Cooking with Mom

I recently subscribed to the new magazine by Highlights called High Five which is for preschoolers.  I really love this magazine and so does Reagan.  It only takes us about two nights to get through it, wish it was longer, but we both enjoy the stories.  At the end of each issue there is a kid friendly recipe.  This month it was for cinnamon critters.  Reagan asked if we could make them the night before.  I said yes and of course she didn't forget when she got home.  I love how easy it was to make and that she could help with all the steps.  Even better was that they tasted fantastic!!!

Reagan's 4th Birthday

October 6th 2011

Wordless Wednesday: Favorite Wedding Picture

Reagan's First Manicure

I took Reagan with me today to the mall to get her first pedicure.  She was so excited because she is such a girly girl.  We talked about what colors she would pick and of course the answer was, "PINK"!!!  As we headed over in the car, I continued to talk about how she had to sit really still for a long time while her nails were painted and then even after to let them dry.  Reagan, only made it though having a manicure because she couldn't sit any longer.  I wanted to get her toes done but after repainting her nails three times due to smudges, I decided to relieve the manicurist from my three year old.  

Her picked out outfit and bunny to keep her happy.
 

The toes that never got painted.

After Reagan's nails finally dried, we went to see the Easter Bunny but she was too scared to sit on his lap so we headed up the escalator for some ice cream.  Reagan choose Dippin' Dots which are frozen dots of ice cream.  The texture is very different and the flavor is very overwhelming.  I personally don't like them and I think Reagan shares my dislike as she didn't even finish her bowl.

Dippin' Dots

UNC Basketball

I grew up with two parents who graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill.  It was pretty hard to be anything but a Tarheel in my house.  I love Carolina and want to raise both of my daughters as Tarheels.  I am trying to emphasize to Reagan that Carolina and Duke are big rivals and that we have to stand firm together to cheer them on.  We worked very hard on the video after the game.  However, she never understood that I was saying,  "Carolina, lina."  Worst of all she kept saying, "Go to Duke."  If you know the cheer it really goes, "Go to hell Duke!"  Seeing how I didn't want to teach my three year old this language we substituted the word "beep" for "hell."  I thought it came out very cute.

More pictures from the day:

Thumb-sucking

We have been trying to stop Reagan from sucking her thumb.  There are many different points of views on this subject.  Some believe that children will eventually stop on their own and that not bringing attention to it is the best method.  Others have tried to bring the child's attention to it with a variety of methods.  


I have been trying to ignore the fact that my three year daughter is an avid thumb-sucker in hopes that her desire would lessen as she grew older and moved up to the 3 year old room at school.  She interacts with the 4 year olds in this class as they are brought together at different points in the day.  However, she goes on sucking her thumb continuously.  


My husband finally had had enough and decided that she must know that she is too old to suck her thumb. So he tried hard to reason with his three year old while I chuckled knowingly that that wouldn't work. :)  Then he started to punish her every time she put her thumb in her mouth.  Of course, this didn't work because most of the time she does it sub-consciously.  Then he put Tabasco sauce on her thumb and all this did was burn the skin and made her scream until he washed it off.  


When all this failed, he turned to the Internet and bought the five star rated nail polish that had rave reviews.  We also bought the Bernstein Bears book "Very Bad Habit."  He read the book and explained the nail polish.  She started to buy in and I thought that this may work.  The nail polish is horrible!!!  We can't even put it on her thumb without gagging from the fumes.  She immediately stopped sucking her thumb.  Reagan went for almost 3 weeks of non-sucking.  We reapplied every couple of days and it really seemed to work.  However, as time kept going by we started to notice that she once again started to put her thumb back in her mouth.  We started putting the polish on every day.  Then twice a day. Finally, we decided the efforts weren't working when on Saturday she put her thumb in her mouth an hour after applying the polish.  Arghhhh!  I can say that after a month of not sucking her thumb constantly that the overall behavior has decreased dramatically.  So the nail polish did do some good.  


Now Andy is on to a weekly reward program.  If Reagan doesn't suck her thumb this week she will get a toy.  As I was putting Reagan down tonight her thumb went straight into her mouth.  I asked, "Didn't Daddy say that you could have a toy if you don't suck your thumb? She replied, "Yes, mommy, but when Daddy gets home I will take it out and then I will get my toy."  In the midst of trying to stop an infant habit, my three year old toddler is all grown up.


I'm sure that my husband will find another "solution" to our ongoing battle.  I, on the other hand, after talking with my 90 year old Mema who told me that my Dad sucked his fingers until he was five and my uncle his thumb until he was six, realized that the solution was all in the thumbs of Reagan!  Literally!

Morning Time before heading to School

So you think you can Dance?

Reagan has started taking dance class at Stage Door Dance.  Reagan was invited to try a class by her friends at school.  She is currently taking ballet and tap on Friday evenings.  Her favorite is tap.  She loves music and movement.  I must say that after the first visit my hopes for her was to be able to take direction.  The students are suppose to stand on polyspots.  However, Reagan on her first visit decided to pick hers up and put it where she wanted to...touching her friends Aurora and Emerson's dots.  Then last Monday at a make-up class she has progressed to keeping the spot on the floor and even staying on it.  In three short visits she is already taking direction so much better.  I am going to have increase my personal goals for her since she is already reaching my first expectation.

She hasn't quite mastered leg kicks (I call this the Frankestien walk) or many other skills in the class.  However, she at least now tries them and stays more on task.  In June she will have a recital.  I am very eager to see how well she progresses and if she remains interested in dance.  Right now, I must say that she "practices" in our living room while singing with her microphone.  Her moves our much more graceful now and she has learned more ways to move her body.  Here are a few pictures I got.  Not great, since taken through a small window.

After so much hard work, it was only natural for Reagan to come home starving and fussy.

Reagan's 2 year old Smiles

These are all the smiles of Reagan at age 2.  I love them all baby girl.

Tweetsie

TWEETSIE

Who doesn't enjoy a good visit to the old park Tweetsie?  Tweetsie is the name of the premier attraction which is an old train.  My mom decided that the trip to see the train would be great and it just happened to be on her 65th birthday.  We had a great celebration on her birthday and enjoyed the fact that it was a special Dora weekend at the park.

This was Reagan's second visit to park.  Last year, Reagan would have nothing to do with it or the rides.  She mainly enjoyed the shows and the mouse train.  This year we took full advantage of the special "Dora" weekend.  Dora is Reagan's favorite character.  She is a Hispanic girl who speaks both English and Spanish.  Tweetsie had a 30 minute show with the characters who sang all the popular songs from the shows.  The songs have motions such as fly like the condors.    Reagan absolutely loved it.  She then took her picture with Dora and Diego. 

 After, we finished visiting with Dora, we took to the park.  First thing Reagan wanted to do was to ride the train.  This amazed me because she was not scared at all.  She loved it.  We then took in shows.  She even volunteered for the magic show and the Hopper and Porter show.  I had to go up with her for the magic show but it was just to lock the handcuffs.  Thank goodness I didn't have to do anything more.  

We ended the day riding the rides, going on the train, and finally getting our picture with Dora once more.  Reagan even rode on the scrambler which is an adult ride.  I was amazed at how brave she was and that she loved the fast spinning pace.  Heights? no problem!  Reagan took to the ferris wheel like a pro.  It was so much fun going with my mom and my daughter.  I remember going with my Mom to the parks when I was young.  It's just so different when your the mom.  I enjoyed seeing Reagan so excited more than the rides.  My whole perspective on enjoying the park has changed.  I use to be determined when I entered a park to accomplish as much as I could.  Now, I just relax and enjoy watching my little girl.  

My mom and my daughter are such blessings.  I am so fortunate to have them both in my life.  Thanks to both of you for a great day!

Play-Doh

As soon as Reagan gets home from school there are two things she wants to do, eat and play.  Of course, she wants my full attention.  This can be so hard when it's 5:00pm and she expects dinner to be served by 6:00pm or will completely melt down.  Oh, and did I mention that Madison also wants to be loved and held.  So, the plan is to have dinner somewhat started before leaving the house, put out an activity with a snack on the table so that she can come in and just start.  Does this work everyday?  Yes and no.  Sometimes she will eat and play for 30 minutes without even asking for me and other days for 10.  I can usually keep her going if I interact with her on the days she struggles to gain my attention.  Today, she played great.  She made what she called little cupcakes and placed them on the couch two at a time.  It was so cute to watch her go back and forth.  What color of play-doh is a must have right now---PINK!  She doesn't want to play with any other color but pink.  Thank you Play-Doh for putting three cans of pink in one pack!

Show and Tell

Today was the first day Reagan took a show-and-tell. Dad always takes her to school during the year and never remembers to find something for her to take. Since I am teacher, I had a workday this past Friday and was able to take her. I decided that she could wear her tennis dress and take her racket and ball. She loves to "play tennis" when she gets home. It's mostly scraping the racket around on the concrete and chasing after a ball that she completely missed when I toss it to her. I find it adorable that she wants to be just like mom who plays all the time.