Bye Bye Crib Part II

There is always good with the bad.  The good is that Alice will not fall out of her bed again....the bad is that she can get out of bed anytime she wants.
Since the new toddler bed, weekend nap times have been non-existent and night time is a struggle to get a little girl to go to sleep.  Once asleep, she sleeps fine....it's the going to sleep that is the problem.
The "other" problem is the paci....The paci is suppose to be a sleeping aid only, but with the new bed, it is harder and harder to manage the situation.  We will have to loose it soon.  Not looking forward to it, but it is inevitable.

Bye Bye Crib

This past Sunday, Alice finally did what I had been imagining for a while....she climbed out of her crib and fell on the hardwood floor.  Larry and I had been discussing for a while what we were going to do for Alice's next bed...should we get a temporary toddler bed, or go ahead and buy her the twin bed set that would be her bedroom suite until she went away to college.
We thought we would have a few more months - or at least weeks - to make our decision, but last Sundays traumatic event  pushed the issue to a decision.  We decided to go the toddler bed route.  That gives us time to decide on what we wanted to eventually buy for her permanent bedroom suite.
We put the toddler bed together today and disassembled the crib.  Alice was both excited about the bed, and a little concerned about the demise of her crib.  There were tears, and some tantrums, but we finally proceeded with the normal bedtime routine (started a little late...) - bath, tv show on mom's lap, and then off to bed.  Alice fell asleep within 5 minutes in her new bed with her head and tigger's head atop a pillow for the first time.  We'll see how the night goes, but fingers crossed for an uneventful night.

Dear Uncle Paul

Dear Uncle Paul,

I heard that you wanted to know what I've been up to.  Its raining here in Austin, so I haven't been able to play outside today.  I hear it is raining in Dallas too and you are bored.  As you can see, I've been trying to entertain myself at school.  At least there is a little slide I can play on.  As you can see, my friends Oliver and NeNe are building a tower of blocks behind me.  I plan to go over and knock it over as soon as they finish building it...hehehehe.  NeNe is kinda my boyfriend.  He's the reason I let mom put clothes on me and go to school, but please don't tell him....I don't want him to think that just because he can get the prettiest girl in pre-school to like him now...it might be a rude awakening by the time he's in High school that he may not have ended up being all that cool.  Its a pity to peak in pre-school.

Love, Alice

Alice's 2nd Birthday Party

I decided to have a small birthday party to celebrate Alice's 2nd birthday.  Nothing fancy, just a playdate with a few friends and cake.  We invited Sammy, Lilly and Izzy.  Since Izzy's mom is a pastery chef who works at our local HEB bakery, I asked if she would make Alice's cake

Since Alice is in her Nemo phase, I asked the cake to be Nemo themed.  Imagine my surprise and delight when Tavo delivered the cake for Alice's birthday.  It was fantastic and more than I ever dreamed..I was thinking it would be nemo shaped, but this was fabulous!  And it tasted delicious.

We had cheese, fruit and chips for the kids to eat while they played outside.  Her sandbox was a hit and they all played side by side in the sandbox for a while.  They also took turns swinging on Alice's new playscape.

We brought the cake out and Alice just about freaked!  She grabbed Dori off the cake first, and we had to hold her back from sticking her hands all in the cake.  We sang happy birthday and I cut the cake.  The cake was so big, we only ate the first tier.  Mom and Dad's co-workers got to enjoy the bottom layer the next week.

Alice enjoyed eating the cake.  She insisted on feeding herself at first, but later let us give her additional mouthfuls as she ran around and played.

The playdate birthday was over, but Alice was full of cake, dirty beyond normal limits and happy.

Happy Birthday Sugar Bear

Mom and Dad love you!

Cactus Balance Game and Donuts

Alice recieved this cactus blalancing game for Christmas.  It's a pretty simple game and pretty fun to play - especially with mom and dad.  After playing this morning, we all piled into the car and went for donuts.  Alice loves donut holes....no taking BITES...she shoves the entire hole into her mouth!

Finding Nemo

I guess every toddler goes through a Finding Nemo stage.  I've had several friends comment on how their kid was addicted to Nemo for some period of time.  Alice started her Nemo stage right before Christmas.  Just like with her obsession with Spirited Away, Alice will recite and enhance the dialogue along with the movie. 
When she first started watching, she called him Meno....which has progressed to Memo....and I'm sure she will eventually get the name right before she loses interest.
As of right now, we find Nemo at least once a day during the week, and up to 3 times a day on the weekend.

Bubbles

I just had to take a screen shot today of Alice at school chasing bubbles.

Looks like alot of fun!