Reagan and the Water Park

Reagan seems such an old soul to me.  I don't know.  I forget sometimes that she's only two.  More like a little adult who doesn't yet know English.  She loved the waterpark these past few days.  Went down one of the Big Slides with Daddy, even.  She's a water-aholic, this girl.  OBSESSED with water, yet appropriately cautious.  Never cried when splashed in the wave pool, or when she accdientally went underwater, even though she obviously didn't like for it.  Brave, I guess would be the word I would use.  Resolute in the face of scary circumstances - never panicky.  And never reckless like her brothers, either.  A healthy respect for water, aware of it's dangers, and loving it all the same.  SO different from two little daredevils who could be literally near drowning, and still have not the slightest fear of the water.

Another Developmental Milestone

Just now, Reagan put her own pants on completely by herself, for the first time.  YEAH!!!  She really is growing up.  An independent thing, she tries to make her own breakfast, get her own milk, and wash the dishes.  I'm happy for the milestones, but... slow down there, girl!  You're my baby!!!!

It Begins

The girl is FAR from potty trained, BUT... Reagan has been asking to sit on the potty lately.  And taking off her own diaper when it's wet, bringing me a new one, and attempting to wipe her own bottom.  I'm sensing "clues" here.  MAYBE she's ready to start training.  It was a dark, dark period in our lives when the boys went through potty training - a process that took over a year and a half, and still is not "thorough" at age six.  I'm still changing a heck of a lot of sheets around here.  I'm glad she's ready to try, but I  shudder at the nightmare potty training was last time.  I've heard girls are easier, and I HOPE that to be true.  Because I can't GO THROUGH it again.  I can't!!!  I've still got nightmares from the last time!!!

Tidbits

Just some things I want to remember about my little girl - random images I want to burn in my brain to pull out through the years and smile:

Reagan, dancing and prancing with her brothers, around the living room, by candle light, laughing to Christmas music during our family Advent wreath time.

Reagan, making the MMMMMMM sound when she kisses every member of the household goodnight.  Twice or three times.

Reagan, insisting on holding Daddy's AND Mommy's hand during the Our Father at church.

Reagan, insisting on being surrounded by a stuffed dog and her blanky when going to sleep, when first waking up, and mostly throughout the day.

Reagan and Quinn sledding on our front hill.  How that girl loves to be outside!  Even when her hands are freezing cold!!

Bursts of English Part 2

In the continuing saga of Reagan's language development... yesterday, I caught her pushing the door to the garage shut, and yelling at her brother in perfectly clear English:

"SHUT THE DOOR!".

She may have heard that one a time or two.  These bursts of completely clear, understandable English are so radom, and interspersed between so much gobbledy-gook, it ivariably takes me by surprise.  Every. Time.  And so far, she's said each phrase once and one time only.  Which would make me think that I'm hearing things, if it wasn't witnessed by other reliable ears in the room.

Bursts of English

The doctor wants Reagan in speech therapy, the speech therapist wants Reagan in speech therapy, and mom and dad... despite my profession as a pediatric therapist.....want to hold off.  I know.  I know.  We're terrible parents.  I keep thinking that she'll catch up on her own, in our "language rich" environment :).  We're such talkers over here, you know.    Why, just last night at dinner, Reagan finished her food, looked at me, and said "dow".  As in, "Mom, please get me down off this stool".  I helped her down off the stool, and she said, perfectly clear, with perfect diction, witnessed by all other members of the family...

"Thank You, Mommy".  Rob and I about fell of our own stools.

Every once in awhile, she'll pop off with a perfectly clear phrase.  And it makes us do a double take, because usually, she speaks gobbledy-gook with a few words mixed in.  Lately she's been saying (I SWEAR this is what she's saying)  "Sit DOWN, Mommy".    Or, if I sneeze, she'll say "Bless You". 

She's got several signs now... please, milk, dog, turtle, more (inconsistent), fish.  And she appears to be learning new words every day.  It's coming.  She understands EVERYTHING, and will listen to me, then jabber back, as if we're having a perfectly understandable conversation.  It's just not in English.

Sometimes I think that little girl is toying with us, and one day in the not too distant future, she'll just start speaking full, clear sentences, as if she was perfectly capable this whole time, and was just choosing NOT to speak English. 

Reagan's first Snow

It snowed, and it stuck.  We've got a good few inches on the ground now, so I took Reagan outside to enjoy the white stuff.  It occurred to me, as she was walking around completely amazed, that it's the first snow in her memory, as she was just a baby last winter.  HUH!  I took tons of adorable pictures of her tromping around out there, but my camera card is on the blitz and I can't get them off the card and onto the computer.  You'll just have to trust me on how cute they were.  PHHHHT.  So disappointing.  ANYWAYS.  I thought Reagan would see the snow as one giant sand box, as that's one of her favorite thing in the world.  NOPE.  She instead went around to all her favorite outdoor playthings (the swing set, the Tonka trucks, the sand box), and began cleaning them.  Kept saying "Uh Oh", then brushing the snow off.  I could just hear her little brain thinking "Oh My Goodness.  Who made this terrible mess!!"  Too funny.  

Hat Season 2010-11

Yes, it's that time of year again, when all cute girls need to stock up on equally cute hats.  My husband asked me the other day "How many hats does one girl need?"  He OBVIOUSLY doesn't understand.  It's not a matter of quantity, or functionality either, really.  I make these hats for Reagan because, darn it, she looks cute in them.  There's a matching scarf for the cream hat, but apparently Reagan doesn't see the need to have something wrapped around her neck when sitting on her mother's bed in a laundry basket.   There WILL be several more hats before snow-season is done.  I really have no doubt about that.

Yuck

Reagan came out of my bathroom with the cheese slice container/tupperware dripping, a big ol' smile on her face.

Mom: "Rob, Reagan just brought out a container full of toilet water.  I sure hope you flushed when you used it last."

Dad: "Dang.  The ONE time I forget."

24 Month Well Baby Visit

So, at 24 months of age, Reagan just barely cracks 22 pounds (22.1 to be exact), but that was fully dressed with an extremely full diaper (the doctor commented "Wow!  That's a full one!  Time to change!").  So I'm guessing she's hovering between 21 and 22 pounds there somewhere.  The goodnews about that is.... it puts her on the growth chart!!!  5th percentile for weight, if we add the full diaper!  Wahoo!!!  Height is 34", which puts her in the 50th percentile, and I didn't catch the head circumference number, but it was also 50th percentile.  The doctor showed me Reagan's growth progression.... off the chart, touched the 5th percentile as an infant, fell off the chart again, and now... back on!  Way to grow, girl!  Although, you may have been cheating a little with that diaper thing.  We'll take it anyways.

Only one shot today, which Reagan screamed about, but NO TEARS!  Such a tough chick.  Luckily, the flu vaccine was a mist, so lucked out on that one.  Possible Strep Infection in a place no one should have to experience, which was caught when changing the above-mentioned diaper.  I assumed it was from teething... we'll hear the results of the culture later.  Apparently, it's going around.  No wonder she's cranky.  Other than that, all is well.  Reagan stacked a MONSTER tower out of 8 blocks.  Impressive ;).  Speech still considered an area of concern, and the doctor recommended speech therapy yet again.  I'll consult with my coworker, but am hoping to avoid direct treatment.  She really is making progress.  Just today, she learned a new word when we were looking at all her new hand-me-down clothes from a friend of mine.... "CUTE!"  So it's coming along, just in it's own, slow, Reagan way.  And she didn't score as well as she probably should have... wouldn't even identify the picture of a dog the doctor showed her, even though I know she knows what a dog is, because she points them out constantly.  Not good working under pressure, apparently.

Bottom line, all is well in Reagan-World.  She's a growing, happy little girl!

Oh NO!

Rob asked me, when I got home from work tonight "How do we handle it when baby bites someone?"

Wha-huh??

Apparently, Reagan BIT another child at daycare today, and the day care provider called to ask how we handle it at home.  At home?  Well, she bit her brother once about 7 months ago, after which I told her NO and put her in her crib. It's documented here, and as you can see, it was clearly self-defense.   I can't say it's really happened since then.  Certainly not REGULARLY.  Certainly not so regularly that we have a disciplinary plan in place to deal with the situation.  Oh GOODNESS.  Apparently she didn't want to share a toy today.  Apparently, we have one tough little girl who is not about to be pushed over by ANYONE.  Apparently, she is teething, and wants to put those new canines to use. And it makes her cranky, which seems to be the common thread with all such "incidents". 

So, when does parenting get easy?  Anyone?  Anyone?

Portrait of a 2 Year Old

Lazy Saturday Morning

Slow moving morning today.  I was working on the laptop in bed, when I looked at my daughter and said "Well, enough of this.  Are you ready to get busy?"

She looked right at me, crossed her legs, and said "No."  She'd much rather lie in bed eating popcorn in her underwear.

Funny girl.

Vocab List

At 23.5 months, here is Reagan's vocabulary:
ock - sock
og og - dog
shhhh - shoe
Mama
Dada
boys
okay
bless you
fshhhhh - fish
roar
wack - quack
bye
ni ni - night
gumpa - grandpa
choo choo - bus, car, or train
chz - cheese
diapah - diaper
waik - milk or water
uh-oh
no
foo - food
cookie
dow - down
outsi - outside
ah duh - all done
mew - meow
eee eee - sound of a mouse
baby
Can sign "turtle", but doesn't say it with her mouth
gum-puh - "phone".  I think this is because I have her talk to grandma and grandpa on the phone.

And lots and lots of gobbledy gook.  What she understands? Endless.  She minds better than her brothers.

Her First Tattle Tale

Reagan tattled on her dad tonight.  I was at a soccer game with her brother, and when I came home, I heard Reagan screaming in her crib.  I opened the door, and she immediately stopped crying, pointed to the stash of diapers by her bed and said "di-pah".  When I asked her if Daddy forgot to change her diaper before putting her to bed, she started laughing like "YES!  You GET me!"   She smiled the entire time I changed her wet diaper, and then went back to sleep. 

Uh-oh.  You're in trouble now, Daddy.  You've got TWO women looking over your shoulder!

English

Little Miss "Lost In Translation", who understands everything but refuses to learn the local language, piped up with a perfectly clear "Bless You" in response to my sneeze today.  Twice.

English is a'comin'.

Reagan in the Fall

Reagan's Favorite Books

Current must-reads (over and over and over again) on Reagan's book-shelf :
"Friendly Farm Peek a Boo"
"Touch and Feel Farm"
"Animal Friends on the Farm"
"My Big Book Of Animals"
Oh, and "My First Dinosaur Book"

Is there a trend here?  Nary a book about dolls, babies, princesses, Mommies or Daddies.  All animals.  She LOVES animals.  And every animal is called an "og og"(dog).  And all animals ROAR, except  actual dogs, who go "ARF ARF".  Although, she did learn to say and sign "SHHHH" (fish) the other day.  So now everything is either an "og og" or a "Shhhhh" (with hand wiggling to sign fish).

I see vetrinary school in her future.

Toddlers and Makeup

Reagan got into my lipstick not once, but TWICE this morning.  Once - washed her up, changed her clothes, blew my hair dry and.... there she was again.  Beautiful little girl ;).   She looks like something out of a horror flick!

Star Wars

Took the kids to the park today.  Quinn was Captain Rex (don't even know who that is), Colby was Luke Skywalker, and Reagan was summarily dubbed Darth Vader.  Yeah.  She LOOKS like Darth Vader, doesn't she?

By the end of our visit, Reagan's persona had morphed into Yoda.  Now THAT I get.

Another Installment of Sunday Cuteness

On Sundays, Reagan gussies up and actually has her hair combed.  Mom can't help but take a few pics!

A REAL Photo Shoot

So, Reagan wasn't all THAT cooperative with the family photo shoot we had the other day, but we still got some awfully cute shots!

18 Month Well-Baby visit at 21 Months

So we're a little behind the times with the well-baby visit, but we FINALLY got around to her 18 month...yes, three months late.  We tried out a new doctor, who is fabulous.  Get this... the doctor just called me (not a NURSE.  She called HERSELF) at 7:00 at night, to tell me the results of my daughter's blood work, which were NORMAL.  What doctor makes their own calls for normal test results in this day and age????  Amazing.  The visit was a little long, though, and cranky girl and her brother Colby were not the most patient of patients.  Stats:  19.6 pounds (still not on the growth chart, thus the blood work.  There's definitely nothing metabolic going on... she's just skinny), height 32 inches (25th percentile).  They measured her head, but I don't remember what size it was.  We left with prescriptions for an audiology screening, a speech eval, new chewable vitamins, a renal ultrasound, and a urinalysis.  It took FOUR nurses two tries down in the emergency room to hold down the little girl to draw blood.   Couple that with the two vaccination shots and the poor thing was just spent.  It's tough being a "well baby"!!!

Cuteness

Cuteness factor off the charts this morning, so had to get out the camera.  Sometimes a Mom can't contain herself.