Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Reagan's Favorites (for now)

At four years old, Reagan still loves many of the things she has for a while now (princesses, Barbie, the Disney Channel, etc.). But now that she's such a big girl, Reagan's new favorite activity is playing on the internet. Yes, she can already navigate both the Disney and PBS websites without any help! She also enjoys Barbie.com and PollyPocket.com. She often says, "Mama, will you get my dot com up on the computer?" Unbelievable!

Here are a few of Reagan's other favorites, for the record:

Favorite breakfast: toast bread (her words) with a spoon of peanut butter

Favorite alone activity: doing "homework" (preschool worksheets)

Favorite activity with Presley: playing chase and squealing

Favorite TV shows: Super Why and Wordgirl (PBS shows)

Favorite hairstyle: braids

Favortie princess: Jasmine

Favorite friends: Morgan, the new Morgan (yes, she has two in her class), Langley, Moira

Favorite clothes: dresses and skirts (a true girly girl!)

Monday, September 17, 2007

Not Meant for Big Girls





Presley is obsessed with climbing in the doll stroller. She has done this repeatedly, despite the fact that I pile dolls and accessories in it, trying to deter the behavior. And, usually, she gets herself IN the stroller but can't climb OUT of it. I don't think the poor toy can withstand her 21-pound weight overload much longer.

And, even worse, she has even boarded the Ariel underwater carriage a time or two. This one is meant for a Barbie-sized doll!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Premier of Presley's Page




OK, so Presley is 15 months old now--about the age that Reagan was when I first created her blog. So, I thought I had better get going on this one. What is Presley up to now? She loves giving kisses and hugs. Her favorite words are "Mama" and "Uh-Uh" (as in, "no"). She also enjoys pulling the phone off the charger and pushing buttons. But perhaps the cutest thing she does these days is grab a purse (or two or three) from the toy bin, put it (or them) on her arm, and then wave and say "bye-bye." What a big girl!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

And Then There Were Two

I guess we knew what we were doing when we bought two more goldfish a couple of weeks ago (so we'd have a "spare" if there was another tragedy). Yesterday morning, as I went to feed the fish, I noticed Jasmine floating behind the filter. :(

Since it was just a couple of hours before preschool, and I didn't want to "upset the apple cart," I opted to wait to tell Reagan, hoping she wouldn't notice. She didn't, and when I finally told her after school, she seemed rather indifferent--quite a change from our near meltdown when Aladdin died. You just never know how a four-year-old is going to react.

What am I doing to these poor fish? I'm following all the instructions, I think. I'm feeding them, keeping the tank clean. I'm having deja vu, remembering how I killed a series of fish when I thought it would reduce stress to have one in my office at work a few years ago. But instead it was extremely stressful, because they kept dying. (Every weekend, I would find my latest fish belly up. I even tried taking the fish home each weekend--which was a huge pain--but I still managed to kill each one off during the week.)

I guess this particular variety of goldfish just have a life span of 30-45 days. At least, that's the answer I'm going with.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Mom Pet Peeves--in Random Order

Don't you just hate...
...how the moment your food arrives in a restaurant, your preschooler announces that she needs to go potty--even though you asked her just moments before if she needed to go.
...when your toddler refuses to nap while the older child is at preschool--until, of course, it's exactly 15 minutes before you need to leave to pick the older child up.
...that your toddler will fall asleep anytime you're in the car--even if you're only two miles away from your destination--and will be grumpy that you woke her up upon arrival.
...when other people (grandparents, Sunday school teachers, etc.) give your kids sugar and then send them home with you.
...tattling (enough said).

But don't you just love...
...when you and your preschooler have your own personal "opera" time, when you both sing everything instead of saying it (are we the only ones who do this?).
...that the toddler can't stop blowing kisses because it's her new favorite skill.
...how sometimes Mama is the only one in the whole world who can make everything all better.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Fishy Situation

For her fourth birthday, Reagan got an aquarium and two fish, Aladdin and Jasmine. They both had grown rather fast, and they seemed to be doing well. They had even survived our two weekends away with automatic feeders, so we felt pretty confident that they were hearty and healthy.

Last Thursday was a particularly rotten day. Presley wouldn't nap, and I was exhausted. Basically, we were all cranky by that afternoon. I had just started cooking dinner when Reagan said, "Mama, look at Aladdin!" You guessed it--he was floating upside down in the tank. After gingerly explaining that he was dead, Reagan began hypothesizing about what had caused his demise. The only thing I could come up with is that I hadn't changed the water in the tank since our last weekend away. (Sometimes the weekend feeders can leave residue in the tank.) Well, upon hearing that, Reagan insisted that I clean the tank immediately so that Jasmine wouldn't die. Never mind that I was in the middle of cooking dinner, which was, ironically, FISH!

By the time Scott arrived home, I was covered in water from the rushed tank cleaning, and dinner was on the table. We had a few quiet chuckles about the fact that we were eating a relative of the departed Aladdin. When I prodded Reagan to eat her fish, she said, "The fish that was dead?" Oh, my.

After dinner, Reagan decided she would like to bury Aladdin (mostly because she wanted to dig). Of course, after he was securely in the ground and a short eulogy was given, she burst into tears and insisted that we dig him up and instead throw him in the trash. (I have no idea why, but we complied, since she was a bit distraught.)

On Friday evening, we again visited the pet store and purchased TWO goldfish (to have a spare), Jafar and Rajah, who cost us a total of 26 cents, including tax. (We went with the smaller fish this time, since the previous two had grown so fast.) For now, the fish seem to be healthy and growing. Of course, the pet store has a 14-day guarantee, so we can get our 26 cents back if they don't make it that long.