2011 Holidays

Okay, where was I . . . Oh yeah, Disney. I think I'm done with that for now. Here comes a rapid-fire update of the 3+ months that have passed since we got back. I remember being very depressed that we weren't staying at that awesome resort and riding a boat to the Magic Kingdom anymore. What a great trip that was.

Back in the real world, we got back to our lives, which included taking Reagan for her 15-month check-up on October 27th. That appointment went well. She was in the 50th percentile in height, weight, and head size. As long as all of those numbers are in the same neighborhood, that's good. I believe Amanda was always 50th percentile in height & weight, but 95th percentile in head size. It's amazing she didn't tip over more often.

Then came Halloween. Both girls dressed as Minnie Mouse for the neighborhood's Fall Festival, which was a convenient costume that was relatively stress-free for Susan and me. When actual trick-or-treat time came around, Susan stayed home with Reagan while I took Amanda around the neighborhood. We had taken Amanda trick-or-treating when she was Reagan's age, but there's really no point to it. Some would say this is (yet another) example of the second child getting shafted, but I prefer to think we are just wiser and more experienced parents this time around.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Hilton Head with my parents, which was fun. We stayed with Grams and Granddad (who Reagan LOVED!), and my sister Ellen came from Alabama, as well. My brother Bobby and his family were there, but stayed at a condo rather than try to cram into my folks house. I'll never know why my elderly parents didn't retire to a 7-bedroom home that could accommodate everyone and their children. We all had a nice visit and a great meal. Both girls loved playing with some 50+ year-old toys my mom has hung onto over the years for just such an occasion. Amanda got to stay with Bobby's family at their condo for one night, since she just loves her cousin Carter, and the feeling is mutual.

The day after Thanksgiving, we trekked over to Harbour Town to have dinner and see Gregg Russell perform under the big tree. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones to have that idea, and with our big group (my sister Ellen, along with Bobby and his family came, too), we had to wait forever for a table. By the time we finished dinner, Gregg had already started, and his little area was absolutely packed with people. I bulled my way through the throng of annoying "other people" (dontcha just hate them?) with Amanda in my arms and plopped her down on the edge of the stage. She seemed a little more timid this time around, but she still raised her hand to volunteer to sing. It was not to be, however, as Gregg picked some of the many, many other kids to sing for him. Is there ANYthing more annoying than other people's children?!

After coming back from Hilton Head, it was time for Amanda's next trip to the dentist. Since her previous attempted dentist appointment had been cut short by as bad a meltdown as I've ever witnessed, I made Susan take her this time. Naturally, she did GREAT for Susan. It's nice to know I'll never have to take Amanda to the dentist again!

Christmas

The Christmas preparation began in earnest after we got back from Thanksgiving. This time around, Amanda was really involved in the decorating. She's such a little helper these days! Of course, her help extends the decorating process, but it's totally worth it.

Beginning sometime in November, Amanda started cutting out pictures from the various toy catalogs we kept getting in the mail. She did this in lieu of an actual Christmas list, which is fine, but she didn't understand that by cutting pictures out of a catalog and mixing them with pictures from many other catalogs, she was destroying any chance "Santa" would have of figuring out which catalog had contained which picture. Not that she was going to get all of that stuff anyway, but still.... She ultimately wrote down the names of a few things (with our help - she can't write yet!) on a list to present to Santa. My favorite was "Doll with a broken leg," which was apparently a doll with a crutch and a cast on her leg. She didn't end up getting that, though I considered just snapping the leg on one of her Barbies.

As with last year, the kids' official visit with Santa Claus took place at our club's Christmas party. They both did pretty well this year (especially Amanda), but I had to climb in the sleigh with them (and Santa) to help Reagan keep it together. Amanda presented Santa with her list, and he politely took it. She totally fell for it, which was awesome. However, I worry that she may stop believing in Santa Claus sooner rather than later since she asked several pointed questions this year about how he visits all the houses in one night, how the elves make all the toys, etc. She's putting too much thought into it!

This year, we decided to leave a little early for our annual trip to Florida so we could spend Christmas Day there.  The trip almost didn't happen because the week before Christmas, both girls got hit by some sort of infection (eye, ear, throat, sinus, or all of the above) and were really pretty miserable.  I had to put drops in Reagan's eyes, which she liked not at all, but Susan had to get Amanda to take her antibiotics.  That was even more of a struggle since Amanda still freaks out at the thought of taking medicine and flat out refuses to do it willingly.  It was to the point where we threatened to cancel the Florida trip if she didn't cooperate.  That threat (which we were desperate enough to back up) got the job done, and Susan was able to get Amanda to take this stuff for the full ten days (actually, we ran out after nine days), so we were able to go on the trip.  By the time we left, both girls were doing much better.

After a very easy drive down to Cocoa, we stayed a few nights at Hank and Deb's (Susan's brother and sister-in-law) house, then moved to Terri and Rick's house for a couple of days. The trip was wonderful, if a little exhausting, and the girls did great. Virtually every night, we were having a late dinner with lots (20+) people, but the girls just took it in stride. Big thanks to all the family and friends we saw down there and who helped make for a special Christmas.

Gift-wise, Santa gave Amanda a Barbie camper and a couple of Barbie dolls, while Reagan got some building blocks and a little broom & dustpan that remain the hit present of the season. We thought we might have been a little cheap with them this year, but when you factor in all the presents from all the family, the girls made out very well and had no complaints (except for the lack of the doll with a broken leg).

While in Florida, we made our annual trip to the Brevard Zoo, which was a lot of fun as always. The giraffes were very attentive this year, and we got to feed them some crackers. Reagan was a bit freaked out, but nowhere near as bad as Amanda had been with the monkeys a couple of years ago!

We also took the opportunity to spend a day at the Magic Kingdom. I don't believe we'll be doing it that way again. As opposed to taking a leisurely boat ride from the hotel to the park, attending as a "commoner" is quite an ordeal. We had to pay to park, wait for a parking tram, wait at will-call to get our crazy-expensive tickets, wait for the monorail, and only THEN get to the point where the boat dropped us off on our last trip. And, of course, the park was packed on 12/27, so lines were really long, even for Disney. (The actually had to close the gates for a while the next day because of the crowds.) But we got to ride about four things that day, including It's a Small World, so it was totally worth it!!! Next time, I think I'll just burn three crisp 100-dollar bills and save the time and trouble.

On our way back home, we stopped and spent a day in Jacksonville visiting Susan's grandmother and her aunt and uncle. It was great to see Barbara again, and the girls enjoyed her place, too. We even got to pick some fresh lemons from the tree in her back yard. At Aunt Ginger & Uncle Mike's, we had a nice dinner and visit with them and two of their kids (and spouses). The next day, Amanda and I even got to fish a little bit in the river behind their house, and we managed to catch a little trout. Not a bad way to spend December 30th.

We made it home in time for New Year's Eve, and we had a few friends over to celebrate.  Amanda really wanted to try to make it to midnight, but she conked out at about 11:00, which was still pretty impressive.  It would have been MORE impressive if she had slept her usual 11 hours afterward, but she was up by around 8:00 because that's when the boy who spent the night in her room (Nate Cox) woke up.  He has yet to learn how to slip out of a chick's room in the morning without waking her up.

While we had a great holiday season in all respects, I'd have to say my favorite memory was Amanda's almost-constant singing of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." She absolutely latched on to this song for some reason, and she was ultimately able to sing the first two verses all on her own. I'm sure she doesn't understand what all of the words mean, but it's still pretty awesome. I managed to capture some footage of it when she wasn't paying attention (you might need to turn it up):



And she would sing it over and over and over! It was amazing!

Developmental Update

Developmentally, Reagan really took off after we got back from Disney. In addition to walking everywhere and successfully going up stairs, she is adding more and more words to her vocabulary. In addition to "mommy" and "daddy" (which she now finally associates with the correct parents), she has a word for Cheerios which is definitely NOT "Cheerios," but we understand it. Her favorite understandable word is probably "crackers," which she calls the mini-saltines she loves more than she loves us. She's absolutely mental for these things. And she says "crackers" in a high-pitch tone (even for her) with the emphasis on the second syllable. For a while, we couldn't even say "crackers" around her without her looking around and saying "cracKERS?" over and over. To keep her from getting her hopes up about them, we took to referring to crackers as "the c-word." Amanda likes to police our use of it, saying "Daddy, don't say the C-word!" if I slip up and actually say "crackers." If she only knew how funny that sounds! If anyone overhears her saying that, I'm probably going to have my parenting skills called into question. If not, the story in the next paragraph will do it.

Still, there are some things Reagan doesn't quite have down yet. For one, if she sits/falls in the middle of the floor, she sometimes can't stand up with out getting help or crawling to a piece of furniture she can pull up on. She also isn't adept at descending stairs yet. Speaking of which, here's the dubious parenting story: One evening I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready; Amanda & Susan were somewhere else (maybe choir?). One moment, Reagan was playing in the playroom (where I could see/hear her), and the next moment I'm hearing her tumble down the stairs, landing with a thud. She starts wailing, and I utter a mild oath and race to her assistance. Fortunately, she was unhurt and bounced back quickly. The only "damage" was a little red mark on her head that meant I couldn't hide the incident from Susan, like I had done when Amanda fell of the changing table one time when she was a baby.

Reagan is also finally using some of the sign language we've tried to teach her. Mostly it's just "more", "milk", and "water", but those come in pretty handy. She will also use "help" and "all done", but only if we ask her first if she needs help or if she's all done. We've tried to work on "I love you," but it hasn't taken yet.

She has also been learning to use eating utensils, which is cute, but can be very messy. There have been many meals where we say, "Look, she ate all of her peas/rice/etc." only to slide the tray off the high chair and find a fair portion of the food on her lap and around her in the high chair.

So, everything with Reagan seems to be going really well. That said, she might be entering the "terrible twos" a little early since she can get really mad when things don't go her way. It's not a big concern, but she's shaping to perhaps be more difficult at this age than her big sister was. She also seems, however, to be bolder and less wimpy than Amanda was, so maybe that's the tradeoff we are going to have to deal with. It's going to be a fun ride. Unlike, say, It's a Small World.

I think that brings everybody up to date, at least until Reagan's 18-month check-up on 1/27/12. Both girls remain a joy to have around, and we count our blessings every day.  I'll post some more pictures in the coming days, but I wanted to get this up there since I've been getting grief again.