November Updates

Some quick Hailey updates...

I am taking a season off from my beloved winter guard activity to spend more time with Hailey, Nathan and myself. While it makes me sad not to be involved this season, I'm glad they can continue the activity and I am grateful to spend time with my family. For example....

Sunday afternoon (November 16th) we had our first real snowfall of the season - the big white flakes. Now, Hailey is 2, so this isn't her first winter...but its the first winter where she has been really aware of her surroundings and able to communicate - the snowflakes were 'bubbles'. It was darn cute. Monday evening, it was still snowing so we took her on a walk around the neighborhood. "Look at all the bubbles!" and she had her mouth wide open the whole time trying to catch them...that was priceless. It was one of those moments you remember.

I would have missed that if I was at winter guard this year.

Let's see...what else is she doing...oh, she's much more into sharing lately. The other day she picked her nose and offered me the booger. That was awesome...yeah...awesome.

She ADORES Sponge Bob Squarepants. She has some Sponge Bob videos and she could watch them all day if we'd let her. All in all, I knew she would get addicted to some character (this is the first of many I'm sure) and I can handle Sponge Bob, I think its funny. She also loves Tigger and Pooh and her Dr. Suess video with Green Eggs and Ham (Sneetches...etc.). I try to stay away from getting her clothes marketed with kid's tv show characters all over them, but invariably, her favorite shirt has Thomas the Train on it. I may have to give in and get her some Sponge Bob pjs for Christmas.

Christmas...I'm already a little 'Bah Humbug' this year. Several of my most favorite traditions are going by the wayside this year, and I am a little bummed out about it. These are shopping traditions and my family and friends are 'cutting back' this year (they say that every year, but this time they mean it), so we just aren't going to do the annual trips this year. Luckily, we do have Hailey... little kids put life the joy and excitement back into the holidays... so I'm sure I'll get over the blahs the closer it gets to Christmas.

I think this is my favorite single comic of all times.
The only thing this picture is missing is a 70 pound dog licking everything in sight, and that would be my house on any given day.

Arrgghhh... Matey!

As I said in my previous post... October completely snuck past me. Does that mean that I overlooked Halloween...the best holiday ever?!?

Of course not. I love, love, love Halloween! It is by far the most creative of all holidays, plus you get candy! Truly awesome!

The past couple of years, I have dressed Hailey in a store-bought costume and admittedly... they have been adorable! However, this year I decided to get all 'old school' and pull an outfit together myself. Well, not completely...thanks to my mother for the amazing, handmade skull and crossbones skirt!

'Skull and Crossbones?' you say..."What could Hailey possibly have been?"

O.K. maybe it's not that hard to guess she was a pirate for her 3rd Halloween. She was SO CUTE! At times she looked a little more Hell's Angel than pirate, but the idea was there. She loved putting on her pirate skirt. Whenever she did, she suddenly developed a somewhat alarming butt wiggle and she spun in circles until she fell over- if that isn't pirate behavior, then I don't know what is.

We did go Trick-or-Treating to a few houses this year. Luckily, we knew who they were, because when they opened the door to give her candy, she just walked right in. Maybe that's Hailey's version of pillaging.
__________________
In other Hailey news...

We have been trying to get her to stop relying on her pacifier, so we took the doctor's suggestion and cut the tips off them. It works, she hates them. She says..."Plug's broken" and throws them. Yesterday, she was given a 'broken plug' at daycare, and she looked at it and said...'Damn It'.

Great. So it begins. At least she used it in the proper context. I don't know where she heard that * I say, as I polish my halo *, but it is really hard not to laugh.
___________________
Plus...

She had her 2 year appointment with the doctor and she had to have a lead test done. This consisted of the nurse poking Hailey's toe to get blood and then squeezing enough to completely blot two dime-sized circles. It took about 5 minutes of the nurse squeezing Hailey's bloody toe and was horrifically traumatic for her (Hailey and the nurse). So...two weeks later when they called and told us the sample corrupted and we had to do it again, we were less than pleased. But, it had to get done so we took her to the hospital. There, they drew blood from her arm - much less time and pain, but still no picnic (Hailey thought is was 'water' coming out of her arm). Imagine our anger when the hospital called two days later to tell us that it was processed incorrectly and we would have to have another one done.

Nathan was so ticked off, he could barely talk to the woman.

Oh, we'll have it done again...but not right now. Being constantly poked with a needle is too much for a 2 year old...

even if she is a pirate.

more pictures of Hailey can be seen by clicking on 'Y Spot Photos' in the left -hand menu.

Hailey and History

Holy cow!

October is gone... and I just let it slip through my fingers. It's my favorite of all the months - fall colors, Halloween, sweaters, marching bands - I let it go without a single post... *sigh*.

Well I suppose I had my hands full reading all the election literature I was getting. I am so happy that is over with! Regardless of how you voted, America made an historical decision yesterday in record numbers. In talking with people who were around in the 60's, they say it feels a lot like the Camelot era, I can see that.... lets just all hope it has a much better ending. I do have to say that McCain conceded with grace and I appreciate someone who shows that they have class.

We have elected an African American as president. I think this is the first really major historical event that has happened since Hailey was born in 2006 (my first major happening is easy to remember...I was born 10 days before we landed on the moon). Of course she won't remember this, in the same way that I don't remember Watergate or people might not remember Pearl Harbor.

I forget sometimes that there are major events that have happened and she will have no frame of reference, except second hand. When I was in school, I read quite a bit about the Kennedy assassination, but reading and living it are so different. My mother has told me about November 22, 1963, but I will obviously never have the same feelings about it that she does. I could only experience it academically. Hailey will live her life never having 'felt' September 11, 2001...she will read about it and understand it - possibly with more perspective than I will ever have, but it will still be a chapter in a history book to her. That boggles my mind. Sure... I will be able to tell her 'where I was when I heard the news', but will I ever be able to explain how it felt? Can I even put it into words?

So...in honor of this momentous historical occasion and to help me put together a list of things I will need to tell Hailey about someday, here are the major historical events that I can remember where I was when I heard the news.

Reagan is Shot (March 30th, 1981) Our elementary school principal announced it over the loudspeaker. The way he said it, I at first thought there was a gunman outside the school - I was scared silly.

The Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes (January 28, 1986) I was watching it live in the library of my high school with my chemistry class (my teacher had applied to the 'Teachers in Space' program). I have never seen a room full of students go so quiet, so quickly. .

OJ Simpson Declared Innocent (October 3, 1995) Is this a monumental historic event...? No. But I still remember looking at the bank teller at the drive in window and seeing her utter a very naughty expletive. I knew she was listening to the same radio station I was.

Princess Diana Dies (August 31, 1997) I was watching the news from the stairway at my parent's home after helping my oldest brother move to a new house. I logged into a chat room and told people, but nobody believed me.

9-11 (September 11, 2001) Sitting at my desk like millions of other Americans (like the people in NY and DC) when I got an e-mail from someone at work about the Pentagon, I checked the online news and went numb.

First African American President (November 4th, 2008) voting after taking Hailey to daycare and checking the news on my basement computer between playing a game and trying to get Hailey to fall asleep. I will have the picture of him from ABC.com with the words 'Mr. President' in my memory for a long time.

I know other important events happened - these are just the 'moments in time' that stick out for me. Hopefully, the future will have more moments to remember like the one that happened yesterday... and less of the others. I'd like to think that with each event, we become a little wiser even if we loose some innocence along the way. It's funny how the tragedies that you remember, feel like moments where you grew up... and the joyus events can make you feel hopeful like a kid again.

I hope that, in the future, when Hailey hears the moments in which history changes...she hears cheering and not silence. I hope that when she tells her children about the things they don't remember... she can find the words.