When Will was little I always called him "My Treasure."  That works out great, until you get another kid and then it's just downright unfair to call one "My Treasure" when the other one doesn't have a name.  Fortunately, from the day she arrived Gigi has been "My Joy". 

Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem in 1911 called The Female of the Species.  I don't know if Kipling ever had a daughter, but his words ring true as we have a three year old female of the species in our house.

My other big fear is a newly potty trained child, a full shopping cart at Wal-Mart , and being alone with both kids - one who is too old to go in the ladies room.

Sometimes I know she looks at me and wants to say something like "You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky?  Well, do you Mommy?  Do you feel lucky?"  But she hasn't seen Dirty Harry yet, so I don't know if she'd use that exact line.  But Mommy was feeling lucky.  It's just that in the game of Hungry versus Lucky, Hungry is going to win out. 

There's a two year old "nurse" and she has decided it's her duty in life to "take care of Mommy".  Sweet, yes.  I think, however, we rather have a difference of opinion of the definition of "taking care".  My idea would be for sleep.  I want to sleep.  She seems to think the best way to make me better is to demand I play My Little Pony with her. 

Gigi and I ran out to get the pumpkins for Halloween.  Since the pumpkins were an incredible price I put three large, traditional Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins in the shopping cart and then entered the store. 

Inside the store there were more pumpkins.  White, grey, round, flat, and all other manner of variations one can make a pumpkin.  I'll be honest - I love pumpkins.  I always have.  Apparently, Gigi loves pumpkins too.  She picked out a white one and a grey one and said she must have them.  Since they, too, were dirt cheap, I went ahead and bought them.

We arrived home, put up the pumpkins and the other groceries and I went about my business.  Gigi, however, hung around the fireplace where her two special pumpkins were.  After a while I noticed she was sitting on the pumpkins.  She sat for a while, jumped up, and looked at it.  Then she hit the pumpkin with her princess wand and sat back down.  Her new favorite story is Cinderella and obviously she's waiting for that pumpkin to turn into a carriage. 

It is the most precious thing to watch. 

 

Every Saturday at either noon or 1 in the afternoon Will has a baseball game.  This conflicts with Gigi's naptime.  So every Saturday Chris watches Will play baseball and I walk with Gigi around the park until it's time to go home. 

Monarch butterflies are migrating right now.  Gigi loves butterflies.  Last year we purchased a butterfly kit.  We watched caterpillars turn into butterflies and then we released them in the front yard.  So, naturally, when Gigi saw a field full of migrating monarch butterflies behind the baseball game, she wanted to see them.

There are things Gigi does that are so poetic and so ethereal we can only sit back and observe in awe.  On Saturday she ran through the field causing the butterflies to fly around her as she ran, laughing.  It was beautiful. 

"I love butterflies Mommy."  She said.  "They dance with me." 

 

The thing about Will is that if he's "in a mood" he will exile himself and I won't have to be a part of his bad day.  Gigi demands audience. 

Chris and Gigi share a love of football.  They sit on the couch every Sunday and watch games.  The thing is, Gigi doesn't come alone to the couch.  Gigi brings Big Bunny and Pink Baby.  I put photos in the album area of Chris and Gigi during game time.

Gigi has a thing for talking on the phone.  She has several toy phones which she carries around most of the day talking on it.  She talks to David, Chris' business partner.   She talks to her grandparents.  She talks to her former preschool teachers.  She talks to her Daddy.  She holds up a conversation on the phone - even if there's no one on the other end.

This morning I had just one agenda item to do: buy Gigi’s tap and ballet shoes. I figured it would take me all day. It did.

We didn't get Gigi signed up for preschool in time, so we are on a lot of wait lists for preschool.  Rather than sit around and wait for the phone to ring with a spot for her to go to school, I signed her up for gymnastics. 

Today was her first day.  She's the youngest one in the class.  And she's fearless.  It took the teacher a while to explain to Gigi that one does not jump off the trampoline head first.  She loved it!  She really loves her outfit. 

Photos are in the album.

 

 

If it's not the carpet, it's the cabinents.  If it's not my Chaucer books, it's Daddy's technical manuals.  Everything needs, apparently, a little artistic flair to it. 

I feel my Sick Child Radar is either broken or was, perhaps, never correctly installed.  I am consistantly surprised when my children become ill, though in hindsight there were clearly warning signs.

On the 31st we celebrated Gigi's 2nd birthday.  Photos are in the album.

My mom gave me a ton of baby clothes when Gigi was born.  The catch was that these were clothes from the late 1970s.  They were my clothes.

This weekend Gigi wore my nightgown from when I was 2 and sat in my old rocking chair.  I've seen Gigi's clothes when she's outgrown them and I can conclude that either things were just made better in the 70s or my child is entirely too rough on her clothes.

Photos - mainly for Honey - are in the photo album.  If Honey would be so kind as to scan the photo of me in the nightgown from the 70s I'll post it too - just to show what a truly good investment this nightgown was 30 years ago.  I think Mom got her money's worth.

It's interesting to see which traits my brother, my sister, and I have in common with our parents.  I think as the three of us become adults, traits from Mom and Dad become obivious.  For example, my sister and my dad are clones.  They have the same personality, the same reactions, they stand the same way.  My brother has a very neat, tidy house.  He is also able to find creative solutions to problems - he is a problem solver.  In addition to Mom's blue eyes he has her neatness and her problem solving skills.

Soccer season has become baseball season.  This means we have switched out the soccer cleats, shin guards, soccer socks, and soccer ball in the back of the car for baseball cleats, a batting helmet, a baseball bat, a mit, and a baseball. 

Reagan turned a year old.  One.  One year old.

It's a little different than the song in The Sound of Music.  There are no doorbells and sleighbells or schnitzle with noodles.  There are, however, outlet covers, nightlights, and throwing pacifiers at the pets.

A year ago today Reagan attempted to enter the world.  We ran to the hospital, the doctors determined her weight was not yet at 4 pounds, and I ended up on bedrest for several weeks.  We learned a few things about our daughter a year ago: "it" was a girl, and she was already an overachieving early bird. 

Seeing how much Reagan likes to do things a few weeks early we celebrated a birthday party for her while Mom and Dad were in town.  Photos are in the gallery.

Finally, news about the other child.

She's in a race to grow up apparently and catches us off guard - again.

Reagan's 5 month pictures are in the photo album. 

The rice cereal went well.  She managed to eat some, and even started opening her mouth when she saw the spoon coming at her.  Smart girl.  That keeps us from having to do that funny "AHHHH.....  AHHHH...  YUUUUUMMM" face that parents make when trying to teach babies to eat from a spoon. 

We put pictures in the photo album of Reagan's first food.

Reagan turned four months old this week.  Her new accomplishments in the last several weeks include rolling over, laughing out loud (a lot), trying to talk to everyone, pushing up, and scooting around on the floor.  She's such an easy going, happy little girl! 

Pictures are in the Photo Gallery of our 4 month old.

Milestone moment!

The dogs got into my garden.  They trampled my hyacinths, so, I cut the ones that survived to bring them into the house.  Reagan came with and so did Chris, camera in hand.  I love hyacinths - and these pictures of Reagan remind me of a line from my favorite work by TS Eliot:

"You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; They called me the hyacinth girl."  - The Wasteland

You can see pictures of our "Hyacinth Girl" at 2 months old in the Photo Album area. 

The anatomy of the blog.  And information about Reagan.

Flying Standby for the birth of your child.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's some photos of Reagan, and her big brother. We will post a full photo album later!

She was born on Jan 31, 2006 and was 6 lbs. 1oz.

No one else here is ever early - you need to conform to that.

Time is coming to an end.  Here is your notice.

The child does not bend to pressure or pleading.

Second Child Guilt.

Mind of it's own.  Waiting game begins.

Peanut cooperates...  Sort of.

On seeing our child again...  And on getting the bill...

Doctor visit.

All is looking well.

A little secret for our readers...