Universal Healthcare

Alison received a "Bathtub Chemistry" set in her Christmas stocking this year. It's basically two hard plastic test tubes and a packet of dye tablets so she can make and mix colors. She enjoys the color stuff, but she has a new thing she does with her test tubes.

ALISON: I make Mommy feel better. I make medicine.

ME: Oh, okay. Cool.

Alison scoops up bathwater in the test tubes, pours one into the other, and then pours it on my hand.

ALISON: This make you feel better?

ME: Oh, absolutely.

Then she'll pick up a toy, like her rubber duckie.

ALISON: Duckie has a boo boo. I make Duckie feel better.

She mixes up her 'medicine' and pours it on the duck.

ALISON: Duckie's just a baby.

Then she'll pick up another toy, like her boat. Inanimate objects qualify under Boocare.

ALISON: Boat has a boo boo. I make boat feel better. Boat's just a baby.

And on and on. It's so funny, especially since I have no idea how she made the connection between test tubes and medicine. She's such a little nurturer, with the hugs and kisses and blankets and toys distributed to everything in sight (including Sam), and this is just another manifestation of that.

Eight Seconds

Alison's Aunt Betsy has established a tradition of buying Alison a ginormous stuffed bear every Christmas. Last night, Alison demonstrated her technique of bear-riding, where she straddles one of the bears, jumps up and down, throws one arm up over her head and yells 'yeehaw'! We have no idea where she learned this. Dora must have visited a rodeo or something. Anyway, it's hilarious.

She also busted out an early demo of The Alphabet Song, displaying an amazing command of the alphabet in the process. It's not perfect, but I was really surprised that she was able to get several chunks of letters in the proper order. She likes to point out letters on my t-shirts and guess what they are. (Unfortunately for my mother, that means she can spell "NEW ORDER" like nobody's business.)

Here's some more old photos. These are from Halloween...check out our little squinty-faced kangaroo. These may be the worst pictures she's ever taken, but they're kinda funny. I swear she was attempting to smile. You know how these things go.

This blog is BACK.

We've settled (somewhat) into the new house, we're past the holiday insanity, and now that I can take a deep breath, it's time to blog, baby.

We've had a fun weekend. Saturday morning we went to BounceU with our pal Jason, where we met up with one of his other friends, Peyton. The kids had a blast jumping around and flopping through the obstacle courses and sliding down the slides (the moms enjoyed it too). I think we're going back tomorrow, since the forecast looks gross and this kid needs to get her little body moving. Wouldn't hurt me either.

We've made plans to take the kids ice-skating together soon, since Alison is now the proud owner of a pair of double-bladed skates and a cool dinosaur crash helmet. She's seen a lot of skating on her little TV shows and is aching to try it out. I'll let you know how that goes.

Saturday night Alison and I made a white chicken chili (I sliced and diced, she dumped things into the pot and stirred). She is really excellent at following directions and wants nothing more than to help, and is turning into a really sweet and bright little girl.

Here's a brief photo album. We'll start with summer 2007. This is Boo and Sophia at the Promenade Shops fountains, where they cooled off and made some friends.
This is Boo and her daddy at one of Mommy's park concerts.
...and on 7/4, we had my friend Karen and her family over. The girl holding hands with Boo is Claire and is almost exactly 9 months older than Boo.
And here's Alison pitching in with the yardwork. (I was always tempted to put a real rotor blade on her mower...)
Looking at these pictures, which are only a few months old, it's amazing how much she's grown in such a short period of time.