As much as I would love to keep this blog going, anyone that checks in periodically has probably realized that I'm not doing a very good job. And Kim, being the computer geek that he is, decided he wanted to try a new blog service and now is contributing to posts. (Not sure why a new blog service changes why/how you blog, but apparently it does.)
Anyway, he has posted a few pics of Alli on this new blog, so I recommend going to our new site: http://http://www.guerrettefamily.us/
We'll see you there!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Alli's 3rd Birthday
I can't believe Alli is 3. It's just amazing how fast the time goes. She's growing like a weed - getting tall, staying thin, and developing the most amazing personality.
Her party was a lot of fun. She chose Dora invitations, so we just went with the theme. I planned a really cool explorer mission, which turned out really cool but not quite the way I envisioned it.
The plan was to have "Swiper" swipe the presents and hide them behind the saguaro tree. The older siblings had fun helping me accomplish this part of the party.
Then we told Alli and the kids that Swiper took her presents and we needed their help to follow the map and get them back. Alli started crying because Swiper took her presents. We showed her the map and told her that everyone was going to help get them back, but she was sad. Oh no!! (Worst trauma ever Mom!!!) We showed the kids the map (see attached) and had them memorize the adventure, just like on Dora. Well, that was the plan... but all the kids were so excited that they just ran to the first stop - the duck pond.
The duck pond was a big blow-up pool with plastic ducks in it. All the kids picked a duck and then it was just the luck of the draw - if your number was called, you were out. Last one got a prize. This game actually executed the way I thought it might. Alli wound up being the winner. She was still upset out her presents being missing, and now overwhelmed by all the commotion. (Nice job Mom!!)
The second stop was "puzzle bridge", which was really a hopscotch path across our grass area made from foam puzzle letter squares. (You know the ones.) Some of the letters were missing and the kids had to go find them before we could cross the bridge. I didn't even have time to explain - most of the kids (especially the older siblings) just went looking for letters and filling in the puzzle. The little ones again were overwhelmed (mostly Alli and Cali), the only 2 girls younger than 4. The bridge was complete when I barely got that and everyone was hop-scothing across. (This was overwhelming for Mommy!!)
After we crossed the brige, I made everyone stop because we needed supplies to go to the "wilds" of our backyard - back by the cactus. We had Alli take off her backpack and we had a game where the kids reached in and tried to guess what they were pulling out. There were prizes. Well, that didn't really work. We had kids reaching in and pulling things out so fact (I doubt any of them closed their eyes)... Hands all over - totally out of control. And poor Alli - completely overwhelmed again. After we got everything out, we put it all back in the backpack, put the backpack back on Alli, and went to the cactus to find her gifts.
One of the little girls found the gift she was giving to Alli and said "that's mine" and Alli started crying again. Oh my. A little too much stimulation for a 3 year old I guess. But we all carried the presents back and the kids decided Alli should open the gifts in the duck pond.
The duck pond went from having the kids nicely spread through it patiently holding their presents to all crowded in one end trying to get Alli to open their gift. No parental intervention (cause mom was trying to coordinate and write gifts down as they were flying out of bags). Again - overwhelming.
So, this whole part, which I thought would take an hour, lasted 20 minutes. Oops! haha I guess Mommy needs some help in the party planning department. But the goodie bags had toys for the kids to play with so we broke those out and everyone blew bubbles and then played with squirt guns, and most of the kids wound up in the pool.
It was fun to just have everyone run around and play.
And Alli still talks about Swiper taking her presents. I gave her the map (with another to put in her baby box.)
Her party was a lot of fun. She chose Dora invitations, so we just went with the theme. I planned a really cool explorer mission, which turned out really cool but not quite the way I envisioned it.
The plan was to have "Swiper" swipe the presents and hide them behind the saguaro tree. The older siblings had fun helping me accomplish this part of the party.
Then we told Alli and the kids that Swiper took her presents and we needed their help to follow the map and get them back. Alli started crying because Swiper took her presents. We showed her the map and told her that everyone was going to help get them back, but she was sad. Oh no!! (Worst trauma ever Mom!!!) We showed the kids the map (see attached) and had them memorize the adventure, just like on Dora. Well, that was the plan... but all the kids were so excited that they just ran to the first stop - the duck pond.
The duck pond was a big blow-up pool with plastic ducks in it. All the kids picked a duck and then it was just the luck of the draw - if your number was called, you were out. Last one got a prize. This game actually executed the way I thought it might. Alli wound up being the winner. She was still upset out her presents being missing, and now overwhelmed by all the commotion. (Nice job Mom!!)
The second stop was "puzzle bridge", which was really a hopscotch path across our grass area made from foam puzzle letter squares. (You know the ones.) Some of the letters were missing and the kids had to go find them before we could cross the bridge. I didn't even have time to explain - most of the kids (especially the older siblings) just went looking for letters and filling in the puzzle. The little ones again were overwhelmed (mostly Alli and Cali), the only 2 girls younger than 4. The bridge was complete when I barely got that and everyone was hop-scothing across. (This was overwhelming for Mommy!!)
After we crossed the brige, I made everyone stop because we needed supplies to go to the "wilds" of our backyard - back by the cactus. We had Alli take off her backpack and we had a game where the kids reached in and tried to guess what they were pulling out. There were prizes. Well, that didn't really work. We had kids reaching in and pulling things out so fact (I doubt any of them closed their eyes)... Hands all over - totally out of control. And poor Alli - completely overwhelmed again. After we got everything out, we put it all back in the backpack, put the backpack back on Alli, and went to the cactus to find her gifts.
One of the little girls found the gift she was giving to Alli and said "that's mine" and Alli started crying again. Oh my. A little too much stimulation for a 3 year old I guess. But we all carried the presents back and the kids decided Alli should open the gifts in the duck pond.
The duck pond went from having the kids nicely spread through it patiently holding their presents to all crowded in one end trying to get Alli to open their gift. No parental intervention (cause mom was trying to coordinate and write gifts down as they were flying out of bags). Again - overwhelming.
So, this whole part, which I thought would take an hour, lasted 20 minutes. Oops! haha I guess Mommy needs some help in the party planning department. But the goodie bags had toys for the kids to play with so we broke those out and everyone blew bubbles and then played with squirt guns, and most of the kids wound up in the pool.
It was fun to just have everyone run around and play.
And Alli still talks about Swiper taking her presents. I gave her the map (with another to put in her baby box.)
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Alli's New Bike
Alli got a big girl bike this weekend because she had no poppy accidents for a whole week. She will be the first to tell you that she got her bike because she poops in the toilet! We are very proud if her. And she kicked butt on the bike!!
Sorry about the bad image quality. Mommy took the picture with her camera phone...
Sorry about the bad image quality. Mommy took the picture with her camera phone...
Monday, January 3, 2011
New Years 2011
This year, we went to Mike and Jen Searle's to celebrate New Years. They have 3 sons, the youngest comes into Alli's class at Tutor Time, so all day we kept saying "we are going to Matthew's house tonight". Well, besides the Searle's, there were a whole slew of other families, so we had about 16 kids and about 16 adults. With all the commotion, Alli managed to stay awake til 11:30pm!!! She probably would have made it to midnight if Daddy didn't lay down with her to get her to go to sleep. (Mommy would have passed out herself doing that!)
We left the party around 2am and got ourselves back home in our own cozy beds. Alli did a good job sleeping in til 10:30. Yippee!!! So we had a very slow start on new year's day, but it was soooo nice to sleep in. We decided around 4pm to go out for a burger and call it dinner, so we went to a local restaurant and ordered. Alli wanted to wear underwear all day, but since she made no attempt at going to the toilet, I brought only pull-ups and a change of pants, just in case. And sure enough, she wet them almost as soon as we had ordered. So, I took her to the bathroom and there started the worst temper tantrum I think we've seen. We wound up leaving the restaurant and getting our food to go. We got home and wrestled with the tantrum until she fell asleep crying. She woke up 30 minutes later yelling again and crying and the trantrum continued. Finally, after 2-1/2 hours of this fit, she stopped and made peace with mommy, whose only sin had been bringing a pull-up to the restaurant, and then making the decision to leave the restaurant when we couldn't get her to stop crying. Bad mommy! ;)
So January 2nd officially started potty training again. We set a timer and every 30 minutes it would go off. If she went potty once and couldn't go 30 minutes later, we said it was okay. She did pretty good, except when mommy spent too much time picking up the house and not enough time watching Alli. I happened upon a puddle by the sliding door at one point, not knowing when it was created. Ugh. And then the poop. I'm not sure when or if this child will *ever* sit on a toilet and poop. :( Ok, one thing at a time.
We told Alli that if she went accident-free (poop and pee) for a whole week, she would get a new bike. (Ok, we've been storing this bike, which is a hand-me-down from Reegan, for 6 months already. I was just dying to get it out of the closet!!)
Day two was not quite as good on the potty front. She didn't want to sit on the toilet, not for stickers, not for the bike, and not for the timer. When she pooped her pants it turned into a tantrum because mommy changed her by the toilet and not the changing table. At least this time, we made peace within 20 minutes. Whew! So, today is still day #2 while I'm writing this, and we're about 50% of the time when the timer goes off that she'll sit on the toilet. I just changed the timer to go off every hour now instead of 30 minutes. But she just peed while playing under the kitchen table, so not sure any of this is working! :)
We left the party around 2am and got ourselves back home in our own cozy beds. Alli did a good job sleeping in til 10:30. Yippee!!! So we had a very slow start on new year's day, but it was soooo nice to sleep in. We decided around 4pm to go out for a burger and call it dinner, so we went to a local restaurant and ordered. Alli wanted to wear underwear all day, but since she made no attempt at going to the toilet, I brought only pull-ups and a change of pants, just in case. And sure enough, she wet them almost as soon as we had ordered. So, I took her to the bathroom and there started the worst temper tantrum I think we've seen. We wound up leaving the restaurant and getting our food to go. We got home and wrestled with the tantrum until she fell asleep crying. She woke up 30 minutes later yelling again and crying and the trantrum continued. Finally, after 2-1/2 hours of this fit, she stopped and made peace with mommy, whose only sin had been bringing a pull-up to the restaurant, and then making the decision to leave the restaurant when we couldn't get her to stop crying. Bad mommy! ;)
So January 2nd officially started potty training again. We set a timer and every 30 minutes it would go off. If she went potty once and couldn't go 30 minutes later, we said it was okay. She did pretty good, except when mommy spent too much time picking up the house and not enough time watching Alli. I happened upon a puddle by the sliding door at one point, not knowing when it was created. Ugh. And then the poop. I'm not sure when or if this child will *ever* sit on a toilet and poop. :( Ok, one thing at a time.
We told Alli that if she went accident-free (poop and pee) for a whole week, she would get a new bike. (Ok, we've been storing this bike, which is a hand-me-down from Reegan, for 6 months already. I was just dying to get it out of the closet!!)
Day two was not quite as good on the potty front. She didn't want to sit on the toilet, not for stickers, not for the bike, and not for the timer. When she pooped her pants it turned into a tantrum because mommy changed her by the toilet and not the changing table. At least this time, we made peace within 20 minutes. Whew! So, today is still day #2 while I'm writing this, and we're about 50% of the time when the timer goes off that she'll sit on the toilet. I just changed the timer to go off every hour now instead of 30 minutes. But she just peed while playing under the kitchen table, so not sure any of this is working! :)
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Life with a 2-1/2 year old
Kim and I are finding that life with a 2-1/2 year old is very spontaneous. Today it was soooo cold outside and yet she wanted to go out and play. So we bundled up and went outside to play. She rode her tricycle all over the backyard, including up and down a gravel hill. She played on the slide, only to find her hands were very cold. So we went in and got some mittens and then all things were good outside. :)
Our family sleeping has been much better since Grandma Rickey suggested that Bagheera sleep with Alli. It's been heaven since we made that switch - both kids in the room together and mommy and daddy finally having a bed to themselves. Ahhhhh!
Alli's speech is so complete I can't believe she has more to learn. She carries on conversations very well. And for any parent that doesn't think kids learn the most by example should be shot. We see everything we do someone echoed by Alli. Right now, she asks if she can do, well, anything. It just dawned on my the other day that this was because Kim and I ask her before we do anything - something we learned to do with her in our communication exploration during the terrible twos stage.
And during this Christmas break, mommy was terribly sick. But I had Alli taking care of me when daddy was out riding. She gave me stickers and fed me tea (pretend tea from her tea set). What more could a mommy want!!!
Christmas was also quite fun with her. She asked to open everyone's presents. And we gladly said yes (except for Bagheera, who likes to open his own gifts!)
We are looking forward to seeing more changes in our little angel during the new year.
Our family sleeping has been much better since Grandma Rickey suggested that Bagheera sleep with Alli. It's been heaven since we made that switch - both kids in the room together and mommy and daddy finally having a bed to themselves. Ahhhhh!
Alli's speech is so complete I can't believe she has more to learn. She carries on conversations very well. And for any parent that doesn't think kids learn the most by example should be shot. We see everything we do someone echoed by Alli. Right now, she asks if she can do, well, anything. It just dawned on my the other day that this was because Kim and I ask her before we do anything - something we learned to do with her in our communication exploration during the terrible twos stage.
And during this Christmas break, mommy was terribly sick. But I had Alli taking care of me when daddy was out riding. She gave me stickers and fed me tea (pretend tea from her tea set). What more could a mommy want!!!
Christmas was also quite fun with her. She asked to open everyone's presents. And we gladly said yes (except for Bagheera, who likes to open his own gifts!)
We are looking forward to seeing more changes in our little angel during the new year.
Monday, December 6, 2010
How the Big Girl Bed has Changed our Sleeping
So everyone assumes that transitioning a child from the crib to something else makes bedtime more of a hassle since they can get out of the new bed so easily. Well, that's not really the case for our family.
Alli has done a *great* job of staying in bed she goes to sleep at night. We rarely have a problem. But.... she gets out of bed when she wakes up in the morning - no matter how early. She doesn't come into our room, instead she stands in the hallway just outside her room and lets out a little cry. It doesn't matter if we tell her she can come into our room, she just stands there. So, daddy usually climbs out of bed and brings her to our bed so we can get just that extra 15-20 minutes of snoozing in.
But lately it has gotten a little worse. Now she's waking up in the middle of the night, like 2:30am and standing in the hall and letting out her little cry. We usually don't bring her to our bed if we have hours of sleep left, so one of us, usually me, takes her back to bed and if necessary, lays with her until after she falls asleep. But this has also progressed to just going to bed with her in her twin-sized bed (hence the reason it's usually me.) While it's adorable to roll over and see this beautiful little girl sound asleep, it's also, well, not such a good night sleep. When she changes position, an arm usually goes out to make sure I'm still there. Stinker! :D
Alli has done a *great* job of staying in bed she goes to sleep at night. We rarely have a problem. But.... she gets out of bed when she wakes up in the morning - no matter how early. She doesn't come into our room, instead she stands in the hallway just outside her room and lets out a little cry. It doesn't matter if we tell her she can come into our room, she just stands there. So, daddy usually climbs out of bed and brings her to our bed so we can get just that extra 15-20 minutes of snoozing in.
But lately it has gotten a little worse. Now she's waking up in the middle of the night, like 2:30am and standing in the hall and letting out her little cry. We usually don't bring her to our bed if we have hours of sleep left, so one of us, usually me, takes her back to bed and if necessary, lays with her until after she falls asleep. But this has also progressed to just going to bed with her in her twin-sized bed (hence the reason it's usually me.) While it's adorable to roll over and see this beautiful little girl sound asleep, it's also, well, not such a good night sleep. When she changes position, an arm usually goes out to make sure I'm still there. Stinker! :D
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Baggy Loves Alli
After putting Alli to bed and finishing chores, Jenny and I couldn't find Bagheera. On a wild guess, we went into Alli's room and found him laying on her bed. It's ridiculously cute to think that Baggy missed Alli while we were in Texas for Thanksgiving.
-KimG
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Bye Bye Underwear
After 3 months of potty training, lots of disgusting laundry, I convinced Alli's teacher to just put her back into her diapers until Alli decided she was ready to try to be a big girl. The last straw (for me) was when she peed 3 times in 30 minutes at preschool and sat in it without any care. Ugh. She just doesn't want to do it, and I'm tired of fighting it.
On other notes though, she is excelling. Everything is by color: "Mommy, what is that?" "No, it's 'blue'!" :D
We found out that she likes some of Britney Spears' songs. It's really cute to see her shake her bootie, which she is doing quite a bit these days.
She understands so much about everything, and she wants to do everything that mommy does. She helps me cook meals, do laundry, etc. She also wants to wear similar clothes - if I have a jacket on, she needs a jacket. If I take my socks off, she takes her socks off. It's really cute.
On other notes though, she is excelling. Everything is by color: "Mommy, what is that?" "No, it's 'blue'!" :D
We found out that she likes some of Britney Spears' songs. It's really cute to see her shake her bootie, which she is doing quite a bit these days.
She understands so much about everything, and she wants to do everything that mommy does. She helps me cook meals, do laundry, etc. She also wants to wear similar clothes - if I have a jacket on, she needs a jacket. If I take my socks off, she takes her socks off. It's really cute.
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