Dadmy

Alley has started to call me (Beth)- Dadmy. She really loves her daddy- so is use to going to him when she needs something. I guess she forgets who she is talking to when she starts talking to me and then realizes her mistake - thus coming out Dadmy.

Going to bed is going much better with the sticker reward calendar. August's challenge is to potty train. Daycare wants to move her up to a preschool room in early Sept- which means she has to be potty trained by then. She still is hit or miss with potty training. She did get a couple new stools for the bathroom - she did not pick out the pink princess ones - but one with the red Cars guy on it - you can tell I have never seen the movie - neither has she.

Alley has had a good time the last couple weeks. Last weekend we all went to Grandma Erlys's house for a family reunion. We thought she was psychic - because on the ride down she kept talking about castles - and we had no idea where that was coming from. Later in the trip down there - we just happened upon a Kid's day parade in Benson, MN. One of the floats had a big castle on it- so we jumped to the conclusion she is psychic. But later we figured out that castles are actually churches with tall spires. She had a good time a grandma's - didn't nap - but had a good time going through the sprinklers and playing with her cousin Kadee.

This past week Rob and her rode on Trolley near Lake Harriet and Calhoun. She has been very interested in trains lately - so we thought she would enjoy that.

This weekend our friends from Fargo were here, Jodi, Ryan, Henry, and Eva. Alley was excited to go "camping" and have a campfire with "mushrooms"- aka marshmellows. Today we went to the Como zoo. She of course loves the monkeys and danced to the music at Sparky the sea lion's show.

"I want to go to the Park"

It is a blessing and curse that we live right next to a Park. We must have a hundred pictures of Alley going down the slide. But we can never go wrong with the Park - she always enjoys herself.

Some other activities have been hit or miss. Rob bought Alley a kite and we went to fly it today. Alley was really excited about it at first - but then I think she realized that it is hard to fly a kite when you are this little and she wasn't just satisfied watching Dad - with her 2 year old "I do it" attitude. But the day wasn't lost - because we walked over to the playground and of course Alley went down the slides.

She also wasn't quite sure about the fireworks on the 4th of July. The city display is shot off in the park behind our house - so it can be quite loud. She found it a little scary - so she sat in side and looked at the pretty colors with her Dad.

She still loves going to the splashpad - running through all the fountains. She also went to Cedar Lake with Rob this past week.

This past week we have started a sticker reward system for her - to encourage her to go to bed. So far she is 6 out of 7 - which is great! She kept getting out of bed so many times that we had to do something- so she helped me decorate a calendar and she gets to pick out a sticker in the morning to put on it if she goes bed and stays in bed the night before. Let's hope she keeps it up.