Missing Roo

So this post is a bit more about me than Reagan. I am away from home all week on business and so I am a bit baby deprived. On one hand it is great to have a break (although I don't really get me time on these trips), on the other I find myself constantly missing the Roo. I miss her happy morning greetings from her crib--where she tends to jump up and down like a roo, her impromptu hugs as we get ready for our day, her "help" while I dry my hair--holding the hairbrush in the bathroom and chewing on the handle while I use the dryer, then handing the brush to me for a few swipes and whining until I give it back to her, all while staring at the whole process in complete fascination. And then there is my all time favorite part of the day--the toddler waddle-run across the classroom when she sees me peek in and the big smile and hug I get when I pick her up at school. Ahh, the little things that mean so much, and mean even more when I am 1700 miles away. I am looking forward to big baby hugs Friday morning.

A Short Roo Tale

There are some days I still can't understand how I was lucky enough to be blessed with such a wonderful little girl. There are other days when I wonder how I am going to make it through our tantrum filled day. I thought they called it the terrible two's?

But Saturday was one of the good days. Roo and I went to my new gym and I put her in the babysitting services while I worked out. When I came to get her an hour later one of the sitters greeted me with a big smile and a story. A little girl had gotten really upset and was crying with her head down on a table. Reagan went up to her and patted her on the back and started rubbing her arm as if to console her. They said it really was one of those "awww" moments. What a sweet girl to try to comfort someone she doesn't even really know. She's the best.

The Happiest Girl

Another busy week. Right now it is almost 8 AM and dead silent in our house, very rare. Reagan is exhausted from yesterday. She finally seemed to kick the cold she has been carrying around for about 7 weeks and I took the day off so she could get vaccinations. We both hate vaccinations. She had to get two shots in both legs and I have NEVER heard her cry like she did. I cried. A lot. I don't think the nurse knew what to do with me. Reagan recovered faster than I did. The whole vaccination thing is so scary and I am not sure we made the right choice yesterday, but sometimes you just have to do the best you can and have faith. I think I will be praying a lot this weekend.

We are hosting a shin dig tonight so after that we ran errands all day. Tedious, but totally entertaining. I think Roo's favorite store is Home Depot. She loves the people and noise. As we cruised around she just smiled and waved at everyone like a prom queen. We are apparently all on this earth just to play and entertain her.

When we finally got home Roo took a long nap and I hopped onto a conference call. Then she ate dinner and got a second wind. She ran from the kitchen with her sippy cup of milk (big accomplishment that she is even considering drinking milk from a cup) and into the living room. While I was doing dishes I could hear Kerry laughing and as I peeked into the room there was Roo right in the middle just spinning in a circle laughing. She has been doing this lately when she is happy or dancing. She just stands up and starts spinning. She can only do it for a little bit until she gets so dizzy she falls down. I think we watched her for about 20 minutes just laughing. Such a simple thing, that I love so much and am so grateful to have.

We've Created A Monster...The Good Kind.

We have discovered that Reagan is a playground-aholic. Slides are her favorite new thing, and she wants to climb anything and everything. Even today her daily school status came back with the comment "the best part of Reagan's day today was exploring the playground. She climbed up the stairs and went down the slide." They have no idea the they are contributing to creating a playground monster. In a good way of course.

On Sunday we took the dogs to the park. Those poor retrievers never get enough exercise these days. When we got to the park, it was empty. According to the rules kids under the age of 5 are not allowed inside, but Roo and I went in anyway since there was no one there. Reilly was going nuts playing fetch and he would run up to us at full speed, Reagan laughed out loud watching him barrel towards us with such energy. After a while, Roo decided that she wanted to eat dirt, so that quickly changed my agenda. Kerry stayed in the dog park and we went for a ride on her beloved tricycle. It was funny, as I pushed her around the perimeter Nugget followed us along the fence line. It was like he wanted to keep his eye on his little friend.

On the way home Kerry drove us past a new park and playground close to our house. Since he hadn't seen Roo on the slide the day before we took her out. We ended up playing there for almost an hour and then Reagan threw a true toddler fit because she didn't want to leave. Back arched, head thrown and legs kicking. She did not want to go. I guess I can't complain, at least she really likes to be outside. I see lots and lots of playground visits in our future...

Saturday in the City

Halloween weekend was a busy one and Saturday was no exception. Friends of ours, Jen and Paul Enderson, from Knoxville were in town for the NYC marathon and we decided to go visit with them on Saturday. Kerry and Paul hung out while Jen and I took the kids to Central Park. Reagan has so much fun playing and watching the other kids, she didn't want to leave. She got to go down a slide for the first time, but her favorite part was trying to climb back up it. She could not stop grinning. After a while we decided to go on the swings. After the swings Reagan wanted to play in the sand and kept trying to give handfuls to me and of course eventually eat it. After we had a discussion about how "sand is not for eating" we went to find our friends and went to lunch.

After lunch we decided to go to FAO Schwartz. What were we thinking on a busy Saturday? It was hot, crowded and complete chaos...Reagan LOVED it! As we approached the store I tried to get her to take a picture with the "toy soldier" outside, but no luck. She didn't seem to really trust him and kept her distance. Once we were inside and came up with a game plan, she kept wandering up to a doll display and grabbing the dolls and hugging them, while tearing the entire display apart (I should know better than to let her out of the stroller). And of course Mommy the sucker had to buy her one. Every little kid needs a treat from their first trip to FAO Schwartz, don't they?

While in the toy store, Reagan finally collapsed asleep in her stroller and we headed back to the car. What a great day, it was good to see friends and watch Reagan have so much fun.

Trick-or-Treat

What a beautiful Fall weekend, from start to finish the sky was clear, the air was New England crisp and the Fall leaves provided the most beautiful background. Just perfect and as usual, very busy.

Friday was busy at work and I rushed home a bit early to get Reagan from school so we could go trick-or-treating at a somewhat normal hour (at least normal for a 1 year old). On the way home I had to stop and buy beer and wine (we like to make sure our favorite adult neighbors get some of their own treats on their Halloween travels). As usual it was rush, rush, rush. I wanted to leave work at 3:30 and of course got stuck and then at the last minute a conference call was scheduled for 4:30 (just my luck on a Halloween Friday), which I joined from my car. I finally got to Roo around 5 and immediately got her in the car and home for dinner. Kerry didn't have to work, but man was he busy all day- carving pumpkins and getting out the decorations so we at least looked like we wanted kids to stop by.

Roo ate, got dressed and we hit the trick-or-treat trail around 6. She didn't have any idea what was going on, but boy did she not want to let go of her pumpkin treat bag or the battery operated pumpkin that we gave her to hold. We put her on her tricycle (thanks Auntie Court) and off we went. We had delusions of hitting every house, but quickly realized that A) we left the candy on our front porch and it would be gone quickly and B) Reagan was not going to last long. We settled on visiting the houses we knew would want to see Roo dressed as Roo.

Reagan had a great time and wanted to go inside every house we stopped at. She would look at us with this expression like, "wait, aren't we going to stay a while?" We started at The Kennedys and went all the way up the street to Fifi's house (Fifi is a little terrier that we often see walking in the neighborhood). Fifi was dressed as a bee and Reagan had the best time giving her little pets. The night ended with a very tired little girl, but one that was thrilled to see all the other kids out and about. I would say that our first trick-or treating adventure as a family was a success. I think from now on we will take turns. :)