Happy Turkey Day and the Turkey Trot!

Konnor, ready to go!
Run, Konnor, run!

You'll notice that Regan is clinging to my leg like a barnacle. We are at the far left, I still have my yellow bib on. I just zoomed on this picture and noticed the line up of kids covering their ears in anticipation of the gun! Too funny!

We've made progress and she isn't attached to my leg, but trying to hide under my shirt.

Proud kids with their ribbons.

Happy Thanksgiving! My grandparents are down visiting and so we are having a wonderful time! Regan has such a special relationship with her grandparents and they absolutely dote on her....it is so wonderful to see.

We started off the morning bright and early at the Turkey Trot. I am really, really going to try to be more active. With work (and life) being so busy and since the wait for Regan, I have gained ALOT of weight because of poor eating habits and stress eating. Weight has always been a struggle for me, but it is getting out of control. I signed up for the Turkey Trot as a walker because I wasn't even sure I wouldn't totally humilate myself. When you are a walker, you will be disqualified if you jog or run and so I am interested in my next 5K to see if I can job and pick up my pace. The nice thing about this 5K was that it was alot of families and varying athletic abilities. I'm a little intimidated by the hard core 5Ks. For me, it was an accomplishment that I finished!!! I actually had a great time and felt good afterwards. The atmosphere is so festive it makes exercise fun. Goodness knows that I avoid exercise like the plague and so I needed something to make it enjoyable!

My mom brought Konnor and Regan by just in time to see me finish and then they had races of their own. Konnor ran in the Fun Mile Run and did great. He had a great time, and I'm really impressed with how well he did. He met a classmate and enjoyed running with her. Regan participated in the Tot Trot 100 meter dash. I figured she would be screaming and crying. She was sooooooo excited to be able to run........until the gun went off for the first 100m dash with the older age group, and then she ran. In the wrong direction! She was out of there! She talked for days about how she was going to run and then wasn't so into it when the time came. The pesky starting gun did her in! She did end up running with mine and Konnor's help and is very proud to show off her ribbon! It was a great holiday event and we'll have to make it a tradition.

The rest of the weekend is going to be crafting with my grandmother and hanging out with my grandfather. I am so excited! I am so thankful for my family, they are awesome!

Halloween Festivities

Regan had a great Halloween this year. Usually, I am not so excited about Halloween. It just isn't my thing, but this year we had a blast! We started the festivities a couple of week ago when we went to Carolyn and Olivia's house for a Halloween get together. Oliva, Regan, David, and Carly got to play together, eat lunch, decorate cookies and paint cookies. Thanks Carolyn!

Last weekend, we headed to the Calusa Nature Center where we walked The Friendly Forest. We do this every year. We are members of the Nature Center and so we get into all the programs free of charge. We love the Friendly Forest because you walk along the boardwalk and get to pet some animals and trick or treat. Have I mentioned that Regan is OBSESSED with Elvis? My mom has one Elvis CD and Regan wants to hear it over and over and over again. Her favorite song is Good Luck Charm or Hup as she calls it. Listen to the lyrics and you'll know where she gets the title Hup.




We are walking along the boardwalk and Regan starts screaming, "Elvis! Elvis!". I look down the boardwalk and there is a little boy dressed like Elvis. For the next few minutes Regan can't even concentrate on Trick or Treating as she wants to go see Elvis. We talk to the family and Elvis a.k.a. Cameron agrees to take a picture with Regan. Actually, Cameron's mom agrees that Cameron will take a picture with Regan. It was the highlight of Regan's night. Not so much for Cameron. She still talks about seeing Elvis. Back when Regan was completely obsessed with JoJo, I bought her costume for $3.99 from Disney.com and received free shipping. Yahoo!!! Too bad it was so flippin' hot that she started stripping about half way through the walk!

We also woke up very early in the morning last Saturday to watch a 5K run that was taking place at Centennial Park in Downtown Ft. Myers. They had a KidsFest activity and the kids did a small little bouncy slide thing. Regan would have nothing to do with the bounce houses.

Thursday was Konnor's fall festival at his school and the kids loved playing all of the carnival games. Regan was great at the golf! Yesterday, my mom had the day off of work and so she watched Regan. We went to Konnor's school to watch his storybook parade and to see him run in the Monster Mash Dash. Regan had a blast sitting with all of the bigs kids, but couldn't understand why she couldn't run with the kids.

Last night, we officially went trick or treating. Regan's new obsession is Doodlebops. I mentioned this to one of my patient's mom and she mentioned that the older sister of the little boy I see has an old Doodlebops costume. She brought it for Regan to use and Regan was so excited to be DeeDee Doodle. Of course, now that she had a little short dress, it was kind of chilly yesterday. We have had record lows this week. She was very intimidated by some of the costumes, but warmed up to the idea of all the candy. We started the night going to a Trunk or Treat held at one of the city charter schools. It was okay, but nothing to write home about. We then headed over to a local church that also had a trunk or treat. Whoa!!! It was AMAZING! There must have been 50 cars with decorated trunks (my pictures don't do it justice) and the decorations were great! Everyone was so nice and I was amazed at all of the decorations and partying. It was great!

Tomorrow we head up to Sarasota to my adoption agency's welcome home ceremony. Last year, I spoke at the ceremony, but this year I just get to enjoy seeing my good friend Leslie and her daughter, Maya and also Delaney and family. Yeah!!

My Little Yoda

Recently, Regan has started talking like Yoda. She mixes her words up a little bit and says things backwards. For instance,

I want bread more. (I want more bread)

I've got a butt on my belly. (I have a belly button)

I like rainbow pretty. ( I like the pretty rainbow)

I want off shoes. (I want my shoes off)

Etc, Etc, she has some really good ones that I"ll have to write down because they are hilarious, but I'm too tired to think of them right now!!

She also likes to see things from a different viewpoint. For instance, a conversation we have a thousand times a day goes a little something like this:

Scenario:
Regan and I in a store with Regan touching EVERYTHING even though she knows she isn't supposed to touch:

Me: Regan, are you supposed to be touching?
Regan: No
Me: Then why are you touching the (insert word here, example: brush, toy, food, etc)
Regan: I'm not touching, I wooking.
Me: No, you are touching not looking, there is a difference.
Regan: I wooking with my singers. (I'm looking with my fingers) See, mommy, I smile.

She then will cock her head to the side and give a big smile because she thinks that will get her anything she wants and I do have to admit it is really cute. Doesn't smiling at your mommy negate any wrong doing that just occurred?

And then there are the times that I should really take a good look in the mirror. I told Regan to get ready to go to Framma's house as we were going to my mom's house for dinner. She came out with this get up:


Dirty pajama top, obnoxious pink shorts, bracelet, a Barbie watch, and her new favorite shoes: blue plaid with heels. As I am taking her picture and inwardly laughing at how ridiculous Regan's get up looks, I happen to glance down at my own outfit. I think Regan got her fashion sense from her mommy as I was wearing Tinkerbell lounge pants in the same obnoxious pink as Regan's shorts, an old tourist shirt with cat heads on the front and cat butts on the back, tennis shoes with socks that have pom poms on the back, and my hair was in a pony tail that I didn't actually use a brush to create, but just used my fingers. And the scariest part of all: no make up. I then got the wonderful idea to walk to my mom's house as I certainly could use the exercise. I briefly thought about changing, but was just too lazy to do so. I paid dearly for my laziness as I ran into two different neighbors that wanted to chit chat. I guess that is what I get for laughing at my daughter and her lack of fashion sense. Unfortunately, I am with it enough to realize it is much more acceptable for a two year old to go out in public wearing this get up of questionable taste then it is for a woman of my advanced years!

Getting Ahead of Myself

Tonight as I was sitting on the couch working on a craft project, I patted myself on the back and congratulated myself on how well Regan has been going to bed. As I'm sure I have made very clear, getting Regan to go to sleep is not always easy. For the past couple of weeks, I have been putting a baby gate up in the door so that she can't get out, the dogs can't get in and wake her up, and I can get the door almost closed so that it is very dark and quiet.



Anyway, back to the story. Regan had been in bed for about an hour. She will sing and count and talk to herself until she is sleeping. When all was quiet in the room, I assumed that in record time she had gone to sleep. Ha ha ha, I laugh at that now! Enjoying the quiet, I sat on the couch pleased as punch that my brilliant gate idea was working out so well. Fewer tears, quicker wake to sleep times, you get the picture. So, I"m sitting pleased as can be with myself and with Regan until this comes to the door and asks me for a kleenex because she was a little "messy":

Obviously, as I was patting myself on the back, Regan was busy getting into a few things. The most obvious is that she opened up a box of Desitin and proceeded to put her "lotion" all over her leg. She then emptied an entire box of kleenex trying to get herself clean. She also removed her pull up and undressed herself and then redressed herself. So, I have a dilemma....should I be upset that my plan isn't working and that my child obviously wasn't doing as she knows she is supposed to do? or....do I ignore this whole situation given the fact that:

1. She was working on her fine motor skills opening up a box and popping open the lid of the Desitin.

2. She was exploring some sensory integration activities as she spread the "lotion" as she calls it over her body, but this obviously backfired as she hated the mess on her hands.

3. She practiced some functional skills of dressing and undressing although she needs a little work as the shirt is on inside out and the shorts were on backwards (and on a side note, 9.9 times out of 10 this is always the case: shoes on the wrong foot and underwear and shorts on backwards)

4. She put the empty kleenex box in the trash (we've been working on cleaning up) after she emptied out all 200+ sheets of kleenex (which somehow did not make it into the trash, but were strewn like confetti all over the bed)

5. Marvel over the fact that she did this in complete darkness and completely out of character, did this in silence. I wasn't sure she knew what being quiet meant, but obviously when it works to her advantage she does know the concept of being quiet.

In the end, it was late and I couldn't face the dilemma. I got her cleaned up and put her to back to bed where she promptly fell asleep, obviously exhausted from all of her activities.

Activities

Below is what happens when mommy is on the back porch letting the dogs outside. As you can tell, she is back to naked mode and doesn't everybody see an ironing board and think it is a great place to have a snack and watch tv? She's just lucky I had already moved the iron as she knows it is an absolute no no to touch. I think judging by the destruction of the purple chair laying on it's side that she used the chair as a step up to the ironing board, but I'm not exactly sure how she got up there. Everytime I turned around she was back up there, so finally it had to come down:)

We have had a busy couple of weeks! A couple of weeks ago, Regan went to her first birthday party. Olivia had a wonderful 3rd birthday party, and Regan had a great time! Thank you Carolyn!

The week before the birthday bash, we took Regan and Konnor to Sunsplash. They were offering a buy one get one of lesser value free deal and we really lucked out getting an awesome cashier! The cashier saw that it was my mom, me and Regan getting in and she worked us a deal that we paid 11 dollars for all three of us!

Last weekend, Regan, Konnor, my mom, brother and I took advantage of the offering of free admission to the Miami MetroZoo. Thanks to Smithsonian Magazine, they were offering free admission to many zoos, aquariums, and museums across the US. I thought there had to be a catch, but there wasn't one and we handed in our printed off admission card and waltzed right in! Regan loved seeing the animals and loved that she got to see many types of snakes and turtles. She is absolutely fascinated with snakes, turtles, and dinosaurs. My favorite part was seeing a baby Joey popping out (very slightly) from his mama's pouch. The day was beautiful and we had an awesome time. We packed a picnic lunch and loved eating in our sandwiches in the beautiful weather. We originally were going to head to Orlando to the Orlando Science Museum, but decided at the last minute that it was probably too mature for Regan. I'm glad we made the decision we did as Regan had a great time! There are more pictures in my previous post.

Given how scary our economy is right now, I appreciate all the good deals we can find! For those of you wanting to save a little money on groceries, I'll share my big deals of the week!

• Publix has eggs on sale for $1.39. Print off the Food Lion coupon from here and pay 39 cents for a dozen eggs. Publix accepts competitor's coupons, but they do not accept Target coupons.


• Publix also has BOGO free on Betty Crocker potatoes: Click here to get $.40 cents off each box. You can print two (just hit your back button until your printer prints again), making the potatoes $.50 a box!


• Publix has Uncle Bens Boil in the Bag Rice on BOGO. Print coupon here for $1 off 2 boxes to make the final price $.79 a box!


• Knorr sides are BOGO at Publix also. In the Sunday (or the free Cape Life) newspaper a couple of weeks ago, there were coupons for $.75 off 2 boxes. Makes the final total $.39 cents a bag!


• CVS had Cover Girl Foundation for $5.79 and you got back $5.79 in ECBs and so it was free.


• CVS also had Gillette Fusion razors for $9.99, get $5 in ECBs back. The paper had a $4 off coupon, making the razor $.99.

I could go on and on, but I won't bore everybody! I'm telling you though, it absolutely is worth the time it takes to organize coupons as I save on average about $15 dollars a week on groceries. With Christmas coming, deals like the razor from CVS are great stocking stuffers. I also save time by following about 4 blogs that match up all coupons to the current store ads. They do the work for me and it makes it very easy!

Beautiful Kids

Special Happy Birthday

A very special little boy turns three years old today! Happy Birthday!

Man, I Love This Kid!

If I could only get the red eye to work, doesn't she look just like a little doll in this picture?


I've mentioned before that I think Regan (and Regan thinks Regan) is pretty funny. She has one of the greatest senses of humor I've ever seen in a two year old. Tonight, she demonstrated how funny she thought she was as she cracked herself up over how clever she was dressing in mommy's clothes. She was going potty and sometimes she can be there for quite a while (if you know what I mean!). I was talking on the phone and pacing around when I walked into the bathroom and this is what I found:a> She had to have the flip flops show up in the picture!

Rear view
She had dressed herself in my clothes and kept laughing and laughing and laughing. Coo Big, I funny (Too big, I"m funny), over and over again. She is so hilarious sometimes it makes me laugh. She had to have it exact, with the shirt tucked in and my flip flops on. And don't worry, those stains are just paint as that is my painting shirt that she found. She always has some kind of get up on and now instead of being naked, insists on getting dressed. Unfortunately, she wants to pick out her outfits and she really comes up with some doozies!

Doesn't everyone wear their bathing suit over their pajamas?

Remembering 9/11

9/11/01 is like one of those days etched in your memory forever. I was working my first year as a PT in the school district and school had only been in session for a couple of weeks. I remember one of the teachers running into the therapy room telling us to turn on the t.v. It seemed unreal, like some kind of horrid joke. I ran the kids back to class and all of the schools immediately went on lockdown. Parents were rushing to the school to yank their kids out, but it wasn't allowed. No one in and no one out. President Bush was about an hour away in Sarasota speaking at one of the elementary schools. Remember his face when he heard the news? He could have been a professional poker player.

In April of 2002 I was in New York visiting the city with a boyfriend. We went to see Ground Zero. It was absolutely eerie. To imagine the horrors was unreal. I never saw the Twin Towers, but I'll always remember seeing Ground Zero. An awful scene still visible in all that destruction.

Co Sleeping?

Our second sleeping experiment.
Finally, some sleep! Wasn't she so little back then?!?!
Isn't this precious?!?!
The gratuitous, baby with her rump in the air sleeping photo.

I just read a whole blog and comments regarding co-sleeping and the pros and cons. It's kind of funny to me that there is such hub bub about the whole thing. I must confess though, I was originally very anti-co sleeping (before I was a mom!). When Regan first came home I tried everything to get her to sleep in her crib....or at the very least in her own room. The first three days I tried the crib. She learned to climb out of the crib and became very self abusive when she was in there (to the point you couldn't reason or consule her, she just wasn't "in" her body anymore if you know what I mean) she would bang her head and scratch herself bloody. We then tried sleeping on the floor in her room. Better, but still not great. Finally, we spent a month sleeping together in the hospital. The hospital staff was great about the fact that Regan would not do well in a crib and even though it was against hospital policy, they didn't make a big deal about switching out the crib and moving in a big bed. I just signed a waiver saying I wouldn't sue if she fell out or got hurt in any way. Seeing as how she was sedated and/or hooked up to her central line most of the time, she wasn't moving so much during that time. The two of us sleeping in the hospital bed also had the added bonus of freeing up the only chair in the room (in ICU) so that my mom also spent the night. Again, only one adult was supposed to spend the night, but they allowed my mom to "visit" over night. The hospital staff in ICU was awesome.

After we came home from the hospital, I was just glad to get sleep. In anyway possible. I always say that the silver lining of the hospital stay was that we were a team when we came home. After a month of sleeping together in the hospital I knew there was no way to go back to trying to get her to sleep on her own. My only rule is that she has to be able to go to sleep by herself. I won't go in and lay with her in order to get her to sleep. This rule was implemented after with trial and error I would try to lay day with her to go to sleep. I then realized I was spending several hours each day (nap and nighttime) laying as still as possible trying not to fall asleep myself! When it took longer and longer for Regan to fall asleep because she thought it was playtime, I initiated the mommy doesn't lay down with you rule. My other rationale in deciding to co-sleep is the fact that I am such a deep sleeper (used to be, not so much anymore, but when I"m tired, a train could run through my room and I would be undisturbed). I was very scared that she would wake up in the middle of the night and be scared, get into something harmful, or hurt herself and that I wouldn't wake up to hear her. Especially in the first several months being home when we were getting a tops of 4 hours of sleep at night. When I finally got to sleep, I slept hard! Her bedroom is clear across the house and although our house is not big by any standards, it was still a ways away.

Although we stumbled into co-sleeping, I truly do think it helped to cement our relationship. She knew I was there for her and during a time when she would have night terrors and be inconsolable, I was always there. Now, I love looking over and seeing her sweet little face. I think it is an amazing thing to experience and feel that I would be missing out on a great bonding time if we didn't sleep together. Of course I"m fortunate that I don't have a significant other that adds to the equation when contemplating co-sleeping.

My philosophy is that we won't be sleeping with me until she goes off to college. Eventually, when she is ready, she'll want to sleep on her own and that will be just fine. It is just funny to me that it is such a hot topic in the parenting world. I have learned that different things work for different families. As long as it isn't harmful or enabling, then do what is right for your family situation. Obviously, it isn't right for every family and that's okay. At this moment, it is right for our family.

Happy 7th Birthday Konnor and Being a Coupon Geek

This might be a long post, so I apologize in advance!

September 3rd was Konnor's 7th Birthday! He really wanted a birthday party with all of his friends, but his birthday is so early in the year that it is always difficult for us to get it together. This year, we are going to try to host an "It's Not My Birthday Party" later in the year so that he can party with all of his friends. To celebrate on the actual day, he picked going to Outback for dinner. He didn't like his meal, but loved that they sang to him!

On Saturday, he, his daddy, and Ronald McDonald went fishing at the McFlats Fishing Tournament. He went last year and had a great time! After the tournament, he had a Wii program at the library. We then ate Chinese at the local buffet (his choice again) and went to see the movie Wall E. Regan liked Wall E, but wasn't behaving very well which is because she didn't have time for a nap. Konnor loved the movie. The adults all thought that it was boring. We got the message and it was a good message, but I wasn't thrilled. Especially since I trying to keep a non-napped 2 year old quiet! We came home and he opened gifts, his real splurge was an electric scooter given to him from my mom. He was so excited. I bought him some Ben 10 stuff and a skateboard ramp for his new manual skateboard. Let's hope I'm not blogging about broken bones in the near future! His mother hasn't seen him in almost two weeks and his grandmother (who lives in town) hasn't seen him in almost a year. This afternoon, they took him for pizza. We were worried they weren't going to acknowledge him at all. My brother has picked some real winners in the women department ;).

On a money saving note, about a month ago I became a coupon geek. I admit it. In an attempt to save more money while shopping, I look at a couple blogs that post deals from the week's newspaper fliers, clip coupons, and keep up with my coupon binder. It is bulky and I look like a dork, but when I am saving a ton of money when I shop, I get over feeling dorky real quick. The binder is filled with baseball card holders that I purchased at Wal Mart. Using them allows me to quickly look at all my coupons instead of the little coupon holders where you have to pull out and juggle all the coupons while shopping with a 2 year old (not fun). To demonstrate the money I've saved, here are some of my deals the past week.

CVS -

Revlon lipstick free after using my card and getting $5.99 in Extra Care Bucks

Chex Mix - free after $1 coupon

Box of Malt o Meal Cereal - free after $1 coupon

L'Oreal Face wash - free after extra care bucks

Aussie Shampoo - 50 cents a bottle after extra care bucks and coupon

Crest Toothpaste - free after $2 in extra care bucks and a $1 coupon

Wal Mart -

Airborne - made $1.50 after buying two on clearance for $1.25 each and I had two 2 dollar off coupons.

Walgreens -

Crest Mouthwash - I made 75 cents on the deal. It was free when you got back $4.99 in Register Rewards and I had a 75 cent coupon.

Pampers pull ups - 89 cents after it was on clearance for $3.14 and I had a $2.50 coupon. Regan still needs these for nap and nighttime.

Publix -

Friday's Potato skins - 19 cents after $3 coupon

Kotex tampons - 48 cents a box after using Buy One Get One and 2 $1 coupons

Silk Soy Milk 1/2 gallon - 54 cents after $2.25 coupon (I don't like soy milk, but Regan doesn't know the difference!)

Target -

Desitin for 75 cents after stacking a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon.

Prego spaghetti sauce - 50 cents. Was on sale and had coupon.

These are just some examples. With coupons, you just have to make sure not to buy just because you have a coupon and to only buy what you need, can give away, or can store easily. In the Cape Life newspaper, they have the previous week's coupon inserts. So, you can get coupons for free. There are also many websites you can print off coupons. Publix accepts competitor coupons and allows you to use one store coupon with one manufacturer's coupon. Target also lets you stack store coupons with manufacturer's coupons. I actually emailed the company that makes my saline solution because I missed a mail in rebate thing. They sent me a coupon for free saline solution. It is 10 dollars a bottle (it is the only thing that works for me!). Ten dollar savings just like that! It is one area of my life where I am completely organized and I make a list and just hit the stores when I have a free 15 minutes or so (Target, CVS, etc). Publix I usually shop once a week. It is time consuming to use coupons and takes organization, but it is well worth it to me when I am saving so much money. I also set up a binder for my mom and I am the designated coupon organizer for us both. The bonus: My mom got her binder on clearance at CVS for $1.27!

I need to start tracking how much I have saved, but a guess would be that this month alone I have saved about $75 dollars. Yeah!!!

Isn't She Beautiful?

Above is a photo of my pretty girl. Below is her eating lunch in a box, because doesn't everybody eat lunch in a box? Puts new meaning to the word "Box Lunch" !! Ha ha ha, I couldn't resist that one!
Is it wrong of me to look at her little face and think she is the cutest thing ever? And even better, she has such a personality and has such a great sense of humor. She cracks me up every night......she cracks herself up also. Ahhhh, to appreciate your own sense of humor is a gift ;) So, the director at the daycare stopped me today to ask me if I thought she was a handfull. I believe her exact words were, "Do you think Regan is going to be a handfull her entire life?". Uh, yeah, I do. The director calls her "Raygee" and pretty much lets her run the office. The director took to taking her on walks and she says now when she stops in the room if she doesn't let Regan go on errands with her then Regan absolutely will not give her the time of day for the rest of the day. The director also adopted a little girl from China about 6 years ago and I think she has a soft spot for Regan. She likes to go in the director's office and watch the classrooms on the video monitors. She really, really wants me to go outside and wave to her from the camera that views the front door. I did it once, I put my foot down at going outside everyday to wave like a dork at the camera. Isn't it enough that I wave at myself for the camera everytime we go to Publix?!?!?

To back up, Regan got placed in the 3 year old room. Partly at my request, partly at her teacher's request. The first week was dicey. Regan's two year old teacher got moved this school year to teach the threes. I didn't want Regan switched again as she had had three teachers last year and I thought that was ridiculous. Because Regan is potty trained, the daycare made an exception and allowed her and one other little girl to move to the threes. I also wanted her to have older children to help her model better behavior (ha ha ha) and language.

I love how the classroom is more structured. They have circle time, a lesson plan, activities, circle time spots, etc. This daycare has a religious affliation to Lutheranism and they have a bible lesson everyday. I like that and feel it is a bonus to their curriculum. There is also a visual behavior chart consisting of a smiley face, straight face, and sad face. I like that they are backing up their expectations with visual supplements, even though I thought it would go right over Regan's head. Amazingly, it hasn't gone over her head and she puts the dogs on sad faces all the time when they do not act according to her expectations;)

Regan started back to school two weeks ago. The first week she had sad faces (really bad days) for three days! Her teacher was obviously upset with her because she wouldn't keep her shoes on, wouldn't clean up, wouldn't share, was crabby and kept running out the door. Regan and I had many talks about her behaviors, especially running out the door. She is not allowed anymore to even touch a doorknob and if this continued, I was going to have to say she wasn't allowed within ten feet of a door ;) Come to find out, she was running out the door when the teacher was changing the other kids. My thought was that if you had to go into a restroom and change a child, there should be another adult in the room. I had erroneously thought that if Regan had to be potty trained to make it into this class this meant that all the three year olds in the class were potty trained. Guess not.

Anyhoo, I am thrilled to say that she is getting the routine down. I am also pleased that she actually got stamps and stickers yesterday for helping everyone clean up their stations without even being asked. Who says rewards don't go a long way? She hasn't run out the door since Konnor told her that he was not happy with her choices (I have no idea why she chose to listen to him, but I'm not complaining!). The daycare also started a Parent Advisory Group and four other parents and myself were invited to join. I'm really glad as it shows the daycare is looking for support and parental input.

Our other big challenge continues to be drop offs. Regan has been going to this daycare for over a year now. When will she stop crying everytime I drop her off? It is so rough to see her upset like that even though I know she stops soon after I leave (I have been known to lurk to make sure it is alright!) Her teacher wants her to learn to sit still for circle time. I wish her luck on that one. She is only two after all, and one of the most busy little two year olds I've ever seen.

Oh, one other big milestone. Regan is really beginning to enjoy arts and crafts. I mean REALLY enjoy them. I craft whenever I can and she now has her little art box where she will color and draw for quite a long time (30 minutes or so). Her teacher says she worked on her painting today for 50 minutes! She is so proud to show me every afternoon what she finished in class and wants her artwork displayed on the refrigerator.

Things Just a Keep on Breakin'

The newest in the line of casualties seems to be my computer and possibly my clothes dryer. Both of which I would be lost without. I'll start with the dryer. I could dry my clothes faster by having Regan the whirling dervish hang on to them and run around like she is so good at doing. I LOVE this dryer and will be heartbroken if it doesn't work. It is a hand me down from my mom and is awesome. Nothing special, nothing fancy, but it does it's job:it dries clothes. Or at least it used to. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a laundry quirk. All of my clothes have to be dried and then ironed. Pretty much all of them. While in PT school, I actually burned a hole in a pair or soccer shorts because I thought they needed to be ironed. Silky soccer shorts and an iron do not mix.

Next: the computer. It must have been over a year ago, because Joel and I have been broken up for over a year now, a virus took over my computer and tried to destroy it. I still think somebody (not myself, hint hint) must have downloaded something with a virus. Anway, a friend of my mom's rebuilt my poor computer and it hasn't been the same since. Even though it got all of it's guts revamped, it still suffers. My email is always glitchy. If you haven't had a return email from me, now you know why! I have over 400 unread emails in my box because of my computer and it's haywire ways. I recently tried emailing a person who is adopting a little girl from the same orphanage where Regan lived. I was trying to attach pictures of the orphanage only to find out a couple of days later that I had actually sent pictures of random sightseeing. How embarrassing! So, now I have to double check all emails with attachments to make sure they are the correct attachments. That is if my email works at all. So, if I haven't emailed you back.....I'm trying! I am now going to attach some pictures and hope it works. Regan and Konnor both started school last week. Later this week, I 'll have to talk more about it, right now I"ll get on with the pictures before my crazy computer decides to boot me off (another wonderful trick it has learned.)

Tonight's Entertainment

It's hurricane season again... Bleh! Hurricane Fay has decided to come and party this evening. Luckily, it won't be as bad as Charley who came as a Category 5. That is the one hurricane I've been through that was really scary. It went from a 4 that would hit north of us to a 5 headed straight towards us. I'll never forget visiting my friend who lived in Port Charlotte (the city north of us), who got the worst of it........her neighbor's toilet was in her front yard tree. It's never a good sign when a toilet has beome a tree ornament. It was hard to drive around here in Cape Coral because all the signs and power lines were gone and so we had no landmarks to go by.....and I had no electricity for 2 weeks(that really sucked)! Regan's first hurricane and she was really hyped up with all the activity and bringing all the lawn stuff into the garage. She thought it was great fun. At least one of us did!!! If we have electricity, I"ll post tomorrow about the last couple of weeks....I am so behind!

2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony - Beijing***Updated*** See Below

One World, One Dream. The Great Wall.

Countdown Clock, Tiananmen Square.
Buildings in the Forbidden City getting a much needed paint job and face lift in preparation for the Olympics.

Our guide, Happy, who I so hope is enjoying the Olympic Opening Ceremony.


I just finished watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I am so in awe of the entire ceremony and the symbolism. One of the things Bob Costas said that really rung true (and this is just one that I am thinking about right, there were many more) was about the complete and soul deep pride the Chinese felt about hosting the Olympics. Our Beijing guide, Happy, talked on and on about the Olympics. She only got to see her parents once every year or two because of how expensive it was to travel. Her biggest dream was to go with her parents to see the opening ceremonies. Back in 2006 when I was in China, there were Olympic emblems everywhere, including the Great Wall. Back then, you could sense the pride that the Chinese people felt over the honor of hosting the Olympics. It is also mind boggling to me to think that Regan is a Chinese daughter who can also share the great pride in her heritage. It actually brought tears to my eyes to see this pride and to be able to relate and to look at Regan and see some of her heritage. As I said in my last post, I am unable to post new pictures. I enjoyed looking back on some of my pictures of Beijing and I so enjoyed being able to see in my mind the Bird's Nest Stadium. We drove by this awesome stadium on our trip to the Great Wall. Back then, it was little more than a shell. I looked back on old pictures and even though I know we took a picture, I can't find one. I am so ready to go back for a visit, China is such a beautiful country.

UPDATE:

I'm scared, People, scared! Regan is really on a roll! Last night, after I stayed up until 3 AM working on a craft, watching some Olympics, printing coupons, etc....I woke up at 5 AM because something just didn't "feel right". That feeling was finding Regan up, having turned on the tv and was happily watching the opening ceremonies that were being replayed on NBC. What did she have to say for herself? "Look mommy, firework". I didn't mention earlier that she was soooo upset with me because I made her go to bed before the ceremonies were over. If this is the kind of stuff she is doing at the age of 2, what in the world is in store for me when she is a teenager?!?!?!?

P.S. I do have a chain on my front door and a locking bar thing on the sliding glass door so that she can't get out. I think a trip to Target is in my future to buy every locking device known to man. And you know the real unfairness? Tricia, I am actually a goody two shoes, and always have been! I learned from my brother what things NOT to do. My brother was the one always in trouble, sneaking out (I only did that once and he was involved in that little escapade), and too many other things to mention. Konnor, his son, is the most well behaved little boy ever (except he is becoming class clown). When Konnor was two, you could look at him funny and he would cry. Tell him not to touch something once and he wouldn't go within ten feet of it, ever. Where is the justice in this?!?!? (I'm lucky that I took lessons from my mom and hopefully can stay one step ahead of Regan. Maybe I should take a note from my mom and go ahead and nail the windows shut now as opposed to waiting until she is sneaking out at 16?~?~?)

Bullets

I am so far behind on everything in life! I am going to bullet this post because otherwise it would be even worse than my usual rambling, meandering posts!

• On Sunday, we took a last minute road trip. Drove five hours to my grandparent's house. Dropped off my mom and nephew. Drove another hour to my friend Leslie who lives in St. Augustine. Met her new baby!!! FINALLY home from Guatemala. She was sooooooo cute (Maya that is, not Leslie!). The purpose of the trip was to drop off a bunch of baby stuff for Maya and Leslie since I won't be needing it any more :( My baby is growing up so fast! Spent a couple of hours with Leslie. Drove an hour back to my grandparents, ate dinner, visited for an hour or so and back on the road for another five hours! Regan was not so pleasant the following day, but I can't blame her since we had quite the trip!



• I lost the camera charger to my camera. Borrowed my mom's camera and lost the camera cord. End result: no pictures to put on post, so I am going to do past photos.
• I am so excited to see the Olympics! I have been to Beijing and am so excited to see again some of the places we visited! Our Beijing tour guide, Happy, said her greatest wish was to get tickets to see the Opening Ceremonies. I so hope she gets to go, she was an amazing person. In her words, "I crazy like the olympics!".
• Konnor got his Stanford Ten (standardized Kindergarten test) results. He did awesome! Scored in the 98th percentile for reading and the 95th percentile for math. Yeah!
• Regan has not had any more on purpose potty accidents since the incident in the library. I did the whole ignoring thing. I went back to praising her when she used the potty and it seems like it was a temporary thing...thank goodness!!!
• Regan is saying alot more words. She is now using time words: Today, later, now, etc. She picks up a new word just about everyday.
• When I bought my new refrigerator, I never thought about the fact that she can get in the freezer section. I was a little surprised the first time I caught her watching tv, totally naked, sitting on the couch eating an ice cream cone!
• Note to self: Buy refrigerator door locks.
• Regan's trick of the week is to climb the counters. She scared me to death a couple of weeks ago when I found her sitting on the stove. For all the obvious reasons that is not okay. She pulls out the bottom drawer, opens up the cabinet door that is next to the stove and climbs from one to the other.
• Note to self: Pull off the knobs on the stove, remove the bottom drawer.
• Regan's other trick of the week was to lock herself in the bathroom stall at Burger King. On the big Road Trip, we stopped and had breakfast at BK. I took her to the potty before breakfast. After breakfast, my mom took her to the potty and she ran in, ran to the first stall and locked herself in. She must have noticed what kinds of locks they used during her first visit and cooked up this scheme while walking to the bathroom. Fortunately, she unlocked the door herself although I would have almost paid to see my mom try to crawl under the stall door!!!!
• Regan learned to blow bubbles during swim lessons this year. The instructors always made a big deal whenever she would put her face in the water to blow the bubbles. I think they were a little too enthusiastic. Last night, I was getting her stuff together for bedtime. She was told to go potty before bed. I'm in the master bedroom, she is in the master bathroom and I hear a suspicious sound. It sounds suspiciously like bubble blowing. I walk in and her rear end is stuck up in the air as she is blowing bubbles in the dog's water dish. I know what everyone is thinking.....gross! I thought: thank goodness it wasn't the toilet!

Library Stuff

Regan's new obsession is The Doodlebops or Boo Bops as she calls them. As I have mentioned before, there are very few tv programs she will sit and watch for more than 5 minutes which isn't necessarily a bad thing. She is OBSESSED with the Doodlebops now and asks for them every day. I just happened to have this keytar I got on clearance last year and never gave it to her. I pulled it out yesterday and she is in heaven! Below is Konnor following his Dance Dance Revolution Wii program at the library.

I found a new favorite quote from Dr. Seuss:

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

On another note, Regan has a new trick up her sleeve. She first did this little trick at daycare when she didn't like the substitute teacher she had. I thought we were over this particular little unpleasantry and then a couple of days ago she started pulling it out of her bag of tricks again. Her new trick is to wet her pants to show her displeasure about something. She will stand right there, look up at you and say, "I go pee pee" while she wets her pants. She did it yesterday at Sears because I wouldn't let her out of the stroller and tonight at the library because she was upset because the Latin Music Festival program was over. She was able to sit in the circle with "the big kids" and practice playing all the instruments and she loved being able to go to the front (she usually has to sit in the back with me because she is too young for the programs, but this was a program where they sang and danced and she wanted to go so badly I let her go with Konnor and no one minded she was there). She was not so happy we had to leave and let me know it in her most unpleasant way. I had just taken her to the potty about 30 minutes before and had no idea she could leave such a mess. Anyone got any suggestions? And no, I am not putting her back in pull ups after she has been potty trained for almost half a year. I am now packing her going out bag full of shorts, socks, underwear and spare shoes and I thought we had permanently retired that bag:( And can I tell you that I didn't appreciate the guy who stood there and watched me with Regan and gave me a disdainful look because she had her accident?!?!? It was on tile, I cleaned it up and I felt like telling him to give me a break as I am sure he had an accident or two while he was in his growing years!

On another sad note, the library programs are over for the summer. They were awesome! Konnor has a final summer Wii program this Friday and then they will have sporadic programs throughout the year. They are also stopping the evening story times. I am so upset! Regan went to her second one this Tuesday and actually did pretty good as they had alot more movement involved. They are moving them to mornings. It has been nice and we have really had a great time and Konnor has learned alot, completed several trivia contests, earned two books for his reading, and Regan has really enjoyed herself also. The librarians know Konnor and Regan by name now and Regan goes up to their summer desk to get stamps on her hands. They know what she wants when they see her coming!