Timmmbbbeeerrrr!

In the past month, Alexander has learned how to crawl and has progressed straight through to cruising. Unfortunately, he hasn't quite mastered standing up by himself yet though. He'll be standing up, holding onto a chair, and then forget to hold on anymore. His bum will wobble a little bit but he won't think to sit down. Suddenly, it will be like someone called "Timmmbbbeeerrrr!" and he'll just tip over with a thud. I'm sure this is not unique to him but Alana was always more cautious and didn't let go until she was much more steady on her feet.

Alexander kisses

Alexander has taken to blowing air kisses (smacking his lips) and waving bye-bye at everybody.

Your own cocoa

Alana was out skiing with Tommy, Jo & Keith last week on a very cold and windy day. After taking a long arduous run down from the top of the mountain, they made their way inside for some french fries and hot cocoa. As they were munching away, Alana asked Keith if they could go up for another run. Keith said he was too tired and it was time to head back home. Alana thought about that for a few moments and then said, "Maybe if we get you your own french fries and hot cocoa you would be not so tired."

Pancake

Alana asked us today what was under our skin. We answered: our muscles, bones, blood vessels, nerves... She said, "Oh. Is that what makes us not a pancake?"

Alexander Update - 8 mos

Alexander is scooting well, and playing peek-a-boo by himself. He has discovered ice cream and o-wa pops (taro-flavored popsicles), which he LOVES!

A knuckle by any other name

So Alana can be very descriptive when trying to explain something. She hurt a knuckle the other day, and didn't know what to call it. She was mid-sentence when she realized she didn't know the word, so she plowed on and called it her "finger-knee".

Off we go...

I sing in a chorus. Of course, that means that I have to practice at home in order to learn my songs for our performances. One of the songs that we sing is the Armed Forces Medley and has the US Air Force anthem in it.

The other day, Keith took Alana up for a nap and said "Off we go..."

Alana promptly continued with "...into the wild blue yonder. Climbing high into the sun."

You think I practice a little too much at home? *LOL*

Giggling

Alexander has begun giggling. Alana takes great pleasure in setting him off and will do just about anything, generally singing and dancing and demonstrating a willingness to make a complete fool of herself (just like her parents *g*).

Mustard Truck

Remember the game of 'telephone' you played as a kid, where you whisper something to someone, and they whisper it to someone else, and by the time you get to the end of the circle it's unrecognizable? Talking to a 3-year-old is like that, except they're the whole rest of the circle.

There are different variations on the theme. Some are just inability to pronounce things (pasketti [spaghetti], chawt-lick [chocolate], etc.) Another is replacement of one phrase with another that sounds similar, but is comically incorrect. Mind you, this happens with all of us--like mis-hearing Jimi Hendrix's "'Scuse me, while I kiss the sky!" as "'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy!" and so on (another friend of ours misinterpreted the Ramones' "I wanna be sedated" as "I wanna piece of danish" for years, with encouragement from her older siblings).

Alana has several of these that we enjoy:
Her friend, Tommy, has a bit of an obsession with trucks; construction trucks, big rigs, you name it. The other day, we were getting out of our car and Alana points to the pick-up truck next to ours and says, "Look, it's a mustard truck!"

Hunh?

She says, "Just like Tommy's mustard truck!"

After wracking our brains, we finally realize that she's saying 'monster truck'. *LOL*

She also has a "barbeque doll" (you've all seen these...statuesque figure with narrow waist, boyfriend Ken, etc.)

And, finally, when we're all in the mood for french fries she asks if we can go to "Old McDonald's".

Her own language

Sometimes, we have trouble understanding Alana because her diction isn't quite perfect (or she's speaking in Taiwanese which makes it tricky for Keith). Other times, it's because she's made a whole new language of her own...

Every morning, Keith heads off to work. Every morning, Alana faithfully waves goodbye from the window, calling out, "Aladdas in the biddas! Don't forget your piddas!" ... Every morning.

When we finally asked her what that meant, she shrugged and said, "Goodbye."