While sitting at breakfast this morning with the kids Nicole and I were discussing last nights Without A Trace. We both thought the main character looked like Eminem. Reilly interjected to tell us that Eminem wore white gloves and had white shoes - clearly that would be an M&M vs Eminem. He proceeded to let us know when you eat M&M's they do not have the white gloves on like they do on tv.
I have been trying to teach Kate some basic signs for several months. When Reilly was at Small Adventures day care he learned a few words which it seemed he used and was less fussy because he had a way to communicate. Makes sense, I think - communicating is key- and at this age, it's just grunts.
Today Kate signed "more" when she wanted more food. She is just so proud of herself. She signs "more" and then she claps if she gets what she wants. It's kind of like Pavlov's dog... but different.
Yesterday I did a fundraiser for the Vermont Special Olympics. I had been sharing my quest with many of my family and friends - I was amazed at the support I received. It was a 6 hour spinning marathon which was just awesome. My goal was too stay on the bike as long as I could - ideally for the 6 hours. With the exception of a bio break and a water bottle fill - I did not let up. It was great.
In addition to my personal satisfaction, with the support of friends and family (and Sun matching) I raised just over $2100. How cool is that?
With the live music and the great instructors leading the charge - I would highly recommend this to anyone who is up for the challenge.
A pink Fisher Price Little People minivan with a mom, a baby, and a stroller. He loved it... Reilly a bit more than Shad!
Tomorrow is Shad's birthday - he will be 35. I have been talking to Reilly about what he wants to give Daddy for his birthday. His first idea was a truck with a trailer that came off. I explained that it sounded like something he would want - not really what Daddy would want. He agreed and said that a new flying vehicle would be good, or a train or a boat with a trailer. Again, we talked about what he wanted versus what Daddy would want - and how we should think about things for the person who's birthday it was instead of ourselves. Hmmmmm.... I don't think I'm making any progress.... we'll keep searching.
Kate stood tonight! It was only for about 3 seconds but she stood and began to take one step forward. Shad and I giggled because those moments are so cool - then we exchanged a different glance that was more like "Oh man, this is not good!"
Crawling is one thing, but a stumbling toddler is a whole different beast. Kate is so curious we are in for some major exploration at the 3 foot level.
It's so exciting to cross another benchmark and she seemed to know exactly what was going on - and was kind of delighted with herself in a coy way.
Got to love these little sleepers - not only does it keep her warm at night - it challenges her ability to move!
Reilly has his Fisher Price doctor kit - one of his favorite toys. Shad and I are typically his surgery patients - but tonight he was doing a check-up on Kate. He put on his stethascope and listened to Kate's heart (which was on the wrong side) he then moved it up to her ear. He listened to her ear for a few seconds and he said "I hear ladybugs in there."
After watching tennis for 4 days - we were getting packed to head back east. The weather had been comparable to the weather we had left 3000 miles away. Actually, I think getting caught in the hail storm was worse than what we would have experienced in NH. We spent a couple hours of the last day in La Quinta as we spent hours of the first, watching tennis. This time, Reilly brought his little Andre Agassi tennis racquet which we thought would be cool to have signed if we saw him play again.
There are a few athletes I want Reilly to learn about, Andre Agassi is one of them. I think he is one of the classiest athletes out there - and a great role model. He is one of those athletes that will have helped his sport get to a newer, better place and he does it with passion.
Well, wouldn't you know, Agassi was out hitting the ball on the sunken court. It was raining so he was taking a break, probably trying to see the weather was going to clear. Reilly paced at the edge of the court, dragging his racquet on the ground and continued asking me when the guy on his racquet was going to come to see him.
Eventually he came over b/c it did not appear that the rain was going to subside and it was cold. I don't think he was happy, for whatever reason, and I actually felt badly asking him to sign the racquet. But, he did sign it, and Reilly looked up at him like he was the coolest thing he had ever seen. It was great...
Although this part of my list was created before Shad and the kids - hiking in Joshua Tree.
I bought Reilly some new boxer briefs before we left on our trip: Scooby-DOO and Hummer trucks. The pair that he showed to Jay today was his HUMMER pair. When he began to pull down his pants, he said, "they're HUMMER" and then he turned to Natalie and said "You will really like them a lot".
We all had a laugh about that one - well the adults anyway.
We went to the San Diego Zoo with Megan, the girls, and the four of us. After walking around for quite sometime, we settled in the area of the hippo - there was a brass one for kids to play on and a real one "Jabba" in the tank. We all were playing by the brass hippo on the artificial grass - and some seemingly artificial tree's with people initials carved in them. I was taking photos of all the kids playing on the hippo and in the trees. I asked Reilly to, "go behind that tree and peek through to me" and I said the same to Ayden. Reilly went behind the tree and I was watching his face, he smiled at me and people walked by him on the sidewalk next to the tree. Something, I'm not sure what, struck me and I stood up to talk to him. As I stood, I noticed he had his pants down to his knees and he was beginning to pee. I snapped at him "Reilly, stop.... stop... stop...." I think I horrified him, as he stopped midstream and looked at me as though the the hippo had just come out of the tank. Shad came over and took him to the bathroom.
I looked at the tree, which had a small puddle at the base of it. I could not believe what had just happened, and I could not believe that my words were potentially what had inspired this action.
Kate has learned to wave. It's SOOOOOOOOO cute. She hasn't learned exactly why or when to wave, so she just does it when anyone makes a hand gesture at her. I said "no" to her and shook my head no when I was telling her not to go near the dvd player. Her response was a big smile, a shake of the head and a wave.
My mom watched the kids today because Nicole is away. When I got home Reilly told me about all the things that he ate that we don't typically feed him and he proceeded to tell us how much fun he had with Nannie. The way to rank with this kid is definitely thru treats.
