Reagan’s never-ending comments! November 8, 2009

Yesterday was a banner day for Reagan and her 4 yr old comments. Sadly, I can’t remember them all. However, here are some that stick out.

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Reagan asked me “What’s your favorite kind of horse?” I said “Palomino”. She then asked “What’s a Halopino?”

The funniest part of that is that Catherine, a friend, commented on Facebook:  Halopino= a really spicy horse!

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So, my dad calls and Reagan answered the phone. She recognized it was him and said “Hi Papa Randy. It’s Reagan. You know, the girl you slept with!”

The previous time my dad had come through, they slept on the hide-a-bed together.  What’s even funnier is that Reagan fell asleep in her own bed and I moved her downstairs when it was time for the rest of us to go to bed so she could wake up with him and know she slept beside him.

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Chris “tooted” at some point in the day and Reagan, with her brilliant wit, says “Ewwww.  The ladies don’t like to smell that!”

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While playing with her little miniature Christmas tree, Reagan was singing a song.  “Deck the walls with thousands of Mommy”.

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Speaking of Christmas trees, our tree is up as well.  This was done by Friday evening.  It’s just too much work to put up for one month.  I love the Christmas season.  And having my kids enjoy it is just icing on the cake.

While putting up the tree, I turned on the music channel on our cable tv.  It’s not MTV, but a radio with no commercials or talking.  It was Christmas Sounds of the Season.  They were playing  a version of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and next thing I know, Zac is downstairs.  He’d turned off his video game upstairs, joined us and said “You know… something about this song just makes me happy!!”    That’s one of the reasons I love this season!  It makes people happy.

 

Reagan’s haircut October 20, 2009

Reagan had her hair cut last Friday 10/16.  I was surprised she wanted to go as short as she did.  She now thinks she looks like Emma (my friend Von’s daughter).  She loves the comparison.

Reagan is in the purple shirt and Emma is in the striped shirt.  Emma’s was taken in 2007 and her hair has grown lots since then.  But for some reason, Reagan thinks she looks like her. 

Bird Feeder October 20, 2009

Reagan had been wanting to make a milk jug bird feeder for a while.  She picked the milk jug she wanted (it didn’t matter but she had a specific one, with pink labels) and we got it all washed and aired out.  We went on a search for items to decorate it with in our yard.  Thankfully, we have two fir trees and they have lots of goodies to donate all year round.  We cut the holes and glued on our decorations.  It’s very “woodland-y”.  We had to wait for the glue to dry, it actually took 24 hours.  Then we filled it with birdseed today and hung it in our front tree.  It’s the lowest branch that we can see from our windows.   We hope to see many birds who need our seed.  It would be great for Reagan to see that her project is helping the birds who stick around in winter.

Hating the cold October 16, 2009

I hate the cold.  I hate winter!!!  It’s barely fall and the temps have forced our winter coats out.

What I am even more bothered by?????    All those people who screamed and cried for the end of winter and wanting warm weather, the spring/summer.  THEN… those same people saying “UGH!!! It’s too hot.  Can’t wait for fall.  Wish summer would end already.”

I say, put on your big kid undies and deal with the weather you have.  I’ve never ever said I want winter and cooler weather.  I’d take warm/hot weather every day of the year.  HATE cold!!  Never want it to arrive.  Even if it’s over 100 outside.  I mean, just look at the green.  It’s gorgeous.  Who would want this covered with snow???

Just Stuff October 16, 2009

Zac had his 5th (out of 8 ) fencing class last night.  He seems to really enjoy it.  One of the teachers was happy to hear he likes it and would like to continue but said that Zac just needs to try and focus sometimes.  I’m just thinking “You don’t even know, dude!!”   I think Zac is doing very well considering his meds have worn off by the time we get there.

He’s also doing amazing in school.  Not one single bad day this school year.  By this time last year he’d already had 2 in-school suspensions and numerous notes written back and forth between me and the teacher.  I am so very proud that he has finally grown or that my recommended male teacher tactic is proving true.  I just LOVE being right!!!

Reagan’s fever from yesterday broke before noon yesterday.  So I did not deal with a sick kid all day.  That was a blessing.  However, I kept her in her pj pants and a t-shirt all day instead of putting her in jeans.  They were much softer around her belly.  It all made me wonder why I don’t have any pj pants like that!!!  They look amazingly soft and comfy.  I was jealous that I could not wear my pj pants I do have (very thin cotton, like sheets) all day.  

The rest of our day yesterday was just the same.  Quiet, decently behaved.  No real tragedies or humerous events to discuss.

I must add here, though, that my oldest nephew, Alex, was actually diagnosed with H1N1 a few days ago.  However, yesterday morning early his fever broke and he’s doing much better.  When the doctor gave him the meds early in the week, he told Marissa not to expect much until closer to the weekend.  I’d say he hit that spot on!   So we are very thankful for things to be looking brighter up there in Wisconsin.

Alex 2008

Halloween is upon us October 15, 2009

Yesterday, I was part of Reagan’s preschool class going to visit a pumpkin patch/farm.  The weather did not cooperate.  It was cold and drizzly.  I didn’t think to give Reagan gloves and her little hands were red with cold.  I ended up giving her my gloves which she managed to get her fingers in the right spots.  Poor thing.    She did get to pick out her first pumpkin ever.  All were rather small and I can tell by the way hers looked she picked the cleanest one she could find.

Also, my mom made Reagan’s costume this year.  She is going to be a penguin.  Reagan didn’t ask for this costume, but rather, Grandma found the pattern and wanted to make it for her.  Rea absolutely LOVES it!  She loves being able to dress up and really become Quackers mommy!!

Zac is going to be Indiana Jones.  He tried his costume on briefly but is not allowed to wear it yet due to his history of ripping or breaking costumes during play before Halloween.  I will have pictures soon of him dressed in it though.  It’s too cool!

Learning all about pumpkins

Holding the pumpkin

Reagan and her baby, Quackers

Halloween 09

Scooping out the pumpkin

Rea’s 1st Jackolantern

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On a sad note, Reagan woke up at 4am vomiting and had a fever of 104.  I gave her tylenol and she fell back asleep.  This morning, her fever was down to 100-101.  And she has more energy.  This is not a normal school day so she doesn’t have to worry yet about missing school.  But if she doesn’t break her fever today, she can’t go tomorrow.  That will just break her heart.  I had to keep her out once due to diarreah and she cried.  I told her she wasn’t allowed to go and we can’t pretend she didn’t have it.  She said “Yes I can!  I can tell Miss Linda that I’m pretending not to have diarreah!”  She said this like it was the greatest idea she’d ever had.

Thank you Lord. October 12, 2009

Tonight the kids played so well together.  I was happily surprised!

I think part of it comes from watching Supernanny.  Zac didn’t want me to turn it off.  So we ended up watching two hours of the show (two families).  After the shows, he was implementing Jo’s techniques for working with children.  He was telling Reagan “I just don’t want you to pull on my arm.  That hurts me.  Can you say sorry?”  She would then say sorry and he said “That’s great.  Now give me a hug.”      It was very cute!!!  He was also very helpful and agreeable to me.  What a wonderful change.  I think Supernanny should be on 24/7!!!

Later in the evening, they were playing hide and seek or tag or something.  Zac came into the living room and hid in our blanket basket and pulled a blanket over his head to hide.  Reagan went right to him and pulled on the cover saying “Oh, wow!!  A gift from the Lord!”    Then she broke into song:  “The Lord has been good to me.  So I thank the Lord for giving me the things I need.  The sun and the rain and the apple seed.”     It was TOO cute!!!

Those that know us know we don’t attend church.  So to hear her say this was astounding.  She learned it at pre-school.  She goes to the New Haven United Methodist Church preschool program.  Chris went there as a child as did Chris’ aunt’s Linda and Kathy.

Reagan was also explaining to me a few days ago how God made the Earth and everything in it.  She explained each day he made something different and then made a lady doctor to take the baby from the other lady and then He held the baby (she did a rocking motion with her arms).  I asked if she learned that at school and she said she learned it from Anna (my friend Von’s daughter).  What a little minister Anna is!!  It was wonderful to hear Reagan acknowledging the God I know exists.  I guess this is God’s way of finally reaching me and telling me it’s TIME FOR CHURCH ALREADY!!!!!!

Mom’s Lesson September 24, 2009

Today is Thursday. Which means Zac’s 2nd fencing class after dinner.

I realized something last week.   After the class I was critiqueing him all the way home. “You shouldn’t hold your foot like that”, “You need to do this…”, “You need to always watch the teacher”….  etc.  Not once did I say good job, you looked great, or anything.  I realized this later at home.  So I quickly told him that I thought he looked like he was having fun, he looked awesome and I was so proud of him.

I’ve known that I am an opinion pusher but I also need to work on my judgement speaking.  I need to let the teacher teach and let Zac learn from the teacher.  I need to be there if Zac wants to practice at home and do my best to just support what he’s doing instead of always telling him he should improve on what he’s doing.

If I’m NOT ME, maybe he can be him!!

This is a huge lesson for me to have learned.  I hope I can do better after tonights class and in all things to come.

A few days’ worth September 23, 2009

Monday, I had quite a fun day listening to Reagan.

First off, gave her a bath after Zac went to school.  While drying her off she says “This is the dryest water ever!”   Next, I gave her cheese and crackers for lunch with a side of strawberry yogurt.  She decided to spread the yogurt on the cheese and crackers and eat it.  After getting some on the table she says “Mom, I think I have a messy situation here”.  So I give her a rag to clean it up and as she’s doing this she yells “SHAM-POW!!!!”.  (this is from iCarly, their version of the Sham-wow is the Sham-pow).  Later that day, she was doing a seek-&-find game on the computer.  I had to read her the items to find, but she was finding them with no help.  She turns to me and says “I’m the ultimate finder”.

Yesterday, I took the kids to Pizza Hut for dinner.  Our fave waitress, TAMMY, was working.  After talking with her for a bit about our sons and their behavior issues at school, I said “This year, though, Zac’s had a great day every day.  It’s finally in his head.”  He says “No mom.  It’s not in my head.  It’s in my medication.”

This morning, Zac rode his bike to school for the first time.  He was so excited.  I just stood at the end of the driveway and watched until I couldn’t see him any more.  It’s great watching the kids get older and doing bigger-kid things.  I don’t get emotional and cry about it all.  I am just in a bit of awe that it’s happening right in front of me.  One day they are little and the next, they can do something I didn’t realize they could.  I am happy for them as they realize each new adventure, each new trial, is a step in aging,  getting older and more independent.

School – 4 weeks in September 19, 2009

This year has been VERY surprising.  Zac has not had one bad day yet!  Can you believe it??  Last year was so bad, I wanted to take him out of school and homeschool him because I couldn’t take the stress of every day not knowing how bad he would be.  If he would threaten kids or the teacher.  If he would throw things or himself on the ground.  But for this year, I requested the only male teacher they have for 4th grade.  And so far… no outbursts.  The teacher has even said that he occasionally has to redirect Zac if he gets unfocused on the task at hand, but he’s been very good.  I just can’t believe it!  Maybe he’s matured.  Maybe he just “gets it”, that he can’t behave like he did last year.  Or maybe, it’s having the male teacher.   Whatever it is…  I LOVE IT!!!  And I love his teacher, and I love 4th grade and I love my son!