Yaddie

This deserves its own post. Alice has always done things her own way -- but not like Lizzie. Liz is strong headed and somewhat contrarian, but she seems to always care if someone is watching. Alice mostly just does her thing without worrying if anyone is watching. On top of being a total goofball, she has made-up some words. The furniture jumping game is called Teedalee, for example. Our cat Abby is known as "Blue" -- probably taken from the neighbor's dog named..."Blue." Alice's favorite book is called "Yaddie." Its actually "Where's that fish," by Dan Crisp. I have no idea where she got it, probably attempt to say a word that then got repeated back to her. Anyway, it stuck. To get the flu effect, you need to say it with different cadences and emphasis. "Yaaaaaaaa-DIE", "YAH-die," "Yaddie-addie-addie." Yaddie is even such a special book to have earned its own place in her room (she forgot about this during the PEI trip). For a few weeks, Yaddie lived beside her dresser in her room, in front of the window and sort of behind the door. Each night, she would go and get it, and if you asked her to put it away, she would go and drop it in the same spot. Very silly.

Gross motor

The past year Alice has definitely been a gross motor skill specialist. In terms of development, she has mastered gross motor skills quicker and more easily than other milestones. Climbing the stairs, walking, climbing on the playset, lugging laundry basket around, picking things up, stacking, jumping, bouncing, etc. She hasn't mastered many fine motor skills (forks, markers, etc.). Maybe its because she is the second child and has to keep up with the older kids (including her cousins), so she never gets a chance to focus on those skills. Maybe thats just how she is. Its hard to keep her still. Here's an example of the gross motor / fine motor difference in Alice. The high chair is gone, and the booster is on its way out. She's almost 2 and eats her meals standing on a regular dining chair. Halfway through the meal she'll reach over and pull another chair closer and then step over onto it. She may even pull her meal and place mat over as well. But she's not great with a fork or other utensils and she most eats with her hands.

The Magic Baby

To be more specific, from 9-18 months, Alice has been: Happy: She really didn't cry very much (sorry, tantrums are starting). She's always smiling, giggling and laughing. Silly and goofy: She'll ham it up just for the sake of it. She doesn't care if anyone is watching. She spins getting dizzy, does little dances, walks around with a little strut, talks to her "Bobby," and so on. Helpful: She'll clean up after herself if you ask, and she'll get a bowl or plate for her snack if you ask her. Independent, self reliant, smart, curious, experimental, and patient(!): When she was 15 months old she would play on her own for almost 30 minutes. If she couldn't figure out how to make something work or how to play with a toy, she would try it again and again...a good little problem solver. When she plays with a toy, you can see in her eyes that she is examining it and evaluating it. Then she'll try it and if it doesn't work, she'll try it a different way. I think she preferred to figure things out herself through experimentation than to have someone help her. She'll dump water back and forth from one cup to another, just to see what happens. She's a good little scientist. Affectionate and snuggly: She loves to snuggle. She likes to have "chair" or "cair" before bed. This consists of sitting her in your lap and naming and pointing to body parts, followed by a snuggle. She'll lay on your chest while you rock in a chair and slowly drift to sleep. If she is sick and wakes up crying she can always be comforted with a snuggle in the rocking chair. She's just a generally good natured toddler. She loves music and dancing, and as I mentioned another post, she always moves with a spring in her step. She is not anxious or nervous and it is very relaxing to spend time with her. You can see why someone once called her the "Magic Baby." I think we'll keep her.

If you're happy and you know it stomp your feet

For the first post-entry in Alice's blog, I'll tell you about Alice's foot stomping. It's hard to put into words, and unfortunately there is very little video, but here goes. First, Alice was and is a very expressive child, and her body language is very animated. We joke that she should never play poker. She'll walk with a little side to side strut, she dances often, bounces up and down, jumps, hops, etc. Most of the time her general happiness is showing through in her physical behavior. She just has a spring in her step most times. When she gets really excited she would stomp her feet rapidly. Its almost as if she would run in place. Additionally, its involuntary...so if she was walking around and saw a toy she really liked, there would be a little thump-thump-thump-thump from her feet. If you called her into the kitchen and asked her if she would like some grapes or blueberries, she might reply, "yay," while stomping her feet. She might even throw in a little stomping while walking around the house if she was in a particularly good mood.

Little climber

Wow, this kid can climb. Its like a reflex, when she encounters an obstacle she raises her leg and puts her foot up. She could climb the stairs before she could walk. During the christmas break of 2011 she climbed onto the dining chairs...and then onto the table 5 minutes later. During the early spring of 2012, she climbed up the ladder on the swing set. One day I left her alone in her room and 5 minutes later when I came back she was standing on the diaper changing table. Luckily, Alice is also good at climbing down. She'll fall a good bit as well, mostly when she is tired and not paying attention. It seems to be a miracle that she hasn't climbed out of her crib yet (almost 2 years old), which is a good thing because she can open door knobs as well!

Back blogging

I'll take responsibility for the lack of posts about Alice's first year in New Hampshire. To try to make up for it, I'll be posting here as I recall the past year of Alice's life.

Alice's Wonderland is MOVING!

Oh, the symbolism... Alice and Lizzie's lives are so very intertwined that separating events into "Lizzie's" and "Alice's" for blog posts has become downright intractable. (Lately we've solved the problem by posting to NEITHER blog, but surely that's not optimal...) So we're creating a new blog, "FurstenGirls" (get it? Furstenberg Girls? So clever... right? right?? hmf. Anyway....) You'll find the new combined adventures of Lizzie and Alice posted there now, though we'll maintain permanent links to both of the now archival "Alice's Wonderland" and "Lizzie Kat News". We'll continue to post to Picasa, and we've posted a new feature on the new blog, which (apparently) will allow you to get email feeds of blog posts. (So you can be SURE how little we're posting.) Enjoy! Here is the new blog: furstengirls.blogspot.com

5 months in 5 blurbs

Ough.  Months.  MONTHS since my last post.  Let's just say life has been busy around here.  A recap:

We had an enchanted holiday season, with all of our family here. Our first Christmas at (our new) home:

Not a whole lot of snow, but enough...

Lots of time inside led to some pretty creative Daddy-led projects:

And some projects initiated by the younger set (Lizzie calls these "whiskers"):

As the snow melted, we were treated to more spring like weather and Easter celebrations (though, alas, the two did not coincide):

So there we have it: 5 months in 5 blurbs.  From here on I (we) will TRY to stay more updated with the blog, recognizing that some day the kids will read these entries (Hi girls -- love you; stay in school; be nice; eat your peas...) and will wonder into what deep crevasse their parents must have fallen these past months, to have kept us from journaling their childhood exploits for posterity's sake.