Go to your room...

Alexandra is turning into a little person. A little person with little quarbles and little preferences and, every once in a while, a little attitude. This attitude seems to present itself most often in the evening. In that scary time that falls between "this is what I did today" and dinner. It usually starts with some demands and some whining, and then grows and balloons to almost a full blown meltdown. The only solution is "quiet time".

Michele and I call it quiet time. But Alex is rarely quiet. We usually start by telling her that she needs to calm down. "Why don't you spend some time in your room reading?" Then the nesting starts... there are certain conditions that must be met to initiate quiet time.
She must have a blanket to sit on or under. No, not that one... that one.
She must have Mr. Dinosaur Head.
She must have music. No, not the radio... the CD.
She must have natural light. Even if the sun is down, the shades must be open.
And the, most of the time, she will settle in with a pile of books and spend some alone time. She reads the books. She sings along with the CD. She sings random, unrelated songs as she flips through the books. She tells Mr. Dinosaur Head what she did during the day.

It is adorable, and precious, and normally enough time to cook dinner. How long do you think this will last?

Oh, deer...

A quick follow up to yesterdays post about feeding Alex venison and the possible implied trauma... Here is a rough rehashing of our conversation as we prepared dinner.

What's that?
Meat... we're making it for dinner?
OK. What is it?
Venison. Can you say ven-i-son?
Venison!! What is it?
It's deer... do you know what a deer is?
Lives at Carmen's? (she once saw deer in Carmen's backyard. Like six months ago.)
Yeah, just like that. This is deer.
OK.
Can we eat deer for dinner?
OK.

And that was pretty much that. I am learning that not much fazes her. Next up, rabbit stew!!

When the cat's away...

Michele is on her way to Alabama for work... she'll be back tomorrow night. When she leaves on these little adventures, my dinners fall in to one of three distinct categories:

1. Whatever Alex wants (ie waffles, pancakes, or grilled cheese)
2. Leftovers
3. Something Michele won't eat

Tonight will be a #3... there are venison steaks (lovingly provided by my brother-in-law) marinating in the fridge right now. Michele is not a fan of game. I am excited for the experiment (I invented the soy, garlic, ginger marinade employing nothing but whimsy), but here is the question...

When Alex invariably asks me, "What is it?", do I tell her?

Sick-o...

I am at home with a sick little one today. Not really sick sick... just a slight fever. She is acting fine and keeps telling me that she is not sick anymore, probably because she wants to go outside. She's a hoot.

When she was teeny tiny it was easy to work from home. You could plunk her down someplace and go about your business. Then one day this happened...




...and things got tougher. I work from home a couple days a week, and I found myself getting up at 4am just to get some stuff done. That and naptime were my only opportunities. The rest of the time she was all over me.

But today? Today she has been a pleasure (knock on wood - it's early). She is upstairs reading by herself while I work. Earlier she colored at the desk next to mine while I worked. Before that she played "Ring Around the Rosie" around my chair while I worked. The only interruptions coming when she needs to go potty. I could get used to this.

Bullets...

A short list of items that probably deserve their own post, but won't be getting one...

• The other day, while we were cooking dinner, Alexandra told me that she doesn't eat meat. "Are you a vegetarian?" I asked. "Yeah... tarian." Well, I guess that's that.
• Michele has an iPhone. That is to say, Michele and Alex share an iPhone. Alex doesn't watch television, but can pick up the iPhone, unlock it, scroll past several pages of apps, open the one she wants (animal/letter flashcards), and start to learn. I used to think there was no way that my kids would be as far advanced technologically as we were to our parents. Now I think we're doomed.
• Lately when Alex is crying, be it from sadness or pain, she wails a description at the top of her lungs. "I'm cryyyyying!! I'm cryyyyying!!", "I'm too sad!! I'm too sad!!" I defy you to be sad with her when she does this... I defy you not to laugh.
• Alexandra has gotten very good at describing things recently. What she did. What she plans to do. And then, the last couple days, she will end a lengthy explanation with "I thought about it." Like, "I don't eat meat, I play Mama's phone, after I'm crying... I thought about it." I have no idea where this came from... but it's adorable.
  

Four minutes...

Construction has started on Stadium just at the end of our block that will last through the summer and into the fall. Traffic is down to one lane, going one direction... and that direction is away from Ann Arbor proper. So, if we are going anywhere not in the direction of the highway (Downtown, Trader Joe's, Carmen's, etc), we have to go around a long convoluted path through the neighborhoods. It has added four minutes to 20% of our trips. It has stolen four minutes from our lives. On time is late for me... this is a problem.

But the bigger issue, and one I hadn't anticipated, is Alex. Say I inform her that we are going to Trader Joe's (BALLOONS!!). We pack up and get in the car and... turn right out of the drive. Her face crumples up. Her teeth nash. "Trader Joe, Papa... Trader Joe!!" At two she has a better sense of direction than me and she knows which way we are supposed to go. "Not likin' it, Papa... not likin' it!"

Just wait... tomorrow morning when we head for Afternoon Delight (every Saturday morning ritual), and turn the wrong way, she is going to flip. Perhaps we can practice counting to four.

Overdue cute...

A couple weekends ago Maxwell hung out with us for a whole day and night. We had some fun plans and hoped that his rock star potty skills would rub off on Alexandra (and it appears they did). We started our Saturday with a few hours at Jungle Java. Though a bit reluctant at first, I think Max had a good first trip to the craziness (Alex jumped right in to lead the way). By the end, he gave it a big thumb's up.

After some lunch and a nap (for all of us) we headed to the petting farm. It was a bit cold to be outside, but that kept the crowds away. There was only one woman working and she was basically our personal tour guide. The hit of the show for the little ones was definitely the one day old piglets.
Max was not about to feed the goats even after Alex managed to do it and not lose a limb...
...perhaps it was the goat with the glowing green eyes that freaked him out?
Then it was back home for dinner, Legos, cars, reading and potty practice. They really wanted to sleep in the same bed... but that would have made for a long night.
We were all up early the next morning and headed out in the cold for breakfast...
...and then to the market (where they both clearly wanted some "cheese").
Finally we handed him off to Ro and Carmen and collapsed for a long nap. The weekend was a blast and we had a ton of fun with Max and with the combo of kids. That said, I think we might be happy with a spoiled only child for now...

All aboard the potty train...

It isn't fully official yet, but we think that Alex might be potty trained. We have been passively working on it for a few months now... getting her used to the potty, used to panties, used to figuring out what the sensation of "I gotta go". She has gone in the potty. She has modeled the panties. But she also had accidents and preferred diapers (including saying, "no, not a big girl... I'm a baby!).

But then Friday we put her in big girl panties and she used the potty a couple times on her own schedule. Saturday had no mishaps and a bunch of potty trips (including at the mall). Sunday flew by with no issues and heavy potty action (including at breakfast and at my sisters house). So today we sent her to daycare wearing a pullup and... no accidents!! Four potty trips (in a room full of kids who are not fully trained). The only wet diaper she has had since Friday is from when she woke up yesterday morning.

I think she gets it. And I get one more thing that I hoped for and regret at the same time.