Raising All Kinds of Hale: April 2011

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Miss Manners

We've been trying to teach Raegan some manners over the past few months and it seems to be working.

Sometimes she pushes us away if she's not in the mood for a hug. I still don't like being rejected, but at least now she says, "No pees" if she doesn't want to hug or be kissed at the moment.
Friday we were at the playground and she was turning the steering wheel on the equipment. A girl came up and starting steering it too, without regard for Raegan being there. Raegan politely said, "Scew me, Naygen driving...okaaaay?" It didn't phase the girl, and her dad came to retrieve her for not waiting her turn.

"Scew me. I bup."
"Move, pees" if we are in her way of doing something
"Sanks, mom/dad"
"Hep, pees" (help)

and then she laughs at her own toots... every time :)

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

We took Raegan to an Easter party at Ryan's work and she loved the rabbit. She followed him (one of Ryan's coworkers) everywhere and kept sitting in his lap and getting hugs. We had to retrieve her from several people's family photos with the bunny. She found one egg and got sidetracked from looking for more when she discovered the Reese's cup inside.

Sharing candy with the bunny

Saturday we went to the park and the fire department was giving out plastic helmets. They let her sit inside the truck but she was scared we were leaving her. She's warming up to the helmet, though.

On Easter we went to Tony and Shaina's for dinner. Tony's brother was in town and looks a lot like Tony. Raegan was a little confused by it and said, "Bye, Tony!" to each of them when we left.

playing with handsome Andrew

She wanted to put on all of my necklaces.

This is how we spend most of our days. The baby sits in her "yap."

Monday, April 18, 2011

Happy Birthday, Spider!

She wanted to hold hands for the picture :)

We've been outside a lot lately. I think Raegan would stay out all day if we let her, and if she got to pick, she'd probably be naked. I told her the slides wouldn't be as fun without pants. We're frequenting two parks and checked out a new one Saturday morning. It had some neat and different equipment, but it was a little old for her (ages 5-12). There was not much she could do without a lot of help. She loves the slides and sits in my lap on the very fast ones, as she calls them. We met some really nice kids and moms at the play ground this week, one lives on our street. We were out for a walk later that day and they invited us over to play.

Riding on the parachute with all of her friends

We found a spider in the kitchen, so I scooped it into a clear container and put a lid on it. I save them for Ryan to identify and let me know how freaked out I should be. Raegan was fascinated by it and wanted to let it out. I kept telling her some spiders bite, so we shouldn't put it on our breakfast tray. She hugged the container and offered the spider some scrambled eggs and said "Num, num!" I thought the spider was dead from accidentally whacking it with the dust pan as I corralled it. Raegan wanted to sing "Happy Birthday" to it, and it miraculously sprang to life. I opened the lid and gave it a little piece of scrambled egg. I don't make good scrambled eggs; it hasn't moved since.

Saturday night, Tony, Shaina, and Andrew came over for burgers. Raegan had fun playing with Andrew and showing him some puzzles and trucks. She wanted to take him for a ride on the parachute (sleeping bag) but he got startled. While we were eating, she was ready to get down and repeated "all done." We told her some of us were still eating. Shaina was the last one eating, so Raegan looked at her and said, "Done, Shaina!" Raegan was sad to see them go and got in their back seat next to Andrew. She asked for the door to be closed, tried to put on the seat belt, and waved bye to us. She was so close to having her first sleep over. She would've called us to pick her up shortly ;)

Printable bunny ears for cupcakes and muffins

Today we hosted play group. It was a small group but still fun. Raegan shared with her friends for the most part. She insisted on wearing her pajama shirt all day. We got these pajamas last week. She's really into trucks and loves her new jammies. Everyone at the play ground thought she was a boy. I was prepared for it and just went with it. "How old is your son?" "21 months" After I looked around, the evidence was stacked against her: trucks, a blue diaper peeking out of her jeans, blue and brown stroller, and an ambiguous name. I like that she loves her trucks!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

21 months

She climbed onto Ryan's bike by herself.

I looked for this potato over the course of 2 hours. I thought maybe I was going crazy and had already put it in the soup, then I found it in the cabinet with her wooden knife.

At 21 months, Raegan...

is starting potty training today! She has been getting embarrassed and sometimes apologizes for going in her diaper, so we thought it was time to use the potty. I will do a post on our experience when the dust settles.
gets her binky at nap and bedtime only
new words and phrases - mouse, dad home!, cake, nap (some days she asks for a nap), "ange" (orange), "shar" (shower), "ready ready" (ready, Freddie?!), "cah-do" (avocado), "sower" (stroller), "buh-bes" (bubbles), "bas" (bath), "sah-ee" (sorry), cow, shot, "meh-sin" (medicine, she's been playing with her vet kit), "sah-bess" (strawberries), "frew an frew (wants to read I Love You Through and Through), "yoke" (yogurt), "cap-chis" (chapstick), "pase" (toothpaste), eggs, pay (she's ready to checkout and pay for her groceries on her cash register), sad, cry, fall, sing, "mouf" (mouth), read, picture, snacks, dance
labels everyone we see as a mom, dad, baby, or kid
pumps her left arm when she runs and leaves the right one bent by her side - We think it's from being in the habit of carrying a stuffed animal in her right arm. It's really funny to watch!
usually takes a 2-hour nap starting at 12:30 or 1:00.
current favorite books are If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Potty, No No Yes Yes, Animals Everywhere,
talks about dog poop way more than I would like.
always answers "orange"if I ask her what color something is.
loves trucks and all things that GO! I think she hears every car and plane that go by our house.
makes a kissing sound with her tongue against the back of her teeth. Most of the kisses are reserved for her baby and dogs.
is improving her conversation skills on her phone. "Hewo! Howaaar you? Good."
had her first time-out this week for throwing forks while we unloaded the dishwasher. She isn't mad when she throws; she thinks it's funny, but it's not the best habit. She also throws things when she thinks I'm about to take it from her. She thought the time-out was funny until she realized that I was serious and kept putting her back every time she ran off probably 15-20 times). One little minute can feel like a really long time! I tried to think of things that are appropriate to throw, but the only thing I could think of was a ball. Now she tries to call everything a ball so she can throw it. : /

Raising All Kinds of Hale

Yellow Gray