Big Bird

This morning as I was driving over the Howard Frankland bridge on the way to work, I saw a bird of prey perched up on one of the light poles that overlooks the bay. I want to say it was a hawk, but it could have been a falcon or a raptor or some other bird with a cool name. It strikes me that hardly a day passes that I don’t see a large bird of prey, be it on my commute, in a park, or just walking around the neighborhood with Reilly.

On Thanksgiving, there were a few of us sitting outside on the deck, eating pie, when I saw a large bird flying in the distance. I noticed its large dark silhouette in contrast to its very white head, and I knew at once that what I was seeing was a bald eagle. I told everyone around the table to look, and my brother-in-law said, “Good eye, Brian. That was awesome!” It was awesome, indeed. And that is something that Florida is good for—bald eagles (and pie on the back deck in late November).

5 Things You Might Not Know about Reilly

1) Reilly's lexicon is growing by the day now. Her old words can be found here. Her new words include:

Reilly (pronounced eye-lee)
Mama
Daddy
Baby
Danny (pronounced nannie)
Dip
Banana (pronounced ah-nuh-na)
Cheese
Please
Up
Apple
Dog
Truck
Eat
More
Bubbles
Chalk
Hot
Hello
School
Shoe

She is learning a new word every few days now, and will try out new words at random. For example, today when we were outside for a walk, she approached a plastic Santa Claus on a neighbor's lawn, and I said, "That's SAN-tuh!" And she said, in her cute little voice, "Santa."

2) Reilly is also learning some non-verbal communication. She has learned the signs for the following words:

Cat
Frog
Bunny
Pig
More
All Done
Eat
Drink
Bib
Apple
Cereal

3) Reilly likes to hold hands now, which is really awesome. There is just something so sweet about the way she reaches up for my hand when she wants to go for a walk. When Shawn and I are together, she will reach up for Shawn's hand, but not wanting to leave me out, will reach up for my hand also. She is very kind that way.

Once she has us both by the hand, she will use her body weight to "drive" us where she wants to go. For example, if we are going in the wrong direction, she will lean back and pull on our hands in an attempt to turn us around. For her, I imagine it's a little like flying one of those two-handed kites you see at the beach.

4) Reilly has a new found fascination with adult goings-on in the bathroom. The other day when we were at the Botanical Garden, Reilly (who had us by the hands) kept trying to steer us to the public restroom there. As if that wasn't enough, she kept saying, "Poo-poo, mama?"

This forced Shawn to say--out loud, and in public--the following phrase, "No, no poo-poo right now, Reilly."

HAHAHAHAHA!

5) When the phone rings in the house, Reilly will start saying, "Hello?"

This morning, Shawn told me that she picked up the phone from the table and said, "Hello? Daddeee? Hello?"

So, Shawn called me at work, told me the story, and put Reilly on the phone. I said 'hello' back to my daughter, but got no response. When I asked Shawn what happened, she told me that Reilly had waved at the phone when she heard my voice.

Week 72 Pictures

Click here to see Reilly eating her Thanksgiving dinner, nose to nose with a canine, and in the vicinity of a large plastic camel.

For now, your picture of the week:

Hide and Seek

Last night, I was playing with Reilly in the back room at my dad's house. She had pulled out a plastic Barbie kitchen playset, and we were taking turns putting little plastic cans of beans and jars of pickles back on the little plastic shelves. All we needed to make the scene complete was a Barbie doll. Sadly, there were none in sight.

At one point, Reilly accidentally kicked the playset, and amongst the plastic playthings that flew everywhere, a couple of AA Duracell batteries also popped out.

I should pause for a moment to say that AA batteries are Reilly's favorite banned plaything. One of her favorite games over at Grandma's is knocking the batteries out of the TV remote and then trying to get them in her mouth before I catch her.

So when the batteries popped out last night, her eyes lit up and she grabbed them. She looked at me and said, "Bay-doo!" And I said, "You're welcome, but I didn't give them to you. Can daddy please have the batteries back?"

Reilly ignored me and edged her way over to the bookcase nearby, where she surreptitiously hid the batteries. She looked back to see if I was watching, and I quickly averted my eyes. Satisfied that she had hidden them well, she went back to playing with Barbie's kitchen.

A few minutes later, though, she caught me looking over at the batteries, and ran over to the hiding place to put them back into her clutches. Unfortunately, she went straight to her mouth with the double A's, so I had to take them away.

She's getting to be a smart little sucker.

Week 71 Pictures

I always promised myself that I would not let Reilly become one of those kids who insists on walking up the slide...

I submit the following photos as proof of my failure:

Click here to view the rest of Week 71 pictures.

Bubble Girl

Early this morning, Shawn and Donna left for New York, which meant that when Reilly woke up a few hours later, it was me who got to get her out of her crib. Yay!

I opened the door and said, "Good morning, Reilly."

To this, Reilly answered, "Bubble?"

It's tough to admit it, but clearly in Reilly's world, she favors things in this order: Mom, then bubbles, then Dad. I'm really slipping down the rankings.

Daddy's little girl

I love getting Reilly up in the morning. She is so sweet as she comes out of her foggy slumber, and I love that first warm, clingy hug of the morning. Shawn also likes to get Reilly up for the same reason—I think it’s her favorite part of the day.

When it is time to get Reilly up, Shawn and I try to be diplomatic about it. For example, this morning I asked Shawn if she wouldn’t mind if maybe just possibly I could get Reilly up. She kindly said “yes.” So, I went into Reilly’s room and picked her up and gave her a hug, with Shawn trailing in behind me. But when Reilly saw Shawn she nearly leapt out of my hands to get to her mom.

Daddy’s little girl my ass.

Week 70 Pictures

Reilly has been expressing her myriad emotions through facial expressions this week. Click here to see her making faces. Meanwhile, your picture of the week:

Woo-woo-woo!

This morning, I woke up as I do many mornings--to the sound of Reilly crying. Through my grogginess, I walked to her room and opened the door, but was surprised to find that she was sound asleep. I then realized that the sound I was hearing was not Reilly, but an ambulance passing in the distance.

I went back to bed and got under the covers, and I couldn't help but marvel at how closely the siren of the ambulance mimics Reilly's cries. I wonder if this was an intentional choice by the inventor of the siren? If you think about it, there is nothing that gets your attention like a crying baby--or a screaming emergency vehicle.

5 Things you might not know about Reilly

1) Reilly is crazy for bubbles. Whenever she sees the purple bubble container on the kitchen counter, she will say, “Bubble?” over and over until I take her outside to play. The sound of her saying the word is just so cute that I can’t really resist. The thing is, she doesn’t actually blow the bubbles, but instead just likes to stir the wand around and around in the container.

As much as I like this newfound hobby, there are two distinct problems with the bubbles. One, she has a total meltdown every time we take the bubbles away from her, and two, she will rub her eyes during the meltdown and the bubble solution on her hands gets in her eyes, which only furthers the strength of the meltdown.

2) Reilly loves to use the soap in the bathtub. Once she gets into the tub, she will hold out her hand and say, “Uh, uh, uh.” (She doesn’t know the word ‘soap’ yet.) On this cue, I will then squirt some J&J soap onto her hand. At this point, Reilly will tub her hands together, getting a lather up, and then will rub the soap on her belly. When all the soap has come off her hands, she’ll look back to me and say, “Uh, uh, uh.” Wash, rinse, repeat.

3) Reilly can now identify the following body parts if prompted: nose, ears, toes, and bellybutton. Also, if I say, “Where is your boo-boo?” she will point to her knee, which is perpetually scraped.

4) Reilly has put her IQ to work for evil once again, and has now learned how to open the bathroom door. (It is the lever style handle.) Damn, she’s smart.

5) Today when I dropped Reilly off at daycare, she didn’t cry. She just gave me a kiss, I said “bye-bye” and walked out the door. That really made my day. (That, and the Dems winning back the House.)

Week 69 Pictures

Reilly had another fun week, from Halloween dress-up to playing in her Maytag house. Click here for Week 69 photos.

The terrible 1 and 1/4's

This is an excellent series of three shots taken by Donna that exhibit the exceedingly strong willpower of our almost 16-month-old daughter. Here she is trying to find a way over the fence that was specifically installed to keep Reilly out of the pool.

Miss Jekyll:



Miss Hyde: