Alice ›› Princess Lasertron

Archive for 'alice'

birthday polaroids: 2 and 26

Posted on 15. May, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

Last Wednesday, Alice and I celebrated our birthdays together. She turned two and I turned 26. My digital camera hasn’t been focusing well lately (I have to get the lens recalibrated or whatever), so I turned to my Polaroid and a few packs of expired film. Might as well use it because the quality’s not getting better.

These look like how instagrams are meant to look.

We had a small party with friends and family at our house–angel food cake, bubbles, sidewalk chalk. Tiny pizzas, round rice krispie bars, and little round cheeses–moon-shaped food. The kids played with moon dough–white homemade play-doh with gray swirls. Alice got lots of books, a moon that hangs on her wall and lights up with changing phases, and sewing cards.

That night I went to the opening party for Big Omaha, a two-day entrepreneurship conference here in town. More on that later, I think.

Happy birthday dear Alice.
Polaroids are fun.

xo
meg

Continue Reading

two years with alice

Posted on 09. May, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

making a "flower backpack"

Dear Alice:

Happy birthday, my sweet girl! Today you are two years old. I just got done taping streamers up along the top of your door to surprise you when you wake up this morning. Grey and white, because we’re having a moon-themed day. You LOVE the moon and you’ve been so excited about the moon party we’ve been talking about all week. We made moon necklaces at work today, and colored pictures of moon phases. We spelled moon, and you pointed out that even the “O”s in the word look like little moons.

This month your dad and I went out of town and left you for the longest time we ever have–five days you spent at Grandma Camp with my parents while we spent time working and seeing friends in New York City. When we got back home, you were like a totally different kid. You started speaking in sentences while we were gone. I’ve slept with you every night since we got home and as we fell asleep, we lay on the same pillow facing each other, whispering. You talk with your eyes as much as your words, rolling them around, blinking for emphasis, squinting as you try to remember a word. When you finally finish telling me everything, you wiggle closer and nestle into my chest under my chin. Being away from you made me miss you so much.

Today we’re having our birthday party. To prepare, we made gray and white swirly homemade moon dough and packaged it in old jars for your friends to play with and take home. We’re having cheese and crackers, mini pizzas, and peanut butter and apple butter sandwiches cut into circles. I made a round angel food cake. Today I’ll have you color and decorate some white cardboard circles in all the phases of the moon to cut out and hang from our tree outside. To drink, milk and homemade cream soda.

Here are my favorite ways you grew and changed this month:

You started giving lots of hugs and kisses. I think every parent would agree that this is a huge milestone for a mom or dad–when we start to get repaid for our anxiety and sleeplessness with true, unprompted affection.
The popular activity in our house right now is “mix” or “cook,” where you pretend to cook something.
You love to use cardboard sewing cards.
You love to climb. I hear you wailing from all corners of the house hollering for me to help you down from some bookcase or countertop.
When we read now, you pull the book away and try to read it yourself, babble through a few pages, and get frustrated and have a tantrum.
Sometimes when you’re upset, you say “Adiss need time-out” and take your own chill pill. At our house, you go sit in your chair in your room. At work, you sit in your rocking chair. I don’t bother you until you come back. It always helps a lot.
With me, you like being at work more than at home. That’s sort of sad to me in a way, but I’m glad you like being at my office. I think you just like to play–you have fun toys there, and you like to sit at my desk and play with different supplies and materials.
You started saying “breasts” instead of “milkies.” I really appreciate that. These are not “milkies.”
You’ve started describing yourself as “big.”
Still obsessed with white horsies.

My favorite thing about you right now is your hilarious sense of humor and deception. When you want to do things, sometimes you tell me it was your stuffed animal’s idea. Here’s the chain of meaning:

“Beebee, want, cook.” >> Your doll Brobee wants to pretend-cook. >> YOU want me to get out an array of dried beans and pots and spoons and cups and watch you scatter legumes all over my wood floor as you measure and pour imaginary soup ingredients into enough bowls to feel the whole neighborhood.

All of this delivered with an impish smile. You can’t hide it when you’re trying to trick me.

I tell you, “I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, Alice.”
You repeat, “Mama fall down, truck. Aw man.”

Another joke you really like to tell is “butt toot.” You announce this with a totally straight face, then your lips quiver and press together to hide your smile, and in an instant you burst out laughing. Butt toot. You said it today at lunch with my friend Rahul. You react with incredulity when I suggest YOU’RE the one with the butt toot. “Noooooooooooooo. Mama’s.”

A final fond memory I have from this month is of you standing up in the tub, feet shoulder-width apart, holding a full bucket of water. You yelled “NAME, ADISS.” Then you squinted your eyes with determination and shouted “HEAD DUMP!” and poured the bucket over your head. You laughed hysterically and fell backward while coughing and sputtering and laughing. It was very Johnny Knoxville. My face was literally this emoticon: :O I couldn’t even believe what I was seeing.

You’re funny, it’s true, but the most beautiful thing that comes with that is that you’re positive and happy. I never forget that your love is the dancing, glowing ball of light that guides me in life as a mother. One night when I sat on our porch stairs with you this week, still, in the darkness, we whispered about the names of bunnies together, watching them hop through the yard in the moonlight. You focused on one rabbit on the sidewalk, who noticed us. He stood so still, and hopped carefully toward us over a few minutes, inch by inch. Your eyes were dazzling as they fixed on the rabbit, and you didn’t get up or startle it or speak. You were enchanted by it, and it was a moment of such pure, unbounded joy for me to watch.

There’s nothing more rewarding than loving you with the pure, innocent abandon that you inspire. Your love is the greatest gift and I promise to always remember the tenderness and compassion you awakened in me. Two years ago today I gave birth to you in the morning, after sixty hours of working with you to bring you into the world. We both cried as you entered it on the same day I did 24 years earlier, and we’ll always have that reminder of our spiritual and transcendental bond. Thank you for coming into my life. I needed you.

love,
mama

Continue Reading

one year and 11 months with alice

Posted on 27. Apr, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

Dear Alice:

This month has been full of things that made me stop and think “I’ve got to remember this moment!” It’s not so much about “firsts” anymore, but the short reels of memories played back in my mind from each day that you see something new, the fun experiences we have together, and how I can see you knowing the world more and more each day. The time we spend together is what relaxes me, and whenever I’m at work or at the gym or laying in bed at night listening to you mutter in your sleep across the hall, remembering your face as I close my eyes takes me to the most beautiful place I can be.

Yesterday, we spent the day at home together while I cleaned the porch. You LOVE cleaning, and you march around with a washcloth or a little dustpan and broom and announce with great importance, “Adiss, keening. Mama, keening. House. Adiss. Keen.” I mopped the porch with the screen door propped open while you swept the little helicopters and seed pods from the sidewalk, chatting all along. I filled up a plastic tub with water–enough for you to swim in–and you proudly wet a washcloth and wiped down every surface you could find–the sidewalk, the steps, the car, yourself.

We soaked sidewalk chalk and used it to paint beautifully saturated lines all over the trees in our yard, the side of the house, the car tires, your knees. We drew a letter of the alphabet on each sidewalk segment, and you zoomed up and down the driveway on your little wooden bike.

Yesterday was a beautiful day–they’re all like that. A little work. A little creativity. A few hiccups, a challenge for us both, and a funny story.

We’re still working on potty training (of course) and it’s really fun to tackle this with you as a parent because it’s the first kind of “responsibility” that you’ve ever had for yourself. You get to decide if you’re gonna use the potty, and sometimes you don’t want to. A few weeks ago, you were running naked around the house (normal and awesome) and you suddenly ran out of your room and said “oops, mama.”

You actually peed into BOTH of your boots. Like not like you were standing near them and got one of them wet–BOTH OF YOUR BOOTS WERE FILLED WITH PEE. This was totally deliberate. Then you tried to PUT THE BOOTS ON and FREAKED OUT when I wouldn’t let you. There was a tantrum over not being allowed to wear Peeboots. This might be a story to save for prom night.

You also love to name and organize things. When we’re in a group, you point around the room and say everybody’s name, including pets and stuffed animals. You like to stack things and organize things by color. At my office, you sit up on my yellow stool and carefully pick up buttons between your two fingers and drop them one-by-one into tiny jars and boxes that I’ve saved for you. As I type on my computer across the room or stitch standing next to you, I hear “purple….blue…..red……pink……white….”

What else is new?

You’ve started saying some simple sentences: “Mama…has…yellow…hair!” “Must…be…windy…out!”
“Adiss, luff, mama.”
You say that you have pink skin and I have orange skin.
You think my freckles are owwies and you kiss them.
You love pointing out letters in signs when we go out.
You covered your entire face in MAC Vegas Volt, which was the first thing I saw when I woke up one day
We love going out into the yard at night to sit very still and watch the bunnies (“bandies”)
You tend to describe everything by color lately: “White chair.” “Pink shirt.” “Yellow robot.” “Adiss want nap, red car.”
Your favorite shows are Yo Gabba Gabba, and lately you like this really terrible show with puppet babies that you are way too old for. I said it was creepy, and now whenever you want to watch it you say “Watch Keepy Babies?”
“Mommy’s, daddy’s, room?” You always want to sleep in our bed at night. Sometimes we let you and it’s really nice.
I’m really impressed with your ability to remember and talk about events in the past–going to the park, napping in my office, and your favorite memory, watching a professional horse jumping event a few weeks ago. “White horsies jump high!”
Your favorite foods are froot loops, ice, and beans. That’s what you always ask for. Luckily, you eat anything.
I’m disappointed by your sweet tooth. I was never a big candy craver but you just go nuts for it. Not good!
You love to draw, and you always say you’re drawing letters. “A… P… N… Y…”

Everyone who you love brings out a little different part of your personality–with grandpa you are mischievous and energetic, with grandma you are well-behaved, helpful, and talkative. This month you finally started naming Grandma–”Meh-mah”– and inviting her to play with you. On Easter we went to your Aunt Mary’s farm together and you picked armfuls and armfuls of rhubarb for pies with Grandma. You just love to be helpful. You love having a job to do.

Most nights, you talk in your sleep a little bit. I think all parents would agree that one of the most magical and enchanting things is watching their children sleep and wondering what they are dreaming. I watch a smile slowly spread on your face, feel you sigh deeply, your eyes open groggily and you say “Mama…..horsie” before drifting back to sleep.

You’re perfect.

Alice, It’s so important to have courage. I will tell you this all the time as you grow up. You have to be brave. And you have to have the strength to admit what you know you have seen, what your experiences truly are, and how you feel about it. Sometimes when you admit those things to yourself, it can bring you to a low place, which is what makes us want to hide the truth. That’s why it takes so much courage to accept nothing less than what you are worth, and give nothing less than courtesy to others. Have the courage to decide who you are instead of allowing others to tell you who they want you to be. I hope you are always guided by what you know deep down is the truth, what you know is the right thing to do, because when you have the courage to stand up for yourself, you’re also standing up for millions of others who couldn’t. Never be afraid of who you are or see yourself–or your sisters–as the enemy. You will always be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Love,
Mama

Continue Reading

babysitters have the most fun

Posted on 14. Apr, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

Once in a while, Alice goes on a little venture with my project manager Shannon and her husband Greg. The other day, they went to the Joslyn Castle here in town and found a cute little garden patch next to a lilac bush. Their dog, Ruffles, joined the fun. I love the tiny chairs!

Alice’s outfit: Pants: Target // Shirt: Gap // Sweater: H&M // Necklace: Forever 21 // Shoes: Converse

Thanks Greg for the iPhone photos.

xo
meg

Continue Reading

alice work: office activities for toddlers

Posted on 05. Apr, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

“Alice work.”
When Alice wakes up in the morning, the first thing she wants to do is be naked.
The second thing she wants is to be given something to do.
She wants Alice work.

Today we first had a “keep your clothes on, we’re going out” discussion.

Packed up as many buddies as we could carry.

Then we got to Mama’s office and did some Alice work.

Three of my favorite sources for toddler activity ideas are my mom, and the blogs Growing a Jeweled Rose and Preschool Alphabet. I try to put a package together at home of something to take to work, and Alice has her own area in my office full of her toys and favorite objects to work with and play with.