Austin Science and Nature Center

This morning Reese and I took a "field trip" to the Austin Science and Nature Center in Zilker Park. As a teacher, I made yearly pilgrimages to the Science and Nature Center for field trips, but I had never enjoyed the grounds as a "civilian" until today. The nature center has been around for sixty years and has a HUGE pond, walking trails, animal exhibits, and a dino pit where kids can "excavate" buried dinosaur bones.

In order to get Reese interested and excited about the trip I told her we were going to see animals--kind of like the zoo. That did the trick. She ran up the steps to the front gate as fast as she could and kept asking where the animals were. The nature center doesn't have a zoo's worth of animals--in fact, it's more of a rescue facility that houses injured animals that can't be returned to the wild. Since we arrived early in the morning before the heat was too oppressive, we got to see most of the mammals out and about including: two foxes, a bobcat, rabbits, a skunk, a coyote, and a raccoon. Reese was less interested in the amphibian/reptile house, but LOVED the birds of prey exhibit (again, injured, unreleasable birds). She particularly liked the owls. We saw Great Horned Owls, Barn Owls, and a third variety whose name escapes me. All morning long she talked about the owls, how they were sleeping, and how they say "who, who."

Another highlight of the trip was digging in the GIANT dino pit. The dino pit can easily accommodate 100 digging children, and it's full of shovels, buckets, and brushes for kids to explore with. While the goal is to excavate the hidden dinosaur bones, Reese enjoyed experiementing with the digging tools more than anything else. It was a miracle that sand didn't make its way into her diaper considering how often her legs were barely visible under the sand piles she made. (This happens when you fill buckets with sand and pour them TOWARDS you.)

Water Fun

Our trips to the pool haven't slowed down much as the summer heat has ramped up. Strangely, the froggy shaped slide in the neighborhood's baby pool has lost its appeal for Reese. She will go up the stairs and throw toys down the slide, but she refuses to go down it herself. This change has come on rapidly and it didn't' follow any traumatic experience so I'm stumped.

In addition to the pool, we're trying to add a few other water experiences to our repertoire, including the fountains at the Domain shopping center. So far, Reese has only visited them twice, but they were a definite hit for her. On our first visit I let her run through them in her clothes, on our second visit we met with her buddy Reed and I brought her swim suit. We're hoping to try the splash park at Brushy Creek soon also. We took Reese there one time last year, but it was before she could walk, and mommy and daddy bore the brunt of the water play more than she did.

And a Sister Makes Four

Reese has known about her impending sibling for awhile now. Through the bouts of terrible morning sickness when mommy wasn't able to play as much as she wanted, and now with a growing belly that needs more room and respect, she's managed fairly well. The hardest adjustment for her was/has been steering clear of Mommy's belly while still maintaining Mommy as her favorite jungle gym.

All along, we've asked Reese whether she wanted a brother or a sister. While we got mixed reviews initially, it wasn't long before she decided she wanted "a boy." Last week we took Reese along with us for our big sonogram so she could hear the news about whether a baby brother or sister was on the way.

Because baby#2 was pretty active, our sonogram was LONG. Reese was interested in the images for the first few minutes, but then got antsy and wanted to crawl on the chairs and Daddy. We didn't think she was listening when the sonographer told us another baby girl was on the way. But, when we asked Reese after the sonogram if she was having a brother or sister, she told us "a sister" and then went on eating her snack as if nothing had happened.

Throughout the pregnancy so far, Reese likes to point to my belly button (including lifting my shirt) to tell me there's a baby inside. She then points to her belly and tells me she has a baby too. Sometimes Ellie, her elephant, has a baby, but "NOT Daddy."

With the news of another girl, we've decided to leave Reese's current room decorated as it is, and we've begun work on creating a "big girl room" for Reese in our former guest room. So far, we've emptied the furniture, picked out bedding, bought a twin bed for Reese (that's a whole 'nother story by itself), and Daddy has begun the painting process. With busy summer weekends ahead of us, it may take a while for the transformation to be complete, but we want to move Reese in WELL before the baby comes so that we're not dealing with her transition AND a newborn in the house...well, that's the plan anyway.

Jumping Bean

Recalling the amount of energy young girls can put out, Grandma and Grandpa Righter had a particular birthday present in mind for Reese--a trampoline. Mommy and Aunt Kim had a mini trampoline as kids and Grandma loves to recall how it earned "an exhaustion rating of 10 out of 10" by a parenting magazine. Parents now must know the same secret, because when Grandma and Grandpa looked into getting one for Reese it was on back order for almost 8 weeks. In order to make sure it arrived before her birthday they put in their order immediately.
The back order notice must have incorrect (or a giant shipment suddenly arrived) because Reese's trampoline arrived on our door step shortly after our beach trip--two months before her birthday.

Since outdoor time is limited for us due to the heat, we immediately assembled it, and there hasn't been a day without jumping in our house since. The first few days, Reese would spend LONG stretches of time jumping, now she opts for many quick spurts during the day, sometimes with the company of her stuffed animals. The trampoline has become a mini-jungle gym of sorts for her. Not only does she jump on it, she crawls under it (army-man-style), and loves to jump and then throw herself out onto the floor while hanging onto the bar. (VERY scary the first time I witnessed it--but think uneven bar action and you get the gist.) She loves to tell us how high she's jumping, or that she's a "jumping bean" or a "kangaroo." Just recently, when she jumps, she tries pulling her knees to her chest or alternating between jumping with her feet close together and far apart (think jumping jacks). If this keeps up will gymnastics be in our future? She already loves trying to do somersaults....

The Beach

We consider our trip to the beach a success based on a few factors:
1. No one suffered sun stroke (Mommy has been guilty of this on one particular trip to the coast.)
2. No one got sun burned
3. Our car is full of sand
4. No one vomited ocean water--either at the beach, or in the car AND
5. Nothing valuable blew away...well, permanently anyway.

And to think our biggest worry about this trip was how Reese was going to handle the car ride... There's no doubt that 3 hours in the car is hard on a toddler, but in general Reese handled the situation well. I think at one point she consciously gave up on the idea of being unstrapped from her car seat, and after that, the only battle was finding her new food and entertainment. Note to other parents: there's not a lot to sight see along I-37 between San Antonio and Corpus, and the gas stations are a little creepy.

We made it to the beach around lunch time on Saturday. We had planned on driving onto North Padre Island near Malaquite Beach to set up our "camp" for the day, but when we arrived at the visitors' center they told us that unless we had a really reliable 4x4 we shouldn't attempt it. Apparently the cost to tow a car out of sand on the island is upwards of $1000. Yikes--that would ruin our vacation budget for a while to come. So, instead, we were left to haul our gear down the path from the visitors' center parking lot to the beach. Unfortunately, when I say "we," I mean Kevin. With an excited toddler and a pregnant wife on hand, there wasn't much Reese and I could do to help. So, poor Daddy braved three trips to the car to get our gear and drag it through the super soft sand. Add the sweltering heat and humidity, and you can imagine how he felt afterwards.

Once we got our shade tent set up and some food in our bellies, the beach fun began. From the second she saw sand, Reese could not be stopped. It was all I could do to coax her to the actual beach--she wanted to stop and play in every dune of sand near the path we took down to the beach. She was more than happy to dig and scoop with her sand toys while Mommy and Daddy set things up. In fact, we weren't sure we were going to get her to the water since her interest in the sand was so strong. After lunch, though, we took her down in the shallow waves and she splashed and walked and dug in the wet sand. After only a few minutes in the water, it was obvious that if we didn't hold on to her, Reese would have gladly paraded herself out into deeper waters, and no matter how far up her legs we let the waves go, she always wanted to go deeper. As the waves came in she'd giggle and shout "Here it comes," "Watch out!," or "It's a big one!" I thought the sea shells along the beach would be interesting for Reese, but strangely, she was more interested in the sea weed. She wanted to "plant" the seaweed in the sand, so we spent some time digging holes and burying it in big piles. Luckily, the seagulls weren't visiting en mass this weekend, and they didn't beg for food or bother us---it could be because Reese kept running up to them and trying to offer them sand to eat, though.

Just before we left the beach, we took a long walk down the shore and while we were gone, our shade tent blew away and landed in the dunes behind us. Luckily, the family in the tent nearest ours, rescued it for us and even set it back in place. Since it was approaching dinner time (and Reese hadn't had a nap), we took it as our cue to leave.

Our hotel was only a ten minute drive from the beach, and Reese was asleep in her car seat before we left the beach parking lot. We tried to sneak her into the hotel without waking her, but that trick hasn't worked since she was a few weeks old, so we were foolish to expect anything different. After a quick change of clothes for everyone, we began the hunt for food. Through luck and the help of Google, we found a WONDERFUL restaurant to eat at amidst the sea of fast food chains and questionable looking seafood huts near our hotel. ( If you're over the cause-way, don't eat anywhere except Dragonfly--it's really that good!)

Mommy and Daddy had high hopes about an early bedtime for Reese since our day had been so active--goodness knows WE were tired. After a bath and some bedtime stories, we put Reese in the hotel's portable crib and turned off all the lights. We then sat in the dark and listened as Reese talked to herself (and Ellie)--for over two hours. Eventually the talk turned into crying and after an attempt to have her sleep in the bed with us, we had to close our ears and endure a cry-it-out session for about 5 minutes. It was 10 o'clock by the time Reese finally fell asleep.

The trip home was a little rough due to road closures on I-35 and the fact that Reese was sleep deprived from the previous day, but we eventually made it back home.....with only two pictures to share, sorry.

Reese One Liners

Just a few funny things Reese has said over the last few weeks:

* We saw a chihuahua at the park. For DAYS afterward Reese told everyone about the "teeny, tiny doggie with BIG ears."

* In the bath one night Reese was crawling around so I asked, "Are you a baby?" "No"; "Are you a big girl?" (expecting a yes) "No"; "Well, then what are you?" "Almost two."

* Trying to get Reese to retell the story about the cardinals we saw at the park I said, "Reese, can you tell daddy the name of the red birds we saw today at the park?" "Yes--flamingos."

* One afternoon the big pool in our neighborhood was shut down because a young child had an accident. Since the two pools run on the same pump system (and to be fair) they closed the baby pool (where we were playing) also. I explained to Reese what had happened and since everyone else was leaving, she was agreeable. The next day when it was break time and the lifeguard blew the whistle for all the kids to exit the pool, I said to Reese, "They blew the whistle, you know what that means." She nodded her head and said, "Oh yeah...poopy in the pool."

* She had created a "booster seat" for Ellie by turning her step stool upside down. Ellie "must" sit in the booster seat in order to participate in her tea parties.

21 months

Another month has passed, and with it the milestones keep coming.

* Reese is a chatterbox of epic proportions now--telling us about everything she sees and does. She's using sentences more and more often now and refers to herself in third person. She does, however, know (and tells us often) that her name is Reese Bailey.

* Reese is enjoying time at the neighborhood pool and had NO fear about going down the frog shaped slide in the baby pool. She initially had mixed feelings about her life jacket, but since it allows her to go in the "big pool" with the "big kids" she's given in. On her first attempt wearing it she pulled at it and screamed "I don't like it!" over and over again. It was quite a scene.

* When we're not at the pool, we're often at the park or on the hike and bike trail in the neighborhood. A small creek runs near the trail and it's great for nature watching. Every trip we see some water birds, and at least a few squirrels; on the occasionally lucky trip we'll see turtle, crawfish, and other song birds. I'm not sure what kind of water fowl we're seeing, but Reese has deemed them all "ducks." I need to do some research so we can name them correctly, but that's fallen by the wayside for now.

* Reese has developed some new fears lately. She gets particularly upset if there are large, noisy trucks or tractors around. Viewing them from the safety of the car is another story, but some recent construction work at the park has been traumatic. She also got extremely scared of an owl shaped balloon at HEB (it was around for commencement and was complete with a mortar board). It was near the Buddy Buck machine and instead of redeeming her Buddy Bucks (usually her favorite part of every HEB trip), she insisted we "Go home! Go home now!" When Reese is faced with a scary situation, she clings to mommy and covers her eyes.

* Reese still loves reading and will now, on occasion, demand MARATHON reading sessions in her room. One day we read books for almost an hour and a half. She currently loves the Mr. Men and Little Miss series of books, especially "Mr. Happy" and "Little Miss Sunshine." She can be found "reading" to herself or Ellie often. Since she knows the stories so well, she turns the pages and narrates the pictures about what's happening in the story.

* Reese's imagination is really growing. She can play for extended periods of time on her own now, and often sets up tea parties for her, Annie, and Ellie. Annie is a reluctant participant, but eventually concedes when she realizes she's been surrounded by play dishes and food. Have I mentioned what an amazing and tolerant dog we have?

* Potty time will happen in it's own time. We're not forcing the issue, but if we notice Reese is going potty in her diaper, we ask her if she'd like to try to potty. Sometimes we get a yes, most times we get a no. She has, however, started telling us that her diaper needs to be changed, even when it's just wet. With her independent streak, I have no doubt that she's not going to want to use the potty until it's her idea.

* We had a traumatic trip to the doctor's office two or three weeks ago. After several days with a high fever and no other symptoms, they had to perform a catheterization to rule out a bladder/urinary track infection. You can only imagine how happy Reese was about being pinned down for that experience. In the end, the tests came back negative for infection, and we were left to assume it was a strange virus running its course.

* In general, we're having less tantrums and time outs at our house! Yeah (knock on wood)! Now that Reese has a better understanding of numeric concepts, we are giving her more specific transition cues. Telling her she can stir the pudding 5 more times before it's Mommy's turn has helped her anticipate and accept the act of sharing better. She also responds well to "just one more time" or "this is the last one." Sharing with peers is still touch and go, but I'm hoping practice will help. Reese seems to get easily overwhelmed when she's around large groups of toddlers. Strangely, she plays well with children older than her (4+), but time and materials are always a source of strife around kids close to her age (with the rare exceptions of toddlers she's had one-on-one play dates with--Reed in particular). I'm hoping that starting mothers'-day-out in the fall will help that issue.

* Reese is growing like a weed--or at least it seems like she has lately. She no longer seems quite so petite next to toddlers her age. Don't get me wrong, she's no giant, it's just that there isn't the huge discrepancy between her and other kids that there used to be. We may hit the 50th percentile in growth yet. And if not, that's ok.

* We may have a ballerina birthday in our future. Reese loves to dance. Dancing for her means generally means running around the house, shaking her hips, screaming, "Dancing girl! I'm a dancing girl!" She adds in an occasional spin and will even stand on one foot or go backwards if she's feeling creative. If it's after 5pm and Mommy's busy making dinner you're likely to find Reese dancing laps around the house--no music required.

* We're headed to the beach next weekend. I'm not sure how Reese will feel about the experience, so I was sure to book a hotel with a pool--that way, if sand isn't her thing, we still have a refuge with some built in entertainment. Stories and pictures to come...