School Bus

Reese and I started our ECFE class today. Although we switched to a non-separating class this year, Reese still had a hard time leaving my side and kept saying "bye-bye" because she wanted to leave.

When the class was finally over, I decided to brighten her morning with a trip to the bus barn. Reese is absolutely obsessed with school buses, so this was a dream come true. She had such a great time climbing up the big step and walking around the bus, it was hard to get her to leave.

The Wonder of a Bug

Reese is facinated with the million boxelder bugs we have outside our house. We have had many conversations about the bugs, including the tough conversation about how the bugs aren't going to crawl anymore if we step on them.

Questions

Reese is entering the stage of asking questions. Here are a few examples...

She always wants to know what things are called. She asks, "Name?", then waits for us to answer or makes something up herself. Today she was looking at a little action figure and said to herself, "Name? Guy! No, man!"

Whenever she sees something new, she asks, "What's that?"

She often asks, "What happened?" For example, today she was eating a banana and saw a little spot on it, so she asked me in a very concerned voice, "What happened?" Then I had to explain why the banana had a spot.

She's a curious little girl!

Grandma's Birthday

We celebrated Grandma Cipra's birthday with presents and a birthday cake. Reese thought it was great fun and kept telling Grandma, "Happy Birthday!"

ER

Reese woke up from her nap on Saturday with a temp of 104. We treated with Tylenol and took it easy for the evening. She went to bed with another dose of Tylenol, but when I went to check on her at 1am she was absolutley on fire. Her temp read 106, I gave her more Tylenol, and called the nurse line. Throughout the next 45 minutes her temp did not come down at all, so decided something was wrong and made our first trip to the ER.

Reese was a trooper at the ER in the middle of the night. She cooperated when the doctor examined her and when they took an x-ray to see if she has fluid in her lungs. She even said "Bye-bye, see you next time" when we left the x-ray room. When we finally left at 4am, she told the doctor "thank you" as we walked out the door. A little sweetheart even when sick.

We didn't find anything seriously wrong with Reese, which is great news. The ER simply gave her Ibuprofen which seemed to work much better than Tylenol and immediately brought her temp down to 102 and continued to fall. We will continue to treat with Ibuprofen and watch for other symptoms over the next few days. Feel better, Reesie!

Tunnels

We were out shopping today, and I decided Reese needed some play time. So, we went to Burger King which has an indoor play area. Reese has been there before and was previously pretty reserved staying on the lower levels watching the other kids. Not today - she wanted to crawl around the high tunnels and go down the big spiral slide. At first she wanted me with her - my knees really hurt from crawling so much and I got a little claustrophobic in those small tunnels. But soon she went through the tunnels on her own just looking back often for reassurance. Big girl!

Painting

Tonight we baby-sat for our friends' adorable kids Mac and Brielle. Reese has fun playing with some new toys, and even painted for the first time. She was very focused on the paper for 20 minutes, then started painting on the floor and her shirt. Luckily water paint cleans up quickly and easily.

French Fry Critic

I think we figured out Reese's future occupation - french fry critic. So far she has given every restaurant rave reviews - she loves her fries!

The other day we went to lunch at Perkins and I asked her what she wanted to eat. Her quick response, "French fries!" On Sunday I told Reese Grandma Cipra was going to bring over dinner. She got very excited and yelled, "French fries!" - then was a little disappointed when she showed up with Chinese food instead. Tonight we tried out a new burger place called Five Guys. Of course Reese loved her french fries - and the cheeseburgers were delicious too.

Quiche

Reese and Grandma Cipra have a new favorite outing - a morning at Barnes and Noble. They enjoy looking at and talking about all the different books. Then they always go to the cafe to share some spinach and artichoke quiche. Not sure it is normal to like quiche at 19 months old, but Reese loves it and eats more than Grandma!

Fall Clothes

Reese and I went on a little shopping spree to buy her some fall clothes. Here she is modeling one of the new purchases. She kept looking down at the dress and saying "cute outfit"! I agree - she looks super cute!

Mickey Mouse Party

Happy 3rd birthday to our neighbor Laura! We had a great time at her party decorating mouse ears, playing pin the flower on Minnie (although Reese "cheated" by not putting on the blindfold), and best of all, eating cake and 'hot diggity' hot dogs!

NFL Kickoff

Reese kicked off the NFL season in an adorable Vikings outfit. She was excited at the beginning of the game, even watching the TV and yelling "Go Vikings!" But soon found her slide and dolls to be more entertaining.

One more thing... please ignore the tin foil on the couch in the 2nd picture. Libby has selected that as a place to spray, so we are trying to discourage her. Errrr....

Counting to 10

I think (hope) Reese has Daddy's knack for numbers. She has started counting to 10 pretty consistently, and occasionally into the teens. I think this is due to the fact we count her jumps when she's bouncing around in the jumper -- which is ALL THE TIME.

A few other fun things lately... she says parts of her ABC's, knows some colors (although sometimes says blue for everything), and sings parts of some songs. Here's my best attempt at how she sings three songs...

Wheels on the Bus
"Wheels on bus, round round, all over town". Then launches into another verse, "People up and down, up down, all over town".

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
"Twinkle twinkle star, wonder are, up high".

5 Little Monkeys
"Monkeys jumpin'. No more monkeys jumpin' on bed!"

Technology

I think it's funny that Reese loves technology.

She is obsessed with the iPad. I can't even pull it out with her around. She says "Password" when she wants to unlock the screen to play her games. And she manipulates the iPad like a pro - scrolling across screens, opening websites, and playing games like Baa Baa Black Sheep where she searches for objects and drags them to their match.

Reese is not a fan of TV in the house, but she loves to watch videos in the car. She learned the phrase "Fast forward" and says it multiple times during a car ride (I guess during the dull parts) making me lean over and hit the button while driving. She knows how to push the fast foward button herself, and it drives her crazy that she cannot reach the button while strapped into her car seat.

She also loves to watch videos on You Tube. She knows exactly which videos she wants to watch - usually Wheels on the Bus (we have 10 versions bookmarked), Twinkle Twinkle, and the Sesame Street basketball video. For the videos she really enjoys, she says "Make it big" to enlarge the video to fill the entire screen.

Bathroom Humor

Reese really enjoys bathroom humor lately. Here are a couple examples...

Reese loves to run around naked, and she thinks it's funny to tell me she's going to poop without her diaper on. She runs around saying she's going to poop on various things - the chair, Lovey, and tonight it was Heather's picture (sorry, Heather!).

I hosted our neighborhood association board meeting, and Reese came into the room to announce "I'm poopin'!" Of course everyone thought it was hilarious, then Reese laughed too. Later that night Jeff's (another board member) chair squeeked, to which he quickly and cleverly responded "I'm poopin!" Ha! Oh, I guess you never outgrow bathroom humor.

18 Mo Appt

Reese had her 18 month wellness visit at the pediatrician last week. Here are her stats:

Weight: 22 1/2 pounds = 25%
Length: 31 1/2 inches = 45%
Head: 18 1/4 inches = 40%

The visit went well. She is hitting all her developmental milestones. The only thing we were told is we should try to fatten her up! So I didn't feel too guilty serving Reese Oreos and whole milk for breakfast!

Tiny Dancer

Here is Reese dancing at Kim and Josh's wedding. While this was a few weeks ago, I think this video is cute so worth posting even if it's late.

Golf

Grandpa Cipra brought Reese a golf club last week. He's trying to influence early, and so far, so good. She likes it!

Dodge Ball

Reese had fun playing with the Haag's today. Here's a quick video of her playing what looks to be a version of dodge ball and laughing with her family.

By Request

Reese looks at her blog multiple times every day. We showed her the Como Town pictures and she kept asking for "Speeding Dragon" - the roller coaster she loved to watch. So, by request, here is that picture.

Amusement Park

We spent the afternoon with Brayden and Troy at the Como Zoo and Como Town amusement park.

Brayden and I went on lots of rides. Brayden has no fear, and I felt a little sick after spinning in the tea cups. After awhile, Reese built up her courage to go on her first amusement park ride too - the choo choo train. She was a very big girl who wanted to keep going when the ride was over.

We also enjoyed looking at the animals where Reese saw a zebra rolling on the ground and a polar bear doing flips in the water. She'll tell you all about it if you ask.

The kids wrapped up the night in the play area, then ate mini donuts on the car ride home. It was the perfect amusement park experience.

All Night

Libby was a farm cat her first 2 years and longs to go outside, so we put on her collar and let her out every day. She is usually very good about coming home, but last night she didn't return. I stayed up all night waiting for and worrying about her. I kept thinking "I hope she's okay" and "What am I going to tell Reese?" who loves her dearly. Finally at 5:30am I thought to check my phone. Thank goodness there was a message from one of our neighbors who found Libby at 11:30pm and had her in their garage. I called them at 5:30, apologized for our crazy cat and the middle of the night disturbance, and ran to pick her up. Libby was very happy to be home. She purred and snuggled up to me all night - or at least for the 3 hours of sleep that remained.

Artistic Skills

Reese is really starting to enjoy drawing and coloring - ok, scribbling. I was looking through some of the papers in her desk and found 3 different artists - (from left to right - Grandma Cipra, me, and Reese). Clearly we want Reese to learn how to draw from Grandma Cipra - my artistic skills are severly lacking and a little embarassing.

Wake Up

Reese loves to play "sleeping" then shouts "wake up!", jumps up, and runs around. Here's a picture of her playing this game with her dolls. She also enjoys playing it with me when I try to put her to bed at night. Stinker.