Ali Happenings -

When Ali does something to make us raise our voice to her or correct her, she gets upset.  If she dumps her cereal, throws a crayon or something similar and we say “Ali, don’t do that!’ her response is always “BE NICE, OK?” followed shortly after by a “NO BE MAD, BE HAPPY, OK?”

And if you say you “I’m mad Ali!”  she gets very upset, cries and yells, “NO BE MAD!!!! BE NICE, OK!!!!”

It is an order at that point.

 She is also very considerate often times.  She still apologizes more than any toddler I’ve seen.  If she accidentally does something like gets applesauce on my shirt or bumps me she said “SORRY MOM! SORRY….SORRY MOM…SORRY!”

Usually there are about 5 sorrys.

She is also very good with her Please and Thank Yous.

She is very chatty with strangers when we are out and about.  At Target she likes to tell the check out person which member of the family will be using the item they are scanning.  “Daddy shampoo for wash daddy” or “Paige yogurts for Paige” or “Luke eat apples”  Many times these people have no idea what she is talking about but it usually earns her a sticker at least. She always does the big goodbyes when we leave the store with the wave and yelling “GOODBYE” to anyone within 20 feet.

In music class, the teacher said, “Ali is going to be a little CEO” Not sure if that is a good thing.  She walks around and makes sure everyone has an instrument and cleans up after the songs by making sure everything gets put away.

Ali also had her first dentist appointment last week.  She was a good little patient.  The hygienist comments a few times on how good she was.  She learned about all the instruments they use, got her teeth counted and even got her first real cleaning.  I know it was a success because she has asked to go back about 4 times since then.  I think for the toy more than anything else.

The Pledge of Allegiance

Paige learned the Pledge of Allegiance at school last week.  The teacher picked two students that really had it down pat to recite it over the loud speaker at school in the morning.  Paige was certain she would be picked.  She wasn’t.  Very disappointed.  But she was happy to recite it for me and wanted me to send it to her “real” teacher who is on maternity leave.

OK???

As Ali gets older and her language expands, she is able to express her needs and wants more clearly.  It is pretty funny actually.  She doesn’t like it when anyone gets upset with her.  If she dumps out a board game or makes a mess of something, I say “No Ali, don’t make a mess with that.” Sometimes she gets teary and says, “No Mad, OK?” and insists you tell her that you aren’t mad with her before we can all move on.

Ali is also very polite.  She uses her please and thank yous and often says "sorry" if she spills something or gets herself dirty she says, "sorry mommy, sorry!!"

She also has specific ideas on what she wants to wear.  Now that she is potty training, she has 6 pairs of undies, three she likes and three she doesn’t like.  If you try to put on one of the undies she doesn’t like, she said, “no these undies, OK?” She also wants to wear certain clothes.  If I pick a shirt she doesn’t want she disappears and comes back with a different shirt and says, “No wear that shirt for Ali this one Ali shirt, OK?”

OK ends every demand and the arms are usually wildly flailing around.  Very expressive with her hands.  She also pushes your legs or pulls your hand to show what she wants to do/have.  She manages to get her point across. 

She often takes my hand, pulls me over to the couch and says “Mommy, sit, OK?” hands me the remote and says “NAE NAE” or something that I’ve learned is “Wildest Dreams” because she wants me to put on one of these two favorite videos of hers.  After you put them on, she pulls on your arm and says, “Dance Mommy!”

But maybe the most fun is when I’m trying to sleep in (past 7AM) on a weekend and she comes barreling into the room (Luke usually gets her up as they are both part of the early morning crew).  She picks up my sippers that are next to the bed and shoves them in my face along with my glasses and says “Mommy, up.  Ali eat!”

And in those times where things don’t go her way, or we say no and she is frustrated, she sometimes hits herself in the head in frustration.  Not hard but just that raw emotion.  We usually laugh at this which probably doesn’t make the situation better.

Paige made dinner all by herself!

the movable bed?

All boxes and packaging material is fair game for projects in this house -

Oatmeal anyone?

A couple of snuggling youtubers -

Minnie me and minnier me!

What do you do when you have a factitious eye problem?  Make a patch of course...

60 degrees and shorts to school in March, what could be better!

Happy Easter!!

He came again this year.  BUT, since we largely took sugar out of the kids diets, we had to write him a note to go light on the sweet stuff and heavier on the toys.  I think the EB probably spent more money this year (just guessing!). It is hard to fill those baskets with non-food items.

We got all cleaned up and headed to the cape to Mimi's club for brunch. 

Tubing

Finally made it to the tubing park this winter with our friends from Acton.  Kids loved it, definitely a repeat event!

Easter Fun -

We are getting ready for Easter.  Our basement is under construction so we didn't make it to the Easter tote to put our decorations up this year but that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy the holiday fun!

We had an Easter egg hunt with our from Dartmouth. 

Ali loved it!

Then we decorated eggs with a few friends from the neighborhood -

Opening our Easter package from Grandma and Grandpa is always a highlight of the season:

Making the Easter sweet bread with Angie -

Annie -

Paige and I had a date night tonight and went to see Annie at the Hanover Theater in Worcester.  Paige was SO excited and got dressed up in a cute little dress for the event.  It was a cute little show.

Chop Chop

Paige has been wanting to get her hair cut for a while now.  She finally took the plunge.  I was a little nervous about her going so short but it turned out super cute!