Eggcellent question...

Alex has had a pretty solid bedtime routine for most of her life.  It has evolved over time, but currently includes...

• Brushing teeth
• Putting on PJs
• Watching a TV show of her choosing (unless it's too late or we have had behavioral issues)
• Read a book
• Mama reads a book to her
• I sing Twinkle Twinkle
• I sing "La-la's" (Twinkle Twinkle with la-la-la replacing the last three syllables of each line... don't ask)
• She asks me to stay with her for two minutes
• We talk for two minutes
• Sleepy time

It works well and we almost never have bedtime problems.  Routine.  Routine.  Routine. 

The other night as I lay with her and talked for two minutes, she got quiet.  And then, without looking at me or raising her voice above a hush, she asked me, "How did you know how many eggs there were?".  I told her I wasn't sure what she was asking.  She said, "You know, when the Easter Bunny came, how did you know how many eggs there were?"

This was months ago and I had to think... and then remembered that when she was searching for eggs I thought I'd be a great parent and make it a math project.  I told her there were 25 eggs.  "Okay," I said like dope, "you found 14, how many more are there?"  She always knew the answer and I patted myself on the back... fast forward to the question... How long has she been working this out in her head?

I told her that the bunny left me a note designating the number of eggs to insure that she wouldn't miss any of them.

"Do you still have the note?"

Jesus... I was starting to sweat a little.  I told her that I had recycled it.

"Why would you do that?

I rambled an answer about helping Mother Earth and quickly decided that her two minutes were up and kissed her goodnight.

I am going to have to be more careful...

Alex unpacked...

We went to Maine for vacation... it was wonderful.  We rented a house and ate and drank and swam in the freezing cold ocean.  We rode a trolley and took a tour on a lobster boat and wandered the quaint little tourist trap town.  And, we went for a hike...

Alex has been on many hikes in her life.  Right down the road, ten miles off the coast of Maine, Switzerland... she is no stranger to the hike.  Except for the hiking part.  She has spent almost all of those hikes in a backpack being lugged around by one person or another.  But, on this trip, we ventured into New Hampshire to hike to the summit of Mt. Major with no backpack in tow...

Five miles of walking, half up half down.  1100ft in elevation change.  Maybe a bit much for the first try.  She was whining before we ever got out of the parking lot.  We headed up.  And up.  She would get distracted by nature and be fine for a while.  then the whining.  Distracted by a snack.  Whining.  She thought she couldn't do it, then we reached the summit...

It was like she drank four Red Bulls.  Energized, happy, enthusiastic... she ran around and marveled at Lake Winnipesaukee below us. 

We had lunch and rested.  We talked and gazed.  She was a delight.

Then we started down.  Probably shouldn't have pointed out the parking lot which was a speck below us.  She started off like a trooper at first, happily searching for the trail markers.  Then a little melt down... she couldn't do it.  Pepped back up when we had to navigate jumping rock to rock to cross a stream.  Melt down.  Happily collected rocks from a river.  Melt down... and so it went, but we went...

The final melt down.  She was crying.  Huge tears streaming down her cheeks.  Her feet hurt.  She was tired.  Can't somebody please, please carry her.  We could hear the traffic... smell the lake... almost see the parking lot, and she wouldn't budge.  It was heart breaking and funny and infuriating...

Finally Michele talked her off the edge and they slowly made it, holding hands, through the last few steps to the car.  She did it.  She did it!  I am proud of her... and have used it against her many time since.  "What do you mean you can't walk to the Farmers Market, I saw you climb a MOUNTAIN!"...

Swimmingly...

Alex started taking swimming lessons at Goldfish Swim School about a year and a half ago.  We had done a few baby classes together before that, but with me in the pool she was reluctant to let go (like fingernails digging in me neck reluctant).  With me out of the way and on the other side of the glass, she took off.  They are great and she learned fast and loved it and rose in the ranks.

They have many levels for classes, and a set of skills you must accomplish to move on.  Last week her instructor moved her up again...

Yesterday she began Goldfish Pro level.  The last level before you start on the swim "team".  She was nervous and excited...

She did great, but was not quite ready for the work load.  They swam a lot.  Like a lot.  More in one class than she did in a month in the last class.  No rest.  Little instruction.  Go.  Go.  Go.

By the end, when she was expected to swim 10 continuous lengths of the pool, she was done.  She would make it a few strokes and then just tread water until the in instructor came to her rescue.  At which time he gave her a push and a hardy "keep going!".  It was a struggle, but her rosy little cheeks never stopped smiling.  I think we'll be in this level for a while...

Pop goes the weasle...

Alex digs music.  Maybe not the music we want her to dig.  She is all about pop music... she calls it "her" music.  As in, "Daddy, may you please turn on MY music?".  As in, "Daddy, that's not MY music!". 

She either knows all the words to the songs on XM Hits 1, or mumbles along to pretend she does.  It is often disconcerting (due to the content of the lyrics), but if she is anything like her mother she doesn't actually care what the song is about.  They like the music... I am the only one burdened by the words.

She has chosen her instrument as well...

God help us.

*Conversation in the car yesterday immediately following a Justin Beiber song...

A:   Daddy, is Justin Beiber a boy or a girl.

W:   A boy.

A:   Huh.  It's hard to tell.

Could only be funnier if she meant it to be.

Alex the photographer...

Recently Alex has been very interested in the camera.  She keeps asking to use it and then runs around the house for an hour snapping shots and immediately admiring them on the little screen.  She is almost always impressed with her work.  Frankly I am too... here are a few examples from last night (only a few... there were a bunch).  Some of these are pretty interesting...

For art's sake...

Alexandra has not historically been a big drawer.  Mostly lines and geometric shapes and big dark smudges made with markers pressed too hard.  Lately though, she has started to draw actual scenes... without prompting.  Three examples from this week...

Left:  A recurring theme lately... multicolored flowers holding up her name.  She draws this daily and I have yet to tire of it.

Top:  I first thought this was random shapes, and I loved it.  Now I am convinced that it is an angry ninja... winking.

Bottom:  I did not see her draw this, but I did hear her.  She drew this scape as she sang an original song about how the flowers love the sun and asked it to draw them a rainbow.  And then sang each color and why it was great.  She's great.

Getting the business...

Michele has been warning me for roughly five years that the way I talk to Alex is going to come back to bite me in the butt eventually... and then...

INTERIOR SUBURBAN HOME - EVENING

A loving father toils in the kitchen preparing dinner while his five year old daughter plays quietly in the next room.  He hasn't heard any sounds for an alarming amount of time.

FATHER

Alex honey, what are you doing in there?

ALEX

(With the sass of a sitcom teenager, presumably wagging a finger)

I'm minding my business... you should try it some time...

END SCENE

No one to blame but myself.

Bigger girl, bigger bike...

Alex got a new bike for Christmas, but the lovely Michigan "spring" we are having has not left a lot of room for riding.  But we finally got out and she is loving her updated ride!

She still has old-school-slam-the-pedal-backward-brakes, but also is starting to practice with the hand brake... though she usually forgets to let go when she wants to start moving again.

She is fast.  Last year we had to institute the "stop at every corner and wait for me to catch up" rule. 

She is very good about this.  But I'm pretty sure I will have to get a bike of my own soon just to keep up...

Alex is on the road again...

Alex enjoyed riding her tricycle last year... in fact so much that she had two of them. When the weather finally broke this spring she rushed to sit on them and begged to go around the block. Upon relenting, we couldn't help but notice that her tiny little knees were quite close to giving her a tiny little black eye every time the pedeals went round. Time for a new bike. A big girl bike!

She was in love from first sight and couldn't wait to go. She is still trying to figure out how the brakes work (when she was going too fast on the tricycle she just bailed out) and has to focus on not watching her feet while she pedals, but overall got the hang of it pretty quick.

And, the bonus is, we get around the block, to the park, or wherever about twice as fast as before.

I second that emotion...

Alex and I were home alone all day Tuesday because she was rockin' a wicked fever. We got bored in the afternoon and started talking about emotions and non-verbal communication. I busted out the camera and just started shouting out emotions, (happy, puzzled, sad, shocked, angry, indifferent). I have no idea which of these pics is which, but I do know it's adorable.

Spring in...

We weren'y sure it was going to happen this year, but the weather finally turned. Check out how good Michele's garden is looking already...

Alex types...

Hey there. I know that I've been missing in action, so I brought on a guest blogger... Alexandra...

alexandra
wesley
michele

There. The first words Alex has ever typed for publication. All on her own. I'll try to follow her example more often.

Alex can "read"...

Alexandra is a creature of habit. Well, maybe a creature of repetition. When she decides that she likes something, she likes it and likes it and likes it until it's worn. She wants to hear the same song over and over in the car for weeks. She wants the same snack for days on end. She wants to read the same book every night for a month. It's always endearing and often enraging.

Maybe it's just comforting to do the same thing, but I don't think that's it. I think she is really trying to figure things out. Trying to slurp up every drop of what that thing is. Every word to a song. Every color of a shirt. Every nuance of a game.

Yesterday she sat on the top of the sofa and started "reading" her current obsession... "Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street". It's an old, tattered book and she loves it. Over and over she loves it. And then a few minutes in to the "reading" Michele and I realized that she wasn't summarizing. She was, for the most part, reciting the words on each page. Here is a demonstration:



There's more from the same reading on YouTube if you must have more.

She is amazing to me. Even the "er, um" when Big Bird is stumbling over a decision. She has memorized it to a large degree. And then, when bedtime came and she could pick one book for Mama to read her...

Take a hike...

Today was so nice that we decided to go for a nature walk...
Before we even got on the trail, Michele and Alex saw a snake bathing in the sun...
Alex was a little miffed that she couldn't ride in the backpack anymore...
But this is the year she will start to hike on her own. We did a short half mile, and she really enjoyed looking at the trees and birds...

A great walk, and a great start to spring!

Comparisons aren't always odious...

Alex is a fickle beast. She knows what she likes... and then she likes for a long time.

A few weeks ago she came home from a trip to the mall and was very excited. Her friend Amy had bought her some new shoes. Michele and Robin snickered off to the side, and I knew something was amiss. The box was opened, and the zebras presented...

Now, don't get me wrong, I consider myself a fan of fancy. I can get behind a three year old having a fun wardrobe. But, at the same time, I am practical and err on the side of "too dressy" at every turn. I was not a fan of the zebras. I hated the zebras. I plotted a life of solitude in the closet for the zebras. I schemed.

Then, a week later, something happened. The shoes that Tia Robin had purchased her on the same day arrived.

And that's when I realized that the zebras weren't so bad. In fact, they were pretty cute. And she has worn them almost every day since.

And that's okay, because the fish shoes are high up in the closet...

Click... click...

Michele got me a new camera. A fancy camera. I have had it for a day or two, but was too scared to take it out of the box. This will take some getting used to... but here is the first pic I took with it...
Pretty nice, eh? Maybe this will encourage me to take more pics and write more blog entries.

My Left Thumb...

A little story about my left thumb. You may remember my left thumb from such stories as "Oh Snap, I Shot a Nail Through My Thumb". Well, the fun doesn't stop there!

Last night I was prepping for dinner. Alex was "helping" me, standing on her tower just to my right. I chopped carrots and onions, and started on the celery (mirepoix!). The whole time Alex and I were having a discussion that centered around Mr. Dinosaurhead and went something like this...

A: My dinosaur.

W: Yes, my dinosaur.

A: No, my dinosaur!

W: That's what I said... my dinosaur.

A: No Papa, my dinosaurs!
W: We're saying the same words, why don't we agree? My dinosaur.

I was trying to teach a lesson (and maybe push her buttons a little), she was getting frustrated. As my expertly honed Japanese chef's knife came down toward the celery she yelled "MY DINOSAUR!!" and hit my arm. More of a tap really. But, as it turned out, enough to make me nearly cut off the top of my thumb instead of the celery.

I cut myself cooking often... frighteningly often. Wrap it up, and move on. This time was different. It wouldn't stop bleeding. It wouldn't even slow down. Apparently the baby aspirin I take daily really, really works well. So, off to the Urgent Care and four stitches.

Other than the throbbing, it's all thumbs up now...

Friday unwind...

There are several great things about living in the wireless world that we find ourselves in. Facebook, Twitter, texting,,, that's all great. But when Michele and I can each work on a Friday afternoon sitting in the pub, that is money... even if she looks a bit sheepish doing it...

It happens...

Yesterday, as is the norm lately, Michele was leaving for work while Alex was just starting to sleepily eat her breakfast. As usual she rushed to the front window to watch Mama pull out of the drive and wave. Then suddenly she stood up quickly and said, "I have to go potty".

I am not very smart or observant. If I were, I would have noticed the urgency and the look on her face. "Well just hold it for a second and watch or you'll miss Mama leaving." So she did.

The next thing I heard was a splashing noise followed immediately by a tiny, worried voice screaming, "MY PEE IS COMING OUT, MY PEE IS COMING OUT!!!". And it was.

I scooped her up and headed to the bathroom, but before we could even get there she was patting my back and saying, "it was an accident Papa, it happens".

OMG, OMG...

Alex got her hair cut! Like, for real cut!! Not just trimmed... CUT!!!

I'm not sure that I'm okay with this... but Michele assures me that I am.