in the mornings so she wears a jacket.

Step Two: Empty All Pockets Every Day

Otherwise you may end up with compost by the time it's laundry day! I have been finding some sad and sorry dandelions in Alex's pockets so the attraction with pockets isn't over. In fact, it's one of the first questions she asks when getting dressed in the morning: "Does this have pockets?" Whilst not yet a requirement for what she wears, I'm sure it won't take long...

Doing so well...

I was doing so well to keep to my blog post numbers - and last month a grand total of six posts! It's not that life stopped and we have nothing to post about - indeed, I just uploaded all our photos to the computer - but that life "got in the way". A good thing perhaps.

Anyway, I have set aside today to get some posts out of the way. I have many half-finished ones just waiting for a photo or a caption. Plus I promised myself I'd look into puting a blog-feed on here so you can be notified when there is a new post.

So look out - here I come!