Reegan - Almost 4

Reegan often surprises me with little pieces of information I had know idea she knew.  Like a few weeks ago at dinner we were talking about what month it is and what comes next and all of the sudden Reegan lets us know she knows most of the months of the year (thru September).

This morning while we were getting ready for school/work it came up again.  And it was magical for me to hear her tell me how juuuuuuune comes after May.  And then comes JUly (emphasized just how it's spelled).

(I mention Riley next here only to give context, not to compare).  When Riley was little I called her my achiever.  She woke up in the morning and wanted me to test her.  If she was cranky or hungry in the car I could distract her by asking her questions.  About anything.  She liked to know stuff and wanted everyone to know she knew stuff.  She loved learning new "stuff" from ABCs to shapes and colors and doing the monkey bars.

Reegan, however, is a bit more of a free spirit.  She is amused by more traditional toddler activities like listening to Old MacDonald and knocking over towers of blocks.  She isn't necessarily motivated by our excitement over her ability to spell her own name.  She's like "yeah, great, I'm all smart...now let's go play some barbies already."

Tonight while we were playing "A Very Hungary Caterpillar card game...

it reminded me of Reegan's knowledge of the months and I wanted to show everyone (i.e. Daddy and Riley) just how much our little girl knows.  So I said "What's after January?"  And she proclaimed 'February!' and after that 'March' and then of course the very special month of 'April!'.  There I stopped her to say what happens in April?  She yelled out "I turn 4!"  And here's where things go a-rye.  Somewhere Reegan heard/learned/decided her birthday is April 17th.  And no matter how many times I correct her she forgets and says 'April 17th.'  This time was no different.  So I mentioned it's April TWENTY-seventh.  She says "oh yeah".  And we finish going through the months.  She forgets what comes after May and she says "let me check my calendar".  She comes back and we finish thru September.  We then tell her about October, November and December.  And then we are going through them again and and again we say "And when's your birthday"  As proud as can be she hollers (in caps) "APRIL 17th!"  So we may just change it.

And then we go back to our game which is also a good game for learning the days of the week.  This is a card game, similar to Uno but with days of the week.  If someone puts down a Thursday card, you can put down a Friday card or a wild (and then call out the day of week you want it to be).  And everyone has a caterpillar (see picture above) that has no role in the game.  Reegan lays all her cards out in front of her for everyone to see, plays for a little bit and then says "let's just hop our caterpillars around.  That's my favwit part."    Who really needs to know what comes after Tuesday if you can have fun hopping the caterpillars around?!

Wow

Has it really been 3 months since I last blogged?  Can I make a comeback?

From day to day it doesn't seem like ages 2 and 3 are more work, but I definitely found time to blog more when Reegan was sleeping 27 hours a day (only a slight exageration).

And then I think I get overwhelmed with the idea of trying to catch up or keep up and so I just stay away.

So I am not going to promise to keep up or even try to catch up.

Today when I picked Reegan up from school she came out with some "work" she had done.  It was a little booklet with Reegan written on the front in very nice handwriting.  On page 2, it was Reegan written in what was obviously Reegan's handwriting.  Same for page 3.  Then on page 4 was a family portrait Reegan had drawn.  She was most excited to show me this.  She said "I scribbled your hair b/c you have crazy hair."  and "I made Daddy silly b/c he is silly."  and "Here is my sister Riley" (in case I didn't know who Riley was).

And as we were driving away she said "Mr. Nando (her teacher ==> Mr. Fernando) told me not to draw Daddy."  I asked "why did he say that?"  She says "b/c I was supposed to be drawing MY letters."  And here is what I picture...her teacher sits to help in her practice to write her name.  He gets her started and then walks away to let her try it on her own...only when he comes back she has instead drawn a picture.  This is Reegan.
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Last month we stayed in a hotel when we went to see Santa.  While exploring the room, Riley opened the closet and says "Awesome, they have a surf board!"  Uh, I guess I don't iron enough.

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Today we went a slightly different way home from school and there were 3 young (teenage) boys playing basketball in the driveway.  As Reegan is passing them on her bike she is totally like "Hi boys."  Two houses later there are two adult men and she yells out "Hi boys."  A few houses later we run into a girl that Riley knows from school from another class named Sophia and I say "hi Sophia."  Reegan really wanted to be in it and so as they are going inside she yells out "I'm Reegan!"  She is NOT shy...no matter what she says.

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Currently Riley wants to be a Fashion Designer singer.  She will design clothes for singers and clothes for herself when she sings.

More to come.