Quote and Thought

Tonight's quote: "Momma, it's my necklace, it's not a boogie."

Translation: "I stuck a bead from my necklace up my nose Momma. What do I do now?" Thank goodness Mark had the wits to just push on the side of her nose, out it popped.

Thought of the day: A child is a child and no matter how strict or soft you are, the child is still a child. They will still hate bedtime (well, not all of them), they will still pick their nose in public, they will still want candy instead of dinner even if you've said no for what feels like a thousand times or if you don't often say no. A parents style has no bearing on how a child behaves.

Preschool Party!

Today was a Preschool Party and all the parents were invited! Lexa was so excited when Daddy said he'd come! She gave him a big hug and said "THAT'S WONDERFUL"

I realized yesterday we were supposed to bring a treat to share with the class. Lexa's not a huge cookie or cake eater, so lucky for me, we had enough oranges and cheese in the fridge to bring a healthy snack!

Getting ready to go!

Mrs. Wiebe worked hard to help Lexa get on her corsage. Only seconds later she came to me and wanted it off so she could hold it.

Lexa and Momma

Lexa held onto her flower!

Dear Santa 2013 - 3 yrs old

Dear Santa

I would like a pink car. I would like to watch this show. How are you please. Thank you for this. See you soon.

Love Alexiss

I typed exactly how it came out of her mouth. I was trying to coach her a bit, but it didn't help much. I told Dale at the post office to send along a message to Santa to not eat or drink while reading it.

Snow Day!

A storm came through on Tuesday. Mark had made it to work but a few hours later our neighbor barely made it home. All day I watched the drift in the back yard get higher and higher and the tree fade in and out of focus. I sent Mark many pictures, hoping and waiting for it to slow, by the end of his working day I told him to find somewhere in Calgary to bunk out for the night. As night drew near I set my alarm at 2 hour intervals to wake me enough to peek and make sure the pilot light on the gas fireplace wasn't puffed out and the lights were still on. Our outside vent for the fireplace has a habit of collecting, melting and refreezing snow effectively blocking off the vent. Thankfully we never lost power. The wind continued to howl all night.

Up in the morning to check and see how snowed in we are. Front door was a no go, but I peeked over the drift to chuckle with our neighbors and grumble about the work ahead. With Mark in Calgary I knew I'd at least have to dig a pathway, I knew there was no getting out of the neighborhood until help arrived. Sweet neighbors played the "you're a single mom right now" card and snow blowed the driveway. KeeKee was quick to help dig out the front porch, I didn't realize why..until I saw them still shoveling at 4:00 and finally realized KeeKee needed something that had a light at the end of the tunnel. They had no where left to put the snow from their driveway, the snow pile beside their house was already one storey high! Needless to say my snow fort is buried.

First sight of the drifts

Lexa having fun while Momma musters the strength to start shoveling

Front Door?

Marv with the snow blower helping out

Laughing..because what else are you going to do?

KeeKee, myself and Lexa with Ashley, Lauren and their mom Racheal walked out to see how bad the drift across the road was. They climbed to the top (I didn't) and laughed at the two vehicles on the other side. Ours was only one of the 8 foot drifts between us and the main road.

Seriously!?

The road is here somewhere

The drift across the road from the other side

Wheee!

Finally a passage! This is a friend and neighbor driving through the newly plowed drift.

I called Mark at 3:00 to let him know the way was kinda cleared, enough for him to make it home at least! Yay. And Lexa played and played...

See my fish candy now Opa?

For those who have talked to Lexa on the phone as she wanders and shows you things. This is what it looks like from our end. In this video, she's showing Opa her fish candy.

Today was a nice warm break and Lexa and I played outside. While working on the driveway, Lexa was happy to distract me by tossing snow at me. When she said it was her turn I was a little leary. Water on her face or cold snow has never gone well. I have to say she surprised me, even when a little fell inside her scarf! That game was getting old and the snow was a little chunky....and I had a shovel in my hand. What more was there to do but make a fort!?

I plan on working on it a bit more. Lexa decorated it after this picture was taken by sticking her colorful pinwheel in the side. It didn't go up easy, I had the foundation row down and a little girl came along and stomped on it. In her defense, she didn't really know what I was doing and she loves to make paths and walk them, but my feelings were hurt non the less. I pouted for a bit and considered not going on, but this Momma persevered.

Later in the day Ashley and Lauren came knocking to ask if we wanted to play outside. There were fresh warm muffins needing to be tasted, so we invited them in instead. Poor Mark....

If you look close enough, you'll spot him under the stuffie pile.

I'm relieved to say, the last three years of pictures are safe! I've been concerned that they'd be lost if this ole computer decides it's too tired to go on. There was no back up... until last night... I worked until 2AM to condense and compile folders that would fit on DVDs, there are now 8 DVDs jam packed of adorable Lexa pics and videos!

What has happened to my child?

I'm understanding the reference to "Tiresome or Tantrum Threes", it's going to be a long year. I think it would be more descriptive to call it the Two to Teen year. Lexa is fighting everything and demanding more. Granted some may be a case of cabin fever already but we sure do get along better exploring the world under the sky instead of under a roof.

She wore me down this week and had me fighting back. Of course that resulted in both of us being miserable and trying to out tough each other. Hard discipline may work for some families, but I just can't keep up and honestly it doesn't seem to improve my mood. I don't cool down as quick and easy as I used to. This duck is old and perhaps my duck feathers aren't as well oiled as they used to be so the water doesn't roll off.

After taking blow by blow this week I felt defeated, I felt unable.

She cried and threw a fit that her toy pony fell on the floor, within reaching distance.
She cried and threw a fit that there were no more raisins on her plate (even though she didn't want more).
She cried that she didn't have the right color cup.
She whined about bedtime.
She whined about eating anything that wasn't candy.
She yelled, rather, squealed, "NOOO" when I did anything besides exactly what she told me to do, that includes asking her to go to her room until she calmed down.

I only won one this week. It must've been Thursday and I was trying to talk to Mark. She hasn't been the most patient when she's not the center of the discussion but she wouldn't let us talk around her either. Usually, she's very patient and will wait...but not this week. My look must've been something else, I'm sure my voice was not my own as I said "I'm...talking..to..your....father." She cried and ran to her room before I even had to ask. Momma had a time out that night too.

As a mom, I was seriously thinking that I simply was not growing and keeping up with Lexa's growing needs for her best development.  There's some days I really don't want to have to keep up, I just want habit to settle in and coast for a bit, but a growing toddler changes so quickly!

Today, somehow, it came to me during whining fit of her wanting something in a demanding NOW way. I came up with a new rule, when we ask for something, we have to ask with a smile, no matter how cheesy or silly the smile is. It seemed to work for most of the day. I say most because she got frustrated with it and wanted to fall back into asking with an over dramatic whine and cry, but I'd look at her with an open mouth silly smile and she'd relent. Whew... I really hope this sticks and breaks the habit. If not, I'm sure we'll both be miserable for a week or so until I muster the inner strength and creativity to come up with something else on the spot.

When I first started the discussion with her, before the smile idea popped into my head, I tried to tell her to ask for things in a normal voice. She got up from her chair and rolled on her back, put her feet up in the air said she was playing with yarn. You see, there's a cat on Garfield named Nermal.

A fun November

What a filled week! The weather's taken a turn for the cold and Lexa and I are already feeling the effects of cabin fever.

Everything is beautiful to Lexa these days. "Lookit my beautiful plate", "my beautiful raisin"... you get the idea.

There's been a lot of firsts

the past while. Her first toboggan ride in the backyard on a huge snow drift to accompany her first snow fort made with Dad. Her first Christmas tree decorating, for which the lights have to ALWAYS be on. Last year I really felt like it was new and fun but that the events didn't stick in her memory. This year she's much more a child than a baby.

We took full advantage of a nice day but it was super muddy! Lexa had lots of fun playing in the mud with Madison. This is just the start of it, it got much worse on the way home.

Even her face wasn't safe from the mud!

The next day we played a bit of soccer. What an outfit! Her clothes were still muddy so I dug out a pink and black checkered jacket and her black polka dotted hat. So cute!

Lexa and the Little Tree