it's Curious George!

Earlier this month, Alicia and mommy went to meet Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat. There was a special reading of the Curious George Plants a Tree book at the children's museum. I decided it would be a nice thing to do in honor of Earth Day this month and the fact that Alicia LOVES George, it seemed to be like a good combo :)

waiting for George and the Man in the Yellow Hat

The Man in the Yellow Hat getting ready to read the book to all the awaiting George fans.

Alicia patiently waiting during the book reading... going "that's not George, mommy" and "I want to see George"

Wait, there he is! Finally after the book reading was finished, Curious George made his appearance! Alicia''s first thought of him was, "mommy, he's too big, he's not a small monkey." Yes, Alicia was right, George was not to the normal proportions that we normal see him. Such as the PBS shows and book we read show George much smaller than the Man in the Yellow hat, and George "should" have been about the same size as a little kid.

The whole size issue really threw Alicia off. The Man in the Yellow Hat also wasn't sitting well with Alicia. She was a bit scared of him. I think she was more interested int eh fact that George was there. So the nice lady behind us waiting with her son took our picture with George and the Man in the Yellow Hat, as Alicia did not want to let go of me, let alone stand by herself next to the guys. She gave me the "I want to go home" line and that was it. She barely gave George a high five when we left, and totally dissed the Man in the Yellow Hat. Even though she was pretty scared when she met them, the minute we left the area, and on the ride home, she was like "I saw George, George big monkey" and "cute George" and "that was fun" etc... so I don't think it was too traumatic. :)

future vet/doctor?!

Every time we go to the Kohl Children's Museum, Alicia LOVES the veterinarian area there. She is such a good little caregiver, it really is adorable. She seems to really get into the dramatic play area and enjoy it the most. The last time we went there, I think Alicia probably spend a good 15-20 minutes just in that one section.. for those that know Alicia well, that is a pretty good chunk of time for her to be focused on one thing!

Jacques the classroom mascot comes for a visit!

I was very excited to bring home Jacques with me for a few days this week. It was even more special because Jacques got to have a special birthday celebration at my house for my daddy! Some of our friends came over to my house to celebrate daddy’s birthday, too! I was so proud to show my friend, Carl, that night that Jacques was visiting. We played, danced, and laughed a lot that night with Jacques. One of the nights, Jacques and I played dress up and put on our favorite baseball shirts! We also played some catch. The other evening on the way home, mommy took me and Jacques to the park! It was a pretty cool park with fun slides, ramps, and climbing things. Jacques wanted to swing from the monkey bars by himself, but mommy said we needed some help still reaching the bars, so she helped us both. But I was able to take Jacques up and down several ladders and slides all by myself! Then the other afternoon, we went to the store. We both behaved well in the store, so mommy let us pick out some treats before we left. Jacques picked out some banana chips and a fresh banana, while I got some yummy chocolate covered pretzels! Jacques thanked us for a nice stay and said he enjoyed playing with my cat, Tanner, and napping with all of my other stuffed animal friends while I was at school. But he is ready to go on many more new adventures with my other friends from school. - Alicia & Jacques

happy birthday, daddy!

Happy birthday, Drew!! Alicia and I decided to make daddy a card for his birthday the other day. She did such a great job with it that I had to take a picture of the one part where she "signed" her name. Alicia with just a little teaching from mommy, such as I asked her, "how do you spell your name, Alicia" - she was like "A-i-l-i-c-i-a" and she always likes to swap the i and the l, which understandably they look alike. but it was a decent stab at it... Then she proceeded to write her name on the paper, very carefully.... she was like "A-i-l-i-c-i-a" again, oh well.. we are close :) but she was very proud to show me her name written on daddy's birthday card. I think it was the first time for her to completely write it which was totally cool.

So, happy birthday, Drew and for being such a great daddy to Alicia.

kick ball

Alicia enjoys playing kick ball alot, I think we might have a future soccer player on our hands! She's quick, fast, and small! And oh, loves to run! :)

beans, beans, and more beans

Beans, beans, and more beans!!! This has been one of Alicia's favorite busy activities lately. About 2 summers ago, when she started OT, her therapist had something similar so I decided to make one of our own. Alicia used to be kinda afraid of putting her hands into the "stuff" in the containers. Over the last year or two she has really conquered this fear and fully enjoys playing with this type of sensory activity.

So instead of a sensory table or box, we've got a sensory bowl! It is such an easy, not to mention fairly cheap activity to put together. You just need some type of tactile things, such as beans, rice, dry pasta, or oatmeal. Other ideas, I have seen Alicia's classroom at daycare have sand, leaves, water, grass, blocks, beads, etc.

Our sensory bowl contains about 4 small bags of different dry beans. We got ones of different colors and different sizes for variety and different textures. What's pretty cool about this type of sensory activity, they can scoop, pour, dig, and bury fun things inside and under the materials in your bowl too! We hide small animals or figurines, so she can go on a treasure hunt or "save the princess" adventure.

One word of caution, Alicia has made a pretty big mess with this activity, as you can see in the one picture, but it has been a good way to encourage cleaning up when done with toys. Plus, it's ok to let the kid get messy once in a while, as it is fun.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game - All by myself.

Alicia and Daddy have been working on this song for a while. We have had some good renditions and some crazily silly renditions. Tonight we got her to sing for us, but she had to do it all by her self. (as you will see). enjoy.

Happy Opening Day!

Go Cards!

The Lighting was a little less than desired, however its cute regardless.




Play Ball!

Happy easter!

Here's just a few pictures from yesterday's activities and this morning around the house. Alicia went to a Aqua Egg Hunt where lots of eggs were floating in the water for the kids to collect. It was pretty cool. There was about 30 kids per session at the pool, so it wasn't too crowded and while the hunt for over in a few minutes, the kids got to play in the water for a good half hour or so afterwards and enjoy the pool time. We also got a few cute pictures of Alicia in her Easter dress before we went to church that evening too.
This Easter Sunday afternoon, we had our very own egg hunt here out in the front yard, where she got to hunt for some more eggs that the Easter Bunny left for her. (aka, mommy, according to Alicia, not Easter Bunny. I tried. lol.)