I am not even going to tell you how I have been so busy enjoying my time with the girls or any other cliche reason for why I didn't write an update when lil Miss Reegan-roni turned 3. But I'm here to write about her now and I think I did this when Riley turned 4 so at least I am consistent.
Reegan is a happy little girl. Except don't call her little girl because she WILL adamantly correct you that she is a "BIG" girl.
She reminds me to enjoy life...all of it. That no event or activity is too small to make spectacular. We give her a pair of worn hand me down shoes and after she says "Shank you" (Thank you) she runs around to tell the world "Look at my new shoes!". For Christmas she got a new Dora doll (the only thing she asked Santa for) and a fabulous doll house, but she was most excited about the box of raisins Santa left not only in her stocking but all of our stockings. She kept yelling "I got raisins! I got raisins!" This little girl could live on raisins and yogurt.
One of the biggest events of Reegan's 3rd year of life was discovering her nut allergy. In May, 2011 we were at a barbecue and Reegan broke out in hives. She had eaten some mixed nuts and we just chalked it up to their maybe being peanuts in it (Riley had tested positive for a milder allergy to peanuts and so we didn't have them in the house). But the following week after going to the local pool we gave Reegan some walnuts and immediately upon putting one into her mouth she began scratching at her tongue and spitting it out. She broke out in hives everywhere. We weren't sure what to do so we gave her a bath and some zyrtec. Of course it was a Friday night right before bed because that's when big stuff happens. On the first weekend we didn't think much about it but on the second reaction when she was grabbing her tongue we started to worry about her tongue swelling and her not being able to breathe properly in her bed. Kind of freaky.
Reegan also has pretty bad eczema. And it may be from the nut allergies b/c when we travel it flares up so bad. Once (before we knew about the allergy) she was bleeding so bad after a flight that we called the doctor from the airport. And last summer on our trip to Missouri her skin broke out bad enough that I went to the mall to find her long sleeves and pants for the continuing leg of our trip and the return. But maybe it's not nuts because we also spent most of the summer chasing her flare ups with oatmeal baths and then when that didn't work bleach baths (recommended by WebMD) and expensive vegan lotion that didn't make her scream when we put it on. And lots of conversations about random guesses on what might be causing it.
Another big event in Reegan's 3rd year might be the great crib escape of 2011. I was devastated. Reegan was a dream sleeper. So easy to put down and NEVER woke up (even when sick). We would do our little routines bath, read story, sing a little song and plop her in the crib in her dark room. I had grand plans to keep her in that crib until 3.5 or maybe college. But it was a Friday night in December when she made her move. She climbed out of her crib and casually came wandering out of her room...17 times. So we had no choice but to take her crib apart the next day and turn it into a toddler bed. And that was the beginning of the end. At least for a while. For a couple of weeks she pretty much did everything but just go to sleep at nap and bedtime. She would eventually fall asleep but she would never be as simple again (until the next summer when we stopped the nap). Things like this room disaster began happening. For a while we locked the door and for some reason she never tried to unlock it. I think she kind of liked having the "option" of leaving her room off the table. We did it mostly for her safety b/c that kid scaled the railing looking over our two story foyer and if she wasn't locked in I would have had to give up sleeping completely for her safety. We also resorted to taking pretty much everything out of her room except one night we forgot that expensive vegan lotion I mentioned above and she decided to moisturize her carpet and hair. Good times. Eventually she settled back into a good routine going down pretty easy but she has never slept as long as she did when in the crib. She wakes up earlier and doesn't always want to go down for a nap. And I say she cried more in the first few months after the crib escape than the first 2.5 years of her life, but mostly she was in good spirits.
Reegan is a bit of a daredevil. When we traveled to Missouri the mall had one of those indoor bungee jumping and Reegan just barely met the weight minimum but she and Riley and her cousins all went on. Riley was a little more anxious (and aware that she could theoretically get hurt) but Reegan jumped with wild abandonment...and the largest smile. And when we went to Disneyland in September there was one roller coaster that Reegan was close to the minimum height. We got in line and we told her to make sure she stood up tall and when we got to the front she quickly got on her tippy toes to make sure she could get on. And she loved it.
Her courage and her desire to be like her big sister and best friend has led to some close calls. While at the park in the fall, I turned around just in time to see her reaching out to go down the fireman pole. Of course, she didn't make it and fell 6 ft to the sand below. But all that could have gone right in that situation did and she got one hand on the pole keeping her upright and her feet hit the sand before her head hit the pole so she didn't hit it very hard. And it barely phased her. She is pretty resilient falling down and just gets back up and keeps on moving.
Reegan took her 3rd year of ISR (Infant Swimming Resource) a few weeks before her birthday and she began working on the stroke! She is a total fish in the water and she and Riley could spend time every day in the pool.
She still loves Dora and is starting to like CARS, her favorite is Lightning Mckeen (i.e. McQueen) so she got a parking garage for her birthday and a homemade Dora cake. We spent the day playing at the bounce house and going out to lunch.
It's hard for me to go back and remember who she was 4 months ago because there is so much I want to tell you (and remember) about who she is today. So let me move onto a current update of Reegan.
I love the way she talks. She is at this age where she talks...a lot and tells stories and yet she still has her "baby" voice. She has words that she doesn't pronounce correctly even though she pronounces them just right. She still called Riley 'Ri-E' and she swaps out L's for Y's telling us she "Yoves" us. And the other day I said "I love you stinker" and she says "I yove you too tinker". Beyond adorable. And I hope I remember to take videos of her saying all my favorite words and sayings but if not I am writing them here in the hopes I can hear them through writing. She says hun-gy (hungry) and is so super cute that I try to make her say she is hungry or not hungry often throughout our day. Oh I never want to forget how she says "It be my favewit"
She loves to be tickled which is really me kind of scratching her back or her sides or even her tummy. This touch can both rile her up or relax her when tired. She will say 'tickle me one more' when I am putting her to bed and the she will say "That be nuff (enough)"
She sleeps great in her bed and goes right to sleep. Partly b/c she doesn't take a nap anymore and is often deliriously exhausted at bedtime. When Riley is home from school she is a good sport and let's Riley call all the shots as if she knows Riley needs to get it out of her system after being so well behaved at school all day. But when Riley's away, the little sister will play. Reegan's imagination is growing fast and she will spend time creating scenes with barbies and members of the doll house family. And she will tell us stories. Her own stories.
She loves the Wheels on the Bus song and recently declared that is what she wants to be for halloween. I am banking on this changing when she sees actual costumes because mom's not so creative to be making a costume like this no matter how many ideas other people have. But I love to sing it with her...and If your Happy and You know It which she also really likes. At times she is still a human wrecking ball so it totally catches us off guard how graceful and smooth she is when she performs her dances for us. But this fall she has decided to play soccer. We let her choose between gymnastics, dance, karate and soccer and she has consistently picked soccer. So that's what we signed up for. Last year she would cry when she couldn't play with Riley's team so we think she will love it.
Reegan has been having a little harder time adjusting to preschool than we thought she would. She is so excited to go to school but then once she gets there she seems a little lost. And that makes her upset. And that makes me sad. But she has recently been asking to bring her soccer ball to school and that seems to make her feel better. The highlight of her school days are always playing outside with a little girl from the other class. I wonder if that will change, but for now at least she loves that. And I have been trying to help her with making friends. I will ask her who she sat with at lunch or if she worked with anyone and she will say "I not know them name." Yes, this is exactly how she talks and despite it being grammatically incorrect it is so perfect I resist teaching her the "right" way. Anyway, she will walk up to a child or an adult and say "Hi. My name is Reegan. What's your name?" I am not sure she knows exactly what she is asking for or if she actually listens to the answer, but she has memorized the introduction and sounds like a mini-grown up when she recites it.
Everyday I see a little more of Reegan's personality emerge. She is silly and sweet and rambunctious. She's still happy to be Ri-E's sidekick but ready to take the lead on as well. She is beautiful and her smile is infectious. And anything that involves 3 is clearly referring to her age. You can be talking about seeing 3 cars you like and she will excitedly interrupt to say "hey you said 3, that's how old I am." She makes every day better, just like her sister.
No comments:
Post a Comment