First Go

Alice's first go lesson on a training board :-)

Alice's BIG weekend

This weekend Aunt Sissy brought cousin Juliette to visit Alice.  This was the first time Alice has been old enough to really play with her cousin.  Juliette is just over 2 years older than Alice, and Alice thought she was the coolest. 

The two girls played great together.  Juliette was gracious in understanding that Alice was younger and giving in to her two year old demands.  Alice was good in letting Juliette play with her toys without saying "mine" to everything.

Aunt Sissy brough Alice the play kitchen Joci and Jules have loved for several years.  Now Alice has her "New Kitchen".  The first night, the two girls plays together in her room with "the New Kitchen" for several hours.  Juliette showed Alice how everything worked.  After they played themselves out in the "New Kitchen" the girls retired to the TV room and watched several episodes of Max and Ruby laying together on the blow-up bed. 

Alice kept telling Daddy to "go-way daddy"....she was hanging out with her big cousin Jules, and didn't want us hovering.  Bed time was very late for the two girls.  Alice finally agreed to go to her bed around 10:00.
The next morning we went for the Bickel tradition of driving around eating donut holes and coffee.  We happened past a couple garage sales, and I picked up a couple of toys for Alice and some for Patra's boys.  Around 11:00 we headed downtown.  Our original plan was to go ride the Zilker Park Train, but there was an event going on and crowds and parking conspired against us.  Instead we took the girls to the Parmer Event Center Park. 

They have a spiral hill and water park/fountain.  Alice absolutely LOVED the fountains.  She ran around and got wet and splashed in the shallow pools.  Of course, some strange little boy started following her around (this often happens, especially at McDonalds Playlands).  Jules got to ride her scooter down the spiral hill, and also got a bit wet.

Alice continued to mimic her big cousin throughout the day.  They ate pizza for dinner, played in the yard and watched shows together.  Aunt Sissy and Jules left Sunday after breakfast, but their influence lives on....Alice now wants to be pushed "really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really high" on the swing like Juliette was always saying ;-)

Finding Nemo

I guess every toddler goes through a Finding Nemo stage.  I've had several friends comment on how their kid was addicted to Nemo for some period of time.  Alice started her Nemo stage right before Christmas.  Just like with her obsession with Spirited Away, Alice will recite and enhance the dialogue along with the movie. 
When she first started watching, she called him Meno....which has progressed to Memo....and I'm sure she will eventually get the name right before she loses interest.
As of right now, we find Nemo at least once a day during the week, and up to 3 times a day on the weekend.

Summer Days

Although the weather has been unseasonably hot, Alice loves to go outside.
All she has to do is go over to the sliding glass door, beat on it a few times, and say "GO?"

Alice and Mom making bubbles

Alice playing in her sand/water table from Grandma Didi and PopPop

Alice loves Daddy's cowboy hat

Our little Artist

Sprinkler Fun

On Mother's Day after traveling back from Dallas, the Bickel family took some time in the afternoon playing outside. These are pic's of Alice's first time to play in the sprinkler.

Eeyore's Birthday Party

For years, Larry and I kept saying - we should go to Eeyore's Birthday Party, but every year - we would always miss it. Never knowing exactly when it happened, and never hearing about when it was. This year, we finally made it out!

For those of you who don't know what Eeyore's Birthday Party is (follow the link). And for those who watch South Park - we saw a real live Hippy Drum Circle. (see below)

Alice had a good time watching the interesting people, costumes and many, many DOGGIES. We saw a childrens costume contest, a walking twinkie and lots of fairys (real and imaginary...haha)

To help Alice blend in, we got her ponytail painted red. The red was cute and went with her outfit, but I think next time we will go with a pink ponytail - or maybe blue.

After a few hours of walking around, we finally headed back to the car. We had parked downtown and taken a shuttle to the event. The Shuttles were real live school buses - so Alice got her first ride on a school bus.

A whole afternoon of firsts' and fun.

Ball Pit Fun

Alice did not actually "open" her Christmas presents from me and Larry. We assembled her new toys and just let her explore them. One of her new presents was a ball pit.The ball pit only came with 50 balls, which was pretty lame - not enough to even cover the bottom of the pit, so we bought 175 more - THIS is what MADE the pit. Add balls - instant fun!

Two sides of the pit are open, but the other two sides are closed. One closed side has holes in it to stuff the balls. The other side has 3 plastic "windows"

Alice loves to smash her cute little face into the plastic windows, which gives us a good laugh.

Alice is so much fun....alot of work-yes....but fun.

She is so interactive now. We can play mimic games - I clap/you clap - I click my tongue / you click your tongue - I shake my head / you shake your head - I make a sound / you copy the sound.

She is very expressive with the sounds she makes. Its like she is trying to say something, but someone has taped her mouth closed. She is definately trying to communicate something, but we are too dense to understand her meaning.

She is also very mobile. She loves to stand and walk along side her blue "car" almost as much as she loves riding in it.

The Pumpkin Patch

Patra and I took Alice to a Church Fall Festival this past Saturday in Round Rock. Although there wasn't much to really see or do (some crafts, a dunk tank and a small petting zoo) Alice loved to people watch. They also had a pumpkin patch, so we brought along Alice's dragon costume to get a few pics.

'What is this big orange thing?'

'Maybe if I taste it I can tell what it is...'

"Rawr" I'm a Dragon!

World's cutest and most ferocious Dragon.

More pics from Independence Day

These pics were taken by Jill and Patra - Thanks!!!!!

Alice and Aunt Pappa

Grandma with her two babies

Alice and Jill

Alice and Pop

Alice with Chris and Juliette

Alice with Aunt Debbie

Today we went to the pool. Since Aunt Sissy, Uncle Chris and Cousin Juliette were here....we all decided to go to the pool. Mom and Melissa went to Target and bought Alice a swimsuit with matching hat, lathered up the kiddos with sun screen, and hit the pool. Dad brought a book and the camera to document the new experience.

At first, Alice wasn't too sure about this water thing that obviously was NOT her bath...the water was colder and it was much much bigger than the tub. Plus, there were other kids running around, which in the end was fun to watch.

After a few minutes, Alice decided, the pool was fun, and began kicking and kicking in her new floatie
Mom took her around the pool leading the dragon floatie by the nose.

After a while Alice started to get tired, so we went and sat down in a lounge chair to dry off.

After drying off, we talked about how much fun the pool was and how Alice wants to come back.

When we got home, Daddy cooled off with a beer, and baby thought it looked refreshing too.

The Oscar Goes to: Lights and a Fan

I tried to feed baby this morning, but she couldn't concentrate on eating... She kept moving her eyes and then her head to the object of distraction. The fan. The lights. She is mesmerized by the lights and fan. I made sweet noises and funny faces but nothing was interesting enough to keep her focused. She wouldn't eat. We moved her to her mom's angle, so she could look at her fan and lights while eating. She ate fine after that.

In an attempt to better understand my daughter, I wanted to get a picture of what she was seeing. What was she so enthralled with? While her mom was holding her I put the camera behind her head and took a picture.

This is Alice's perspective:

American Idol

Yes, that is American Idol on in the background. Yes, our daughter has turned her head away and covered her face.

She does not approve.

We couldn't help it. It was the fourth month of the writer's strike and we were massively sleep deprived.