Hairplanes & Busses: FUN!

We’d started to prepare K for a trip to NJ (via hairplane) with a little airplane and a book about flying. She woke up every morning asking if THAT was the morning she’d get to go on the “hairplane” -> “Mommy, today I go on hairplane and see Grandma???”. FINALLY the day arrived that I could say yes and she was beside herself with excitement. First we took a BLUE bus to the hairport. Quite exciting. Driving in a bus and not being in a car seat was a monumental thing. She had her very own backpack with Tinkerbell on it and carried her Southwest hairplane all through the hairport, showing it to everyone. We stopped for some breakfast once we got close to our gate. First, she wanted a banana. After that was gone she decided she wanted cake. (AKA Cinnabon) I appreciate her taste. So we went to get “cake”. She insisted on singing Happy Birthday to KK before she could eat it. Okey dokey. Sung. As she was eating she saw an airplane taxing on the runway… Never have you seen a two year old so excited. No joke: People in the airport STOPPED to watch her absolute excitement over seeing a real hairplane – that wasn’t in the sky!!! We learned a short time later that while hairplanes are fun… They are most fun ON THE GROUND. Being in the sky… not so much for our girl. She insisted we keep the window shade shut for much of the flight. The only time she’d open it was to wave and yell hello to her teachers and friends, who had told her they’d wave to hear as she was flying over. (Semantics that we were over VA when she waved for the first time… She has mommy’s sense of direction.)

The Southwest crew was amazing. She was taken to the cockpit after the flight and got to sit in the Captains seat, with his hat on and was able to touch some controls. She totally dug it… and the co-pilot. I think he’s her new hero. Co-pilots are the heroes of the trip. On our flight home she kept yelling for the co-pilot (she apparently needed to make sure he was there) and then insisted on saying goodbye to the co-pilot as we got off the plane. On our flight home she was pretty upset when I had to take my iPod away from her so the plane could land. We explained that the co-pilot said we had to turn it off. She was pretty ticked at the co-pilot but went with it. After we’d landed Stephen turned on his phone and started to look at it. KK proceeded to lecture him about how the co-pilot said it had to be turned off. A rule girl. I like it. My kinda chick. =)

Christmas with the family was fun. I had so much fun taking pictures with my niece and nephews. They were all good sports and helped get some pictures taken on Christmas Eve so I could print them all out on Christmas Day and give them out to everyone. KK had fun playing with her cousins. Godfather time and Uncle Billy time was also a huge hit. She got to visit a little with Grandma and Aunt Helen and throw snowballs at Daddy. I think the only non-hits of the weekend were the doggy, lizard and troll. She’s still talking about them and wants to make sure they’re not around. Particularly in the bathroom.

We had a pajama party when we got home on Saturday night, complete with movie & pizza. We set out chocolate chip cake & milk for Santa and some food for the reindeer in the hopes that Santa would make one more trip from the North Pole to bring some presents to KK. He did… and he ate all of the chocolate cake – of which KK was STUNNED (and still talks about) how he “ate it alllll gone!!!! And he made a mess mommy!!! Why he not use a napkin?” I agree KK. I agree.

Opening presents on Sunday morning was great. I think the best gift of the lot was the Frosty the Snowman book that SA and I had read (sung) to her. Not sure that was my BEST idea (should have picked a book we could READ rather than SING). As she listened to the book she looked up at us and said “this is the best book!!!!” My heart turned into a puddle. Right there on the spot. We’ve “read” the book, at bedtime, every night since.

Our little girl is growing up. We’ve been making great strides towards being potty trained. We aren’t pushing it but she’s only had a couple of accidents a day for the last week or so. One during the day (at about the same time every day) and usually one at night. (She gets focused on playing and next thing you know she’s walking bo-legged saying “eeewwww mommy I peeped!!!!”)

This morning when I woke up I didn’t realize that this evening I’d be putting Katherine to bed in a big girl bed. I was downstairs this morning when I heard, what I thought, was the pitter pat of little feet. My response to that was… No, couldn’t be. She’s still in her bed in her room. I head upstairs to check out the scene and KK is reading a book sitting in her bed. That’s my girl.

At nap time, which was not received well, I learned that my little angel is not only able to climb out of her crib in 2.3 seconds flat, but she can also climb back in. Seriously, when did this happen? She demonstrated this “skill” about a dozen times before I gave up trying to keep her in her bed. As long as she stayed in her room, courtesy of the gate, fine. This is where I’m grateful we opted for the video monitor. I was able to watch her climb in and out of the crib to find toys she wanted. She’d hurl (yes, hurl) them over the top of the bed then spring and thump herself over the top. The sound was EXACTLY what I’d heard earlier this morning.

After “nap-time” concluded Daddy converted the crib to the toddler bed. Thankfully we already had all of the pieces and were prepared for this event… at least in the technical aspect. I was NOT prepared for the ohmygodmylittlegirlisgrowingup issue experienced.

The last few weeks we’ve seen more and more of our little person emerge. She, as I’d guess many 2.5 year olds are, is very literal. It’s pretty amusing and you find yourself saying… Okay, I totally see how you got there. For example: Tonight I told her we needed to set the table. I went to the other room to do something and came back to the kitchen to see the kitchen table “set” with her Disney Princess tea set plates and some spoons from her kitchen set. She said proudly “Mommy, I set the table!!!” So awesome!!!

Last weekend she was “cooking” in her kitchen and she brought me a potato. I ate said potato and said, “Yum, needs some pepper!” She went over to the kitchen and brought back a green pepper.

Tonight’s parting message as I was taking her to bed… “I be back Daddy! I can climb out of bed.”

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Christmas 2011

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Whew! What a year!

As another blogging mommy friend says… It’s the beginning of 2011. Let’s get you all caught up and wipe the slate clean for 2011! I’ll *try* to be better in 2011 about keeping you updated – but seriously – the girl keeps me GO-ING!

Thanksgiving was great. We were able to get away for a few days to Myrtle Beach (and do a little home improvement project) and then came home to spend a few days with my sister Jacki who flew in to celebrate Turkey Day with us. We decided this year to go “easy” so we ordered most of the food prepared from Fresh Market. It worked out great!! No stress on T-Day and dinner was yummy!!

Black Friday, Stephen and I did our normal run about town starting at 2:45am. It seems to get earlier and earlier! Aunt J and KK had some girl time in the morning while SA and I slept off our shopping gig! Saturday we made our annual trek out to Boone to find the perfect Christmas tree. We came home with two perfect trees. I know, hard to believe, right?!

The tree selecting was fun but I think my most memorable moment of the trip came when we were walking around downtown Boone. We went into a bulk candy stores. You know the kind – big barrels filled with candy. (AKA – Heaven) KK was all bundled up and had a lil pink hat on. She began frantically trying to take the hat off and put the bottom of the hat together (where it straps under your chin). She starts holding it by that part and running around the store going from person to person yelling TRICK OR TREAT!!!!! Oh yeah. It’s Christmas… and we’re still trolling for candy.

This year we deployed our very own “Elf on a Shelf” shortly after Thanksgiving. We decided to name our elf Snowy and he’s traveled all over with us. He’s been to Myrtle Beach, Florida and will be making a trip to NJ later this week. Snowy’s been a big hit!!! Sometimes even Mommy & Daddy can’t (remember) find where Snowy is!! Makes it a real “find” for the whole family!!!

We celebrated the 25th in Florida with Tootsie, Pop, MomMom, Aunt J, Aunt N, Aunt S and a whole host of four-legged friends. All of which were not on KKs list of “friends” for the 3 days – with the exception of Thirteen – the black cat. She tolerated the cat for short periods of time. The dogs… Not a shot. Line of the trip: “Walk away doggies, walk away!!!” She doesn’t care if they’re behind glass, in a cage, etc. No way. No how. (She also seems to believe we have phantom ghosts dogs around our house. Not just in Raleigh either. They also seem to exist in Myrtle Beach. She points and SWEARS there’s a dog. I’ve not seen this ghost dog. Do you think she has an imaginary enemy???)

We had tons of fun in Florida. We painted pottery, went to Busch Gardens and had a great family day. (I’ll spare you our story of Wii Rock Band, except to say that Tasty Therapy is the best band ever! The singers are fantastic, the drummer is hot and the guitar & base player -> the bomb!) I think the highlight of the trip was when KK saw Zoe and Super Grover. She watches a Super Grover video that was passed on by some great friends. KK LOVES the video. It’s all about ABCs, etc. and Super Grover is the “teacher”. When she saw Zoe and Grover she was shaking with excitement. A two year old, shaking because she’s SOOOOOOO excited about seeing her “friends”. WAY cute. She waits patiently in line for her turn and as she goes up she’s beside herself giddy. She starts to hug Grover and Zoe and waits for her picture… Then she turns to Grover and says “I WATCH YOUUUU!!!!!!” She also saw Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Abby Caddaby and briefly Ernie and Bert. She sang “C is for Cookie” to CM. He dug the tunes. (Another musical highlight could have been when the mother of the two lead singers of Tasty Therapy – in Rock Band – suggested we select songs that weren’t rock. =) hehehehehe)

In Aleksza Family SPORTS news… I know, I know. You’re SHOCKED. Dumb-founded. Downright, befuddled at the mention of SPORTS being part of this family. Alas… Thanks to my JDRF YLC friends… We have been to (get ready for it) THREE NHL games!! I know. I hope you were sitting for that. I’m pretty sure we can now be classified as “caniacs”. The biggest fan?! KK!!! She lovesssssss her some BOYS BOYS BOYS, not to mention she thinks Stormy is pretty cute. Last night we went to our third game and as soon as she saw the ice she started squealing. Serious, ear piercing squeal. MOMMY DADDY BOYS!!! ICE!!!! WHERES STORMY?????? She also got her first bobble. As KK tries to make the head move, I wonder if Tim Gleason knew his ear would be “tickled” by a two year old to get him to “dance”. The lady behind us kept yelling “HIT HIM!!!!” KK would look at me and I’d just shake my head no. She’d go back to watching the game…. Shortly thereafter she started yelling GET HIM!!!! I am *slightly* concerned she’s going to pick up some unfavorable words at one of these events… but the sheer joy on her face as she watches a game & the team scores…. AWESOME!!!! I’m hoping I can get her into basketball!

As we end the year, and this posting, I thought I’d leave you with some KK-isms.
“Mommy, poopy in my pull-up makes me sad.” – Me too, honey. Me too.

“YAYYYY MOMMY, you went peepee in the potty!!! GREAT JOB!! I so proud of you!!!!” *pats mommy’s leg and continues, “you want some monies for the piggy??” (We give her a penny or so when she uses her potty.)

In teaching her how to respond to some basic questions (What’s your name? Where do you live? How old are you? – In that order… her responses/statements.): “My name is Kaferine. I live in Rally. I two years old. MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY!!!” – Yes, Katherine – “I peepee in the potty. It’s yellow!” Okay then. Thanks.

“I be right back. Okay? Okay! Okay? Mommy, Daddy DON’T THROW IT AWAY!! Okay?! Okay! KK be RIGHT BACK!” – Apparently we have a habit of tossing her stuff when she’s not finished?! Oops.

Stephen to KK – “KK, please eat your chips like a nice girl!” – Response: “I no nice girl, I KK!!!!”

“Mommy, I no like it – BLEH!” *spit*

“KK happy!” - FANTASTIC!!!!

While singing ABCs… “H-I-K-K-L-M-N….” (K is important enough to say twice, right?!) Stephen: “Katherine it’s H-I-J-K” Katherine’s Response: “L-M-N-O-P!!!”

While singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game: “to the ollll fall fame!!!!!”

I’d just lectured KK on using her listening ears. (Her version: Sticking her fingers in her ears.) I think we’re copasetic. She agrees to listen to Mommy & Daddy. I go to walk away… She calls me, “Mommy, come here!” I lean down and she puts my listening ears on (by sticking her fingers IN MY EARS). “Mommy, give KK Silly Bandz!” Wow. Really?! Not sure THIS is what I meant.

After stripping off her clothes – unnecessarily: “MOMMYDADDYMOMMYDADDYINAKEDDDDD!!!!!!” – She’ll grow out of this. Right?

My favorite pictures from the last couple of months... Enjoy! =)

Fall Beach Fun (Myrtle Beach, SC)

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Thanksgiving Pictures (Raleigh, NC)

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Christmas Tree Shopping (Boone, NC)

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Holiday Beach Pictures (Myrtle Beach, SC)

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December 2010 (Spring Hill, FL)

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Snowy Fun (Raleigh, NC)

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Quarterly Results

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In three months a lot of things happen. Particularly for a two year old. We’ve had a weekend or two at the beach, a visit with family in MD and NJ, family vacation in Orlando, a fall festival, a JDRF Walk, a half marathon (me, not K, but she was a key part of the day) and Halloween. So I'll share what I can remember!

We took a trip in September to NJ to celebrate the engagement of Aunt Roro (my cousin Cheryl) and her fiancee Jay. On the way we stopped off in MD to visit with our cousins Brian and Kelly and their cutie pie boys. Katherine had a GREAT time playing with the boys and continues to refer to their youngest son as "her baby" or "baby brother". She loves her a baby.

We were in NJ for less than 24 hours (literally) and were really happy to be able to get in visits with The Aleksza/Tomanek/Francis families and then head over to the engagement party where we were able to visit and celebrate with my cousin, her friends and most of my aunts. K and I were asked to be part of Cheryl and Jay's special day. I was asked to be matron of honor and K will be the flower girl. Here's hoping K's version of "practicing" isn't like Andrea's. :-) It was a great weekend, albeit a quick trip.

We took a trip to Orlando in mid-October. This was our 2nd year going to Orlando for vacation. We still had our season passes to Sea World and Aquatica so we thought we’d make use of them again. (We’re thinking Disney will be after K is 4 or so.) We arrived on a Saturday and while checking in a woman told me about Sea World’s Halloween festivities. We had arrived for the first weekend of “Spooktacular!” So Sunday we headed to SeaWorld for some trick or treating!

This was the first time Katherine understood that if you say “trick or treat” people give you candy. It took us a few tries to get her to say Trick or Treat but once she realized the treasure for doing so… She was all in! She had fun going from station to station to collect her sugary treats.

We also found out that day that Shamoo had a baby. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t “Shamoo” but some cousin, friend or tank-mate. Either way one of the stars of the Shamoo show had a baby. That meant, no Shamoo shows for at least two weeks. Bummer. I’d been talking about the Shamoo show for weeks to get K ready for the big trip. Thanks Shamoo (friend, cousin, tank-mate). Fortunately K was just as excited to see the baby whale as she was the actual show. *whew* Crisis averted. The baby was super cute and so very small (in comparison to mommy whale). K asked if she could hug the baby. Hm. Don’t think that’s a good idea. How about we just blow him/her kisses?!

Monday we took Katherine to her first water park: Aquatica. She big fat puffy hearts the water. Any water. Bath tub, pool, ocean… you name it. Girl’s there. The kid pool at Aquatica was a HUGE hit. The slides… equally awesome. I don’t think she came out of the pool for the four hours we were there, with the exception of the 30 minutes we drug her out to feed her lunch. (She acquiesced when she heard it was pizza.) Tootsie & Poppy spent most of the time there in the water pulling Katherine around and going up and down slides. The slides required two people to make the event work (one at the top and another at the bottom. Katherine would go down, yell again again, and the person at the top would need to run down the steps to grab her, get her back up, down the slide… she’d get caught by the person at the bottom, yell “again again,” and the process would start again. Another good day!!!

Tuesday was Date day for Stephen and I. Our 7 year anniversary. We took a helicopter ride over the parks, went to the Outlets to get some socks and got sucked into some shopping :) and then returned to the room to get cleaned up for dinner. We went to Blue Zoo at the Dolphin. The first time we ate there it was amazing. This was no different. Amazing meal… and we had a gift certificate. Doesn’t get much better than that!!! (If you’re in Orlando and looking for a nice place for dinner – I highly recommend it!!!) K spent the day with Tootsie, Poppy and Aunt Jacki. She was in heaven with all of the attention!! And she got ice cream that night for dessert. Given the size of her cheeks in the picture – It was a large bowl!!!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we hung out with the family some more. We had another go-round at Sea World, a trip to Downtown Disney and our annual dinner at Café Tu Tu Tango. (Never a trip to Orlando with out a meal there… Sangria and Tapas! Yum!!!)
A great trip to Orlando again. Katherine had fun with Aunt Ikki, Aunt Soapie, Aunt Jacki, Tootsie and Poppy.

The following weekend (busy October) we went to Myrtle Beach for the weekend. I had my first half marathon on Sunday and a couple of friends were also coming to town to run the race. We decided to have a carb dinner to prep for the big race at our condo. We had lots of fun hanging out Saturday night with Allison and Rick. Katherine was treated like a Princess (literally… crown, gloves & purse!) and really thought the homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches were the highlight of the weekend! Me… Highlight was crossing the finish line 9min 10seconds (yes, the seconds count!) under my goal time. I had AWESOME cheerleaders that day. K and SA met me at mile 3, mile 10 and the finish line. (The gap between 3 and 10 provided a respite for them to go get some Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast… They were kind enough to bring some for me for post race!!) It was a great race and I can’t wait to do it again. Even better, after the race Katherine got so excited by watching the race she told me she wanted to be a runner like Mommy. So sweet. She still tells me just about every day “Mommy, I a runner! Ok? Ok!” That’s my girl!!!!

The Friday before Halloween weekend we had Fall Festival at school. K had a great time, although we have learned that the hayride (at night) is NOT a good idea. She woke up the next morning still talking about the “scary hayride”. Not sure why it was scary… but it seriously was to our KK. Poor kid. She had fun going room to room and participating in all of the fun activities. There was touching spooky body parts (brain = watermelon / heart was peeled tomatoes / eyeballs were grapes, etc.); going through a spooky obstacle course, walking the balance beam and getting her fortune told (she’s loved by LOTS of people, said our very knowledgeable fortune teller).

The JDRF walk was up next. The Walk brings thousands of people together who are all raising money for the same cause: Finding a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. We were three of about 100+ on the Allscripts team and three out of the 15 or so on the Young Leadership Committee (YLC) for JDRF. Thousands of others were there for the event. It was a great day – gorgeous weather and a cause I’m proud we support. Our family raised about $500 for the event. Next year we need to kick it up a bit. Thanks to all of our family & friends who donated to support us!! We’re blessed to have a healthy little girl… So many children Katherine’s age, and younger, diagnosed with a disease that affects every single day – every single hour of their lives.

Halloween was the following day… K picked the costume she wanted to wear. She was a cowgirl. A seriously CUTE cowgirl. We went to about 3 houses and she told me she was done. In sign language and verbally. She usually only breaks out the sign language when she’s quite serious. It was the dogs at one of the houses that sent her running home. She decided she could make up for what she missed by trick or treating at our house. 5 times. I wonder if she thought we didn’t know who she was because she was in a costume?? Silly girl. She had fun giving out candy to the kids that came by. We had about 150 or so kids this year. Not as busy as last year and the previous year but still enough to keep things exciting.

We’re now getting ready for Thanksgiving and the upcoming holidays. K thinks that fall is awesome and loves collecting leaves. One day we collected a handful of pretty ones and she brought them inside so we could throw them in the air and pick them up… again, and again, and again.

Some random facts about our girl:
Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite Food/s: Pizza, ravioli, cheese, ham, milkshakes (aka milk with a weeee bit of chocolate syrup), pancakes and cupcakes. (Thanks Poppy for the last one… She’s still talking about that particular incident.)
Favorite activity (Indoor): color. She LOVES to color. We flipped over the top of her lego table so it is flat and now she sits and colors and draws all sorts of pictures for us. Usually circles. She also loves to trace her hand. Well, I trace it and she yells LOOK!!!!
Favorite Song: ABCs, Wheels on the Bus and (oddly) Take me out to the ball game. I have no idea where/how she heard the latter but she loves it. We have a new CD that we play in the car (Toddler Car Tunes) and she thinks it rocks! (But Take me out to the Ball game isn’t on it.)
Favorite Outdoor Activity: Well, at home it’s running.  At school, apparently it’s picking up pine straw and putting it in a pile. Is OCD contagious???
Favorite Helper Activity: Cooking. She LOVES to stand at the kitchen counter on a stool and “help” me cook. I know what you’re thinking – YES, I do cook. Sometimes. When I do, she’s my right hand girl.
Favorite Saying: “WHATCHA DOIN” Spend 20 minutes with her and you’ll have been asked 400 times. Her teachers have made it into a song. For real. The conversations generally go something like this:
Mommy, whatcha doin’??
I’m driving KK.
Mommy, whatcha doin??
Still driving KK.
Mommy whatcha doin??
Driving the car to school.
Mommy whatcha doin??
Driving.
Mommy, whatcha doin??
Going crazy.
Mommy, whatcha doin?
Same thing I was doing 30 seconds ago.
Mommy, whatcha doin?.... And so it continues.

I’ll try to do better with the whole blogging thing but can’t make any promises. Instead consider the blogs I do post as tiny little unexpected presents. Yeah. That’s a great idea. Lil presents of Love sent via the web. *virtual xoxo*

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Hoot Hoot, She's Cute!

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Family Weekend in NJ

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Orlando Vacation

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Halloween

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