Regan is 22 months old!

The past month has been filled with many new sentences and many new emotions. Regan loves to talk about herself in the third person. She says things like," Regan hair, Regan pretty dress, Regan blanket." She also loves saying,"Mommy, Daddy Ryan, Regan, Lucy." When she walks into a room she always says,"Hello," and waves with a straight arm and only her little fingers moving. She loves to run, prefers Mommy right now and will never let Mommy and Ryan go anywhere together without her. She has become a very picky eater and likes to eat pasta, pizza, blueberries, freeze dried bananas, pumpkin pancakes, cheese, chicken (sometimes), salmon, and crackers. It is pretty frustrating that she won't eat what we eat, but I keep trying to feed her everything. If I give her a fork and spoon to use, she will give anything a try. Usually after a bite she hands me her bowl and says, "Don't want it." Regan has also been adjusting to having her brother back in school. It has been difficult for her, and on the first day of school she cried because we left him at school. She is also becoming increasingly difficult, or shall I say, strong willed. She wants what she wants, when she wants it. If she doesn't get it, there is a huge meltdown to follow. I am talking about banging her head on the floor until she has a red mark, putting her fingers down her throat to make herself throw up, throwing anything that is in her reach, and screaming at the top of her lungs. This started a few months ago, but is getting worse the closer she gets to 2. I usually make sure she is in a safe place and give her space to tantrum. And, yes, sometimes this happens when we are out in public. I am THAT mom with THAT child! Regan has a big personality with two very strong moods, very happy or very grumpy. She reminds me of myself more and more each day. It is frightening. She is a smart girl and can say all the letters of the alphabet, can count to 20 and knows most animals and the sounds that they make. She likes to look at books alone, but has a hard time sitting still so I can read a story to her. I see some similarities between her and Ryan, but for the most part they are very different.

Regan is 20 and then 21 months old!

These last few months have been so busy that I haven't been able to sit and write. Regan is such a little girl these days. Hard to believe my baby is almost 2! She has quite a personality and is a bit of a wild child. She has a very sly smile that she shows us when she knows she is doing something she isn't supposed to do. Because of her brother and his obsession with his blanket, she too now has the same obsession. Her's is worse than Ryan's because we have to take her blanket everywhere. We have a car blanket and a bedtime blanket. Bedtime blanket must stay in Regan's room. Car blanket goes everywhere else; the car, the house, family's house, the stroller. Some of the cute and funny things she says are: Hold you, Mama- when she wants to be picked up, Where are you Mama?- when she can't find me, Mommy, up, up, up- when she wants to get out of the stroller or high chair, she calls fire engines- dire dingin, instead of saying Grandma, she calls my mom guppy, she constantly says please, thank you, and bless you, she can count to 20, but won't do it if you ask her too, just when she wants to, and she loves singing loud.

Ryan's Last Few Days of School

We almost made it through the year without Ryan getting in trouble at school. He had 2 days left, just 2 days. I guess he could not help himself. He tried to hide it from me, but just like me, he could not keep it a secret. Slowly, the story came out. We were having lunch after school and Ryan said, "Mommy, I cried at school today." This never happens, so I was a little worried and started asking questions about his day. Finally, the truth came out. He said the class was at their tables eating snacks. He was sitting next to a friend who was stacking her snack cups. Ryan knocked down her snack cups and that made the girl upset. He was told to sit at a table and eat his snack by himself. That is the ultimate punishment for Ryan. He was so upset that he told me that he cried and wanted me. It made me sad to hear that he was upset, but I explained to him why it wasn't okay for him to do that and that his teachers did the right thing in putting him at a table by himself. His response,"But, Mommy, she was playing at the table during snack time. Remember, we don't play when we are at the table, we eat." I guess he really does listen when I talk.

Regan is 19 months old!

Things we learned about Regan this month: At her late 18 month well baby check up, she is only in the 25th percentile for weight. We were sure she was in the 95th, because she is quite heavy. She is just a solid girl, like her mama. We also found out she is between the 93rd and 95th percentile for height. Who knew she was so tall?!? She finishes every statement/ phrase/ sentence with Mama; airplane Mama, doggy Mama, water Mama, Bless you Mama. It is really cute. I have to get it on video. She is not very fond of the pool. We went swimming at a friend's house and for the first 30 minutes of our hour and a half stay, she screamed and cried in the pool. I'm hoping the more we go the more comfortable she'll be. She does not want to try to eat from a fork or spoon. She only wants to pick up food from her tray with her fingers and feed herself. If you try to feed her with a fork or spoon, she will throw a major fit. We will revisit spoons and forks in a few days. We signed up for My Gym and went consistently for four weeks. She hated it, every second of it! She is not a fan of climbing, does not want to hang, and does not want to share a swing with anyone. Her favorite part of class was when it was over. She did enjoy the final class when they brought out musical instruments and also when she could swing on a swing alone. Regan loves the park. She likes to go up the stairs and slide down the slide, over and over and over again. When she gets sleepy, she wants to go on the swings and will sit in there as long as we let her. I think she would stay all day if it were possible. Regan loves Lucy. She tries to chase her and pet her. Poor Lucy runs away, but sometimes she will stay for some love. Regan will pet her, and Lucy licks her. This makes Regan squeal. Regan will sit in Lucy's bed whenever she can and look at books. Sadly, the books don't get picked up, and Lucy ends up sleeping with books in her bed.

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!

Regan is 17 months old!

Regan is 17 months old. The highlight this month is Regan says no. She says it all the time! Any question you ask her, the answer is no. The best part, 2 days ago I asked her if she wanted something to eat. She crossed her arms and yelled,"NO!" She is showing some major attitude! Another thing Regan has started doing is yelling at the dinner table. If she wants more food, she screams,"MORE,MORE,MORE," until we give her food. She will also yell,"WATER, WATER, WATER," which really comes out 'wawer.' Ryan gets very upset when she yells at the table. He says she is hurting his ears and will either yell back at her or cover his ears and whine. I am trying to be patient with her and tell her to say, "More, please," before giving her more food. I try to do the same with the water. Needless to say, dinnertime has not been enjoyable for the last few weeks. Regan's little personality is starting to come out more and more. I think she may be my stubborn, challenging, but very loving little girl!