Flying Leaves

Alaina had some foun today with the leaves. The wind was blowing 30-60mph all day long. In these pictures Alaina would pick up the leaves and let them fly out of her hands. The leaves ended up swirling above her head. She had fun.

Alaina and Her Dora Hat

Alaina has learned to put on her Dora hat. She is just too cute for her own good sometimes.

Fun Things about Alaina

Some Random things that will make you smile:

Still Loves to do "Wheels on the Bus"

Scared of Bugs (Fuzzy Catepillars to be exact) - There was an incident with a monarch catepillar that Mark and Alaina found on a walk. Mark let her pet it. Mark put it in the tray on her stroller so Alaina could continue to play with it. The Catepillar started moving again and Alaina flipped out. Alaina almost jumped out of the stroller screaming because the catepillar fell into the stroller. The catepllar probably scared her for life just like the ladybug did to me. We will have to work on that :)

Afraid of Seed Pods (The long Brown banana things hanging from trees in the fall) - they resemble snakes apparently. Weston Irish Fest deal . . . she got stranded on an island of the things. Everywhere she stepped she happened to step on the seed pod and it "jumped" out of the grass like a cobra.

She associates the downstairs kitchen tv with Dora and Elmo. She refers to them as Doh-a and Melmo. If you don't acknowledge her asking to watch them, she turns to look at you straight in the eye and emphasizes in an exaggerated voice "DOOOOHHHH-AAAAA"

She likes to check everyone pants to see if they have pooped. Her favorite time to do this is when she has just pooped.

And finally, she likes to tell Mark and I to go night night. When we are sitting on the floor playing she comes up to us and takes our head and shoves it to the ground (she doesn't know her own strength right now) and makes us go night night by patting our back.

Best of all, we are officially done with the pacifier. YAY! Her cross bite will now be fixed! PHEW!

Night all!

KC Pumpkin Patch

A couple of weekends ago the Watson Family took a trip to the KC Pumpkin Patch. Alaina had a really good time, though she was REALLY tired. We thought she would take a snooze in the car, but she was too excited in the car (as you can tell from the picture on the car seat). Mark and I selected our pumpkins and Alaina picked out a gourd. It is a really pretty gord. Green black aand Yellow. It is a strange one. I will have to take a picture of it and post it another day.

Love to all!

19 Months!

Sorry no new photos so far. Atleast we do not have them in an uploadable fashion. Words will have to do this blog entry.

Alaina had her 18 month check up yesterday with Dr. Peterson. I say 18 month check up loosley because Alaina is 19 months old today! But anyway . . . Alaina is 31.5 inches tall and weighs 27lbs. She is in the 5oth percentile in her height and weight. They apparently no longer gets judged on the size of her head. But I do know that her soft spots are fully closed now. . . yay for the brain being fully protected!

Dr. Peterson also did a random slew of cognitive tests. She asked her where different body parts are. She knows where her hair, head, eyes, mouth, teeth, nose, ears, feet, toes, and most important, belly button are located. Dr. Peterson was pretty impressed at all that she knew. She mentioned that she thought she was ahead quite a bit on what she knows and what she does. So yep, Alaina is pretty cool.

Dr. Peterson is also checking with the Allergist to see if we can transition Alaina off of Soy. But I won't know anything for a couple of days. But she will need to be transitioned to Whole Milk until she is 2. . .which is right around the corner!

And the latest and greatest news? Alaina went #1 and#2 on her potty chair this morning. I think she knew she had to go when she was sitting on the chair. She kept on wanting to stand up and walk away to pee. But I dragged some toys next to the potty and she loves sitting on her potty chair again. . .as long as she has something to play with. She went #2 first .. I think it confused her as to what was happening. But she got it out nonetheless. I had her sit for a little longer and eventually she went pee. So very proud of her. . .

So needless to say, the potty chair will be coming to Council Bluffs so she can potty in the mornings.

OK . . .that's the update for now. Mark and I are excited to go on vacation! I leave in Two Days!

Hugs from Kansas City!

Alaina and All her Cuteness

So Alaina is using her cute little wiles to get in good with Mark and I. She cocks her head to the side to the point of almost resting her head on her shoulder. Then she starts shaking her head while asking " 'Side?" She thinks this will get us to go outside with her easier than if she doesn't cock her head and look cute as a button. Sometimes it works. Other times. . .we cock our head to the side and say, "No 'side. It is too late to go outside. Maybe tomorrow"

Other things she does that just makes us laugh . . She tries on my shoes and Mark's shoes and is now coordinated enough to walk a couple steps while still being in the shoes. She also is sooo close to actually getting air as she jumps.

She also likes to help with chores. She helps with vaccuuming, sweeping, picking up sticks and leaves, dishes. She is just loads of help now. She even helps empty the fridge. She wears her backpack like she is ready to go to school.

She also Flies very well. . . .and falls as you can see in the above photos.

Daddy and Alaina

Mark cooked us all a very yummy dinner with a WONDERFUL ginger dipping sauce. Alaina had lots of different stuff. Mark cooked AND cleaned the kitchen. What an awesome guy! This picture is after Alaina's bath time and after Mark was done with dishes.
Alaina has Grandma Elaine's smile in this picture again.

Alaina and Grandma Watson's Newspaper

Alaina is shopping for cars already! These are her "Bye Bye" ads. Grandma Elaine was nice enough to share her newspaper after she left this past weekend. Alaina can't wait to help read the Daily Nonpareil with her Grandpas. We love looking at the newspaper. I read the funnies to her. She especially liked "Baby Blues".

Just another day at the pool! Cool Hat huh?

Here are some pictures of the Watson family at the Merriam Pool.

Please note the girl on the "slip n slide". No she is not ours but I added the pictures because Alaina LOVED this. She ended up spending the majority of her time on this. Shewould crawl/slide down it get up, walk around and do it again. I think she did this atleast 20 times. She also went down the slide in the video about 7 times. She kept on pointing and saying "Side! Side!" She just couldn't get enough of it. Towards the end of her pool time, she ended up walking in the water up to her chin. She just absolutely loved it. All in all we spent about an hour at the pool. She was TIRED after swimming for so long. Hope you all enjoy all the new pictures! Love to all!

She wanted to . .We swear!

American Embassy

Here is a fabulous advertisement of Irish Spring . . either that or the American Embassy in Tbliski . . Not sure I spelled that right. . . But it is a good advertisement just the same!

Words and Chatter! Chatter Chatter Chatter

Thought I would update you on all the words that Alaina has been able to use on a repeated basis . . .Some of these might be duplicates from the previous list. . .

Teeth
Naina - This is what she calls herself
Eat
Duck
Fish
Shhhh!
Bee Bo (Belly Button)
Hot - She uses this for anything that is hot or cold to the touch
Bye -Bye (Bye Bye also is her word for car
Ride - when she wants to go for a walk in her stroller or wagon
'Side (She says side when she wants to go "outside")
Ball
Wus Sat? - What's that?
Sat? - What's that?
Ligh - Light
Nigh - Nigh -Night Night

When you ask her "What does a dog say?" She pants like a dog
She smells flowers
She blows bubbles out of her mouth into water - Like for swimming
She sips out of a straw
She blows her nose into a kleenex (sometimes it is successful . . .sometimes it is not but she still goes through the motions :)
She still LOVES to read. Her favorite place to sit is when Mom (me) is sitting indian style on the floor. She backs into my legs to sit in her favorite chair.
She loves helping vaccuum, brush her teeth, put dishes away from the dishwasher to her cupboard.
She is looking forward to see her grandparents soon!

Hugs to All!

Big Girl

So today was Alaina's first official swim lesson. In this picture she was tasked with climbing up the ledge. Then she had to "Come to Momma". Mark and I are very proud of Alaina. She even put her face in the water to grab the ring that was under 8 inches of water. She got applause when she got the ring. . . and if you have seen the video of what happens when she gets applause . . well she wanted to do it again and again. Alaina LOVES getting praise. Which is good because Mark and I are very proud of her. We will get to do this for the next 6 Saturdays! Fun times! Fun Times!

So we recently found out that Alaina is not the only biter at daycare. We were FINALLY told that everyone has been biting. Makes me feel better.
Mark went to pick up Alaina and as he entered the room Emma had taken Alaina's finger into her mouth and chomped down.
Mark also witnessed what happens with biting occurs. They told Emma, "No bite" and sat Emma at the table and then took Alaina and cuddled her. So basically they give the biter a timeout and give loves and cuddles to the bitee. So I think that is appropriate.

Also yesterday Alaina called herself "Naina". I think Naina fits her personality. It fits bettert than "Lainey". So Alaina has deemed her nickname to be "Naina" instead of Alaina. I thought it was pretty cute.

We should be getting proofs back from our latest photo shoot soon. I will share them with all of you and see if you would like any of them for your own personal use.

On other things, we are all doing very well. Naina has started sleeping with her white lighted bear taht was given to her by Jenni and Cody Sexton and has taken to her fleece square (the ones with satin tabs on it) more as well. She still uses her pacifier at night and nap time, but daycare is no longer reliant on it throughout the day.

Alaina and her pretty pink dress

I definitely see the Smile of Grandma Elaine in this picture. I honestly think that Alaina's genetics are pretty evenly split with Alaina (between his genes and mine). Only time will tell if this remains true. But I definitely seem Grandma Elaine in this picture . . .pretty dress and all. The Pretty Dress came from Grandma Perkins. Pictures like this makes her seem like a little angel. HA! No No She has much too personality to be good 100% of the time. But nonetheless she is pretty cool.

This picture was taken today. Alaina and I have bene hanging out together all day. Sometime (most times) she is just too darn cute. I can also use this picture as a gauge to how tall she is getting. I can take pictures in this spot a month from now to see if her head is any higher on the kitchen island. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Aggression

So Alaina got in trouble at Daycare yesterday. Apparently she tore a chunk of hair out of a little boy. He didn't bleed but apparently the chunk was pretty good size. She has also been biting. I think the biting is nothing to do with aggression. Although yesterday was the first time we heard that she was has been biting. I THINK that biting has to do with that she is getting two more teeth. I think she is starting to get her two teeth that are between the eye teeth and the molars on the uppers. She either has 12 of 14 teeth at the moment. I can't remember.

Alaina also told me bye-bye at daycare this morning and the teacher said, "Oh I didn't know she knows that word." I thought that was weird so I told them that she knows about 15 -20 words and she is pretty proficient in 7 of those words and bye bye is one of them.

They also asked me this morning what do we do to put her down for nap and bedtime at home. I told them we put her in the crib and put a blanket over her. They apparently have tough time putting her down for nap as well. I am guessing it is because she has a darkened room at home. I need to tell the teachers that as well.

So apparently Alaina has different personalities to a degree between home and daycare. She hits bites and shows aggression towards other kids. She throws her pacifier and expects the other kids to pick it up for her. Apparently she is queen bee.

What do you do to curb this behavior when you do not see it at home?

Park Time

I think Mark and I are creating a monster. Alaina gets to have atleast two recesses a day at school. Then she gets to go to Antioch Park after school with Mark. Then last night she also got to come to the park to watch me play kickball (aka Base Soccer). She played on the jungle gym. She clapped when other people clapped. She cheered when other people cheered. She got kisses from doggies. Then she slept. Dad got her home and to bed . . .man she played hard today. She really loves being outside. I wonder what it will be like when the summer starts to turn to fall and fall turns to winter. She will be couped up inside more often then not. But we have a few months before we have to worry about that :)

Regression or Progression

Alaina has somehow regressed into not putting herself back to sleep at 3:30a.m. or so we think. Last night was the third night in a row of her waking up around 3:30a.m.. I changed her diaper at 3:30 but it was only a little wet . . .barely. So with a dry diaper on, I put her back to bed. She fussed for a few minutes and put herself to sleep. She woke up a few times but fussed for a few minutes andput herself back to sleep again. So between the hours of 3:30 and 7:30 she didn't go pee at all in her new diaper. I am wondering if she has been telling us at 3:30 that she has to go pee. We didn't change her diaper right away this morning after we realized it was dry. About 15 minutes after she woke up (after I felt that she had a dry diaper) she had a MAJOR pee. I think she was holding the pee in. I think I will go out and buy a potty chair so she can get used to the idea. I know she is too young. But I am just curious if this is what she is telling us at 3:30am and at 7:30. Only time will tell. We shall see.

Alaina woke up at 3ish last night. Mark took first watch from 3-4 am. She was just wide awake. We think she hasn't been wanting to eat enought at dinner so she wakes up hungry for a "midnight snack" We don't want it to become a habit, but she won't go to sleep with out something. Last night she got a small bowl of cereal. I think we really need to watch the time of day that we give her juice since it makes her body think it is full. Sugar will do that to her. The food thing didn't help right away, On my watch from 4:30-5 she woke up again, but I changed her wet diaper. I think she was a little more comfty after that. But wake up time was a bit difficult on Mark and I because of the lack of sleep in the critical morning hours. Oh well, maybe she will eat well at daycare and be nice and tired for us tonight for bedtime. Bed time is 8pm!

Alaina has learned a new trick. She likes being on stage. I took this video last night. Keep watching and notice the first time she actually moves the Puppy food bin ALL the WAY back into the cubbie. Then she thinks she only has to "pretend" to move them to get some kudos from Mom and Dad. Ahh we are so easily trained.

Since moving into our new house, Alaina has been constantly practicing stairs and flipping light switches on and off. We all have adjusted well to our new house in Merriam. We have had a good Memorial Day. We had lunch with Aunt Erin and Uncle Ray. Alaina got to sit in a big girl chair (booster chair). She did pretty good, but got ansty toward the end of the meal. She was ready to go before everyone else.

She is learning new words everyday. As of late here is a list of the words that she uses.

Mama
Dadda
Mine
Papa
Puppy
BUBBLES - by far her favorite word.
Grandma
Hot
Bye-bye
Meow
Moo
Pants like a dog
Shoe
Tree
Hi

She also blows kisses
Waves Bye-bye
And many more things