Fall Fun

With summer travels and the scorching heat coming to an end, we've been busy doing all sorts of outdoor activities and enjoying the routine and renewed energy that seem to just naturally emerge when fall rolls around.

Thanks to the membership that we received from Karen and Greg, we've been going to the zoo almost weekly, and it never disappoints.  Sometimes, if we time it right, we make it to the elephant area just in time to catch the daily demonstration they do with the 8-year-old elephant, Bodhi. 

It certainly keeps Alice entertained, and she, in turn, has been keeping us entertained like never before. I wish that I had the initiative to write down every clever or funny thing that she says, because she really does surprise us every day with glimpses of what is going on in that little head of hers.

Lately, and especially at family meals, Alice has gotten very interested in the art of conversation.  Matt and I will be in the middle of a discussion of his or my day, when she breaks in with, "How was your day, Daddy? You build something?", "You keeping me company?", or "Let's have some chit chat."  She understands (kind of) that she's not supposed to interrupt while people are speaking, and she thinks that an acceptable alternative is persistently screaming, "'Scuse me!" to whomever it is she wants to interrupt. Usually, the important thing that she just couldn't wait to say is something like, "You all done talking?" or "Uuuuuuuuuum."

The three of us paid a visit to the World Famous (!) Tiny Town and Railroad in Morrison, CO a few weeks ago at the glowing recommendation of some other parents.  It was, as promised, a tiny town with a tiny railroad running through.  As much as Matt and I kept wandering around the pint-sized, ramshackle replicas of schools, churches, and shops, scratching our heads and wondering, "But. . . why?", Alice was kind of entertained by the whole place, at least for the morning.

 

She was pretty annoyed that the door to the school was locked, and tried diligently, but to no avail, to open it up with Matt's house keys.

With all the talk of Alice's new baby sister (due the first of January, for those of you that aren't yet in the loop) and our visits and video chats with Baby Dylan, Alice has become as interested in pretending that she is a baby as she is in insisting that she is a big girl. Often, after she has impatiently waited for Matt and me to finish eating dinner with multiple inquiries of, "You all done?" (usually when half our food is still on our plate), she then insists, in a soft, babyish voice, "I am a tiny baby" and crawls into my lap or Matt's to finish her milk or snuggle. That lasts about ten seconds until her toddler jitters get the best of her and she can't help but squirm around and start to smack us in the face, try to grab off Matt's glasses or my jewelry, and jump down to insist on a game of chase. 

[Family portrait of the three of us on the tiny train that went through the equally tiny town]

Still, other times, she is so proud of doing things all on her own, like climbing into the car seat or stroller by herself, pretending to use the potty (alas, it's all still pretend for now), or staying in her newish twin bed all night.  She beams when she exclaims, "I'm a big girl!"
 

We met some friends last weekend at a corn maze put on by the Denver Botanic Gardens.  [Incidentally, we are now also card-carrying members of the Botanic Gardens thanks to Aunt Patty. Do the Jacobs know how to give gifts that keep on giving or what?] While we were waiting for our friends to arrive, we agreed to let Alice try the bouncy pillow, even though it seemed like most of the kids on it were bigger than she. It took a few minutes, but in no time she was running across that thing and getting bounced around with all the other kids. There were many tears when our friends showed up and we told her that we had to move on to another activity.

Even though she definitely has her defiant, rough, and out-of-control moments (and hours), she is also becoming a very tender, sympathetic little creature.  She searches the front yard every day for dandelions to gift to Matt after work. She insists on kissing all our boo-boos and checking, "You all better?" when she sees a bump or bruise (real or imagined) on either of us.  When I tell her I feel tired and want to rest on the couch, she gets me a blanket, clumsily covers me up and asks, "You cozy?" before telling me to close my eyes. Then she usually jumps on me or asks me to play with her, but I appreciate the gesture nonetheless. She has started giving us compliments and praise out of the blue like, "You so bootiful!" or "Thanks cooking dinner!" or "Good job, Daddy! You finish your whole dinner!" It's nice to have a cheerleader at home even if it's for doing things like putting on my shoes or going to the bathroom by myself.



We are definitely enjoying the daily doses of silliness that come with this age as well. At bedtime now, she insists that we do "silly" versions of her old favorite songs, replacing the lyrics with the names of her friends or words related to things that happened that day. Our songs are usually peppered with Alice commanding, "Now you laugh." Lots of canned laughter around here at bedtime.  She loves making up her own words now, and repeats the same invented ones over and over. Stop by for dinner and you'll hear us chatting about pumby-pumbies and referring to Alice by her self-given nickname of Goony D (no idea).   

We're loving these early fall days with our little big girl.

Dylan + The Gals

With Matt back in Denver and Jason on a weekend excursion with a friend, it was just Dylan and us ladies together last weekend.



Alice showed Dylan that tummy time could be made a lot more stimulating by adding in some Yo Gabba Gabba.



Vola and Alice had a special beach date, just the two of them, and Alice showed off how independent she can be with her new water wings.



Nonna impressed us with her multitasking skills, holding Dylan's attention while instructing Alice on the ingredients necessary to make a pretend spaghetti dinner out of legos.



Alice tapped into her inner mommy, spending a good thirty minutes bathing her Baby Dylan.  She made a special effort to vigorously clean the doll's eyes, a procedure that I hope no real baby will ever have to endure at her hands. {It should be noted, also, that upon closer inspection, Baby Dylan appears not to be a baby boy after all, but a baby girl, endowed with shockingly detailed and anatomically accurate bells and whistles.}



On Sunday night, just as I had put Alice to bed, the first booms of fireworks for a local festival went off.  The view from our apartment is unbeatable, so I rushed back into the room, told Alice that she was in for a big treat and scooped her up so that she could enjoy the fireworks too. Although she was half asleep and spent the whole show curled up on my lap on the balcony, I think she enjoyed it, because the first thing she said when I got her out of bed the next morning was "I big treat? More boom?"

We're all here until Thursday, and are now focusing our efforts on achieving the most satisfying balance of gelato-beach-relaxation before beginning the loooong trip back. Ever since Matt left, Alice has been talking about how Matt will meet us at the er-port in Colorado; having him on the recieving end makes the prospect of leaving vacation so much better!

The Gang Was All Here

We've enjoyed nine relaxing days in Sestri Levante so far, together with my mom, Vola, Jason, and Dylan. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Matt early this morning, but I'm thinking that he'll find some way to entertain himself in Denver for another week or so without us.

It was Alice's first time meeting her cousin Dylan, and it was definitely love at first sight (for her; he, on the other hand, seems appropriately wary of her toddler-strength pats and squeezes).

My mom has been kind enough to offer her babysitting services for both children whenever we adults want to get out.  She reports that one night, after Vola, Jason, Matt, and I closed the door behind us and hurried off to drinks, Alice leaned over to Dylan on his playmat and said, "Don't worry, Dylan, your mommy will be back soon."

I die!


If this trip is any indication, Alice is going to be a great big sister.  Besides a few moments of jealousy while Matt and I were cooing over Dylan, she's been nothing but thrilled over the little guy.
And how could you not love this little face?

He's charmed all of us.

Besides giving lots of kisses to Baby D, Alice has been living the dream.

Ordering coffee perched on Nonna's hip.

Blowing bubbles by the sea.

Negotiating the cobblestones while pushing her stroller and her own Baby Dylan (no, I suppose we're not very inventive with names around here and yes, that's a dishrag blanket he's all snuggled up under).

Eating pastries for breakfast and gelato for snack.

And the beauty is that we have 8 more days!

Getting Her Hair Did

Before her big birthday party, we decided it was time for Alice to get a legit haircut.  My attempts at trimming her bangs were no longer cutting the mustard and things were getting a little ratty. Mostly, I got tired of chasing after Alice while trying to hold on to a rubber band that was halfway around a pigtail, begging her to let me just finish tying her hair back so it wouldn't be in her face all day. I dreamed of the mythical hairdo that you don't have to maintain at all.

At the salon, the car chair proved just exciting enough to allow the hairdresser to do her job.

And although we didn't quite get an absolutely maintenance-free 'do, I don't think this one's too shabby!

 

Better run. Alice has woken up from her nap and I hear her chattering in her room. So far, I've heard "I gotta poop," "Eewie, dat's poopie," and "Mommy change it. It's yucky."

Any takers out there? 

 

The Lost Month

Oh. . .  hey there . . .

This is kind of awkward.

Um. . . how have you been?

I meant to post over the last month and a half.  I really did.  I even opened up Blogger and loaded up a few photos.  

But I've been so tired. And, um, busy.

It's not you, it's me.

Please don't be mad.

Let's start over.  Let me just give you the highlights of what we've been up to since May, and then we can just pick up from there and put this whole thing behind us.

We spent a delightful evening at Sunflower Farm in Longmont.

Alice swang and spun.

And spun.

 

And taunted chickens.

And drove a tractor.

And faced off against a turkey.

And fed sheep.

 

For the Fourth of July, we brought out the red, white, and blue and decorated the trike to the nines.

We strutted proudly in our neighborhood parade.

The weekend before last, we took a last minute trip to Vail to check out the mountains in the summer.

The pedestrian-only village was perfect for Alice to explore.

She loved the fountains and the statues scattered along the streets.

She loved them so much that we spent approximately 20 minutes of every hour engaged in a battle of wills over whether Alice would (1) sit peacefully in the stroller, (2) walk on her own alongside us, (3) ride on Matt's shoulders, (4) meander at her own pace, stopping every minute or so to do some backtracking, take a detour up or down some stairs, squat to check out something on the ground more closely, just stand still for a while, refuse to continue walking when asked nicely, repeatedly (5) have to be carried against her will while screaming as if she were being kidnapped . . . 
 

Or (6) find herself strapped in her stroller, also against her will, again screaming as if she were being kidnapped.

 

We narrowly missed a rainstorm on the way to dinner by hopping in a pedicab to get there faster.

 

Alice was delighted to discover that there are letters all over signs in the mountains too.

This girl loves her some alphabet.

We took the gondola all the way to the top of the mountain and attempted a hike.

The first part of the hike was beautiful.

 It was so peaceful to be up above the world, walking around at the top of the mountain with stunning views all around.

Then Alice woke up and demanded to be let out of the backpack but refused to walk so we had to take turns carrying her in our arms the rest of the way back. It kind of took away from the serenity of the experience, if you can imagine.

In any case, we can't wait to come back when everything is covered in snow.

Finally, just this past weekend, Alice's Grammy, Grampy, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Denny came into town to join in the festivities for Alice's second birthday. I was having such a great time that I barely took any photos, but I'm grateful that Karen ("Grammy" to those in the know) fully documented the party for posterity.

Phew.

That was a lot of photos. And a lot of recap.

Now, let's pretend this little rift never happened.

Friends?