Picnics

We took Alexandra and Will on their first picnic in 2008. . . .

and here they are 4 years later!

Kentucky Derby fun

We went to the annual Yurasko Kentucky Derby party about a week ago! You'll know we're at that party because of the above photo of William with the traditional mint juleps.

The Lichaks came! We have been trying to get this photo, of Mark and Amara with Christopher and Alexandra for the longest time. Here it is - yeay!

Here's Alexandra giving baby Amara and hug and a kiss. She is so sweet with babies! Alexandra will make an excellent big sister one day. Jen, by the way, is definitely someone you want to have with you when betting on horse races. She won the party's friendly bet on which horse would win the Derby.Alexandra and I relaxing on our patio after the party! I really like this having a "mini-me" thing :)

Caught blue faced. . . .

Alexandra and I went to Carter's 2nd birthday party a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to share some of my "lessons learned" in how to bring a toddler to a party by yourself:

• bring a backpack instead of a diaper bag (free hands! yeay!)
• bring a small gift (manuvering gift and toddler is a bit tricky)
• be ready for a meltdown (your toddler knows that you are more susceptible to manipulative behavoir when you are alone with her/him and in public)
• NEVER turn your back on your toddler for a moment when there is blue icing involved. See photo below.

Alexandra had a blue face and hand, and I had blue arms for the rest of the day. Blue icing dye is crazy!!

Pictures that make me smile

I've gotten terribly behind in my blogging, so to catch up, I'm going to go with a series of photos that we've taken in the last couple of months that make me smile.

Alexandra in her Mickey ears is an obvious one . . .

Sorry, Socks - this had to happen eventually! Alexandra can only diaper her stuffed animals and dolls so many times before she needs to move on to her pets. . . .

We gave Alexandra princess dress up shoes for Valentines' Day - she already knows that an outfit is not complete without a matching hat and purse. . . .

And she got a great pair of sunglasses from Grandee and Granddad - she's so cool, she even wears them inside!

Pat the Bunny

Sometimes, Alexandra will do something that just melts my heart. This morning, I had some time to play with her before taking her to daycare. We read one of her favorite books, Pat the Bunny. At the end of the book, the reader is asked to say "bye bye" to Paul and Judy, who are waiving. Alexandra has recently started recognizing pictures of characters in books (like she recognizes Winnie the Pooh, Elmo, etc.), including that drawings of kids represent kids.

Alexandra said and waived "bye bye" to Paul and Judy, and then kissed the pictures of them in the book. I'm traveling for work for three days this week, and will miss every minute away from my sweet little girl.

A Little Mommy

Alexandra's favorite thing to do is to put diapers ("di-a-pur") on all of her stuffed animals. She lays out a changing pad, and puts the "bay-bee" on the pad. . . .

She then wipes the "bay-bee"'s face and bottom with a wet wipe (I let her have a box of dried ones to play with). . . .

Then she puts on the "di-a-pur"! I'm so happy Alexandra's stuffed animals won't be having any accidents in our house!

Disneyworld!!

So, I feel bad about not having blogged for a while, so I'll make up with it now with this post about DISNEYWORLD!! I had a trip for work to Orlando in January, and Christopher and Alexandra were able to come with me. We got the best deal staying at a Disneyworld resort (cheaper than the government per diem) and had so much fun going to the Magic Kingdom. We wondered if Alexandra was too young to have fun or not - well, let me tel you, no kid is too young to have fun at Disneyworld! And it's almost more fun to be a parent at Disneyworld, because you get to watch your kid have fun. For example - the first ride that we went on was It's a Small World. At first, Christopher was like, "this ride is so anoying, do we really have to go on it?" But, after seeing Alexandra smile, clap, wave to the international animatronic children while saying, "hi! hi! hi!" he was like, "oh, this ride is so much fun - let's do it again! I just want to see her have fun!"

Here's Alexandra and Christopher waiting in line for the Peter Pan ride. This is before we figured out how to use the Fast Pass system. This is the only line we really waited in (January is DEFINITELY the time to go to Disneyworld).


Alexandra and I had fun on Cinderella's Golden Carousel.
Alexandra taking a break at Pooh's Playful Spot. I love this photo, because right after I took it, some "big boys" wanted to ride down the slide. One of them saw Alexandra at the bottom of it and said, "wait - there's a little girl at the bottom!" Not, "there's a baby," but a "little girl." That's the first time I've heard another kid not refer to her as a baby.

Yes, we swam at the outdoor pool at our hotel. In January!Christopher and Alexandra on the spaceship ride.
My favorite souvenir.
We let Alexandra pick pink or black mouse ears, and she chose the classic black ears, like the ones that the Mouseketeers had. She's such a purist.
Alexandra and I on the Dumbo outside of the Dumbo ride, which we also loved.
This was a major highlight for Alexandra - meeting the Disney Princesses! She got to meet Princess Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle. She loved Princess Aurora! She smiled, gave her a hug, showed her the kitty cat on her shirt, and was so happy. And she's never even seen a single Disney movie - but she instinctively knew that princesses are awesome :)
And then we got to meet Mickey and Minnie! We'd been letting Alexandra watch the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so that she would recognize Mickey at the park. Wow, was she ever happy! I don't think I've seen her so happy before. Like with Princess Aurora, she was waiving, giggling, saying, "hi! hi! hi!" And she gave Mickey a high five.
You're never too young to love Disneyworld and Mickey Mouse!