Lainey Update

I'm a little behind in my annual kid updates seeing as Lainey's birthday was over two months ago, but better late than not at all.  Also, in Lainey's mind her birthday is about the happen again at any moment.  Whenever we have dessert and do something fun she states that it's for her birthday, and, when I asked her last night what she wants for Christmas she said "No Mom, for my birthday."

 Lainey's itty bitty (Height -38"/16%,Weight -33 lbs/33%).

She is more willing to try new foods than her sisters.  Some of her favorites include: hummus, strawberries, pink lemonade, yogurt and nutella dip, and cheesy noodles.  She is very good at sharing, definitely the best sharer in our family, and has already offered to let Liz play with her Christmas presents.  Her favorite colors are pink and purple, she likes hair braids, and she wants to wear her church dresses every day.

Alaina's developing a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks which she's pretty proud of ("Like Daddy!").  She's also pretty excited that her hair is turning brown ("Mommy!  My hair is turning brown!  Just like Daddy!").  She absolutely loves going to dance class, playing "family," and being with her sister Liz (she goes back and forth on Ellie because Elle hits, pushes, and yells at her so much).

 She has a loud voice and still erupts into loud, dramatic tantrums.  Yesterday I checked on her in between church classes, only to find her screaming in her classroom because her teacher "didn't spell (her) name right."  The teacher had written, "Lainey" which is what Alaina normally goes by, but she was all bent out of shape because she didn't see an A at the front ("she didn't put my letter there!").

Laines considers herself toilet trained.  I'm not sure how I'd classify her.  We have good days and bad days, but so far we're more likely to have the latter with up to four accidents a day.  I was fed up with the whole toilet training thing before it started so now, as much as possible, I have her clean up after herself.  When I told her I wouldn't clean up after accidents anymore, she became upset and said with obviously concern, "Then you won't be our mom anymore!"  Because, apparently if you aren't sopping up pee from the floor, then you aren't a real mom. 

The mark on her cheek below is a mosquito bite, her skin does not react well to those.

Alaina doesn't seem to process the word no (or anything like unto it).  I can tell her, no you cannot have a cookie until after dinner and she'll immediately say, okay, can I have a cookie?  On the way to the beach in August she kept asking us the same inane questions over and over, seemingly for the joy of listening to her own voice (I do love her voice though--it's lower than Lizzie's, with just the hint of a lisp).   Do they have beds at the beach house?  Do they have water at the beach?  Do they have sand at the beach house?  The same questions over and over.  It reminded me of a story Drew tells from his mission of one of his English students asking "Do they have (fill in the blank with any English word he knew) in America" endlessly.  We kept telling her that is was quiet time, no more talking.  She'd say okay and then immediately ask another question.  Finally she understood that she wasn't supposed to talk anymore so she immediately asked, "Does sneezing count?"  Argh!  It was very frustrating and very amusing at the same time.

 

At night, when we tuck her in, Alaina says, "No kissing, just hugs!"  She likes to drink her skim milk with water added to it.  Yes, that's right "milk with water in it."  Delish.  She doesn't like soda because she says it's "too spicy."  Her favorite Disney princess is Tiana with Ariel as a pretty close second.  I'm just waiting for the Halloween when she asks to dress up as Tiana--probably everyone will think she's Tinkerbell.  Alaina loves to pretend to be a princess.  She assigns me to play the part of the queen, the prince, and the maid.  If Drew is around she asks him to be the king.