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.

Bummer

The other day, I was talking on the phone and got another incoming call. I pressed the wrong button and managed to hang up on both calls. I told her what I did. She looked at me very seriously and said, "You pressed the wrong button and hung up on Daddy? Bummer."

My daughter the engineer

Two things happened recently that convinced me that Alana might well be an engineer in the future.

First thing happened when we were out at lunch with the whole family. Alana was sitting in a high chair with the straps buckled. She put on her vest and was trying to zip it up around the straps and I was trying to tell her that it wouldn't work because she was in the way. Of course, she wouldn't listen to me and kept trying and trying and getting more and more frustrated. Andrew turned to her and said, "Alana, you can't zip it up that way, it's physics. Two things can't occupy the same space at the same time." Alana looked at her A-goo, then turned to me and said, "Oh, physics. OK." and stopped trying until we got everything sorted out.

The second thing happened a couple of days ago. Alana built a bridge between the couch and the coffee table with one of the couch cushions. She spent some time playing underneath the bridge. After a while, she came out to stand next to me and leaned on the bridge. It collapsed under her weight. When she stood up, she looked at me and said, "Mama, the bridge... it's not very stable."

Good thing I don't have anything against engineers. *g*

I wish my days could go like this

Alana told us today, "I'm going to work, bye-bye." and went into the mudroom. A minute or so later, she came back in. Keith and I asked her how her day was and she replied, "It was fine, my problems disappeared."

I wish that would happen to me!

Getting an early start

So Alana got her first credit card offer yesterday! We signed her up for an airline mileage program and that must have put her name right onto the mailing lists. Sometimes, the efficiency of the marketing world is a little frightening.