Hailey Unplugged

Just a quick note to say that we have won a MAJOR battle with Hailey...

No more pacifier! Unbelievable, honestly, I never thought I would see the day.

No more paci, Nuk, binky, plug (plugy)...it's history. She used to come home from daycare looking for it. She would open up drawers and search through bins of toys saying "Plugy?"

But we finally rid her of if and here is how we did it - we cut the tips off of all of them. We cut the tips off them, so that they were uncomfortable to suck on. When she got frustrated with them, we told her they were 'broken' and she wanted nothing to do with them anymore. Daycare got rid of her binkies as well, so we are all on the same page.

So far, there has been no thumb recplacement either *knock on wood*. The only bad side-effect has been that she does not settle in to sleep as easily as she used to...but we'll get through that one too...right?

The Power of Words

Well, I've been in a funk for the past couple of days.

The weather here in Michigan this January has been atrocious...cold, snowy, bitter...topped off with horrible driving conditions. Lately, I have had bad news given to me on a couple of different personal matters and that only serves to depress me more. Plus, for the past month, Hailey has put up a bedtime battle that has both me and the hubby at the end of our ropes.

So today I decided to go to the cafeteria at work and watch Obama's inauguration speech.

I'm glad I did.

Nothing can bring you out of a funk like hearing about change.

I am not the type of person who wears their politics on their sleeve...you will never see my yard filled with candidate signs and I will not argue the merit of one candidate over another.

However, that being said...I have a great interest in history (thanks Mom) and I believe that every so often, history itself will find the one person who will fill it's need. They don't have to be perfect people or even placed there by their own choice...but they are the right people at the right time. Obviously only time will tell if Obama is that person and if history has chosen correctly. It feels good right now to believe, so that is what I am going to do. His speech today, I thought was a very moving one. The return of a great speech giver would be a welcome side effect of this administration (for me at least).

Today made me reminisce on some of the greatest speeches in history. I will list my favorites, but take it with a grain of salt because most of these were delivered before I was even born (why are there so few great orators now?).

Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Address”
November 19, 1863; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

I'm a huge Civil War buff, but even if I wasn't, this is obviously one of the greatest speeches of all time...clear, succinct, to the point. I think it's short because really...is there anything else to say? Plus it reaches beyond the event that it was written for.

Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"
July 5, 1852; Rochester, NY

Can you imagine hearing a speech in which the speaker completely criticizes the audience at their audacity to ask him to speak on the topic..and he is still greeted by applause at the end? That is the genius of Frederick Douglass.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

"Pearl harbor Address to the Nation"
December 8, 1941; Washington, D.C.

For whatever reason, this speech is one that needs to be listened to instead of read. Maybe it's the gravity of the last line or the applause, but I think it is because I can totally visualize thousands of American families huddled around their radios.

Chief Joseph, “Surrender Speech”
October 5, 1877; Montana Territory

Heartbreaking. Part speech, part plea, straight from the heart. I think, as a country, we choose not to remember a lot of the vioces from our Native Americans - which makes this all the more meaningful.

John F. Kennedy, "Inauguration Address"

January 20, 1961; Washington, D.C.

One of the greatest speakers of the 20th century, this one was chosen only because it's my personal favorite. Even though I wasn't born yet, I think that people listening to Kennedy speak couldn't help but feel like a part of something bigger.

Ronald Reagan, "Address to the Nation on the Challenger"
January 28, 1986; Washington, D.C.

Speeches commemorating tragic events are so incredibly difficult to give. Maybe it was his acting experience, but I'm still amazed he didn't cry. This contains the single best closing line of any memorial speech...ever...

'We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and ’slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’

Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream"
August 28, 1963; Washington, D.C.

Probably the greatest speech ever written. You can argue that point with me if you would like to, but you know deep down that it's true. Another example that must be listened to instead of read. It's more than just words on a page.

There are many more bits and pieces that are brilliant:

• the last paragraph of Lincoln's first inaugural address and his second (heck...anything that came out of Lincoln's mouth)
• Franklin Roosevelt's first inaugural address "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"
• Lou Gehrig's farewell to baseball......and I only listed speeches by Americans.

So be inspired today...shovel yourself out of your snow and funk and have hope that change truly is around the corner.

The Joy of Routine

So the holidays are over and I am back to work.

I took the week after Christmas off and I was alone with Hailey for most of those days. It was a great time - wonderful, funny, sweet.... and I am SO glad to be back to work!!

Huh?

Oh yeah... I'm thrilled to be back to work. While I really did love spending time with her...when you have so much time off, your whole pattern of living (and everything else) goes down the drain. I am not a schedule freak, but when your two year old is still screaming and awake at 11:00 pm, you long for the days of planned events and alarm clocks. Other things spiral out of control as well... the bit of television she gets to watch turned into a week long, drawn out 'Spongebob video-fest' that literally destroyed our DVD player. She just runs you absolutely ragged, she is a non-stop play machine. Some days, the only thing I could muster was enough energy to watch her from the recliner as she laid waste to the living room. It looked like Mrs. Potato Head had exploded in the microwave there were so many pieces of 'things' everywhere. If it was a toy.... and it had detachable parts...they were on the floor in the highest traffic areas possible.

Plus, you would think with all that time I am spent with her, she might have gotten over her Daddy fixation, but it was not to be. Sure...she's better about it than she has been, but there are still nights when Momma gets punches instead of kisses at bedtime, or she won't let me get her out of the car seat. Heaven forbid I should try to get her out of bed on a Saturday...unless I long to be met by screams of 'NO MOMMA, NO...DADDY WHERE ARE YOU?

However.... I do get my moments every now and then.

• She graces Momma with the game 1,2,3,GO! (she runs down to the end of the hallway and yells "1,2,3,GO" and then runs into my arms). It's an AWESOME game, I love it!

  
  

  I have gotten a lot of good snuggle time in lately, some is a little too wiggly, and she steals my chair from me whenever she gets a chance - but it's still good.

  
  

  She has been a great deal of fun, having tickle fights, shaking our 'tails', making faces, playing with toys and doing the booty dance, she's such a silly kid.

The holiday itself was wonderful, we had a great time with family and Hailey was really good. We tried introducing the concept of Christmas this year, but 'Christmas' just became the word she used to describe the tree... "Hailey Don't touch the Christmas...just look"! She did understand the word 'present' and Hailey really got into opening gifts this year. All Hailey's toys were great, but I think the winner gift this year was her stuffed SpongeBob Squarepants...she loves that thing.

She also brought down the house by playing Rock Band with her Uncles and Cousin on Christmas morning. She did it all, drums, guitar...but the best was when she grabbed the microphone and started singing. What a little diva! Some family member has that on video, and I'll post it as soon as they send it to me... *hint, hint*

Her vocabulary has increased so much lately, I find myself stunned at some of the things she says....'No thank you' is my favorite - and yesterday she put a freezer size Ziploc bag over both feet and walked around the house like a penguin. She makes me laugh at the goofy things she does.

My favorite story from this holiday started out on a not so funny note. We were having a terrible time getting Hailey to sleep at night (because we were sleeping in and didn't really want to stop...our fault, I know). We would put her to bed at 8:30 and she would scream and jump until 11:00. This built up, night after night...and we were getting really fed up with it. One night Nathan went in to tell her for the eleventy-hundreth time to lie down. Instead, she put her first two fingers over one eye, looked at him and said "Arrgggh.... I'm a pirate"! If it had been me, I would have doubled over with laughter and Hailey never would have gone to sleep!

So while it was definitely a gift to spend so much time with Hailey this past holiday, returning to the familiarity of the work routine has felt like a little present to myself today - although in a week I'm sure I'll want to return it...but I don't think I have the receipt.

_________________________

There are new pictures up on my photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theyspot/

Which reminds me, oh family of mine....if you took pictures on Christmas, could you send those to me? I would love to see them before next holiday season!