Summer sledding

Alex loves pulling her sled around on the sidewalks. When she gets tired, she sits in her sled for a few minutes, then she's back at it.

Found it

We had a BBQ for the neighbors yesterday. Tons of kids, tons of food (thanks BFF), tons o' fun. Every time Alex sees her buddy, Malochy, they show each other their belly buttons.

Um, hello?

Elmo calls at the most inconvenient times.

Music class

Jessie tagged along with us to Music class.

The Fire Cheese

Alex and I ran some errands today. One of them included stopping by the Fire Administrative offices. Alex was introduced to the Chief. Since Alex loves cheese so much, that is what she called him.

She ran into his office and promptly got to work on next year's budget.

She's BACK!!!

The chicken FINALLY feels better. She turned the corner today, and is almost back to her normal toddler demanding self.

The shot that she was given for Strep did the trick in a matter of 24 hours. I can't blog about our experiences from last week, so close to the incident, because I'm still real emo about the whole thing. I will tell you that I'm sooooooo thankful that we have been blessed with a healthy child!!!!!

Lazer Light-up shoes like BUZZ

Someone got new light-up shoes! Alex LOVES them. She spent the rest of the time in the stroller with her legs straight out so that she could keep an eye on them.

Mojo please

It's been a rough week. Yesterday, the on-call Pediatrician sent us to the Pediatric Emergency Room to rule out pneumonia and other yucky stuff. Alex started with a cold, then developed Croup, then Strep.
Our little chicken is a mere shell of herself. We believe she is on the mend, but will know more tomorrow.
Send her some good mojo.

no pics Mama!

Croup,

You are not welcome in our house EVER again. The scorching fevers, the sore throat, the sleepless nights, emotional days...GO AWAY!

From,

The Keelaone's

The Pediatrician prescribed a drug called, Decadron. Sounds like a Gladiator, doesn't it?

Decadron versus Croup, we'll let you know who wins.

No pictures this week, they would only break your heart.

The good news: The Doctor said that chicken's ears look fabulous.

Croup much?

Alex does.

I hope she is getting all of this out of the way before she goes off to school.

The good news? Her ears are healthy.

popsicles

Warm weather is finally here, and therefore, so are homemade popsicles. We've got all kinds, juice popsicles, yogurt popsicles and the ever-popular, puddin' pops!

And then the unthinkable happened...

Popsicles never have a happy ending when you're a toddler.

crooked grin

I am in love with this picture.
We told her to smile for the camera and this is what she produced. It reminds me of a "first day of school" picture where the kid is really awkward and excited at the same time.

little gangsta

In typical toddler fashion, Alex has REFUSED to wear a hat all winter. It is now 70 degrees and she wanted to wear this hat all day.

"Kitty, kitty, come here kitty..."

I finally figured out how to get stuff done around the house.

chicken

Can you tell how content the chicken is in the picture? She has been REALLY, REALLY, happy since her tubes were placed. She had more fun in music class yesterday than ever before! She was running around, dancing, "playing" the instruments.
You have to understand, the first 3 times we went to music class, she spent the entire hour clinging onto my neck, crying her eyes out and pointing to the door.

TEEEEEEETH

We took a spontaneous trip to the Aquarium yesterday due to the fact that WE STILL HAVE SNOW ON THE GROUND!! When is tankini season I ask you?
Here is Alex saying the word "teeth". She always displays a visual of some sort so that I know exactly what she's saying.

6 am in the waiting room

The chicken did great today for her ear procedure (thanks to Woody and Jessie).

I asked the Doctor if he would please remove a splinter (that Alex won't let me near!) in her hand while she was under anesthesia. He agreed.

The Doctor said that everything went well. She had quite a bit of fluid in her right ear. Then he described the splinter extraction in grave detail and it sounded more painful than her ears.

Anyway, she is happy and totally unfazed by her crappy morning.

Thanks for all of the well-wishes.

the patient

Mommy and Alex playing hide-and-seek with Jessie and the surgical booties before surgery.

Did I really just say that?

Here are a couple of sentences that would have never come out of my mouth a few years ago.

"Alex, come out of the bathroom with that roasting pan, it's time to go to Music class."

(Deciding where to eat while out with friends and their kids) "Hey, why don't we just go to Home Depot and get some hot dogs and chips for dinner?" (And I was serious.)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Look who came to visit me at work today...my girls!

I really UNDERIMPRESSED Alex with the ambulance that I am so familiar with these days.

The chicken only wanted to see the "truck."

the children of the world

We told Alex that if she put her ear to the rocks on the playground, she could hear children all over the world playing on playgrounds. (Deep, isn't it?)

birds and squirrels

Our new favorite thing to do together is to go for walks and look for "birds and squirrels" (you are all familiar with the signs for these now).

Because I'm 19 months old

This is Alex writing this today. Thought I might write my mom a letter about MY world.

I can do EVERYTHING by myself, except when I can't. At which point I will scream in frustration so loud that you will think I am severly injured and you will come running.

Of course I get excited about washing my hands in a public restroom. Then when I am done, and you are washing yours, I can touch the floor, the door handle, the diaper changing station, and all of the contents of the trashcan in about 5 seconds.

I want you to sing the E-I-E-I-O song. Then when you start singing, I will immediately request "If you're happy and you know it".

Based on my "I want that toy" investigation, I have determined that you are a bad mother.

I will eat the same thing day after day after day. And then when you buy a HUGE amount of said food, I won't like it anymore.

I can say about 100 words, but "please" and "thank you" aren't 2 of them, because I know it drives you crazy.

Also, I have been evaluating your emotional stability, and based on our last Preschool Orientation Tour, I have determined that you are a cry baby.

And yes, I will watch this movie again so that you can go blog about what a good mom you are.

funny kid

The people have spoken, and I have listened, back to blogging as usual. Here is the reason why I have neglected my blogging duties. I am a "Rover" now at work. (BFF calls me a "Floater" which makes me giggle.) A Rover travels from one station to another, filling in staffing where it is needed. Rovers are also known for leaving personal belongings at each station. I happened to leave my camera at a station last week...

Alex's ear procedure is May 11 at 7 am. Please keep her in your thoughts and send ME any extra Valium you may have laying around the house. Thanks.

drug run

It's official, Alex is going to have Bionic ears next week.
She is getting tubes due to her chronic ear infections.
With this weighing heavily on my mind, and recent news reports about the Children's Tylenol and Motrin FDA recalls, I drove to the nearest Pharmacy at 10:30 the other night and bought every one off the shelves.
BFF called it a "drug run".
When I got home with a bag full of the contra ban, she was all, "Oh, I'm sure there were tons of mothers there pushing and shoving to get to that shelf."
If you don't have kids, you might have done the opposite, thrown yours away.

If you do have kids, I think you know where I'm coming from.

NUFF SAID.

Lil Buddy

Uncle Bapa came over to see "Little Buddy".
Here she is teaching him the sign for "squirrel".

Huckel

When Alex sees Jack come home, she'll crawl up in the window and wave to him. Yesterday she made Hulk (Alex calls him "HUCKEL") also wave to Jack.

Bird

Alex is demonstrating the sign for "Bird".
Pince (love that word) your thumb and first finger together.
Bird.

Squirrel

Alex is demonstrating the sign for "squirrel". (I made this one up.)
Put your hand under your chin with fingers in a claw position, then put your upper teeth on your lower lip and make the universal animal sound.
Squirrel.

Funny tricks at the office

Our little human wrecking ball is hard at work.
This would be a funny trick to play on a coworker.
Have Alex take all of the tissues out of the box, then shove them back in. It's irritating when you grab the first tissue, and it rips, with only a tiny shred of a piece in your hand. Then you grab it again, and the entire box of tissues comes out.
This is right up there with attaching all of said coworkers paper clips together.

Don't tell BFF, but when I used to work for her at a certain hippy grocery store, (rhymes with Ralfalfa's), I used to get on the intercom and page myself to the break room.