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.

Long Overdue Update

Phew!  Life is busy around here -- holidays, travel, work, school....  but no one - NO ONE - is busier than Miss Alice.  She has so very much to do.  Busy busy busy.

A typical day begins with a clean diaper and getting dressed, then downstairs for breakfast.  While I'm cutting up pears and pouring cheerios, Alice wastes no time removing pots from cupboard and drawers, un-nesting the bowls, and (of course!) taking the kitchen aid attachments out of their cabinet and placing them ever-so gently around the floor.  (CRASH.)

Once I scoop Alice up and into her high chair, she has even more responsibility.  She needs to take one small bite out of each item, then fling (right handed only) the remainder at the adjacent picture window.  Toward the end of the meal, the fork needs a good window-toss too.  Alice is also careful to take a few big gulps of water, thirstily at first, but the last one must (must) be spit out with a nice arc onto the tray.  With that the meal is over.  Bib must be pulled off and thrown (of course), and any form of wash cloth to the face or hands must be avoided and berated at all costs (and at volume).

Once down from the high chair and fueled with several chunks of fruit, and a few cheerios, the day really begins.  First order of business:  remove all books (about 30) from the book basket in the living room.  Board books should be tossed farthest, and a few of the larger books should be placed on nearby chairs, for texture and aesthetic appeal.  Then the cooking magazines need to be taken down from their shelf in what I foolishly termed a "grown-up cookbook section" when we first moved in.  There are a good 50 or so of those to be sprinkled around.  A few should be taken into the kitchen, just to keep us inspired.

Then into the playroom where the real mayhem begins.  Puzzles have been put out of reach (after Eric and I slowly and painfully learned our lesson putting them together each night piece by piece), but there are still plenty of duplo pieces, blocks, balls, stacking boxes, and sorting shapes to be mixed and incorporated into the toddler-family room ecosystem....

Then an amazing thing occurs -- Alice will start to put things away, at least a little.  She even understands "put away" an is pretty happy to do so.    So a few things -- maybe 5% of the total -- are put away.  Not where they were initially, though.   That would be far too banal.  Someplace ELSE.  Someplace exciting, and NEW.  Like down the cat door to the basement.

Upstairs, closer to nap time, Alice has yet more on her agenda.  She dutifully takes Lizzie's tights out of the hanging baskets in her closet and puts them in her pants drawer.  And all of the shirts need to be taken out of the short drawer.  Probably to be left on the floor, but possibly to be taken into the playhouse for a more creative dispersion.  In the bathroom, there are of course a few things that need to be tossed into the bathtub, and more to be taken to the sink (via Lizzie's step stool).  If someone has been careless enough to leave a toothbrush near the end of the bathroom counter, then that should (naturally) be dispatched through the banister railings to the first floor.  Any clean diapers in arms reach should be opened and trotted around the room (possibly on one's head), and dirty ones should be extracted from the trash can (if I haven't been careful to wedge it shut); Alice is careful to check.  every time.

And that's just the morning...

Alice, Alice, Alice.  What a little wonder.  SO delightful.  And ridiculous.  And BUSY.