In full Christmas regalia

Her outfit for a visit to Santa:

More Christmasy photos here.

Up to her elbows in presents

One if by land, two if by sea

Today I was talking with Reilly about Christmas Eve, and educating her on how it would all go down. I explained to her that she would go to bed, Santa would come down the chimney and leave her lots of presents, and then fly away in his sleigh to the next house.

She wasted no time in correcting me:

"No daddy, Santa doesn't come in a sleigh. He comes in a sailboat."

I couldn't disagree with her. A few weeks earlier, we had attended the St. Petersburg boat parade, in which each boat was decked out in lights, bows, and a jolly old Santa.

I'm telling you, the kid doesn't miss a thing.

Five more things...

1) The other day we received a box from Reilly’s cousin Sophia. Reilly took the big cardboard box and put it under the Christmas tree, not knowing there were presents inside. When I opened the box to reveal a gift inside wrapped in pink princess paper, she knew right away it was for her, and made an attempt at opening it. When I explained to her for the hundredth time that she couldn’t open her gifts until Christmas, she begrudgingly relased the wrapping paper from her grip, and then asked if she could put the present in her backpack to keep it safe.

She wore her present around the mall for a good part of that afternoon.

2) The paci is gone, and the the Sleep Lady has once again helped us through a sleep crisis. Goodbye dirty pacifier. I won’t miss you.

3) Reilly always notices when the moon is out, and now that it is getting darker earlier, she has had plenty of opportunities to point it out to us. The other night Papa Bear was watching Reilly over at his house, and they went for a walk around his neighborhood to look at the Christmas lights.

That night it was a quarter moon, and when my dad pointed it out to Reilly, she said, “the moon is broken!”

4) Reilly twice counted to 13 yesterday, both times skipping the number six. I didn’t even know she could count to ten!

5) Tuesday was Shawn’s birthday. On the way to school that morning, I told Reilly that we were going to have a birthday party for her mommy after she got back from school.

Reilly said, “Yeah, and I’m going to have a birthday too. I’m going to have a pink party!”
“What color party is mommy going to have?
“Mommy is going to have a brown party.”

I was unsure how to react, not knowing which was better, a pink party or a brown one.

The Interwebs was down...

... and now it's up, and so I'll catch up on last week's pictures. First, your picture of the week:



For more, click here.

Driving, Sickness, and What Santa says

Why the lack of posting, you ask?

First, let me start with the post I had written on Tuesday, but had failed to post for reasons that are yet to be written, (though if you've read the title to this post, it might, perhaps, be obvious):

This morning, I was driving on Manhatan Avenue (oh, the irony) on the way to work, when I got stuck behind a slow driver. A slow driver that was driving a right-off-the-lot convertible Porsche. Which lead me to ponder the following conundrum, which I now leave up to you:

Which is worse, a person intentionally driving slowly in a very fast car, or
A person driving unintetionlly slowly in a very slow car?

And still, you ask, why the lack of posting?

Yes, by Tuesday afternoon, I knew that Wednesday was going to be a no-go. When you are so sore that you can hardly lift yourself out of your chair, yet you haven't done much more than lift a chicken wing and a beer, you know it's going to get ugly.

Was there fever? Yes. Was there a four hour nap in the middle of the day? Yes. Was there nausea? Yes. Was there barfing? No, I say. No.

By tonight, I was thinking, I could return to work. I don't feel awesome, but I could make it through a day. However, there is another person who spent the day by my side who was not feeling so hot.

Yes, it's Reilly (again). She's got my fever. My chills. My four hour nap.

It's hard to remember much that was worth writing about since Tuesday, but there was one exchange tonight that I think is worth mentioning:

As we were driving back from the local CVS, fully stocked with Children's Motrin (which was on sale!), Reilly asked that I drive by some Christmas lights. She loves Christmas lights, and I love that she loves Christmas lights. This particular Christmas light display had a blow-up Santa and a blow-up penguin dressed as a snowman. Here was the conversation:

Me: Reilly, there's Santa!
Reilly: Santa says, "Boo!"
Me: No, Reilly, Santa says, "Ho! Ho! Ho!"
Reilly, Exasperated at my stupidity: "No, DADDY, Santa says BOO!"

Like Rats with Fluffy Tails

This being our first house, I went a tad bit overboard this year in the Christmas light display on our house. I put up about 500 bulbs (all white) that outline the trim on our house and garage. When I finished the job and plugged them in, I had a true Griswold moment. I was so proud; you should have seen me prancing on the lawn.

Then, two days later, when the whole group of lights went out, I had my second Griswold moment. First, I changed the fuses on each strand of lights. When that didn't work, I cursed a lot. Finally, I used two separate bulb finding tools to try and source out the bulb that was sabotaging my entire display. I went light by light along the first strand, cursing all the way as each light lit up.

Somewhere around bulb number 76 that I noted this:


I knew right away there was only one animal with access to my roof that would cause such destruction.

I spliced up the strands, rejoined them with a twist cap and sealed it all up with electrical tape. The lights lit back up in all their glory, and should remain that way, that is, unless of of those rats with furry tails comes back for dessert.

P.S. It is best to unplug the lights before attempting any repair job such as the one noted above, lest you shock yourself right off the ladder.

Santa's Smile

Here is Reilly's first visit with Santa. I think she was pretty into him.

For more pictures, click here.

It came with the house

An avocado from our tree in the backyard:

The joy of blasphemy

Tonight as we were putting Reilly to bed, Shawn and I sat on the floor and watched Reilly as she experienced her first snow globe. The globe is mossy green at the base, and within the glass globe are an angel, Mary, and baby Jesus. There is enough snowy glitter to keep a 2.5 year old fascinated for hours, which was a problem when after five minutes we told Reilly that it was time to go to bed.

Reilly said “no” so I turned off the light to force the issue.

Reilly: “Noooooooooooooo! I want to see baby Jesus!”
Shawn: “Okay Reilly, I’ll turn the light on so that you can say goodnight to him.”
Reilly: “No, it’s not a him Mommy, Baby Jesus is a her.”

The Devil wears Gymboree

In Reilly’s quest to put her universe in order, she has now taken to bossing Shawn and me around. I don’t mean to overdramatize, most of her bossing is very gentle, and in most cases, quite funny.

A recent example arose when she had to “go potty.” Whereas in the past she would ask us to sit next to her and provide various forms of entertainment, now she likes privacy when she is doing her business. If we dare to follow her into the bathroom, she will reprimand us and tell us, “No, get out! I go all by myself!”

An example from last night: Reilly first lead me, then Shawn, by the hand to the kitchen, and directed that we both stand in front of the refrigerator. “Mommy and Daddy stay here. Grandma, come!” She then closed the doors to the kitchen and took her Grandma by the hand and led her to the playroom.

This bossiness has also spilled over to the car, where Reilly now directs me from her car seat. “Daddy, slow down! Daddy, go faster!”

Shawn and I think she’ll make a fine movie director some day. She already has the blocking down.

Sunburn Fest 2007

This weekend Shawn, Reilly and I met some friends at the local Snowfest 2007. There was no snow, but there was "Ice Skating."*

As our friend Georgina said, "Guys, it's just like Central Park!"

*Ice Skating was made possible by a number of white plastic boards that had been made slick by the application of oil.

Week 126 Pictures

For all those who inquired, and for all those who are wondering, yes, Reilly is feeling much better. She had a checkup at the doctor this afternoon and though her urine test was still a bit off, she seems to be past the worst of it.

Here is the photo of the week:



For more, click here.