Third Tooth

Alice now officially has her third tooth: her top-left incisor. You may recall this is the tooth I first saw back on November 28th. We suspect her top-right incisor will be soon to follow. Once again, this tooth broke through without much apparent discomfort. Alice seems to chew on her fingers occasionally – this might be because her teeth are bothering her, but she might just be exploring them. We’ve concluded that her morning nasal stuffiness is probably a result of her new teeth, and not yet another cold.

First Sleigh Ride

Yesterday Alice went on her very first sleigh ride, on Lake Louise. The three of us drove to Lake Louise to meet up with auntie Wanda, cousin Mitchell, auntie Lana, uncle Dwayne, and cousin Zach. Wanda had made a reservation for the 2PM sleigh ride. Unfortunately, we got to the departure point at 1:57PM – the 5 sleighs had already left. Nice. Auntie Wanda went back into Chateau Lake Louise and sorted things out. They told her we could go on the 3PM ride. Some of us went back inside, some of us took photos on the lake. It was a beautiful day, about -2C, with some lower clouds obscuring the top of Mount Victoria. Mount Fairmont was unobscured. Alice walked around a little in her Red Spacesuit. That’s what I call her snowsuit, since it’s so much bigger than Alice – it looks like she could use it on a spacewalk. The last time Alice wore her Spacesuit she couldn’t even move. At 2:45PM we all gathered at the side of the lake to make sure they didn’t leave without us again. This time they were behind schedule and we didn’t leave until about 3:10PM. It was pretty cold on the ride, but Alice was in her Red Spacesuit. Alice stood on the bench between Mommy and I for the first part of the ride. At the half-way point they stopped the sleighs so we could get off and walk around. Mommy and Alice went to pet the two nice Percherons that were pulling our sleigh. She wasn’t afraid of them at all, despite their massive size. By the time we returned to Chateau Lake Louise at the end of the 45 minutes, we were well chilled. We rushed back inside and Mommy took off Alice’s Red Spacesuit. Alice immediately started walking around the lobby. She went down one of the hallways and found a slight ramp. She laughed each time she went down the ramp. Maybe I’ll have to build one in our living room…. Our highlight of the day: watching Alice walk around outside in her Red Spacesuit. Alice’s highlight of the day: walking up and down the ramp in Chateau Lake Louise.

Alice Blows Her Nose

Alice has been struggling with sinus colds off and on for a few weeks now. She’s still very cheerful – that’s our little darling. For the first hour or so after she wakes up in the morning, we have to wipe her nose. She doesn’t really like this, but it’s a necessary evil. It’s not terribly effective at clearing her sinuses, as you can imagine. Every time we wipe her nose we say, “Blow,” and “Help us blow your nose.” Today she actually blew when we wiped her nose. She thought it was kind of funny, and has done it a couple more times since. Hopefully this will make it a little easier on her as she gets over this latest cold.

All Alice Wanted for Christmas....

Yesterday morning (Christmas Eve), Alice and I had breakfast together so Mommy could get some more sleep. Alice ate:

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Alice can say "baby"

Today Alice was able to point at pictures of babies (including herself, of course) and say “baby”! She also likes imitating daddy making a popping sound with his cheek, by putting her finger in her mouth and instead of a popping sound, she kind of sucks/kisses her finger; she can’t quite figure out how daddy does it! The other night when daddy was taking her upstairs for her bottle, I blew a kiss to Alice; and she did the same! It was adorable. My girl is so precious! Oh, and yesterday I worked all day for a dinner party, so it was just daddy and Alice; they had KD for supper (a daddy staple when mommy isn’t around) and Alice sure liked it!

Uh-oh; Smoked Salmon with Capers

Alice appears to know how to say, ‘uh-oh.’ She sometimes says this when she drops something. She probably figured this one out because we often say, ‘uh-oh’ when she drops something. Last night we went for supper at Cattle Baron. We had smoked salmon as an app and Alice tried some. She didn’t seem to mind it at all. She also liked the capers – probably because they reminded her of green peas. She loves green peas.

First Tooth?

Last evening when I was changing Alice’s last diaper of the day, I noticed something on the roof of her mouth. It looks suspiciously like a tooth is beginning to come through – her left front incisor on the top. Corinna didn’t see any sign of this tooth today, so maybe it was just daddy’s wishful thinking. Alice is mostly over her cold, just a runny nose remaining. Corinna and Alice were sick at the same time, though mommy was much worse off. Mommy is doing much better now too. Yesterday Alice had her first professional hair cut. She was very well behaved, didn’t seem to mind it at all. We took her to Beaner’s – they had a nice pink Barbie Jeep for Alice to sit in, and there was a TV with cartoons too. This provided lots of entertainment and distractions. Alice held onto Corinna’s cell phone the whole time – I guess she was expecting a call. We bought her some little barrettes to go with her nice little bob. Alice looks very pretty. We had our flu shots today. Young children get the shots in two doses, one month apart – this was Alice’s second shot. The Calgary Health Region recommends parents get flu shots, so Corinna and I had them for the first time this year. Every time Alice gets a needle she’s a very good little girl. Today was no different. She cried a little initially, but cheered up again within a minute or two. Our nurse was very nice and did an excellent job, much better than a month ago.

Alice's 2nd Cold

Poor little girl; despite being up much of the night, Alice still woke at 7:30am, a usual time for her. She’s all congested and has gone through almost a whole kleenex box! She seems to be happy despite her cold, but dosen’t have much of an appetite. I hope she has a better night tonight. On a happier note, Alice has officially stopped crawling (crawling is for babies). Now that she can walk, she walks everywhere! If she falls down, she just gets back up again (and she does fall down a lot!). We’re very proud of our little girl.

Nine Times Around the Island

It’s 12:38AM and I think Alice is asleep now. She woke up around 10PM crying. She’s come down with a sinus cold, and can’t breathe through her nose. This makes a soother impossible. We’ve given her some baby cold medicine, and put a little Vicks on her back and front. This seems to be helping a little, but she still cried because she couldn’t use her soother. I decided to try what Grandpa George did with her when she was just a little newborn. I bundled her up in one of her blankets, held her gently but securely, and slowly walked around the island. Alice was quiet the whole time. By the sixth pass she was rubbing her little eyes. By the ninth pass she was just about asleep. After the eleventh I put her back in her crib, awake but very sleepy. We’ll see whether she sleeps…..

Alice Can Walk!

Alice can officially walk now. She can walk from one end of the bonus room to the other. She walks much better when she’s not paying attention to what she’s doing. If she’s trying to get to Mommy, or get our cat Chase (much to his dismay), she’s much less likely to fall down. She still enjoys walking and holding onto our hands – sometimes two hands, sometimes only one. Alice also still enjoys her stride-and-learn walker. She can really move quickly with that now, since she hardly needs it for balance. Alice is very good at pointing at things now. She knows the names of some of her toys and will point at them when we ask where they are. No sign of any teeth. She eats very well without them. She still has a bedtime bottle (the best part of Daddy’s day). Sometimes we think she can say ‘bye-bye’, but we’re stretching a little here. It’s really more like ‘bu-bu-bu’, but she sometimes uses it in a ‘bye-bye’ context. Does that count? We think it does.