4/30/12

Alayna ate all of her mixed fruit and about half of her Kix cereal at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her ham sandwich and mandarin oranges and about half of her steamed broccoli. 

Alayna was looking at one of the "potty books" we have (talking about the kiddos going potty) and pushing the little button that makes the toilet flushing sound.  Kenzie, Joslyn and Morgan all came over to see what was going on and so she sweetly asked each one of them if they wanted a turn pushing the button!  It was very sweet!

We got to have Coral here with us today since there was no school.  Alayna always likes it when she or Missy are here and had to have her time playing with and getting her attention!  : ) 

Alayna explored much of the "new" toy exchange and really was excited to see the big bird stuffed animals out.  There are three of them and she was so nice about gathering them all up, then walking around and asking different ones, "Want one?" until she only had one for herself. 

Coral helped the kiddos build a "house" with the big interlocking blocks that was just big enough for one child inside.  She built it tall enough so that we had to lift each kiddo into it.  When they got in, they each loved squatting down inside to "hide" and Alayna thought is was really great when Coral then put a blanket over the top to make it dark briefly.  Talk about chuckling... 

4/27/12

Alayna at most of her rice and raisins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her meatloaf and dried apricots, and a bite of both cooked carrots and french bread. 

All of the kiddos were just a little wild this morning before breakfast.  For some reason they were all wanting to run and be very loud.  We just had the runners stay on the "rowdy" side of the big room and get some of the energy out and after breakfast things calmed back down to a pretty typical morning. 

Alayna was on one side of the room after breakfast and Aaron was on the other.  I was sitting at the changing table on the floor as the "gate" between the two.  Alayna came up and told me, "I want to play with my Aaron!"  I thought that was so sweet.  She did play with him a lot, but he was also interested in interacting with some of the other kiddos as well, which he really hasn't done much of until today. 

I think Alayna as down graded somewhat in the "favorite" song department.  Until a week or so ago, it has always been "Jesus loves me".  Every time we sang it or it came on the iPod, she would excitedly announce, "That my favorite!"  It was often enough that all of the other kiddos picked up on it and called it "Alayna's favorite song" also.  Well twice this week (once today), it has come on and one of the kiddos has said "Alayna's favorite song" and she has corrected them, "No, my favorite song 'Ring of Fire'".  : )  It just cracked me up! 

4/26/12

Alayna cuddled with her blanket until breakfast time, but she did a very nice job of sharing (or trying to) with whoever was sitting by her on the couch.  The one that really enjoyed the sharing was Jadey and she came back to cuddle with it and Alayna several times.  Jadey was so thrilled that she would share with her.  About 5 minutes before breakfast, she just handed it to me and asked, "Tan you put it on my tubby?"  She then asked to use it to cover with at nap time so I did. 

Alayna has been doing a good job of using her words the majority of the time now.  One of the ones she has been using frequently (especially with Thomas and Peyton) is "Let go, please" when they grab something she is playing with.  It is AWESOME! 

Another thing she had really gotten down is that we only run on the "rowdy" side where the mattress is.  She is frequently reminding one of the others, "We only run on that side!" when she sees an infraction of the rule! 

4/24/12

Alayna was very attached to the huge cream colored teddy bear that is out today.  She was playing with it, wrestling it, and sitting on its lap.  She also called it "my friend" which I thought was quite cute. 

Baby Riley had pulled her herself into semi standing position while holding onto the mattress this morning and Alayna got so excited and announced, "She was standing up!  She was standing up!" 

Alayna spent a lot of time "baking" at the table and kitchen set.  She was using the mixer, the bowls and spatulas, putting cookies on the trays and putting the pieces of the cake together on the round plate.  She was very engaged with it. 

4/20/12

Alayna ate all of her prunes and oatmeal at breakfast today.  At lunch she ate all of her mandarin oranges and her hashbrown casserole and a bite of biscuit. 

I have decided that Fridays have to be Alayna's favorite days.  As soon as she sees Aaron, she is all smiles and started to try to make him laugh.  For some reason their temperaments and personalities really click.  Not only does he laugh at her, which she loves, but he also just follows her around and likes being with her. 

Thomas managed to get himself "stuck" in another area today and Alayna was really working hard to try to help him.  She worked at it until he got tired of it and pushed her away. 

It cracked me up when Alayna started singing Johnny Cash's "The Ring of Fire".  She sang almost all the word to the chorus.  If I didn't know better, I would have thought she grew up in my family's house.  : )  I have never heard one of our kiddos sing that song before!  : ) 

At 10:10 today Alayna was messing around in the doll cradle and slipped and bonked her left eye pretty badly.  I immediately applied a cold cloth and it helped the swelling and bruising quite a bit, but I will be surprised if she doesn't have a black eye tomorrow!  Ugh! 

Alayna got a bunch of books, sat in the middle of the couch and announced, "It's story time kids!  Are you ready?"  Several of the kiddos did actually join her and she did her best to "read" to them.  : )

4/19/12

Alayna was trying to get Emily to be her baby today.  She kept trying to convince her to lay down in the doll cradle so she could tuck her in with one of the scarves.  Emily would lay down very briefly (just long enough for Alayna to get a blanket about half on her).  Then Emily would hop up quickly and announce, "I wake up!"  Alayna finally gave up and started being the baby herself.  : )

She was enjoying "dancing" again today.  She didn't want to wear one of the tutus today, but that didn't stop her from spinning.  If anything she was spinning harder than yesterday (and falling just as much). 

Alayna had a couple of times of cuddling Gary throughout the morning, which he loved.  She hasn't been doing it as much lately, so he was enjoying it while he could. 

Alayna didn't take a nap today.  I went out and re-lay her down on her nap map 5 or 6 times sternly informing her it was nap time and time to lay quietly and go to sleep, changed her poopy diaper once, and reminded her she had to be quite multiple times. 

4/18/12

Alayna was having a blast playing and laughing with Emily.  They were chasing around on the "rowdy" side of the room and Emily was really enjoying having Alayna's undivided attention.  They have played together more in the last few weeks than ever before and they both really seem to like it. 

Alayna almost always spends some time during the morning playing with the dolls (which every ones are out).  We don't have actual doll blankets out with this set, just a lot of scarves that they can use for blankets.  It took me a little to persuade her that those could be her doll blankets, but once she decided it would work she was wrapping every baby she could find. 

Alayna did cooking and mixing play for over 20 minutes independently.  Other kiddos moved in and out of the play alongside her, but she didn't really interact much with them and just continued on when they moved on. 

We had put on some "dance" music on and Alayna really kicked it up a notch or two.  All of the big girls had on tutus and Alayna started spinning like crazy and watching her dress poof out so much that she just crashed and fell down, laughing all the while. 

4/17/12

Alayna, Thomas and Peyton all played at the little picnic table and kitchen sets with the food stuff for quite a while.  They were all pretending to eat cookies, cake and brownies.  Alayna was also doubling as the cook and server. 

Alayna was back spending a lot of time playing on the mattress today.  She loves to kind of dive off so she is level with the mattress then belly flop on it.  She was also doing the same thing backwards -- I guess that would be called a "back flop".   About 10 times in a row she was really stretching out and it looked like she was trying to do it out far enough that she made it to the end of the mattress. 

4/16/12

Alayna was excited to see the "new" toy exchange today and spent several minutes just exploring to see what was out.  After the initial exploration she kind of settled on "making cookies" for a while.  She was pretending to use the play mixer, but also stirring her bowl by hand. 

Peyton came up to her her and was "talking" to her (jabbering).  It obviously hit Alayna's funny bone because she really started laughing at her. 

Alayna played with the "new" babies out in this set for quite a while.  She also talked to "Gramma Laurie" on the phone and "read" a lot of the books out with this exchange. 

4/13/12

Alayna was glad to see Aaron when he came.  It had been three weeks because first he didn't come then she was gone for a Friday.  He looked like he was glad to see her also because he actually leaned into her and really let her hug on him. : )

Alayna made making Aaron laugh her mission most of the morning.  She was finding all kinds of places to hide behind and under then popping out at him.  She was also showing him different things and helping him.  One of the greatest things was that Aaron also initiated several of their interactions rather than just following. 

4/12/12

Alayna ate of her blueberries and a little over half of her cinnamon raisin English muffins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate most of her canned chicken on crackers and all of her potato salad and her canned cherries. 

Baby Nora just loves Alayna (and all the kiddos).  This morning Alayna walked by and and just looked at her.  Nora instantly started reaching out to her, smiling like crazy and making sounds to get her attention.  When Alayna realized it, she immediately stopped and went over and talked to her and played peek-a-boo to make her laugh.  She really likes it when any of the babies respond to her. 

Alayna didn't cry anymore after mom left this morning, but she was quite out of sorts and extremely testy -- pushing on the kiddos, trying to take toys, not listening or cooperating until we "helped" her and so forth.  She is still testing now (1:10).  She hasn't been to sleep yet and I have had to go to her and lay her down five different times so far. 

Alayna was doing lots of belly flops and face plants on the mattress.  Sometimes she does it because she is entertaining someone or trying to make them laugh.  Other times no one else is close and she still does it and laughs at herself just as much as if she had a whole audience.  : ) 

There was big crow in the tree across the street from the big window today.  The kiddos were banging on the window with their hands and yelling at him trying to scare it away.  He didn't even seem to notice.  When he finally did fly away (several minutes later) Alayna started laughing and said, "We did it!"  : ) 

4/11/12

Alayna ate all of her peaches and about half of her biscuit at breakfast.  At lunch she ate most of her steamed broccoli and all of her dinner roll, baked beans and pineapple. 

Alayna asked to go potty twice this morning again and went both times.  She was wet both times also plus poopy once, but still she is asking and that is good. 

Alayna has been playing with little Emily more and more.  Today they were getting all of the books out of the book rack and standing them up in the big window sill then knocking them off.  Not exactly what the books are for, but it was quite entertaining for them and they weren't hurting them, so we let them continue. 

Mia is getting big enough to sit up in the corner of the couch now and she really liked it when Morgan and Alayna went over and were talking to her when she was sitting there. 

4/10/12

Alayna ate all of her waffle and about half of her hashbrowns at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her brown rice and her shrimp and a couple bites of both colored peppers and orange slices.  

Alayna continued to use her words great with the kiddos.  Several times Thomas or Peyton tried to take one of the toys she was playing with and she was very patient with them, pointing to another toy of the same kind and telling them, "There's another one", or even just waiting until they were done with it and then getting it back. 

Alayna told me potty twice so far today, but also pooped in her diaper. 

Alayna and Jadey don't get along very well most of the time.  Jadey likes to do what we call "stirring the pot" at times, where she just kind of walks around saying or doing little things that don't get her into trouble necessarily, but do irritate the other kiddos at least slightly.  Today Alayna was playing with one of the dolls and blankets, minding her own business.  Jadey walked passed her, but on the way by, grabbed the edge of the blanket Alayna was holding her baby in and kept pulling on it on the way by.  That pushed Alayna's button and she immediately went after her with her mouth open and ready to attack.  I had been observing the situation and was already on my way to intervene and stop Jadey, so I stopped the attack first, then Jadey.  

Thomas loves to imitate what he sees other kiddos doing and he often chooses Alayna for some reason (probably because he recognizes that she likes him and is often more tolerant that the other "big" kiddos).  Today, specifically, Alayna had a plate with some pretend pizza on it and she was "cutting" it with one of the play pizza cutters.  She was really working at it and Thomas watched for a little then went and found himself a plate, slice of pizza and cutter to copy what she was doing.  : ) 

4/9/12

Alayna ate about half of her cheerios and all of her banana at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her grilled cheese sandwich, most of her apple slices and a drink of tomato soup. 

Alayna was using the play drill like a quirt bottle today and cleaning the table, the kitchen set, the posters and various other things.  It was pretty funny!  She did it for about 20 minutes, the first 10 or so totally by herself and then the others picked up on what she was doing and joined her. 

Alayna was trying to keep a whole pile of tools for herself.  She had at least ten items (pliers, drills, screwdrivers, wrenches...).  Every time someone wanted one she would either screech at them or tried to hit them.  We intervened and reminded her of the "one for each hand" rule and then let her choose which ones she wanted and move the rest totally away from her so it wasn't so temping to guard them.  : ) 

Alayna was crawling around on her hands and knees with her tongue hanging out, panting and making little barking sounds, pretending to be a puppy.  Pretty soon Morgan and Emily joined in so we had three puppies. 

4/6/12

Alayna ate about half of her oatmeal and craisins at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her applesauce, her noodle and pea casserole with cheese and about half of her ground beef. 

 Alayna was "helping" Gary with Nora today.  She was starting to get hungry and he had to do a couple other things before he fixed her a bottle. Alayna (and Nora) loved her job.  She talked to her and then went over to the mattress and tried to entertain her.  I love the picture of Nora leaning over to give Alayna a love.  She has just started doing this to a select few.  : ) 

Alayna has been doing such a great job of using her words with the kiddos much of the time, especially Thomas.  He really likes to try to take something then run away to get reactions from the kiddos.  Now that she is just telling him, "Give it back!" it takes away some of the sport!  : ) 

Alayna is such a loving little girl!  She typically tries to hug each of the children every morning.  Sometimes the kiddos are a little leery at first when she comes at them with her arms out, but when I let them know she is wanting a hug, almost everyone responds positively to her. 

4/5/12

Alayna ate all of her blueberry bread pudding and about half of the extra blueberries at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her turkey burger on a bun, her kiwi and a couple bites of green beans. 

Alayna didn't cry any more after mom left this morning.  I immediately took her over to pick out one of our teddy bears to cuddle with and she chose the one with the apron.  She cuddled with it and me for about 15 minutes then was busy playing the rest of the day.  While she was examining the bear, she noticed that the apron had a tear in it and wanted me to take it off and throw it away.  : )

Alayna also played with the whole bunch of the bears.  She was lining them up on the couch then along the wall.  She also piled them up and jumped on them, sat on the biggest one's lap and just lay and rolled on them.  

Alayna and Emily have been playing together on the mattress quite a bit.  She has been partially Emily's jumping partner, but more than that her instructor.  She gives her instructions on what to do different and also will tell her "watch me" as she shows her how to do different things (backwards, sideways, somersault...)

4/4/12

Alayna ate all of her dried mangoes and over half of her whole wheat toast with jelly at breakfast.  At lunch she ate all of her beef and bean burrito and her tropical fruit and a bite or so of her sweet potatoes. 

Alayna played with the play keys and flip phones quite a bit today.  She and Kenzie decided that the dress-up deal was their car.  They had their keys and phone and when one would leave the other one called them back.  First it was Alayna that went to get something and Kenzie called to her, "Alayna, tumm in heeyah!"  Alayna got back in and said to Kenzie, "Ya ready to doe?"  They played in it for at least 15 minutes and had no conflict the entire time. 

Alayna also spent quite a bit of time in the big room playing with the dolls and accessories.  She was feeding the doll her bottle, wrapping her up in blankets, putting her in the cradle then rocking the cradle (a little too rambunctiously maybe, but...)  : )

In the back room, Alayna was so sweet.  Riley was sitting on the floor with some toys around her.  Alayna was playing with the little car garage and saw that Riley was really watching her.  She went over and talked to her briefly, then went back over to the little people's garage and scooted it over where Riley could reach it and play along with her.  It was really cute.