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The other day Alice said, "I'm counting" and then proceeded to count the squares on the back of one of the book blocks. FYI a book block is one of the boxes that comes with 9 "mini-books". The back of the book block has a picture of each of the covers of the mini-books, in a 3x3 grid. So, Alice counted, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5...7, 5, 7, 5, 7." Clearly she forgot about 6, knew something was wrong and continued into Aliceland.

More of the same

Typical 2 year old stuff from Alice today. I had to put Liz to sleep while Alice was in the bath. After a few minutes, I heard the water draining. When I returned to the bathroom she had neatly put all the toys (including stacking all the stacking cups in order), draped all the washcloths over the spigot, drained the water and was in the process of pulling up the no-slip bath mat from the bottom of the tub.

ABC

She did it! The other day, Alice recited the entire alphabet in the car on the way home from picking Lizzie up at school. 2 years, 4.5 months old. Phew!

Order

Alice has always been a very ordered and organized little individual. Everything has its place in her world. If she's going to put her markers in a cup or basket, she puts gets all of them. I've mentioned before that she keeps Yaddie in a special place (although not so much an more). Another example, when she eats grapes she till take all of the grapes off the vine and put them back in her bowl before she starts to eat them. Seriously, have you ever seen a 2 year old do that? She still cleans up her toys and spills when asked to do so.

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.

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.

I'm calling it. First official (non greeting) word!

Miss Alice has a (second) word:  Book!  Grandma called it last week while we were on vacation (apparently I'd forgotten my usual please-don't-tell-me-if-she-does-anything-for-the-first-time-while-I'm-away request), and yes -- sure enough, Alice says "buh, buh" everything she picks up a book.  (Which is quite often, I should add -- the kid loves flipping through board books right now.)   Let's just hope this doesn't mean she's going to be in the humanities...  (Kidding!  Sheesh, lighten up...)  ;)  For the record, Alice has been saying "hi" for quite a while, though opinions vary on when it morphed from a happy-to-see-you coo to official first word.

The developmental blur

Alice is changing so fast, and every day her personality comes out more. She is very curious and inquisitive. She tries to figure out how things work, and is always willing to try new things. While not always successful, she has tried to put on her own shoes, tried to help build a block tower, and tried switching the balls from two separate ball toys. I get the feeling that she is always thinking "what happens if I try this," and "that didn't work, I'll try it a different way." Quite a little problem solver.

Of course, this all comes with some frustration...and a few mini-tantrums. When things really aren't going her way Alice will cry inconsolably, rejecting toy after toy that is offered to cheer up. Occasionally she will toss or slam toys parents bring to try and cheer her up.

It is probably fair to say her first word is "hi". It sounds more like "aye", but she responds when you say hi, and will offer an "aye" when you come to get her from her crib after a nap or when you enter a room.

She has a new way of showing excitement -- quickly stomping here feet up and down. When she is really excited or happy, she will add her usual "tssss" sound.

She and her big sister have a new game. It amounts to Lizzie sitting in the push-wagon and calling Alice until Alice pushes her down the hallway. Then Liz gets out, turns the wagon around, gets back in, and calls Alice to push her back down the hallway. It is quite a sight.

Have you ever pooped a barette?

'Nuff said.

Happy Birthday, Alice... I'm Sorry!

Alice turned one on September 24th.  We celebrated with family party at our house;  Alice celebrated by coming down with a terrible cold and feeling miserable for the subsequent week.  Poor dear.  But she was a trooper for her party.  Didn't eat cake, but nibbled some ice cream and loved playing outside with her cousins and big sister (who happily "helped" her open and play with her presents).

But as any parent knows, the real marker of baby's first birthday is a trip to the pediatrician for shots.   We went today -- just returned in fact.  The highlights, starting with the good:  Alice and Lizzie's new doctor seems great.  She's young, smart, friendly, and has a 15 month old of her own.  So that's good.  Alice got a gold star for baby-wellness.  She's now at the 60th percentile for height and weight (up from 50th), and quite strong, expressive, mellow, and mobile.  Nothing we didn't know, but it's always nice to get the nod.     Her recurring rash is almost certainly from diaper irritation (we've switched brands and it seems to have abated), and almost certainly NOT from food allergy.  So yay!  It's fine if Alice doesn't eat much these days -- also good, because she doesn't -- it's just a phase and the doc says not to worry about it one bit.  (We weren't particularly concerned, but again -- it's nice to hear that we're not simply neglectful.)

Now the bad:  FOUR shots (MMR, c'pox, pneumococcal, and flu).  Alice turned the most awful shot of crimson before finally letting out a horrific wail (again and again and again).  Those shots clearly hurt.  Then we were sent downstairs for a "quick finger prick" to test her iron levels and for lead (apparently standard here at 1 year).  We waited nearly 30 minutes to get in for the lab, before Alice's finger was pricked and "milked" for enough blood -- must have been at least 3 minutes of screaming baby and flustered lab tech spilling blood all over...  I was unimpressed.

Alice fell to sleep for her nap almost instantly, poor dear.  Knowing her, she'll wake up right as rain, happy and delightful, in a few hours.  What an amazing little baby she is.  Or rather *sniff* _toddler_.

Quickie update

Alice did her first clapping a few days ago, at the end of a game of "Arms up". Very cute. She is getting so much better at walking, and hardly crawls any more at all. She loves to pick stuff up and bring it to you. She is so proud and happy when she brings you a little toy and puts it in your hand. Again, very cute. Music and dancing continue to be sources of enjoyment for this little one. She'll dance to music on the TV, music from toys, etc. and she is good at dancing while standing up. The fridge farm is a big favorite. Again, very cute.

Verbal sounds are progressing. We've heard some ma-ma-ma, or muh-muh-muh sounds. Some ba-ba-ba, na-na-na, and of course der-der-der. Liz and Alice will have der-der-der conversations sometime. Raspberry sounds are popular these days too, and one can have a conversation a few minutes long with Alice using only raspberry sounds. Her other favorite is sort of a tsss sound.

We've seen a bit of stranger anxiety lately. At Grandma an Grandpa's last week the freezer repairmen came into the living room an Alice totally erupted in tears. But it passed as quickly as it came.

Alice and Lizzie are getting along better. Lizzie has a new "playhouse" in her room (its really a sheet tacked up in the closet door, plus some decorations courtesy of Mom). Anyway, their favorite game is to take turns walking through the sheet into and out of the playhouse. Its a game that Alice started by just walking through the sheet. Then she would fall down, start laughing and the turn around and go back through. She really is a silly little one.

On a more serious note, Alice is experimenting with dropping a nap. Dad is not particularly fond of this development. It has become routine for her to take an hour to fall asleep for naps, and sometimes not at all. Part of the routine involves her "experiments with gravity." That is, dropping her pacifier and CCBB out of her crib. Side note: experiments with gravity also includes tossing much food off the side of her high-chair tray. Back to the point, it can be particularly frustrating to listen to her protest cries and cries for her CCBB and pacifier, and it can be particularly disruptive to go up to her room however many times to give them back. So, there has been some nap FAIL and some nap frustration. I remember going through some of this with Liz, and I recall it took a few good sessions of crying and ignoring for the situation to correct itself. Alice certainly seems to think that dropping her bunny will cause Mommy or Daddy to appear. SO, while Mommy is away on a trip, we are experimenting with some tough love...so far so good. The goal is for her to get the message that naptime is for napping. We'll see how it plays out, but for now, she needs two naps because she doesn't sleep that long at night.

Bye, I promise some pics and movies soon!

Arms up!

Alice continues to amaze and delight. She's such a little gem -- her personality comes through more every day, and boy is she SILLY! Lots of fun...

New tricks: Alice's main drive continues to be gross motor development. She's an adept walker now, with little difficulty stopping to bend over, pick something up, and continue on her way. She's especially keen on carrying this week -- as many little lovies as she can - her coco bear bunny (the CCBB, named by Lizzie, quite clearly); a little blue matchbox car; empty seltzer cans; cups, bowls and spoons from the kid drawer (which she regularly pillages).

Alice is a climber. She'll go up pretty much anything -- over the edge of our quite-deep bathtub, onto the armchairs if the footstool is close enough to give her a foothold -- up the stairs in a moment -- or her favorite game: up and over me, Lizzie, or her daddy. We've decided the best description for Alice is "scrappy." She's rough and tumble, smiles all the way.

Perhaps most exciting have been Alice's recent forays into language. No clear words yet, but her signing is clearly intentional. She has "all done", "hello", "bye bye" and "milk", but they all look basically the same: one or two hands in the ASL "milk" hand squeezing gesture. She knows exactly what she's doing -- if I say "Alice, would you like some milk?" she immediately smiles and signs "milk." And if I say "bye bye," she'll sign right back. Alice loves copycat, too -- "Arms up" is a favorite family game, and Alice has even started clapping when we clap for her. Very endearing. And while Alice has yet to use any spoken words, her babble is pretty impressive. She makes all sorts of syllables, coos, and giggles with a conversational cadence. Again, very cute.

I think it's safe to say Alice is thriving. :)

It's Official: Alice is bipedal!

Alice took her first official-undeniable-superbly-walking steps tonight: 10 in all, quite of her own accord, during the bedtime story. She pulled up to hold onto Lizzie's bed (not unusual), then turned to face Lizzie (not unusual), giggled (not unusual), then marched the three or so feet to Lizzie to grab Coco bear (remarkable!). Lizzie is very proud to have been the catalyst to it all. When we started clapping and yay-ing at Alice's feat, Lizzie exclaimed "It's a party!" and gave Alice a big hug. (awwwwww.)

There have been big changes in Alice's life -- all of ours for that matter -- since we last posted. In short: we moved from VA to NH in June, moved into our new place at the beginning of July, and have been settling in ever since. Lizzie, at 2+ is quite aware of all of the changes; Alice is not. (Hallelujah!) So her past two months since the move have been amazingly consistent, despite the commotion. (Or so I'd like to think, anyway.)

Let's see if I can recap the big changes... Alice was an able crawler before we left VA, but became increasingly swift and fearless each week. Her crawl is marvelous -- sort of like a charging rhinoceros (because I have so much experience with those...) By 9 months she was pulling up frequently, and could even squat herself back down (most of the time). By 10 months she was cruising, but it's really not until last week that she really got into it. She mastered stairs just last week, too, while staying with O'Ma and O'Pa. She's FAST. (Read: dangerous -- we have an open stairwell with NO banisters! Think we'll have to get on that stat.) Tonight she walked. 10.5 months, almost to the day. I do so hope she continues to crawl often -- it's so much fun to watch her charge around -- but I'm not holding my breath. This is one determined, mobile, kid.

Language is developing, too, but we have yet to hear a recognizable word. Alice does, however, copy sounds exceptionally well, and has a great time blowing raspberries at dinnertime. Good girl, but please remember to swallow first. (And ask Lizzie to do the same.)

Fine motor skills are on target -- pincer grasp has been mastered, and Alice hasn't let a spoon into her mouth for months. She has to do it herself. Independence. Good stuff. Unless we really want her to eat quickly. Dining efficiency is not high on her priority list.

Two more things Alice likes: the Kelty backpack, in which she has been spending more and more time as we explore our new surroundings (beware her ability to reach (and eat) leaves from low branches!), and the bathtub. She's a NUT in the water -- with as much as 2-3 inches of water in the tub, she'll just plop backward, grin wildly, and start thrashing her legs in a double frog kick. Amazing. She doesn't mind getting her face wet in the least, and often does. Just a few days ago, Alice started doing the same thing on her tummy -- pushed up on her forearms just enough to keep her face out of the water. Between the two positions, she's literally flopping back and forth in the tub. It's quite something!

And one thing Alice doesn't like: the car. The poor dear has decided she'd really rather NOT be in the car, thank you. This development is particularly problematic given her younger-sibiling-in-the-country status, which means she'll have to spend a bit of time this fall helping Daddy pick up Lizzie from pre-school. *sigh* That's what we call a lose lose lose proposition.

Alrighty. There's more, no doubt, but that's it for now. I'm off to bed. Among Alice's many endearing traits is her enthusiasm for watching the sun rise. At the moment, here in NH, that's about 5 on the dot. (And this is a marked IMPROVEMENT of her 4:25am days....)

Goodnight!