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."

That's our reflection, silly!

One day, we all went out to a restaurant. The ceiling was mirrored in the entrance area. Keith was looking up with Alana and asked, "How can we be up there when we're already down here?" Alana looked at him like he had cracked his head and said, "That's just our reflection, silly!"

Baby Kisses

AC was so happy when Alexander, at a little under three months, would open his mouth and try to air kiss her when she kissed his face. “Look at him imitating us!”, we thought. “What a clever little boy!” Finally, one day, when she kissed him, he whipped his head around, locked onto her lower lip and started sucking away with an effort that would impress the whole Oreck/Dyson/Hoover crowd. Which isn’t to say he isn’t clever, but he sure does like to EAT.

Psst…she didn’t really cut my hair, Mommy!

Alana, her Mom and her A-ma went to Linh’s for haircuts. Linh cut Mom’s hair, then A-ma’s hair. Alana’s hair had been trimmed recently, so she didn’t really need it cut. When she asked if she was going to get a haircut, A-ma didn't have the heart to say no so she asked Linh in a whisper to just pretend to cut it.

Linh spritzed her hair with water, snipped the air around Alana’s head, and brushed her hair, then asked if Alana liked it. Alana just looked at her strangely, then turned to her mother and said in a whisper, “Mommy, she didn’t really cut my hair!”

Mmmm….Eye of Newt!

At a restaurant, family friend Mark turned to Alana and said, “What are you going to have? Want some Eye of Newt?” Alana thought about it for a moment, then said, “OK, sure.” Mark smirked and gave her the maraschino cherry from his drink, sans stem. Alana said “Thanks,” popped it into her mouth, and ate it. “So Alana,” I said, “what does Eye of Newt taste like?” She looked at me with a little smile, and said “Ummm. It tastes like cherry.”

My favorite part...

We just spent last week out in Whistler, BC with my whole family. Alana got to do a lot of sightseeing, play in a really cool playground, see a bear pretty close up, and ride in a Hummer. When asked what her favorite part of the week was though, she informed us that it was jumping in the puddles with her grandfather.

Where is me?

In an effort to convince Alana that she needed to have her seatbelt tightened, we told her that she would squirt out if there was too much slack. She looked at us thoughtfully for a moment and then said, "Then you would be looking around like, 'Where is me?'" After laughing hysterically for a minute or so, we finally managed to tell her she was right.

Little Buddy

Alana gets along fabulously with her little brother. She started calling him 'My Darling' when he was first born but has now settled on "Alexander" or "Little Buddy".

It's great to be a kid!

So Alana turns to me today and says "It's great to be a kid!". I said, "Oh really?" She replies with "Yeah, and sometimes, it's great to be a girl." *LOL* I had to tell her that she might want to reconsider that since she was going to be a girl the rest of her life but a kid for only part of it.

That's my name!

Alana plays the letter game with her dad on the computer. After typing ALANA with a bit of prompting, dad asked her what that spelled. She turned to him and said "That's my name! That spells Alana!"

Rectal Flatulence

Our friend Tina brought Alana a copy of "Walter the Farting Dog" (dedicated to "anyone who's ever felt misunderstood"). It has subsequently become a bedtime favorite (of Alana's). At one point in the story, Walter is brought to the vet, who intones "Farting, or 'rectal flatulence' as we say in the medical profession". The other day, Alana walked up to AC and said, "Mommy, can I check you for rectal flatulence?" In the hospital, with a roomful of family visitors, Alex loudly passed some gas. I asked Alana, "What do they call that in the medical profession?" Without missing a beat, she replied (utterly serious), "rectal flatulence".

Welcome to the family!

Alexander was born at 11:05 this morning. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and measured 20 inches long. We were all very excited to finally meet him, especially his big sister, Alana. She likes to sing him lullabies and refers to him as "my Darling".

Remember where you left it...

Sometimes the things you say as a parent do actually sink in. When AC was tearing the house apart looking for something las week, Alana said, "Mommy should have put it away where it belongs so she could find it again later." In the car, AC mentioned that she didn't have her camera, because she'd lent it to Alana to take some pictures and she didn't know where Alana had left it. "On the couch with my stuffed animals, Mommy...that's where I was taking pictures." I praised her for remembering where she left it, "Alana, remembering where you put things will save you hours of time as you grow older. Some people aren't as good at remembering where they put things." Short pause. "Like Mommy?" I, of course, started laughing. AC's jaw dropped, and she shook her head. "Ouch!", she said. "That's cold!"

We're the Yos

Alana looked at me the other day and said "Daddy-O". I looked at her and said, "Alana-O". "Hey, Dad, we're the Yos!" Hmm. I guess we are!

I can roll with that...

So we had a serious talk in the car the other day about self-control, and how important it is to be able to behave without freaking out, because you're much more likely to actually solve your problems that way. Alana listened carefully (we usually keep these talks short and sweet). I asked her if she understood. She thought for a second, then said, "I can roll with that."

Shrug...

Alana has a tendency to talk faster than her brain works (I wonder who she gets that from ). The other day, she started talking and going "Um, um, um, um" so we asked her what she wanted to say. She just looked at us in a puzzled fashion after a few more "um's", shrugged, and said "I don't know...".

That cracks me up!

One of Alana's favorite books at the moment is Chicka Chicka ABC. It's about the various letters of the alphabet climbing a coconut tree. By the time we get to the end of the book where all of the letters fall down with a "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!", she's giggling away and saying "That cracks me up!"

I'm doomed!

Last night, Alana was playing quietly in the other room while we were preparing dinner. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, we hear, "I'M DOOMED!" Then back to quiet play (aside from raucous laughter from the kitchen). We have no idea where it came from and she still hasn't told us why she's doomed. We have our own ideas though. <g>

Prickles!

We were able to welcome a guest from Plainsboro, NJ recently. Prickles, the Hedgehog, is making his way around the US and visiting friends and family of Mrs. Lynch's third grade class. Alana enjoyed having a visitor and took him on many adventures...

On a pirate ship...

Meeting some other friends from around the world (China, Australia, the Caribbean, Antarctica, the world's oceans, and Whoville).

Skiing...

Prickles loved it so much that he decided to give it a try himself...

First day on the slopes!

Alana went skiing on the slopes for the first time on Monday, Febrary 13 and loved it! After playing around on the little hills at the bottom of the slopes, she went up the chairlift and skied all the way down with Daddy's help before calling it a day. We'll definitely be going up more often next year!

I'll take that back, thank you very much.

While visiting with some relatives, Alana's great-uncle, Jim, reached down and "stole" her nose. He sat back and waited for her reaction. Without hesitation, Alana reached over, stole back her nose with an "oh no you don't" look, put in on her face, and marched away.