Regan is 18 Months old!

Regan is 18 months old. She surprises me with how much she knows. She is just a little sponge and takes in everything. I like to ask her to point to her various body parts because I didn't realize how much she already knows. I think with Ryan we would sit and go over the names of everything. With Regan there seems to be limited time, but, she knows them. Regan still loves to dance and my favorite thing to do is turn on the music and tell her, "Regan, dancing time." She will then dance and laugh. It is great entertainment. Another thing Regan loves to do is say, "Thank you." Any time you give her something she always says thank you. Of course it sounds like daa du. Anytime one of us sneezes, Regan is the first to say, " Bless you." Although she can't quite distinguish between a cough and a sneeze so most times she will bless you after a cough too. Regan loves looking for airplanes when we drop Ryan off at school. She also loves to look for helicopters and dogs when she sits in the stroller during my workout. If she spots either of these, she will yell doggy or a muffled Regan version of the word helicopter until I acknowledge that I, too, have seen them. We have also been experiencing some crazy tantrums. She will throw herself on the floor and scream, tense her body until she is shaking, or just run around screaming. Do not make the mistake of picking her up when she is having a tantrum. We have to give her space and when she is done she will come over soaked with sweat and a tear stained face looking for some love. Regan has been talking so much these days and moving very quickly. I have to be on my toes when we are outside because she will take off in a flash. She loves playing with other kids, but is obsessed with her brother. He is her favorite! Whenever she wakes up from her nap before him she asks,"Where's Ry-Ry?" In the morning when she wakes up, the first thing she says is, "Where's Ry-Ry?" She really loves him and he loves her too.

Stopping To Smell the Roses

As a stay-at-home mom, I feel very blessed to spend so much time with my kids. I quickly realized that, yes, I am present everyday all day, but am I really? I find myself busy with groceries, cleaning, errands, volunteering at Ryan's school, working out (so I don't go crazy), but how much time am I really spending with them? Last Saturday Sanjay went golfing for the day, so it felt like a weekday/workday to me. I kept thinking what am I going to do with the kids all day? How am I going to tire them out so they will nap? Where should we go? Come Saturday morning I thought, 'What the heck, we are not going anywhere.' 5 days a week we are rushing around to get out of the house, so why today? Why not have a lazy day and let the kids play and wear pajamas all day. I gave Ryan some tv time and went and sat with Regan in her room. While in there I learned some things about her in a few short minutes. Some things I already knew; that she loves books, that she loves being in her room, she loves to get her blanket out of her crib, she loves to sing her favorite songs from music class and some things I did not know; that she grabs the books and makes the sound of the animals in the books, that she can count to five with sounds and not actual numbers, (she tries to imitate what I sound like when I read counting books to her, but she doesn't know her numbers yet so it just comes out with sounds) that she knows the letter A, although I don't know how she knows it, and that she likes to just sit on my lap, and she will clean up her toys. I started to feel really guilty that our weekdays are so busy that we just don't take the time to just hang out and play. I really make an effort to spend alone time with Ryan whether it is reading, playing games or just talking because I feel like he remembers what it was like before Regan and how much time he used to have with our undivided attention. I guess I thought Regan loves being with Ryan and with other kids so we just go, go, go when Ryan is in school so she can be with other kids. What I failed to realize is that sometimes she likes to just be alone with me. When she is alone with me she cuddles more, she will sit on my lap and want to read a book, she loves to laugh and likes to be tickled. I realize that both kids need me, not just in the, they need me to provide them with their basic needs way, but they really need me to carve out some time in my busy days to spend time with each of them individually. I almost feel horrible even saying that I don't have that much time with them separately, but that is the reality when you have more than one child. I can definitely say in spending more time with each of them alone, they seem happier, but I think I am the one who is really happy!