Alice Independence

Current Alice-ism's

2012-01-29T11:36:00.001-06:00

Shobel = shovel
Fercause = because
Bampire = vampire
Flork = fork
Oakmeal = oatmeal

Baby doll name - ding dong

I don't want to go to sleep ...

2012-01-25T20:21:00.001-06:00

Alice says "mommy, I don't want to go to sleep.
I say "I love to go to sleep! Why don't you?"
Alice says "fercause I'm a kid!"

Year of the Princess

2012-01-08T11:11:00.002-06:00

For a few months now, Alice has been consumed by Princesses. As seen in previous posts, she was Aurora for Halloween, and she has slowly added each princess story to her DVD collection. For Christmas she recieved princess EVERYTHING. She got the Princess Collection barbie(type) dolls, including a Prince to be whichever prince is called for in the story. She got 2 mini-princess playsets (Belle and Sleeping Beauty). She got at 18" Belle and a toddler Aurora. She got a Disney Princess game for her new leap pad, princess skates, helmet and pads, princess books, princess puzzles and princess socks, stickers and magnets. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but you get the gist :-)
She enjoys acting out the scenes in the story and singing the songs in her endearing slightly off key voice. Everyday we hear "who wants to play princess?" and if you don't respond "I DO!" she keeps repeating it until she gets a taker. Princess clothes come on and off, on and off, on and off. Lots of hair to brush, many adventures to relive. When we go out to eat Alice wants to take ALL the princesses, but usually we can contain the retenue to two princesses and a prince with a single change of clothes.

Alice's birthday is in a few days, and the obvious choice for a theme would be Princess, but mom and dad are quite literally sick of princesses. We are supporting her princess habit in other ways however. I'm sure we will get her more princess accessories for her birthday, but the cake for her party will be rainbows, flowers and butterflys...all things girly and loosely associated with being a Princess.

First trip to six flags

2012-01-01T18:27:00.001-06:00

The Thursday after Christmas, mom and Didi took Alice to Holiday in the Park at Six Flags. I could not believe how expensive the tickets were, but we were there to have a good time. We started out at. Looney Toon land where Alice rode all the kids rides. Her favorite was the Tea Cups, however we did go on the kiddie sized roller coaster twice. Other fun rides were the snow hill - where Didi fell over at the bottom of the hill, and the old fashion cars that Alice drove (with mom pushing the pedal). We stayed for 5 hours and Alice fell asleep in the car on the way home. An exhausting fun filled day with memories to last :-)

Prince Dangles' Visit

2011-10-30T20:37:00.001-05:00

Princess Alice welcomed Prince Dangles into her kingdom for the weekend. He was to accompany her to a Halloween Ball the following evening but before he could go they needed to get him fitted with his Princely attire to chaperone the princess.
Prince Dangles was provided with a fine winter suit and a shining crown adorned with precious gems from Princess Alice’s treasury.

While they were waiting on his attire to be prepared they dined at a local eating establishment favored by the common folk.

As they were finishing up the last of the punishingly hot local fare, Princess Alice received a call that Prince Dangles’ royal clothing and crown were ready.

At the Halloween Ball, Prince Dangles was introduced to local notables and members of the court.

[Dr. Frankenstein – Professor of life sciences]

[Sir Skeleton – Protector of the Relm]

After a hearty breakfast, which is customary among her people, Princess Alice showed Prince Dangles around both a terrestrial and a heavenly construction project in an effort to encourage an exchange of cultures and mutual esteem.

Above is a photo from the Kingdoms lego project to house orphan exotic animals

Photo of inspection of orbiting Netflix satellite broadcasting all Princess Alice’s favorite shows

These appearances with Princess Alice brought Prince Dangles great fame within the kingdom and even among her neighbors. Soon he was playing with the local NBA basketball team.

Prince Dangles was so enamored with the Princess that he asked her to run away with him to his castle. Princess Alice was flattered but told the Prince that her education must come first and that they should just remain friends until she received her doctorate.

Prince Dangles was do distraught, he got into a little trouble

Nothing was heard from Prince Dangles for some months. The tabloids suspected foul play, but with no firm evidence the story went cold, until video footage from a convenience store security camera revealed the shocking truth.

After finding out what had happened to Prince Dangles, President Obama was able to negotiate his release. Prince Dangles was returned unharmed and happy to be home. He looks forward to more adventures in Room 12.

The end.......or is it??????

Star of the Week

2011-10-30T15:31:00.003-05:00

Alice's class pick a "Star of the Week" each Friday. This past week, Alice was the "Star". She came home that Friday and couldn't wait to tell me she as she jumped around shouting "Mommy...I'm Star of the Week, I'm Star of the Week, I'm Star of the Week!!!!!"

As proud as I am of my Alice being the Star of the Week, this also entailed work for me....
On Monday, the Star is to bring a poster about all the things she likes and include pictures of Family and Friends. On Saturday I visited Michaels and picked up poster board, stickers and jeweled dots. I also printed out pictures of Alice with family and friends from this past year. If I don't say so myself...the poster turned out fabulous. It had fun pictures, stickers of princesses, cupcakes, hearts, stars, Dora, Hello Kitty and flowers - all the things Alice loves. I then laminated the entire poster to keep all grubby fingers from messing up the pictures ;-) Lastly, I added jeweled dots for "treasure" around the entire perimeter, since Alice adores finding treasure.

So what happens Monday morning??? Alice wakes up with a 102 fever! The poor Star had to stay home for 2 days and get over a cold before returning to school on Wednesday to finish up the week as the Star.
For the weekend, the Star takes home Dangles, the classroom stuffed monkey. Dangles is to go on adventures with the Star and write in his journal about his visit. Dangles' visit happened to fall on the weekend before Halloween. We had already made plans to take Alice to a costume party at Sammie's house on Saturday. Since Alice was going as Sleeping beauty, it was only natural for Dangles to go as Prince Phillip. My next assignment included a trip to Michaels (again) to buy felt, ribbon and glue to create a costume for Dangles!

Dangles goes back to the classroom tomorrow, but I still have to create a scrapbook page and journal about Dangles' visit and his adventures at Alice's house. We have pictures of all the places we ate at, pictures from the Halloween party, and pictures of Alice and Dangles at the house, but (as with the poster) I have the need to go above and beyond most parent's expectations. Larry helped me post Dangles on Reddit and ask for some Photoshop help. So, in addition to the normal adventures he had with Alice this weekend, we will be journaling about some additional adventures he had playing NBA Basketball, Climbing the San Francisco bridge, being abducted by aliens and taking a space walk.

Well....I'm off to print all the pictures :-)

Sunday

2011-10-30T13:29:00.001-05:00

Alice and Cristy chilling out on a lazy Sunday, resting up after a serious bout of silly.

Homeland Security

2011-10-30T12:50:00.002-05:00

Alice and Cristy were detained at a checkpoint close to the capital last weekend.

Potty germs....

2011-10-22T20:10:00.001-05:00

For some time now Alice has been talking about potty germs and is insistent on either washing her hands or using hand sanitizer after going potty. She also has a funny move where she wants to give you a high five and then tells you that she has given you potty germs. Now you BOTH have potty germs and must wash.

At school they have been talking about germs and how they are spread. They even had a doctor come and talk to them and they did an experiment with glitter on the hands to show them how easily germs are spread from hand to hand. At first I thought it was a clever way to illustrate the point, but Alice is becoming a bit germaphobic.

Two examples....
One day Alice was cuddled up next to me on the couch watching a show. I sneezed into my hand ... Covered like we have all been taught... Alice instructs me to go wash my hands. I said I would do it later. A few seconds later, Alice scoots away from me to the other side of the couch.
Another evening and it is bath night. I start to pour the bath water and Alice needs to go potty. I lift the toilet lid for her to go. I proceed to place my fingers in the water to test the temperature. Alice looks at me in horror and tells me I have infested her bath water with potty germs. She then tells me to empty the tub and start again. When I told her it was a waste of water and I would not drain the tub, she changes her mind of where she wants to bathe, and now insists on taking a bath in her bathroom.... And by that way will get fresh bathwater.

She isn't totally consistent on the rules, but I will say that after I use the bathroom these days.... A little voice in my head sounding like Alice always reminds me to "wash your hands...."

Sweet Berry Farms

2011-10-16T19:39:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we took Alice to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls for a Halloween event. The drive was scenic and the Farm was fun albiet crowded. We started with a pony ride, then a hay ride, then we picked flowers, stuffed a scarecrow and picked out pumpkins. We left tired but Alice had a great time. We will go back next year.... But we will arrive earlier :-)

Let's try a new place

2011-10-07T20:22:00.002-05:00

For dinner tonight, Alice decided she wanted pizza and she wanted to go to a new place. Although not new to Larry and me, we took Alice to Mangia Pizza. She stayed seated, ate and played with her doll Blythe except for the potty break in which she chanted "I gotta to the potty" over and over while walking through the restaurant to the other customers amusement.

Flower Girl

2011-10-03T21:01:00.001-05:00

Uncle Andy got married this past weekend. This was Alice's first wedding and she got to be a flower girl. She did a fantastic job even though she had a hard time staying quiet and still up front with the wedding party during the ceremony. It was a special day for all and Alice was excited to get a new Aunt... Aunt Jen.

Padre Island 2011

2011-09-22T20:36:00.001-05:00

This is Alice's 5th trip to Padre, the 4th to the SHW condo. We love coming here although daddy was unable to come this time. Didi and Pop were dad's substitute for this trip.

Waiting for Halloween

2011-09-19T20:10:00.001-05:00

Alice has been waiting for Halloween for months now. She has been waffling between Belle, Briar Rose, Daphine or a puppy! We took her to the Disney store and she finally settled on Briar Rose... Aka Aurora...aka... Sleeping Beauty. What a cutie :-)

Bergie's Party

2011-09-17T21:26:00.009-05:00

Alice is becoming a pro at birthday parties. At first, she doesn't want to go because its not HER birthday, but once she realizes that she is going to get to have fun too....she is ready to roll.

The last party we attended was for Bergie at Chuck E Cheese. We spent 3 hours there and Alice earned 150 tickets which she spent all on small plastic hearts and stars. She also played air hockey for the first time. They have a pint sized table perfect for her age and she had fun even when she hit the puck into her own goal a few times.

Mustard

2011-09-17T10:25:00.001-05:00

Alice in curlers

2011-09-16T07:36:00.001-05:00

Alice has been trying new things lately.... Like a new haircut with bangs, and rolling her hair in curlers

First day in room 12

2011-08-22T08:32:00.001-05:00

Alice is excited about her new class.

Easter 2011

2011-07-04T20:00:00.001-05:00

Alice and Mommy dunking Easter eggs. Also, this is Alice's favorite dress lately, and since we do laundry on the weekend its almost always worn on Monday.

Alice shows daddy the progress she's making.

Even her Easter eggs get princess crowns! She was very proud of her eggs and was being extra careful placing the crowns.

Both of these princess eggs have been deposed and she wears their crowns and holds their fate, and that of their people in her hands.

Alice finding her Easter eggs. This is a rite of passage for kids and parents alike :-) We all had fun, Alice found them all, and then we pushed her in the swings for a couple hours. We spend a lot of family time standing around the swing set.

This is the rocket slide. It is bright yellow, when not covered in leaves, and Alice's mom and dad rub it down with wax paper to make it extra fast. Alice has often went down so fast that she lands a couple feet from the end on her bottom. Her first words, "That was fast", as she gets up and heads back, usually cajoling her mom to go down next.

Every day is a new day

2011-03-10T21:41:00.000-06:00

What can I say about how fast Alice is growing up....

We have real conversations...
She has independent ideas and acts them out...

She talks about family and friends...

She has a wonderful imagination...

She can be as stubborn as an ox...
She can be as sweet as honey...

We sing and dance and recite our ABC's
She sings songs I've never heard before...

She teaches me new games...
She thinks me and her dad are funny...
but she also finds us to be insufferable ;-)

Jumping for Joy

2011-01-14T10:22:00.002-06:00

Alice is jumping straight up and getting some serious air.
Ginger looks on; impressed.

In the warm part of 2010 we went to Dog & Duck pub. Todd and Ginger (the pictured dog) came with us, and we had a great time having lunch, beers, and watching Alice being silly. Alice had milk, and enjoyed the little corn dog nuggets. Its a great Austin pub - family friendly and dog friendly too.

Pictures of our Sweet Alice

2010-12-28T20:55:00.001-06:00

I finally got around to getting a photographer to take pictures of Alice and the family. We met on a Sunday afternoon at a hiking trail near the lake, and the photographer took us down to the water to take the pictures. Alice did great, even stopping to pose for him on occasion. We collected rocks for Alice to throw into the water while the photographer just took candid photos while she played.

A few weeks later, the photographer came over to the house to show us the pictures. He had even put together a slide show with the pictures. Alice likes to looks at pictures of herself, but for some reason, the video with the music makes her cry ;-( Big tears began to well up in her eyes and she just started bawling...but she wanted to see it again and again. The music is Louis Armstrongs "What a wonderful World". We ask her why she is crying and all she will say is that shes sad and scared. We don't know if its the music or what, but we finally had to put it up and not let her watch it again.

These are just a few of my favorite pictures. We take pictures of Alice all the time ourselves, but others are able to get a different side of our sugar bear. We also wanted some of her personality to show through in her clothing choices and accessories.

Robot Maintenance

2010-11-30T11:39:00.001-06:00

Alice at Papa and Gamy's house for T-Day+1.

We got a new Roomba robot recently and Alice really likes it. She loves pushing the buttons and running away as its starts cleaning. The last few days she has started helping me clean the robot. She brings her step stool into the kitchen and helps wipe down the Roomba after a cleaning. She is very interested in robot maintenance and asks me what parts are called (listening closely to answers) and wants to help clean each piece. Its fun and its generally awesome that Alice will grow up with robots. :-)

Alice understands it to be asleep when it is recharging on its base (a.k.a. its bed). Also, the robot is often silly.

Alice learns to pedal

2010-11-22T11:16:00.001-06:00

It took Alice a while to understand the concept of pedeling,
but she finally got it last Friday.

She has taken a few spills on the trike,
but she always gets back up and tries again.

Thats my Girl!

Room 10 Montage

2010-11-09T12:44:00.001-06:00

Dora, Dora, Dora the Explorer

2010-11-07T15:02:00.003-06:00

We avoided Dora as long as possible. We knew an end to the no-Dora era was coming to a close when she came home from a visit to Grandma Didi's house with Dora Pj's, which became her favorite. Then, she started Spanish classes at school and they use Dora to teach the kids spanish. So when we asked Alice one day what she wanted to watch and she enthusiatically yelled "DORI" we knew it was over.

Every since she has started watching Dora, she has not wanted to watch a single movie...no Totoro, no Iron Giant, no Anastasia. Although we dreaded Alice succumbing to the Dora bandwagon, we have noticed some benefits to her watching the show. She is getting better at counting, following directions and answering questions. She has also started to create her own Dora pretend games. We take turns playing "Swiper de Box" (she has a hard time saying Fox) and Alice and Daddy create maps to follow to find the items Swiper takes.

Maybe I'm just trying to rationalize how something we dreaded but could not avoid, could actually turn out to be something beneficial and educational for Alice...and therefore was not as loathsome as we feared ;-)

Potty Training

2010-10-28T21:44:00.000-05:00

Alice was potty trained in 1 week. This is a bold statement, and for the most part true on our part. We talked to Alice about going potty at home and on weekends, but she was uninterested. She was much happier playing with us and not having to take time to go potty. We had limited success on the potty training front at home, but we really were not pushing her either. We figured when she was ready, she would tell us. If it hadn’t happened by the time she turned 3, then we would really being to train her in earnest.
School on the other hand, really tried to get the kids to start going potty. They have scheduled potty breaks and tiny little porcelain toilets for them to train on. Alice started to wear pull-ups at school, although she refused to wear them at home….she still wanted to wear her diapers. She had a potty chart at school and stickers were starting to appear on it regularly. One day her teacher said…”Alice’s pull up has been dry all day. If you want to bring her in panties, we could see how she does”. So, the next day Alice went to school in big girl panties and has been wearing them ever since. We still have to remind her to go potty, or ask her if she needs to go, but for the most part, Alice will just tell us when she needs to go. She is also starting to make us leave the bathroom so she can do it “all by myself”.

Since they have the small porcelain potty at school, Alice has always refused to use the small plastic potty training potty. At first, I had to hold her up on the toilet, then we graduated to her using a step stool to help her get up, but now, she is getting to be a pro. She can skooch her little butt up on the toilet without any help, and will perch there precariously. She has only fallen in once ;-) and we joke about it now. I tell Alice, "be careful, don't fall in the potty" and Alice will smile back and say, "mommy - I fall in the potty......No!!!!"

We still need help at night, and even with pull ups over her panties at night we have accidents, but she is very proud on the mornings she is still dry.

Diapering was never really all that bad and the funny thing is that I think I will actually miss it.

Chase Me

2010-10-09T18:56:00.002-05:00

We play chase alot.

Alice, the puppy wolf.

2010-09-16T10:18:00.001-05:00

Alice has been "reading" books much more lately. She has a stack of them that she has been carrying between rooms. We'll work through the stack a few times, she likes to "read" them to me :-)

The last couple of days she has been loving the "big bad wolf". This morning she turns to me and said, "I'm the big bad wolf daddy". So I asked her who I was, "You're riding hood, daddy". She quickly became the "puppy wolf", and we played "puppy wolf" and "riding hood" for a good while this morning. Good times :-)

Friday Night, Pizza Night!

2010-08-26T09:56:00.001-05:00

Alice learned early that she loves pizza. This led to responses of "pizza!" whenever asked what she wanted to eat.

Dad: What do you want for breakfast Alice?
Alice: Pizza! (followed by short pizza dance)

Dad and Mom needed to let Alice know that pizza is a treat and not something anyone should eat every day, especially for breakfast. Our solution was to officially designate Friday night as pizza night. She could get her yummy pizza predictably (plus let us off the hook to cook after work on Friday). So we began responding to every request for pizza with, "Friday night is pizza night, you'll have to wait until then" or something like that.

This has seemed to work well as she no longer asks for pizza for breakfast. Its still the dinner that gets her most excited and she loves hearing that dinner is pizza on our drive home from school on Friday.

Alice also gets excited for "Parties!" where she often gets pizza. Just mentioning that we are going to a party gets her energized and she'll run for the door to get her shoes yelling, "Come on daddy". She often encourages me to get out the door faster. I'm not sure if this excitement is for possible party pizza or just for party fun. Since she mostly plays with us at parties, I'm guessing its in large part due to possible party pizza (and cake of course but that is for another post).

update......

2010-07-22T21:42:00.001-05:00

It's been a few weeks since my last post. Things have been really busy at the Bickel household ;-)

We had our annual Independence Day weekend over the 4th of July weekend. With Patra's twins being so young this year, and the weather also not being very cooperative, we decided to have a get together in Dallas this year.

We spent Saturday over at Aunt Sissy's house, and Alice played with her cousins Jackson, Joci and Jules. We got in the pool, and had a relaxing(ish) ;-) visit. Alice got 1/2 year birthday presents from her Gammy and Paw-Paw and from the Miesse Clan.

Her lunch consisted of tortilla chips and chocolate cup cakes ;-)

On Sunday, we had a Meadows/Philips/Jacksons get together. We had (1) 3 year old - Jackson, (1) two year old (Alice), (2) one year olds - Cooper and Case and (2) 2 month olds - Chris and Sean.

Of course there were the adults too.....All the kids played well together, and Chris and Sean were just passed along from female to female.

We have had a few illnesses in the past few months too. First, we thought she had Roseola, but it turned out to be an intravirus. Then, she was sent home with "slap cheep" aka Fifth Disease and a few weeks later she caught the Hand Foot and Mouth Disease from a kid in her class. The Hand Foot and Mouth illness was the worse sickness we have had to deal with yet. Alice got all her blisters in her mouth and couldn't/wouldn't swallow. It was too painful, so she held the saliva in her mouth until it drooled all over her clothes and all over mom's too. We were worried she would get dehydrated because she wouldn't eat or drink anything. She was in pain and there was nothing we could do about it....it was really heartbreaking. Luckily, there was only 1 really horrible day and two not so bad days. This pic was taken on day 3 on the illness, so youcan see she was starting to feel better!

Kiddie Acres

2010-06-19T14:19:00.000-05:00

We took Alice to Kiddie Acres this morning for her first trip to an amusement park.

We met our friend Tavo there, and he brought his daughter Izzy.

Alice chose to ride the boats first. She was very good at staying in her seat, and she enjoyed dipping her hand in the water. She enjoyed this ride the most, and asked to ride it two more times.

Second, the girls rode the Jeeps. As Larry has pointed out, all the ride look much better in the photos than they did in real life, but the girls thought they were fun anyways.

Third, was Alice's first pony ride. The attendant took Alice's ticket and asked if she could pick her up to take her to the horse, and to our AMAZEMENT....she said yes, and outstretched her arms. I guess anyone with a pony is alright in Alice's book.

Next, Alice and Daddy rode the carousel. Alice is a pro at the carousel, since Didi has taken her to one a couple of times before, but it was her first ride with her dad, which makes it special.

After the carousel, Alice rode the planes. We think this was her least favorite, since she had a concerned look on her face the entire time she was on the ride, but she sat still and soaked it all in.

Mom took Alice and Izzy up on the Ferris Wheel. Luckily there was a 200 lb maximum weight limit, and the girls aren't that heavy yet ;-) Alice liked it when the ride stopped us at the top and we could see over the trees. Alice noticed we were "really really high".

We were there for only 1 hour, but it was an action packed hour, and we were all already tired.

Brief Notes

2010-06-15T08:21:00.002-05:00

Note 1: Alice Likes Pizza
Alice likes pizza. Last week, when asked what she wanted for breakfast she said, "pizza!" three mornings out of five. She didn't get it for breakfast (maybe on vacation but not a school day).

Note: 2: Alice is Talking More
Alice is talking so much more. She is picking up words at an increasingly fast rate and putting them together into short functional sentences, at least when she feels like it :) Her greater vocabulary range allows for much more conversation, like"what did you do at school today". "Paint!" Of course we knew she had painted since her finger nails were dark blue around the edges, but its so nice hearing her pick something to relay and be excited about it.

Note 3: Alice Told Daddy, "I love you"
Alice told me she loved me for the first time this morning. Its June 15th and my daughter loves me. I am so happy. I've never had a greater compliment except when my wife agreed to marry me.

Miss "Independence"

2010-05-22T06:52:00.002-05:00

Over the past few months, it had become very apparent that Alice has an opinion....specifically about what she wears. Most mornings are a fight with tears to get her dressed because Alice only wants to wear 1 of 3 Alice-approved dresses.....and there is a ranking to which dress is her favorite, second favorite and third acceptable dress. (#1 is "My Pink", #2 in "My Blue, and #3 is "My Lello"

She also is very specific about her shoes. She hates new shoes. Alice has to be the one to pick out new shoes because if SHE does not pick them out, you are never going to get them on her feet! Her favorite shoes are her "blwown shues". Since she started walking we have bought her the same style Buster Brown shoe. She has had this specific brown shoe with a velcro strap and a butterfly cut-out for 5 sizes.

The last pair I bought were a size 8, and when I went to buy the new shoes, I found out they are now discontinued. Luckily, I found the last pair in a size 8 on the clearance rack. I looked to see if I could buy the same shoe online, but it really is discontinued and could not find any larger sizes to pre-buy for the inevitable time she outgrows the size 8. I forsee a traumatic event in my future when Alice needs new brown shoes.

Beach Baby - Padre Trip #3

2010-05-05T21:36:00.001-05:00

Alice's 3rd trip to Padre was the most fun for her yet. When she was 9 months old....she couldn't really enjoy it. When she was 18 months old, it was cold and windy, so not alot of beach time. This year, at 27 months...with beautiful weather, she had a blast.

We arrived early evening on Sunday. After a 6 hour car ride, we were all tired, but Alice was great on the car trip down. She really is a great traveler. We settled in for the evening, had dinner and watched DVD's. Alice went to sleep and slept better than usual.

The next morning we got up and lazed around the condo for a while. At some point we piled in the car and went to McDonalds for breakfast. After breakfast we decided to take Alice down to the beach.

We tried to put her swimsuit on her, but she would have none of it. She wanted to wear her blue dress and was not going to be dissuaded, so we relented and headed down to the water.

She was tentative about the sand at first, but within minutes, she was running around and heading for the water.

Alice ran up and back with the surf, she stomped and squeeled with delight, she kicked over sandcastles, ran after birds, collected and tossed seashells into the water.

It was so much fun to watch her. We repeated this every morning we spend in Padre. Mornings were spent on the beach and afternoons were spent lazing in the condo.

Tuesday evening we decided to venture out of the condo and went to Pier 19. We decided to try and eat dinner there since it was outside and not crowded, so Alice could run around if she wanted to.

Alice sat in mamma's lap and ate cheese sticks and then took fried shrimp out of my hand and proceeded to eat several bites...including the tail!

It was one of our more enjoyable dinners out with Alice in current memory.
We headed back to Austin Wednesday afternoon, knowing Patra's twins could be born any day and hoped to get some time at home before heading to Dallas for their birth (which btw happened the next week on May 4th)

This is my favorite picure from the trip. Her exuberant joy is so apparent!

Austin Zoo

2010-04-19T07:33:00.000-05:00

Sunday afternoon Alice and mommy went on an impromptu visit to the Austin Zoo. Alice had not taken a nap that day, and I figured I would drive her around to see if she would catch a few Z's. I started driving out towards the Austin Zoo thinking that if she fell asleep, I would just keep cruisin the hill country, but if she did not fall asleep, we would run around the Zoo for a few hours. Booger Bear did not fall asleep, so we paid our fee and entered the Austin Zoo.

Alice was less interested in the animals, but more interested in seeing other kids and running around and climbing up the guard rails. She did enjoy seeing the big CATS though. She kept pointing and saying "kitty", and when they kept sleeping as though she wasn't there - she would yell "WAKE UP!"

They also had a train to ride...so of course we had to ride. Alice enjoyed the ride, and the scenery was nice, but I wouldn't recommend the train to adults or older kids. To make the ride more interesting....they had cut-outs of alien landings, faireys and gnomes, pirates, etc. All the cut-outs were old and weather worn and made the ride kinda stupid, but the smaller kids liked pointing out the cuts-outs, so i guess they performed at an extreemly minimal level.

Overall, the trip was enjoyable and we will travel back out to the Austin Zoo again.

Are you ready for a Montage...a montage?

2010-04-07T10:55:00.000-05:00

Action shots from Alice's days at School

Alice's BIG weekend

2010-03-28T21:04:00.001-05:00

This weekend Aunt Sissy brought cousin Juliette to visit Alice. This was the first time Alice has been old enough to really play with her cousin. Juliette is just over 2 years older than Alice, and Alice thought she was the coolest.

The two girls played great together. Juliette was gracious in understanding that Alice was younger and giving in to her two year old demands. Alice was good in letting Juliette play with her toys without saying "mine" to everything.

Aunt Sissy brough Alice the play kitchen Joci and Jules have loved for several years. Now Alice has her "New Kitchen". The first night, the two girls plays together in her room with "the New Kitchen" for several hours. Juliette showed Alice how everything worked. After they played themselves out in the "New Kitchen" the girls retired to the TV room and watched several episodes of Max and Ruby laying together on the blow-up bed.

Alice kept telling Daddy to "go-way daddy"....she was hanging out with her big cousin Jules, and didn't want us hovering. Bed time was very late for the two girls. Alice finally agreed to go to her bed around 10:00.
The next morning we went for the Bickel tradition of driving around eating donut holes and coffee. We happened past a couple garage sales, and I picked up a couple of toys for Alice and some for Patra's boys. Around 11:00 we headed downtown. Our original plan was to go ride the Zilker Park Train, but there was an event going on and crowds and parking conspired against us. Instead we took the girls to the Parmer Event Center Park.

They have a spiral hill and water park/fountain. Alice absolutely LOVED the fountains. She ran around and got wet and splashed in the shallow pools. Of course, some strange little boy started following her around (this often happens, especially at McDonalds Playlands). Jules got to ride her scooter down the spiral hill, and also got a bit wet.

Alice continued to mimic her big cousin throughout the day. They ate pizza for dinner, played in the yard and watched shows together. Aunt Sissy and Jules left Sunday after breakfast, but their influence lives on....Alice now wants to be pushed "really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really high" on the swing like Juliette was always saying ;-)

The weather is great!

2010-03-21T07:27:00.000-05:00

The weather is getting better and better for playing outside, and since the time change, we have more time in the evening to enjoy it.

Things to do outside:
Swing - sometimes for a hour at a time. She also likes to dictate who gets to swing next to her "mommy wing!" or "daddy wing".
Slide - everyone slides - alice, mommy, daddy, baby (doll), pablo, tyrone, uniqua, tasha, austin, etc...
Sand / water table - everyone has their own assigned "cup" and "poon" (as assigned by Alice).
Chase - its a procession of Alice and Daddy being chased by the "monster" aka....mommy pulling the blue randomly honking car (how did mommy become the monster?????)

Ring-around the Rosies - we all spin around and fall down....then wrestle with Alice.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

2010-03-17T07:30:00.000-05:00

Bye Bye Crib Part II

2010-03-08T20:54:00.003-06:00

There is always some bad with the good. 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 lose it soon. Not looking forward to it, but it is inevitable.

Bye Bye Crib

2010-02-24T21:24:00.001-06:00

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

2010-02-08T16:13:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-22T12:51:00.002-06:00

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

2010-01-10T12:37:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-07T21:32:00.002-06:00

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

2010-01-07T21:21:00.000-06:00

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

Looks like alot of fun!

Learning Her Name

2010-01-06T11:03:00.000-06:00

She has started to say her name in the last few days. So far she always says it in a whisper. Even if she is talking in her normal volume, when she comes to her name she'll whisper and then resume talking at normal volume. I love hearing her say her name, especially when she looks into the mirror and says "Alice" and "Daddy".

New Playscape

2010-01-04T08:38:00.002-06:00

We got Alice a new play-scape for the back yard. She loves it. We have done much swinging since it was installed, even in 40 degree weather. Alice has learned the value of mittens and hats (they let you swing longer), so I guess its an educational toy :)

NAEYC

2009-12-21T14:21:00.002-06:00

Alice's school just went through re-accreditation for NAEYC and got a fabulous report card

1. Relationships - 100 % Commended
2. Curriculum - 97 %
3. Teaching - 100 % Commended
4. Assessment - 100+ %* Commended
5. Health - 100+ %* Commended
6. Teachers - 100% Commended
7. Families - 100% Commended
8. Community Relationships - 100% Commended
9. Physical Environment - 96%
10. Leadership and Management - 100+ %* Commended

The scores earned on each of the program standards far surpassed the minimum necessary for accreditation. (Only a score of 80% in all areas is required.)
* A program can score better than 100% when it satisfies additional criteria categorized as "emerging criteria," criteria which are suggested but not required.

School Days

2009-12-14T14:53:00.000-06:00

Alice with a stuffed animal

Alice still sleepy after a nap

Listening attentively with classmates

Alice loves to slide

Holding hands with a friend

It's puzzle time!

It's a First

2009-12-05T20:17:00.000-06:00

We have been introducing the potty chair for a while now, but until now, Alice just sat there.
Today, Alice went tinkle in the potty!
We still have a long way to go, but its progress

The Difference a Year Makes

2009-11-24T20:22:00.005-06:00

A year ago,I was still rocking Alice to sleep.
She was an accomplished crawler and could pull herself up to stand and cruise the furniture. She was definately on her way to becoming mobile.
I miss that baby girl, but I adore my toddling sugar bear.

THEN NOW

The many faces of Alice

2009-11-24T20:12:00.003-06:00

This is a sampling of pictures from November

Growing up

2009-11-13T20:28:00.002-06:00

You know your little girl is growing up when she can have a hairstyle.

Obsession

2009-11-08T19:12:00.001-06:00

Since Alice was little, we have been showing her movies by Hayao Miyazaki.
We started with My Neighbor Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle
Graduated to Kiki's Delivery Service
and now, she is obsessing over Spirited Away

Every morning when Alice gets up her first words are "Away". She wants to watch it morning, noon and night. The difference with Spirited Away, is that Alice has begun to imitate and mimic the movie.

There are several scenes where Alice will copy Sen's movements and words. The more she watches it, the more she is begining to understand it (we think....)

Yesterday and today, we saw a new development. There is a scene where Chihiro's parents have been turned into pigs and Chihiro's is very upset. Alice is now scared of this scene. She starts to shake and cry along with Chihiro.

This is very interesting and disturbing to us as parents, because she obviously understands this is an upsetting scene, and is sympathetic to Chihiro. However, we all hate to see our children upset, so we will be forgoing this scene for a few years.

We just hope that the scene hasn't made her afraid of pigs for the rest of her life!

Bobby

2009-11-07T07:49:00.000-06:00

Although Alice can say doggie (goggie) and puppy, Alice prefers to call dogs she likes - Bobby.

We think Bobby comes from Alice trying to say Bailey when she was younger, but the term has morphed to also encompass all cuddly animals Alice wants to hug.

Todd's dog Ginger has officially earned status of "Bobby"

Here, Alice is feeding Ginger (AKA "Bobby") a treat.

It's Good Luck - Right?

2009-11-01T17:00:00.000-06:00

It is Sunday morning, and we are back from our family vacation from South Padre Island. We take Alice to Terraburger to swing and play while Larry and I drink our organic coffees. Alice sees all the birds (who are waiting for a free meal) and she wants to chase after them. A while later, I notice something in Alice's hair.....
I've heard that a bird pooping on you is good luck, so I guess Alice is the lucky one today.

Finally Home

2009-10-26T17:50:00.000-05:00

It is 5:30 pm, the day Alice comes home from spending 4 days with her Grandparents.

Vacations are tiring!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-17T21:34:00.001-05:00

Today I took Alice to the Pumpkin Patch. There were thousands of pumpkins in all sizes and a petting zoo too.

We walked around for about an hour and a half and Alice finally picked her pumpkin. Alice liked the smaller pumpkins she was able to pick up.

She spent about 20 minutes lining up pumpkins and putting them back, lining up pumpkins and putting them back....

Toddler Monday at the Childrens Museum

2009-10-12T12:36:00.003-05:00

Since today is Columbus Day and Alice's school was closed for a teacher work day, I took Alice to the Austin Childrens Museum for "Baby Bloomers". From 9-12 they are open for kids 3 and under. My friend Sylvia brought her daughter Maddie along too.

We first stopped at Mom's office - to park since it is right across the street from the Museum. I took her up to the office to show her off and attend a quick meeting. Alice was charming ;-) and told everyone BYEBYE in an outdoor voice when we left.

During Toddler Time, the Museum volunteers had story time (which was not interesting to Alice) and Sing-a-long - which Alice loved and participated - in a way I had never seen before. She laughed, clapped and joined in on the hand signals during the songs for "Wheels on the Bus", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "If Your Happy and You Know it".

After we left the Museum, we headed back towards home. It was quickly approaching nap time. We stopped at Taco Cabanna for lunch. Alice and I shared chicken nachos. Then it was off to the the house for nap time.

It was a great morning.

Alice TV

2009-10-10T14:57:00.002-05:00

Althought its not ALL Alice ALL the Time, its pretty darn great. As mentioned in the top 5 reasons we picked Alice's new school, our new favorite past time is watching Alice play and sleep at school on the web cam. Here is a sampling of Alice at school doing various things.

Alice Sleeping

Alice sleeping 1/2 off the mat

Alice Sliding

Alice reading a book

I don't know what she's doing, but look at how cute she is ;-)

I've been told I'm stalking my daughter, but until she's old enough to KNOW that I'm stalking her...I'm tuning in daily (along with other family members I know)

The Bluebonnet School

2009-10-06T21:04:00.004-05:00

Alice started her new school this week.

We decided on putting her in The Bluebonnet School of Cedar Park. http://www.bluebonnetschool.com/index.html

There are several reasons we chose this school over others - including Montessori Schools.
1. Each classroom has a degeed lead teacher and a teachers assistant.
2. The maximum teacher/student ratio is 2/10 at all times
3. Internet classroom viewing available free to parents and family.
4. They provide lunch (this was a big negative in the Montessori Schools)
5. It is close to home - not much further away than her previous school....so convenient!

Additional coolness factors were:
6. They have their own splash park for summer water fun twice a week (summer time only of course).
7. They have a windproof storm room to withstand strong winds and tornadoes.
8. The building is fully sprinklered (you'd be surprised, but this is not required by code!)
9. Quarterly parent conferences.
10. Spanish and Music class included in the curiculum.

From viewing the internet video, it is apparent that Alice is having fun at school.
It makes us feel happy and confident that she is being well cared for when she cannot be with us ;-)

Alice Painting At School

2009-10-06T11:01:00.002-05:00

Alice's new preschool has web camera access! I've really enjoyed my first day of being able to see her at school. This is a picture of her painting a picture with her teacher before lunch :-)

2009-09-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

Alice has stinky feet.

Changes.....

2009-09-26T14:59:00.005-05:00

We finally came to the conclusion this past week, that Alice needs to change schools. The week before, I noticed ANOTHER bite on her arm. We had not recieved any incident report on this one, so I was very concerned that it went unnoticed.

I have been doing my homework in researching other options. We are checking out few Montessori Schools, and a couple of other Preschools.

We like the idea of Alice getting more learning opportunities and individual attention, as opposed to being warehoused with other kids. We like the idea of her having an educated teacher, as opposed to a glorified babysitter. We are looking for a balance of a educational, fun, nurturing, and loving environment.

We may end up paying a bit more, or having to make some adjustments to our routine, but we all know that our Alice is worth it.

Stay tuned for more info!

Labor Day Weekend Fun

2009-09-06T18:02:00.001-05:00

Just some pics of Alice having fun this weekend.

Alice likes to imitate mom's driving

Who knew a milk jug could be so fun???

Please

2009-09-01T10:38:00.009-05:00

Alice Loves Cheetos!

Cheetos are the ONLY snack she routinely says "please" for, she even signs "please" while saying it to increase her probability of receiving one. This is so cute that she is guaranteed to receive Cheetos.

Of course the reason that Cheetos are around for Alice to request, are that her parents are also quite fond of the little snack :-)

BTW - Many Cheetos flavors are Gluten free, etc. Check out the info.

Chuck E. Cheese Trip #1

2009-08-31T07:35:00.004-05:00

Alice sitting at her friend Cade's birthday table at Chuck E. Cheese

Cristy sat with Alice helping her know what to do and what to look at. There was a lot going on and Alice was eagerly absorbing it all. She wasn't scared of the guy in the Chuck E. Cheese costume, although she wasn't looking predisposed to run up and hug him ;-) She loved her piece of pizza and ate it for over an hour until it was finished :-)

Cristy's work friend Koleman and his wife Staci hosted the party for her son Cade, and we were happy that Alice got invited to help celebrate and have fun. Koleman took several good picture (thankfully, since we didn't remember to bring our camera) of which this is one.

Alice enjoyed the party experience very much. She went straight into nap mode when we got home and slept a long time.

One day after school

2009-08-27T21:00:00.002-05:00

Alice had a fun day with mom and dad after school yesterday. The weather was not too hot (meaning it was just tolerable) so we all went outside for a while after dinner and to water the yard.
Alice decided that watering the yard looked fun and wanted to help. She did a fabulous job watering the grass and her clothes. Water is always fun and getting wet just means you don't feel so hot. Hmmm, now I'm thirsty....

Dad showed Alice how to drink from the hose. It took her a while to understand the concept of bending over so the water doesn't just douse your clothes, but she was wet anyways, so who cares!

Later, we went to the back yard for more playtime....sandbox, car rides, chalk art, sliding. Alice took some time to site down and have a drink every once in a while.

By the time it was definately time to go in for a bath, it was already after 8:00. She had stubbed both of her toes bloody, and had skinned her elbow, but she really could care less. She never cried about them or complained that they hurt. She's a super trooper!

Toy Box

2009-08-15T19:47:00.003-05:00

Alice is deckout out in her retro sheik "wife-beater" shirt

contrasted with adorable embroidered jeans shorts.

Notice her matching socks and tennis shoes

that say "chase me daddy" :-)

Random Pics

2009-08-15T19:21:00.002-05:00

Alice still plays in her cabinet, although not as much as she used to

I love this picture....she looks so sweet!

Look at those blue eyes..."anyone want a drink?"

Alice LOVES shoes...anyones shoes.

Pretty in Pink

Alice enjoying her morning breakfast.

Alice and Paw-Paw in the park

Alice doesn't feel so well...

2009-08-07T20:24:00.002-05:00

Tonight, Alice started feeling sick. She wanted to be held, and kept wanting to go nite-nite, at 6:30. We tried feeding her dinner, but she really wasn't interested. She sat slumped in her chair watching Totoro - ocasionally perking up at certain parts of the show, but ate nothing. We gave her some tylenol and took her temp, and yep...it was 101.6 :-(
She sat on her dad's lap for a while, looking very pitiful until it was finally bedtime.
It's bittersweet cuddle time.

Swim Update

2009-07-28T12:51:00.000-05:00

Alice jumped into the water all by herslf. Of course, she immediately sank, but we were there to bring her back up. She is also learning to hang onto the side of the pool, and loves the slide.

ByeBye

2009-07-21T20:05:00.004-05:00

Alice has finally embraced the word ByeBye. We figured, up until this point, she just really didn't like goodbyes and just decided to not say Bye.

Leave it up to the Backyardigans to break through the no-ByeBye logic. Now when a show is over, Alice waves and says ByeBye. She has even begun to say ByeBye to Daddy when he leaves for work.

Swim update

2009-07-20T19:47:00.000-05:00

Alice is up to 6 seconds underwater now ;-)

Alice loves the Backyardigans

2009-07-12T20:44:00.011-05:00

The Backyardigans have become a family favorite. They keep Alice entertained during long car rides, they are the morning wake up show and after school milk and cookies wind down show. They play almost constantly during the weekend, so Alice can saunter to the TV room, sit down and have a few quite moments.

The Backyardigans are a Noggin show (Nick Jr.) The show is an animated musical-adventure series aimed at children between the ages of 2 and 5 (see - I told you she was advanced). In each episode, the show's five preschool friends—Pablo, Tyrone, Uniqua, Tasha, and Austin—rely on their vivid imaginations to transform their backyard into completely different worlds, in which they go through many sorts of stories and adventures.

This week, Alice recieved a set of beenie-baby Backyardigan stuffed animals. She was so excited to get them, she carted them around all day.

At first I thought Tyrone was her favorite

but the next day I thought it was Pablo,

but now I think it is Uniqua, because of her antenne - which she likes to chew on.

UPDATE 7/31/09

Her favorite is definately Tyrone......

Cry Pillow

2009-07-12T20:33:00.003-05:00

Alice is almost always a sweetie, but there are times when she gets so mad and frusterated that she throws a bit of a tantrum - and she's not even two yet...she is definately advanced for her age ;-)

However, we know we cannot indulge in these tantrums, especially when she has been told she cannot have her way. To keep her from hurting herself, we have created "The Cry Pillow".

When Alice must run her cry course, we place her on the play mat on her cry pillow and tell her to cry it out on the pillow.

We are close at hand, just around the corner, but far enough for her to see that we are not going to cater to her tantrum. She typically crys a few minutes, but then realizes that she is surrounded by toys...and it is much more fun to play with the toys than scream into a pillow.

We have run this tactic by our resident child development expert (Jill) and she tells us it is a good method - yay us!

Swim update

2009-07-06T20:28:00.002-05:00

At swimming class today, Alice held her breath underwater for 4 seconds.
Baby steps, but progress every week!

Independence Day 2009

2009-07-06T13:00:00.000-05:00

The Meadows and the Bickels held our second annual Alice Independence Day. Below are some pictures from the afternoon spent at Grandma Didi and PopPop's Lake house in East Texas

Checking out the water

Alice and Mom in the Lake

All the Ladies swimming!

Alice and Dad - with the flag waiving beyond.

Summer Days

2009-07-02T10:57:00.004-05:00

Although the weather has been unseasonably hot, Alice loves to go outside.
All she has to do is go over to the sliding glass door, beat on it a few times, and say "GO?"

Alice and Mom making bubbles

Alice playing in her sand/water table from Grandma Didi and PopPop

Alice loves Daddy's cowboy hat

Our little Artist

Updates

2009-07-02T10:25:00.002-05:00

Alice has been having "splash day" about once a week this summer. We bring her in her swim suit and a provide a change of clothes and her and her classmates go and run about in some sprinkling water :-) She likes to do this at home so I'm sure she likes it at school.

Alice can say "cookie" clearly. When I pick her up at school the first thing she does is run to me and say "Go". On the way home (i.e. implementation of the "Go" request) Alice's next request is "More", by which she is requesting a snack. She can almost say snack but due to the importance of the request she doesn't chance it with new words and uses "More". I have been suggesting options to her on the way home and she has learned to say, "Cookie", which is a favored option. So when we get home (i.e. "Go" accomplished) I can implement the "More" request with a cup of Milk, she is still working on that one, and a cookie which she proudly repeats as she munches it down.

2009-06-30T08:01:00.001-05:00

Alice held her breath for three seconds under water yesterday at her swim lessons.

Cristy and Alice took the bike and bike trailer to the swim lesson yesterday.

Quick Updates

2009-06-25T08:41:00.004-05:00

Cristy took Alice to her second swim lesson this week. She held her breath underwater for 2 seconds!

Alice can ask, "Where daddy?" and "Where mommy?". She holds her hands out to the sides with her palms up while asking :-)

Chairnasium

2009-06-11T15:46:00.008-05:00

This documents one of the many chairnasium exercises that Alice has developed.

Ready

Set

Yeah!

Alice LOVES her chair :-)

Alice becomes a Catfish

2009-05-31T10:29:00.011-05:00

Tomorrow, Alice moves up to a new class called - Catfish. She started out as a Pearl, then became a Dragonfly, and now a Catfish.

There are 4 other kids in her current class who will move up with her, so she will have familiar friends with her, but mom is sad that little Alice is growing up, and so quickly now.

She now has (4) 1 year molars making her teeth grand total = 12

She is learning to manipulate the situation to her liking (which is fascinating to watch and trying at times).

She is harder to re-direct, and remembers what you took away from her

She remembers where things are kept.

She wants to try whatever you are eating/drinking.

She wants to do it herself. She is independent, but still wants you to be there to help when she gets frustrated.

She has turned into a little monkey - climbing on everything she can - and everything she shouldn't.

She can be as sweet as candy - giving you hugs, kisses and love pats.

She squeels with delite and screams when unhappy.

She runs and plays, but still falls and needs hugs from mommy and daddy.

She chants mom-ma, mom-ma and dad-da, dad-da.

She loves dancing with Daddy and can do the 'white boy dance' all by herself.

Doggies are the best things on earth.

She loves stroller rides to the park and will swing for hours if allowed.

Tee-Hee

2009-05-18T20:24:00.004-05:00

Alice talks on the phone......"Hi Doggie"

Alice goes shopping....(daddy follows with wallet)

Alice on the pot....(I go where I want!)

Alice gets a haircut

2009-05-16T20:15:00.004-05:00

Today, we took Alice for her first haircut.

At 16 months of age, Alice had still not had her first haircut. Her hair on top was so long, I always had to put it up in a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes.

Alice did not like it, but she was a trooper. There were a few tears, but it was over quickly and her new "do" is adorable!

Juice Moments

2009-05-15T09:43:00.006-05:00

"Sweet, sweet juice"

"Done with that juice"

Sprinkler Fun

2009-05-11T20:34:00.005-05:00

On Mother's Day after traveling back from Dallas, the Bickel family took some time in the afternoon playing outside. These are pic's of Alice's first time to play in the sprinkler.

Eeyore's Birthday Party

2009-04-26T12:05:00.005-05:00

For years, Larry and I kept saying - we should go to Eeyore's Birthday Party, but every year - we would always miss it. Never knowing exactly when it happened, and never hearing about when it was. This year, we finally made it out!

For those of you who don't know what Eeyore's Birthday Party is (follow the link). And for those who watch South Park - we saw a real live Hippy Drum Circle. (see below)

Alice had a good time watching the interesting people, costumes and many, many DOGGIES. We saw a childrens costume contest, a walking twinkie and lots of fairys (real and imaginary...haha)

To help Alice blend in, we got her ponytail painted red. The red was cute and went with her outfit, but I think next time we will go with a pink ponytail - or maybe blue.

After a few hours of walking around, we finally headed back to the car. We had parked downtown and taken a shuttle to the event. The Shuttles were real live school buses - so Alice got her first ride on a school bus.

A whole afternoon of firsts' and fun.

2009-04-19T16:32:00.009-05:00

Alice had her 15 month well check last week. Her ears have finally cleared up, but she did develop pink eye (again).

The doctor looked at her teeth and said we should start weening her from the paci because it is pushing her teeth forward. We've decided to try and only give her the paci at night, and on long trips.

Alice can say lots more words now. I really don't know if she knows the meaning to most of them but some of her favorite new words are: doggie, more, go, baby, E-I-E-I-O which she sings with the song "Old McDonald", and at other random times.

Her stats for 15 months are right on target for her growth chart. She is still 80th percentile for height, 15th percentile for weight, and a whopping 95% for her head. She is 3x's her birth weight and 1/3 longer. (21.5lbs / 31" long)

Easter Sunday

2009-04-19T16:23:00.004-05:00

Gammy sent Alice an outfit for Easter, along with a book and some paci clips.

It was a nice day spent with the family.

Alice Has Good Times

2009-04-02T10:32:00.003-05:00

Alice has GOOD times!

Alice is a natural beauty.

Alice and Mom chilling in the play room.

When life gives you Hail, Make Martini's

2009-03-25T21:07:00.003-05:00

Larry calles me at work around 5:30 and says " Can you hear that?"
THAT turns out to be a major HAIL storm passing over our house.

When I arrive home, I see devestation everywhere - it looks like a tornadoe has hit our neighborhood. Hail is everywhere, and tree debris litters the ground.

So, we let baby hold one of the hail balls. It is bigger than a golf ball. She hold the cold ice and licks the ice ball and laughs. Baby's first hailstorm.

After Alice went to bed - Mom and Dad made hail storm martini's to cap off the day. Exciting! and the lawn got watered! BONUS!

Roomba

2009-03-12T08:21:00.003-05:00

Roomba is interesting

and a little scary.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-25T10:41:00.008-06:00

We had a nice valentine's day at home

Notice Alice's hair, up in a single pony tail on the top of her head. That is the style that Cristy fixes it in for school everyday lately. Otherwise Alice would have a very crazy head of hair after just a few minutes of play time, especially now that she plays outside at school every day. BTW - Yesterday, one of Alice's teachers mentioned that she is enjoying playing outside much more and seems to have adjusted well to the play ground environment :-)

Me and Alice playing outside like we do almost every afternoon after school.

Some pics and stories

2009-02-21T11:34:00.006-06:00

Alice has now graduated to the big girl class at school. She started the "Dragonflies" class last Monday and it was a big adjustment for baby and parents. No more cribs and bottles at school! She takes naps on a pallet, and they drink from sippy cups and feed themselves at small tables. According to her daily report cards, Alice has been eating very well. Most reports say she eats all her food for breakfast, lunch and snack time.

Alice practicing the stacking rings

The teachers say she is adjusting slowly. The rambunctiousness of the other kids is a little much at times, so she is allowed to go over to her old classroom with the smaller kids for some quiet time, but she mostly stays with her new class and is starting to enjoy the outdoor time they are allowed.

Alice playing in her kitchen cabinet

Car rides are much more enjoyable now that Alice can see out front. Mom and Dad can both sit in the front seat and Alice can entertain herself better now. One of our "dining out" fav's is Sonic Drive-In. Alice sits in her seat and lets us eat - as long as we pass back some buttery buns and tater tots.

Alice and the monster waffle

A breakfast fav is McDonalds. Never in my life would I have thought that I'd say "Lets go to McDonalds" on a weekly basis, but Alice finds it so entertaining to watch the other kids, and she really does eat good while we are there that it has become a breakfast mecca for the Bickels.

I'm a Pepper!

2009-01-25T12:27:00.002-06:00

Alice Loves Her Stroller

2009-01-25T12:02:00.003-06:00

Not only does Alice love to TAKE stoller rides, but she likes to give them too.

When Alice was just learning to walk,the stroller was too light, and she needed to have something more substantial to lean her weight on.

But now that Alice has better balance control she can push around the mini doll stroller. The stroller occupant is "Chickie" - who sometimes gets thrown out, or has to share the stroller with other items Alice piles in....water bottles, pacies, sippy cups, other toys, but she reigns as the strollers' permanent resident.