Turkey Day and Beyond!

Belated Happy Turkey Day, that is. Of course, I am again delinquent in the updating of the blog. Ahh!

We had a great Thanksgiving, and really enjoyed having my family come to us and stay here Wednesday night. The Alden family all gathered at Nana's for a fantastic meal. All except for Alden, whose Thanksgiving vittles consisted of Chex mix and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, after she nixed all the glorious offerings from the Thanksgiving buffet. She had a great time playing outside with her cousin Scottie, and getting a lot of attention from everyone.

Right after dessert, Matt and Alden and I took off for Big Canoe, GA, to visit Matt's BFF Josh, his wife and his parents. Josh and Nicki live in St. Louis, and we hadn't seen them since I was pregnant with Alden, so it was great to catch up with them, and Josh's parents who are like a second family. It was a cold weekend in GA, but we were able to get out and hike a little bit and drive around Big Canoe, which is beautiful. Alden made friends with Josh pretty quick, and let him carry her in the backpack, much to our surprise. She even started signing "friend" for Josh. Some of her highlights were:

* Playing with Mrs. Kijanko's giant bear, big stuffed dog, and the firetruck

* Discovering that Thanksgiving leftovers are, in fact, delicious...especially cranberry salad, turkey, and stuffing

* Going over to Angie and Ryan's and playing with all their kids' toys and their potpourri

* Going over to the Kijanko's friends' house and playing with their kids' toys

* Trying on Mr. Kijanko's special boots

* Playing with the coasters

It was hard to come back to real life after the holiday weekend, and this past week went by quickly. We had our last library day for the year on Monday, Bible study on Tuesday, a playgroup on Thursday, and a very special visit from Jessica, Miles and Lydia on Wednesday. They were in town since Robert had training at the BofA HQ, so they were staying with his parents in Gastonia. It was great to have them over, and to get to see how much all the kids had changed. Lydia just turned 3, and Miles is almost 1. Alden had a blast, and would not let Miles have any space, always wanting to hug and kiss him. She also enjoyed chasing Lydia, because, as everyone knows, nothing makes a toy more attractive than when someone else has it.

This weekend we got our Christmas tree up and decorated, and had Matt's department Christmas party at our friends Bradd and Corinne's. Sunday, we went to church, I went to the barn, and we hung out around the house. Alden is really enjoying the holiday season and is very interested in Santa, in all his forms and representations. She says "ho, ho, ho" and sometimes tries to say "Merry Christmas". We have a stuffed Santa from The Polar Express that she LOVES to carry around, and also really likes Matt's old nutcracker, who likes to "tell" her to eat her vegetables. Matt set up his train set around the tree, too, which has been a great source of entertainment for all of us. Alden wants it on all the time, and enjoys putting things in the cars - alligators, lollipops, playing cards, if it fits, it probably been around the tree.

Speaking of the tree, only the top 3/4s are decorated, with the exception of a few unbreakable ornaments. As we were trimming the tree on Saturday, Alden was "pleasing" every ornament that we took out of the box, and was heartbroken that she couldn't play with them. Too bad, so sad.

Alden's other shenanigans this week include, but are not limited to:

* Eating and learning the signs for lollipops and oranges

* Taking off her shirt and running around like a wild woman one night after dinner. Did I mention that our house is 69 degrees and freezing??

* Learning signs for "socks" and "play"

* One morning, I was in the shower and Alden was pulling things out from under the counter. I heard her squealing about something...she had found 4 paci's that she had stashed in the white strips box.

* She was eating goldfish ("gol, gol") for her snack, and kept disappearing to the front room. Pretty soon, her bowl was empty and she wanted more ("mmmmmmor"). I gave her some, and then spied on her as she went in the front rooms. She was putting them in the hole in the trunk in our dining room. I found my cell phone in there one time, too. Who knows what else is in there??

* She has really enjoyed playing in her bath, but none of the business parts of it now. As soon as we reach for her, she lays down on her back and kicks, or tries to submerge herself. This is the coolest thing for her, now that she has figured out she can lay her head on the bottom of the tub.

* When we run the vacuum, she grabs her lawnmower, or pushtoy, and "helps" us.

Pomp and Circumstance

Reading on the tricycle and playing with the charade sticks.

Again, I apologize for waiting so long to update the blog. We have had a lot going on! Two weekends ago, my mom came up to spend a few days while my dad was on his annual fishing trip. Alden got very spoiled from all of Grammy's attention, and surprised us by saying "Coca-cola" and finally saying "more" instead of just signing it. She has also said "please". While I was at clinical on Saturday, Matt was able to get out and go to an airshow nearby, which he really enjoyed, and made him even more excited about being a pilot.

This past week, we finally found a vegetable for Alden. Edamame. She will eat it like candy. What a relief to feel like she gets something green in her diet. For example, for dinner tonight, she ate:

Tortilla chips and guacamole -

Fish sticks - with 3 different dips

Green olives

Edamame - about 12 pods worth

Tonight was a bit of an exception since the guac and olives were green too, and kind of vegetable-like.

I had graduation from my class on Saturday, after our last day of clinical. We all went out to Olive Garden afterwards to celebrate and get our certificates. Here is what I learned in my class:

1. How to fry chicken - we had a lengthy discussion about chicken numerous times. No one could believe that we never fry chicken at our house..."Girl, whatyou mean you never fry chicken?" or that my family never did growing up. Apparently it is a staple for a lot of my classmates, and I got a lot of advice on how to cook it. I told them I was intimidated by any chicken that was not a nugget, or boneless skinless breasts. They think I am crazy.

2. The numerous possibilities for African-american hairstyles including, but not limited to weaves, braids, extensions, senegalese braids, cornrows, etc. Hair seems to be a source of much concern with my classmates.

3. That your average 2nd grade teacher could take the state test and pass - as did my friend Sam's mom who took the sample test online and aced it.

4. How to roll hair - I masqueraded as someone proficient in rolling and setting old lady hair. One lady even wanted to tip me.

Overall, my CNA class I did learn some health care related nuggets in my class, but more than anything, it was a fascinating cultural immersion experience.

In other news this week, Alden has discovered how to crawl from her little wooden chair into the big chair and does this over and over. She really likes peppermint sticks. She learned the signs for monkey, blanket, and friend. Owls are now "hoot, hoot" and turkeys are "gobble, gobble". She has also begun going to our linen closet at bath time and insisting a wash cloth. Whenever you take her diaper off, she says "Brrrrr." She has finally slept the past two nights, much to our relief. At the consignment store today, she saw a gorilla backpack - this thing was hideous, pretty much a gorilla head with back pack straps - and did her scared sign, and would not go near it.

Aunty Amber came this past weekend for a night, and Alden learned the sign for "aunt" and did it a lot for Amber. She has been expending a lot of energy randomly running laps around the house, and back and forth upstairs, especially naked after her bath. She loves getting things out from under the bathroom counters, and even decided to move right in one day.

Matt has been selling some old toys on eBay. Alden was checking the structural integrity of the Ewok Treehouse.

What a Week

Note: bruise on right forehead, scrapes on right cheek, gouge under left eye, snot dripping from nose.

It all started Saturday night with the recurrence of Alden's teething. I think she is getting her bottom "fang" teeth in and is congested and can't breathe through her nose. This is a major problem when you have a pacifier. Alden will suck on it a couple times, then pull it out and breathe, then suck again, take a breath. She was up a couple times Saturday, the next night, and every night this week until last night when finally our prayers were answered for a full night's rest. Part of the problem is that all of the infant cold medicine has been taken off the shelves. I thought I had hit the jackpot at Wal-Greens the other night with some toddler decongestant, and when they rang it up, it said the item could not be sold. I was about to cry. We went to the doctor yesterday to plead my case for SOMETHING to make it better. The PA had mercy on me, and told me to give her some Benadryl and Motrin, something she calls the Night -night cocktail. Now that it worked, Mom and Dad need their own cocktails.

To add to our drama this week, I had to bail off Misty on Sunday and landed on my right side, bruising a lot of my body. She has a tendency to walk off as I get on, and Sunday, as I was mounting, she walked off, I couldn't get my right leg over in time, and ended up behind the saddle, sitting on her back. Misty, of course, was irritated, and started bucking like a rodeo horse...Bouncing all around the arena, and jumping into the dressage arena, where some poor woman was praticing her test. Time slows down in those situations, and I found myself weighing all the possibilities. Obviously, I wasn't going to get back in the saddle, so I tried to jump off before she decided to take off across the farm, or jump through the mirrors like Frieling. We parted ways without either of us getting hurt, and the plus side, was that I had a GREAT ride after a little bit of remedial lunging in the round pen, to refocus Misty from her rodeo-horse mindset back to Dressage-horse Misty.

And there is more...on Wednesday, we ventured to Uptown Charlotte for the FIRST time to have lunch with Sarah, one of my high school friends who was in town for a drinking water quality conference. Riveting, huh? We found a parking spot, and I sat in the backseat to change Alden's diaper and get her jacket on. I closed the door to get the stroller, and when I opened it again to get her out, she fell out the door. I was able to break her fall some, and gouge her in the cheek with my fingernail, but she hit her head and got some scrapes on her face. Mom is not doing a good job here.

Besides Alden's sicky, teething yuckness, she has had a great time this week discovering the box of white strips under the sink in the bathroom. These are the #1 source of entertainment in our house right now. She also really likes to be chased, and will hide behind the curtains in her room, the closet, or the corner of our room. We had dinner at McDonalds on Friday night, and we taught her the sign for McDonalds. She will just randomly do it now, and "sings" the "McDonalds, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut" ditty. Please don't read this and think she actually says any words. It is just the general sound. She also really enjoyed collecting and piling up the aerated dirt terds at Bill and Ashley's last weekend. Go figure.

Another fave right now for Alden is standing on a chair at the table eating tortilla chips. Sometimes, she takes them to her rocking horse; sometimes she spills the whole bag on the floor.

Grammy is coming down today to give us a break, and to free Matt from his Saturday responsibilities while I am at clinical. We are really looking forward to it! And, I only have this 1 1/2 days of clinical left and four more nights of class. We are nearing the end! The great thing about next week is that we have 2 tests, too, which for anyone who knows my nerdy side, will know that I love taking tests.

First Pigtails

Isn't it hard to believe that it is November already! Why does it still feel like summer???

Alden and I have been having a pretty chill day, after lots of fun yesterday. We went to Barnes and Noble for storytime, which again, meant Alden running around and playing with the Thomas the Train set, and not really listening to the kind, engagi. She was really excited about the firetruck, school bus, and motorcycle board books that had wheels on them, which led us to meeting some new friends, Erin and her son Ryan, when Alden moved in on his territory.

Then, we went to the park, which seemed to be a hotspot for nannies yesterday. Kind of eerie, but I think I was the only one there with my own child, and one of 2 adults that were native English speakers. Again, Alden monopolized the swing and spent the rest of the time collecting sugargum balls.

Last night, Matt took Alden to Petsmart, and to the CJ Woodmasters store. One store for Alden, and one for Dad. Alden loved the birds and the cats, both of which we will never own ourselves, and especially liked the parrot. Matt said she was squawking really loud at him...in an embarrassingly loud way.

Amber had mentioned on the phone yesterday that we were really fun parents to do things like that with Alden. As any other parents know, it has nothing to do with being fun, but more to do with a survival mechanism, and an attempt to stay out of the house. Your own toys are only fun for so long, and pretty soon, the tupperware, DVDs, piano, Mom's bathing suits, and Dad's shoes lose their charm, too.

I realized this afternoon, as we have been waiting for Matt, that I have never put Alden's hair up. So, we had a little beauty parlor time, and behold her first pigtails! She really likes them!

Trick or Moo

We had a very Happy Halloween, beginning with mom and Alden getting to the library in time to sign up for Jumping Beans. Whew! What a relief! While we were there playing afterwards, Alden saw a little boy in a lion costume, ran up to him and said "Rrrarr!". She proceeded to follow this poor little guy around and just kept saying "Rrarr, rrarr!" each time with growing intensity. Fortunately, I was able to grab her before her mom called animal control on us.

We spent the morning at the park with our friends, where as you can guess, Alden spent 98% of the time in the swing, and the other 2% in the sand volleyball court, and in that 2% of the time we were there managed to get sand on 90% of her body.

Matt was able to come home early yesterday, so we got Alden dressed up and took some pictures before I left for class. Alden seemed very pleased with her cow costume, as you can tell by the video, and kept saying "mmmmooo". Matt took her to our neighbors' house to trick or treat (see photo above), and then they had a special Halloween dinner with Nana and one of her friends. At Nana's, Alden did figure out how to unzip the top part of her costume, so she spent most of the evening as a cow from the waist down.