Logging Time in the Playhouse

As I have 27 hours into the construction of this playhouse, I'm STRONGLY encouraging Reagan's use of it.  I set it up in her bedroom,  she napped in it this afternoon, and snuggled in to sleep in there this evening.  Three hours logged, little girl.  A minimum of twenty four to go.

(Chocolate) chip off the old block

7 am in the Aho household.  Mom, still in bed, overhears the following:

Reagan: "DAD!  Reagan wants CHOCOLATE!"
Dad:  "Go get Mommy.  She'll get you some chocolate."
Reagan: "NO!  Mommy's busy!  Get me CHOCOLATE!"
Dad: "Don't believe that Mommy's busy.  Get that Mommy out of bed."

Tough night when a gal wakes up with a severe chocolate craving first thing in the morning.

Singing in the Morning

Reagan: "Mommy!  Sing Elmo!"
Mom: "La la la la.  La la la la.  Elmo's song!"
Reagan: "NO!  F C H G!"
Mom: "Oh.  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.  Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me!"
Reagan: "AMEN!"

hee hee hee

Big Step for Little Girls

SO PROUD of the little Miss!  She insisted on sleeping in underwear rather than pull-ups last night.  Insisted.  So, I let her try, assuming I would be changing sheets this morning.  But NOPE.  She woke up bone dry, for the first time ever.  Wowza.  This whole potty training thing has been so..... easy.  No stress.  I haven't really even tried to do anything - she's done the whole thing herself, essentially.  I bribe her with a few M&M's and that's about it. 

YEAH, baby girl!!!

Like Grandma

Grandma and Grandpa watched Reagan most of yesterday while I was at work.  She came home last night repeating one of Grandma's favorite sayings....

"Oopsy-daisy!" 

It's 8:03 am, and she's already said it at least 10 times.

((smile))

Prayers

Reagan LOVES to say prayers.  Grace before meals, Advent wreath prayers, night-times prayers.  You name the prayer, and she'll insist that she's in charge of it.  She makes sure everyone is holding hands in a circle - rounds everyone up,  ensures everyone is ready to begin TOGETHER  ("Not ready yet, Mom! Okay.  Now."), and then, because she doesn't know any of the words, repeats loudly, in appropriate rhythm,  "NYAH NYAH NYAH NYAH."  I try hard not to laugh.  I really do.  But it's like saying prayers with Charlie Brown's teacher  every time.

This blog is not going to do justice to how cute it really was....

Reagan, in her little chirpy voice, when her feet slipped off the coffee table where she had them lazily propped....

"HOLY COW!"

Reagan, sounding like Alvin and the Chipmunks, when the microwave dinged saying my hot apple cider was ready:

"Mom, it's ready!  HOLY COW!"

:)

"Cheese Me!"

Reagan played house under a stool for a good 30 minutes tonight.  At one point, she called to me, and said "Mommy!  Cheese me!"

I've been around the block enough to know that cheese me means get out the camera and take a picture.  Usually the little girl is in too much motion to pose for a picture, but when she is trapped under a stool, and really proud of her new "house" -- she poses just fine and dandy!!! 

Bustin' out of the Big Girl Bed

Reagan discovered tonight that she could, in fact, remove herself from her big girl bed without parental assistance.  It was a family secret we were hoping she wouldn't discover, but alas.... the girl is smart (well.... we'll not dwell on the fact that it took her a few weeks to figure that out).  After "bedtime" tonight, she apparently turned on the light, tried on every last pair of her shoes, decided the pink "princess" shoes from her birthday were just right to sleep in, and brought as many toys as could fit into bed with her.  Then, and only then was she ready to fall asleep.

Silly girl.

Big Girl Bed

I realize that it's well past due, but Reagan transitioned to a big-girl bed last night.  There really wasn't much reason to get rid of the crib, as she never climbed out of it, and seemed to like it a whole lot, until recently.  And it wasn't that she didn't like her crib over the past few weeks.  It's that, during our construction project, she slept with her brothers, and she found that she liked that.  A whole lot.  And started fussing when she had to go back to bed in her own room.   So we had to up the ante, and make her own room really exciting in some way.  Thus, the switch to a day-bed.  She LOVES it.  Last night, as she snuggled in, I read her stories, she crawled under her covers, and went right to sleep.  I had to laugh, though, because this morning, she was calling to me, as she always does, to get her OUT of bed.  I told her she could get herself out of bed, but on retrospect, I hope she didn't understand me.  I like that I didn't have to worry about her wandering the house in the middle of the night.  Her brothers were all over the place when we first let them sleep in beds - although, they were alot younger at the time.  At about 18 months of so, if I remember right,  they learned how to climb out of their cribs and I was worried they were going to get hurt, so we made the transition then. 

Little girl is growing up!!!

Good Byes and Nonsense.

Dad, leaning in to give Reagan a kiss goodbye on his way to work: "Good bye, lado lado" (don't ask me where lado lado came from, but it's Rob's nickname for Reagan)

Reagan: "NO!"

Dad: "No!  What do you mean, no?"

Reagan: "It's too dark!"

Dad: "I can't kiss you because it's too dark?"

Reagan: "Yeah!  Stop it!  Go away!"

Dad: "Watch it, lado."

Reagan: "Go bye bye peanuts.  Shake your body.  Too heavy." 

And we wanted her to learn English???

Three Year Well Child visit

Little Miss By The Numbers:

Weight: 27 pounds 10th %
Height: 36.5"  50th%
BMI: 14.2, 8th%
Block Stacking Ability: 15
Blocks Stacked in Doctors Office: 0
Length of Time Able to Stand On One Foot: 4 seconds
Chronic Conditions Diagnosed: 1 (Eczema)
Prescriptions: 2
Recommendations to restart Speech Therapy: 1
Vaccinations Given: 2

Number of healthy, happy, three year olds:  ONE!!!

Our Butterfly Princess

^{Stay with me, my butterfly princess}

^{hold me tight and blow me kisses}

^{Gather your wings, curl up on my knee}

^{tickle my ear with your melody}

^{The great world is calling, you’ll be gone too soon}

^{Bursting away from my arms’ cocoon}

^{don’t fly away to your castle of sand}

^{dally here longer, grab hold my hand}

^{Oh, little princess – so pink and so sweet}

^{with a gleam in your eyes, and a dance in your feet –}

^{Snuggle in close, shut your eyes, go to sleep….}

^{We’ll dream of a place  where  a butterfly princess will keep.}

Squirminess

Church is hard for little miss.  She has no concept of "quiet", or "still".  When others are quietly in prayer, Reagan is announcing loudly "Mommy, I want CANDY!"  When the other children are up front listening to the children's sermon, Reagan is doing somersaults.  Today, Reagan was being especially disruptive, so I took her out into the foyer, and watched from behind a closed glass door.  But then she started doing somersaults, and hitting the door to try and get back in.  I grabbed her up as quickly as I could, and held her close to me. 

Mom: "Reagan!  You need to be QUIET!"
Reagan: "Mom!  Shake your body! Shake your body!"

What is the half life of candy in the bloodstream of a 2 year old?  Just curious.

Too too cute

Reagan dug into our outdoor toy box, found a rope, and then walked over to the swingset with a purpose.

Mom: "Whatcha doin', Reagan?"
Reagan: "Rope moon in sky, Mom."
Mom: "You're going to rope the moon?"
Reagan: "Yeah."
Mom: "Why?"
Reagan: "Cactch it.  See?" And she pointed up to the sky.  Then she got on the teeter totter on the swing set, and started swinging as high as she possibly could, heading for the clouds.

{{Smile}}

Update On the Daughter

Favorite Current Phrase:  "Shake your body".  Says it all the time.  Didn't know where she got that from, until I remembered her and I dancing to this Harry Belafonte song.  Oh yeah.  OK. 

Second Favorite Phrase:  "Yucky Peanuts.  In the sky."  Don't ask me.  I have no idea what she's talking about, but she says it all the time.

Third Favorite Phrase:  "Birthday cake?????"

Favorite activities:  using glue, scissors, water colors, and carrying around a diaper bag as a purse.  Also hanging from things and pretending to be a monkey.

Must-have dinner ware:  A Thomas the tank engine bowl.  For nearly every meal.  And a Lightning McQueen sippy cup.

Favorite sleeping spot:  On Quinn's bunk bed.  She's been averaging 4-5 hour naps lately, as long as she is upstairs where it is QUIET.  And putting her to bed is a breeze.  I simply ask her if she's ready to get into her own bed, she "talks me into" sleeping in Quinn's bed, and I reluctantly agree.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Secret desire of her heart:  To be a princess.  Talks about princesses a whole lot, although does not actually PLAY princess, or with dolls, or anything of the girly sort.  She plays with cars, trucks, books, and animals.... but talks about princesses.

Still attached to: her blankie, or "night night" (as she calls it).  Firmly attached.  Must take it nearly everywhere.

Favorite foods:  Grandpas pancakes.  Wakes up nearly every morning asking for them.  She chows down heartily on eggs and toast here at home, though.  Had THREE sunny-side eggs on three pieces of toast for this morning's breakfast.  Good grief, girl.  Where does she put it???

Favorite TV shows:  Dora, Little Einsteins, and Diego.  Nothing else even comes close.

Disposition:  Strong-willed, and can definitely hold her own in this house!!!  No shrinking violet here ;)

Flashbacks

Just found video of the little boys at 2.  They were sweet, calm little things.  Reagan is a thousand times louder and more active. I hadn't really thought about that before.  Maybe because there were two of them, it just seemed like more work - but really?  I was amazed at how calm they were riding in their little stroller, looking at books, playing in the sandbox.  I was struck by my own relaxed, happy voice on the video - not the harried, harping mother I've turned in to.  I videotaped the first day of potty training, sunshine and roses in my voice, and I was screaming at my younger self "Don't be fooled!!!  You won't be done with this for TWO MORE YEARS!!!"  ((Sigh)).  Maybe it's because Reagan has had two little boys as role models since day one. She's a busy, busy little girl - no sedate, feminine thing here. 

We are IN TROUBLE. 

Great

Reagan is far, far, far too influenced by her big brothers.  It took me a little while to figure out what she was saying with this, but I eventually got it.  GREAT.  Hopefully anyone she repeats it to won't get what she's actually saying.

Reagan: "Colby has  peanut.  Kin (Quinn) has peanut.  Dad has  peanut.  Reagan NO PEANUT.  Mommy NO PEANUT."

Reagan: "Knock knock"
Mom: "Whose there?"
Reagan: "Peanut!"  HEE HEE HEE HEE

Reagan: "Knock knock"
Mom: "Whose there"
Reagan: "Poopie!"

I thought it was a male-only thing.  Apparently not.

Fall Photo Shoot - the Attempt

I really TRIED to do a fall photo shoot with the little girl today. The weather is fabulous, the leaves are spectacular, the little girl looked cute all gussied up for the event. Everything should have gone like clock-work. Except that Reagan is TWO. Which should explain why I only got a few decent pictures, several of which have no child in them at all. She wanted to be held by the photographer the whole time, which isn't really conducive to picture taking with a telephoto lens.

Oh well. Maybe next year.

Reagan's First Slumber Party

I put the boys to bed tonight, and Reagan followed.  She crawled into bed with Colby.

Colby: "Mom, she wants to sleep with me tonight."
Mom: "But she talks too much.  She won't go to sleep."
Reagan: (perfectly clear) "Mom, I'll be good!"
Mom: "Did you just say that you'll be good?"
Reagan: "Yeah!"

A little background info may be in order.  Reagan is a light sleeper.  She has NEVER slept in the same room as another person (hospital room as a newborn excluded, of course).  In hotel rooms, we put her in the bathroom.  At my parent's house, she sleeps in a closet.  Oh, we've tried to have her sleep in the same room as another human.  It just always fails miserbaly, because she can't calm herself down enough to fall asleep.

 But tonight... "I'll be good!"  How could I say no?  The girl spoke a perfectly clear, full sentence, for goodness sake.  It's been 15 minutes, and so far, all is quiet upstairs.  She just might make it a full night!!

NEXT MORNING ADDENDUM:  Reagan made it until 12:30 am, when she started shrieking loudly.  She was brought into bed with me, where she began to squirm, ask for drinks, etc.  I simply said "Reagan, if you cannot go right back to sleep, you're going into your own bed."  She calmed right down, and slept til 7 am, when her brothers came down in a panic, wondering where she was.  Impressive first slumber party for a little girl!

Chatter Box

How is it that the genetic code of two introverted people combines to form REAGAN, World's Biggest Chatterbox????  It may not all be English, but she babbles on and on and on and on and on.  Loudly.  Constantly.  She was quiet for a few minutes tonight while watching TV, and Rob was actually stunned.  "I haven't ever seen her this quiet for this long!"  says he.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  says I.  "Don't ruin it!!!"  But alas, his comment DID ruin it, and she broke out of her quiet spell (it had lasted like 5 whole minutes maybe), and started the incessant chatter again.

We'll have peace and quiet again in about 18 years or so.

Grammar

Reagan's grammar is similar to Spanish at this point.  Noun first, followed by adjectives.  Example:
"Truck big!"  "Sky pretty!"  Same with verbs, now that I think about it.  "Cup find!"  "Mom, sit!"  I've really got to get her talking on video tape, because it's adorable.  She has a "baby accent" still, too, where words like "hand" don't have the "aaaaaaa" sound, but are prounced more like "ahhhhhh", so she sounds British when saying them. 

Life as a Pickle

Little Missy Lou Hoo has been rather a pickle for the past few weeks.  We're all fighting colds with the change of seasons, and I tend to blame the 'tude on that.  The boys, who have never witnessed their sister getting in trouble before, are truly enjoying the fact that it's not just THEM receiving the heavy hand of discipline in this house.  Not alot of sympathy from the big brothers.  Today, Reagan took her prescription multivitamin and a bottle of chewable vitamin C, and ate them all.  Luckily, the multivitamin was near the end - I think there may have been only like 2 or 3 left, and I found a half-eaten one on the floor afterwards.  And I know from previous experience that, according to Poison Control, a child can ingest unlimited quantities of vitamin C without ill effect.  No stomach pumping required.  Still, though, it was a serious enough infraction that Mom's voice took on the "Darth Vader" tone.

Mom: "REAGAN?  What did you do??  Did you climb up on the cupboard and get your vitamins?  That's is a NO NO.  You will get SICK.  NO NO."

She looked up at me with those big brown eyes, and.... crumpled.  I could see it start in her little lip twitch, before the entire wail let loose, and she dissolved into tears.  She has a way of making her mom feel like a heart-breaking monster.  Poor thing.  I just want you to be safe!  Honest!!  Her brothers are so used to the "Vader Voice" that it doesn't even phase them anymore.  Reagan's priveleged existence has been all sunshine and happiness until this past month.   At least I think that for now, a stern word really DOES make an impact!

Snippets from the Darlin' Daughter

Reagan's verbal skills are improving daily.  It's fabulous to get to HEAR her personality these days.

Mom: "Reagan, come here!  We have to do your hair!"
Reagan: "Princess Reagan says NO!"

---------------------------------------------------------
Little girl is has a new obsession with Diego.  Every day I hear
"Eggo?  'Nower one?"  (Diego? Another one?)
Sounds like she's constantly asking for Eggo waffles. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reagan: "Up.  Sky.  Song.  Pretty."
Mom: "The birds singing up in the sky are pretty?"
Reagan: "Da".
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Another Installment of Sunday Cuteness

 

 Sometimes, I can't help myself. I HAVE to grab the camera and capture the sheer adorable-ness.  Adorability.  Ador.... whatever.  She's cute.

Tattle Tale

Reagan is becoming quite the talker.  She wakes up every.single.morning. asking where her brothers and dad are.  And where the dogs are.  Once that issue is settled, she looks around and points to whatever is a mess and says "Colby do dat".  Turns out, in Reagan's world, Colby is the cause of all that is askew, amiss, or wrong.  If she trips and falls, she says "Colby do dat".  No he didn't, sistah.... I saw. 

I suppose it's only fair.  Colby has been blaming everything on Reagan since she was BORN.  She's only now got the verbal skills to fight back!!!

Back Seat Jokesters

Reagan's first "Knock Knock" joke today.  She thought it was hilarious long before the punch line.

Time On The Pot

See, I told you we would be overly fascinated with excrement on this blog for awhile.  This was just too cute not to photograph.... Reagan was at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and needed some light reading material to pass the time while waiting for  "things to happen".  ((SMILE))

All The World's A Toilet

We were heading to Grandma and Grandpa's to go swimming, and I reminded Reagan to use the toilet before we left.  She shook her head no, leaned her forehead in until it was touching mine, and whispered conspiratorially....

Reagan:  "pee swimsuit Papa beach."

Me (just to be clear) "You're going to pee in your swimsuit at grandpa's beach?"

Reagan: "Da".  Which is Russian and Reagan for "yes". 

Nice.  I think she's spending  a little too much time with her brothers. 

Blown Away

Reagan was being quiet.  Too quiet.  I hadn't heard her incesssant "MOM! MOM! MOM!" in a good 15 minutes, which made me worry about what she was up to.  So I went downstairs, and there she was, just leaving the bathroom.  She smiled at me, handed me the bucket from her potty chair, and said "YUCKY!"  No. way.

That little girl had gone "#2" on the potty chair (by herself), dumped it in the toilet (by herself), and flushed (by herself).  Of course, she had also helped herself to a bag of chocolate chips, and was munching on them to while away the time on said pot (by herself), too.  I came just in time for wiping and washing out of the bucket.

Holy cow, girl.  We started this whole training in earnest FIVE DAYS AGO.  See, THIS is why I waited a little bit longer to start the process.  Because she's ready, it takes five days.  When a child's not ready (uhhhh.... like little boys) it takes a year and a half of torture, stained carpets, and excessive laundry.  WHY do that to myself?????

I know we have a ways to go with self-managing clothing, and night time dryness, but I have SUCH HOPE after these past five days!!! 

I'm so proud of you, Reagan!!!

Introducing... BIG GIRL PANTIES!