Family,
And a good Monday evening to you from the Queen City, where the Bull is trying to avoid the mistakes of last month and get in front of the blog post for October. It was an EPIC one for Team
It's hard to know where to start, so why don't we just go chronologically (since that's how my notes were written anyway) and see if we can recount the adventures of Team Taylor. We'll start on October 1, where we had a first for the ages - K POOPED IN THE TUB! Granted, I wasn't home to see it, but I get the sense it was much like Baby Ruth in Caddyshack - only it was the real thing. :-) I'm happy to report that, 25 days later, we've not duplicated this feat - fingers crossed that favorable trend continues.
On the subject of potty training, it's been an interesting ride. Simply put, there is NO QUESTION that K knows what the potty is and when she needs to use it. More to the point, there's no question that she understands the urge and knows when it's time to go. However, as is the case with most kids, I just think she doesn't want to take time out from whatever she's doing to go to the bathroom, pull her pants down, and then potty. And let's face it - when you've got the diaper there keeping you dry, what's the rush? :-) |
| Seriously - Passed. OUT. |
To that end, Jenny has just now procured some cloth diapers, and Team Taylor is about to start down the path of giving K a bit of discomfort when she doesn't use the potty. K has actually asked for her "Doc McStuffin's panties" (another hand me down, this one courtesy of AC and Jeebs I think) several times, and Jenny's told her that she can't have them until she's potty trained. JT has also promised her Peppa Panties once she's trained, but so far K's still not made the jump completely. It's interesting, she will go at pre-school without problem. At home, however, it's definitely been more of a negotiation.But give JT a ton of credit on this, as on the 5th of October JT introduced the potential silver bullet - the cotton ball redemption program. Taken a page from Team Brothernides, essentially the plan goes like this:
1. You pee pee on the potty - you get a cotton ball.
2. You poo poo on the potty - you get a cotton ball.
3. 5 cotton balls = 1 ice cream
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| "Yo! You tryin' to copy my ride?" |
And while we haven't had much luck getting her to poopy this month, we've definitely seen more consistency in peeing since introducing this (she's peed the last 2 nights before bath). She's redeemed cotton balls 4 times at this point I think, and it's even had the ancillary effect of improving her counting! Now I will say as a word of warning to other parents - at first K only wanted to eat the cotton balls, so make sure you keep a weather eye on your child before she drops the ball into the correct receptacle. Now she's over her desire to consume the fabric of our lives, but it was touch and go at the outset. :-)
On 10/4, K surprised us all by announcing that she wanted to say her pre-school prayer instead of our family prayer. This was TOO CUTE, as she then proceeded to fold her hands, shut her eyes so tight I thought she'd get a migraine, and then say:
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| I mean...too. cute. |
The week of 10/5 was a better week at daycare, and 10/8 featured the breakthrough - NO TEARS! In fact, K seems to LOVE pre-school now. She says, "I like Ms. Tara," talks about what she does each time, shows me her art, and seems to really be enjoying it. The funniest part - K had so much fun on 10/8 that she didn't want Jenny to wash her hands when they got home. She kept saying, "Don't wash off pre-school, mama! TT want dirty hands from pre-school!" I mean, that's passion right there...
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| "A good day for doing nothing!" |
10/4 was a big Sunday as well, as K really seemed to enjoy child watch. She's actually started walking in now of her own volition - no tears anywhere in site. When I go back to pick her up, her smile could melt a glacier, and she always shouts: "DADA!!!!" Of course, she then immediately wants her brown paper bag and her lollipop, but hey - I'm the center of attention for about .00000007 seconds (and I'll take anything I can get). She's started showing us her lesson sheet as well (she colors on it a bit), and that day in particular she told us about Moses and the Burning Bush - too cute!
The rest of that week was really good for K, including a visit to Imaginon. That being said, for that week (and still largely the case), K is very much in a mommy phase at present. For that week in particular, she actually wanted NOTHING to do with me. It's gotten a little better over the last couple of days, but for a solid 2 weeks in the middle of the month, she didn't want daddy in the bathroom, near the changing table, or reading her books at night. I know kids go through those moments, and JT was a trooper carrying the load (as is always the case). I just hated it for multiple reasons. First, I obviously wanted to give JT a break. Secondly, I don't want K to ever be in a position where she just flat doesn't want daddy around. I realize that I was gone 2 weeks in August and quite a bit in September, but I have to ask the question - was I really that much of an absentee parent? Or more importantly - am I not as focused as I need to be when I'm home? Needless to say I'm trying to make a much more concerted effort to be switched on every second I'm home now - I just hope next week's trip to Singapore (just 1 week!) doesn't under the slight warming I've seen lately. Oh, and for the record - the one time she's consistently wanted daddy this month? Whenever she's had a poopy in public and needs to be changed. LOVE IT!
There were three big highlights in October, the first of which came over Columbus Day weekend. For
Jenny's birthday, Team Taylor packed up the Elantra and drop a whopping 1 hour and 40 minutes south of the border for a visit to Greenville, SC. This place had long been on our radar, and I am thrilled to report that it FAR exceeded expectations. Simply put - this little family holiday was PERFECT, and I definitely see Team Taylor going back there.
Saturday was a rainy day, but that honestly worked out great. We had lunch at this yummy spot called Smoke on the Water, and then we wanted around in the rain for a bit amidst the Fall Festival in the center of down. K played in the fountains (LOVED THEM), and we then walked across the overlook bridge to see the falls. After that, we walked back to the car and drove to the SUPER CUTE condo. From there it was nothing but UT football, some good beer, and lots of relaxation. We even dined in that night - having a little publix rotisserie chicken in the eat in kitchen. And while all of this might not sound that exotic, to us it was just PERFECT. We were relaxed, K was LOVING the new condo (and it really is a perfect little space for 3 people).
Sunday was terrific and full of activities! For starters, we met cousin Marc and his wife Kim for breakfast/lunch at a delish little spot called the Green Room. We then spent more of the afternoon wandering around downtown, Falls Park, and the Swamp Rabbit trail. K LOVED all the new spots to explore, and we wore that girl out! I got a run in along the SRT while she napped, and then that afternoon we went back into downtown for one of the highlight's for K - KILWIN'S ICE CREAM!!!! Man, K LOVED this. For starters, the "selection" was absolutely priceless, as K got a chance to sample 2 or 3 flavors before selecting the winner. Add in the fact that JT got a cup as well, and you have a kid that was ELECTRIC with sugar. We then spent the next 45 minutes running around downtown with K, largely playing in this little waterfall that was outside Roost (another restaurant). K was too cute - basically I would put my hands in the waterfall, spin around, and then run after her like I was going to get her wet. We seriously did this for an HOUR - and I was as happy as could be. It's interesting, as becoming a parent truly makes you realize what vacation is - a chance to get away from reality (and anything that would make you think of it), focus on family, and just let any stress melt away. This little hour (and the subsequent visit to the Blue Ridge Brewery with our friends Sherry and Jason) was the embodiment of that, and it was just fantastic. |
| Shot of the trip - K absolutely REFUSING to take a family pic. |
Monday saw us at the Greenville Zoo, which was another really fun day for K. It was decorated for Halloween, and it's a very walkable zoo as well. That combination of factors made it a lot of fun, and we spent about 2 hours there (the highlight was the baby monkey). K was really good throughout all of this, and we even capped the afternoon with a delicious lunch at Roost before heading out. Oh, and did I mention we hit Kilwin's again? YEAH, BABY!!!!!! Seriously - this was SUCH a perfect little getaway for the family, and I feel so blessed we got a chance to do it. I think we'll definitely go back. In fact, we even looked at going back for Halloween! And while we weren't able to make that work, there are plenty of spots I still want to hit there, and so I think it, like Asheville, could become an annual stop on Team Taylor's tour of the world.
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| K ain't 'fraud 'a no ghost! |
10/14 saw one of the most epic no nap day meltdowns I've ever experienced - this involved multiple spankings and a genuine discussion between Jenny and I as to whether or not K was demon possessed. Luckily, she was fine in the morning. :-) Oh, and also this week - K got her flu shot and was a CHAMP. JT said that she didn't even cry or flinch when they gave it to her! Truth be told, all she wanted was the band-aid, and she wore that thing with pride and showed it to us EVERY DAY for that following week. The crazy part? She would NOT let us take it off her. She even bathed in it but wouldn't let us take it. Ultimately, it took us a week of asking and then a free cotton ball before she agreed to pull it off. Oh, and throughout the week she would say the following when she looked at it: "I AM ROUGH AND TUMBLE!" That's my girl! I mean, as long as she doesn't go Nelly style and put one on her face, I think we're ok... :-)
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| C-Web took this one - I absolutely love this pic. |
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| K hanging with the Miller girls. |
The NWC day was just fantastic across the board. The weather was perfect, my buddy Matt was there with his family, and we just had a terrific day chillin'. Matt crushed the course (13th overall, 11th male), and so he was a bit more mobile than me after it was over. I was moving rather gingerly, but K wasn't really concerned about that. She wanted me to run around after her, which I was able to do to some degree after a good 30 minutes of sitting. I should recognize my wife for being an amazing trooper, as she did most of the chasing and child rearing on that day (as is often the case!). However, I will note that, when it was time to change the poopy, K was ALL ABOUT DADDY. :-) Side note on that - K has very much been in a "mommy phase" for the past 4-6 weeks - this includes her asking JT to read most nights. However, for some reason, there is one time I can always count on K to want daddy, and that is whenever there's a big, gooey poopy that needs changing. But hey, I'll take any time I can get, so BRING ON THE WIPES, BABY!!!!!
Oh, and to conclude this day - everything was perfect until the evening (it was a no nap day, obviously), at which point K had an EPIC meltdown. How severe? Well, let's just say she puked up hot dog and mac 'n cheese ALL OVER THE BATHTUB. And while it was MISERABLE in the moment, it was hilarious to hear her the following night say: "I was being naughty last night and spit in the bathtub. I spit hot dog and macaroni." I mean, how can you not think she's the cutest thing ever?
The next milestone was 10/18 - K put the snake puzzle together completely on her own! She still wants you to talk through the alphabet with her, but in terms of knowing the alphabet and how to fit the pieces together, she can handle that no problem. Truth be told, I think she's got the shapes (and the letters) memorized, but I enjoy "partnering" with her to do the puzzle. Oh, and my one concern - the fact that she now thinks "~n" is part of the alphabet. It's pretty cute to hear her say: "Is this en-yay?"
She's also learning tons of nursery rhymes now. Between the books she's reading, pre-school, and the songs on JT's phone, K pretty much has most of them memorized. Mary Had a Little Lamb is definitely her favorite, as she smiles a shy smile when you turn to that page in the nursery rhyme book. Also, when she's laying in bed during nap time and bed time, that is her "go to" song (and we enjoy the serenade on the monitor). Other favorites include Little Miss Muffet, Humpty Dumpty, Jack 'n Jill, and Baa Baa Black Sheep.
An interesting note during the week of October 19 was 3 additions to the bedtime ritual. For starters, K now always likes to say, "It's just a little nap" - even when it's the evening. Also, before she'll go to sleep in the evening, she always takes her sippy cup and says, "I'm gonna get a last sip." And while that is good (because we want our daughter hydrated), she usually proceeds to take about 6 more sips until ultimately you have to say "don't drink any more or you'll hurt your tummy." Credit to JT for thinking of that one... :-) And then, finally, as you walk away, you can always count on hearing her say: "Mommy gonna see me in the morning."
10/22 was another milestone - K's first school field trip! She and Jenny went to the "pumpkin patch,"
where K received a pumpkin, sat on a tractor, played in the field, and generally had a blast. At one point, we actually had 4 pumpkins on our front stoop (the count is now zero, as they are completely rotten - details...). K even got to go on her first hay ride - granddaddy was so proud. :-)
On 10/23 we rolled over to McChesney, where we hung out with some of Jenny's mommy's group friends and attended a pumpkin painting/carving session. It was a lot of fun, and K got to hang out with her good friend Emmy. :-). We ended up eating there and getting to bed late, which concerned me given that Team Taylor had a full day of activities starting that following morning.
We kicked off the 24th at the UNCC Botanical Gardens, where Team Taylor had their fall pictures! We didn't even know that UNCC had a botanical gardens, much less realize how big they were. This was a GREAT morning, as K was really attentive, enjoyed the new setting, LOVED running around the garden (she was doing a marathon like daddy :-)), and was a good subject. The photographer was a friend of a friend, and she did an AMAZING job. Seriously - these photo shoots are SO worth it, as you capture moments with the entire family that you'd never be able to capture otherwise. We spent a good hour and forty-five minutes there, after which time we treated ourselves to Panera. :-)
It was then over to Prosperity Park for the Highland Creek Fall Festival. I must say that I am amazed at how good a shindig our HOA can throw, and I will also say how blessed and lucky we feel that the park they use is always the closest one to our house. :-) K really enjoyed it (even if a bit overwhelmed out of the gate) - her favorite activity was running up to Sweet Frog and giving him a hug (we must have done this at least 3-4 times). She was intrigued by the bounce houses, but you could tell the crowds were just too much. Toward the end, however, she actually went up one of the slides twice (good timing, too, as they were about to close), laughing the entire way down. Jenny had to go up with her, but it was still a win, as she was willing to make the climb. The only downside to the whole thing was that, at one point while running with dada, an older kid running headlong crashed right into Kaitlyn, knocking her to the ground HARD. You could tell it really hurt her, and for a good 5-10 minutes she was crying hard. The boy did apologize, but let the record state that his parents were nowhere to be seen at any point during the episode or in the 10 minutes afterwards. The good news is that K's totally fine, but I was worried about her head that night - it was a hard knock (with the boy and the ground). But again - ROUGH AND TUMBLE!!!!!
Fall Pic interlude (just including a few here, as I'll include some others in the November blog):
10/30 was another big milestone, as we watched K climb the apparatus at the playground (the one by the slides) for the first time ever - completely on her own! Granted, we were there to ensure she didn't fall, but she did it multiple times and got stronger (and braver) with each ascent. This really summarized what October has been - a period of increasing confidence, comfort, and strength for K. Some of that is pre-school. Some of that is age. But a lot of it is just the constant love and support she gets from her mother, as K knows that mommy will always be there to take care of her. As she says before going to child care at church each Sunday: "Haffa not cry. Mommy will come back for me." Those two are my whole world - love my girls!
10/30 was also the date of the Romp n Roll Halloween Party. K's friend Emmy was there, and they had a blast. I give RnR a lot of credit, as they packed a TON into a 90 minute little party. These kids played around on all the equipment, they did crafts, they played games, they ate pizza (and K even had her first marshmallow) - there was even a bounce house. And while K was intimidated at first by the # of kids (all of which were quite rambunctious), but the end she was bouncing around in there like crazy. And it's a good thing she went in when she did, as after her big session of playing in there, they deflated it for good (just like the Fall Festival at Prosperity Park - talk about fortuitous timing!).
Saturday I had to start my flight around the globe, which means that I missed Halloween with my girls. And while the previous two years weren't a big deal, this was the first time K actually knew what was going on. Consequently, I really hate I missed it - rest assured that won't happen again.JT said that K had a blast. She dressed up like a fairy princess (courtesy of Vol Nana), and much to our delight so did Kaelyn (our next door neighbor's youngest daughter). It's been interesting to watch those two, as they are almost the exact same age and have really taken a liking to each other in short order. So as you can imagine, those two fast friends dressed in the same outfits and begging for candy was a hoot! And yes - they did get some candy. And YES - we even let K eat a bit of it. :-) Again - thanks to Vol Nana, as she bought the jack-o-lantern/candy collection receptacle that was used for this endeavor.
The last points to capture from October:
1. Every night at dinner, K wants me to bring her the wash cloth to wipe her hands. Once I pull the tray away, she says, "I'm gonna do my favorite thing!" She then puts the wash cloth on her left foot. NO IDEA why she does this, but I act all surprised and run over to yank it off her foot. She cackles every time - I love it.
2. "The Kaitlyn Frump" - I feel I simply must describe K's whining ritual when she doesn't want to do something. It basically consists of her raising her arms and her chest at the same time, and then she flaps her arms out and slaps her legs. Depending on how agitated she is, she will buck like a bronco. :-)3. "Skippy the Skeleton" - so Jenny bought a $1 skeleton for Halloween, and K just thinks it's the cutest thing ever. Realizing that it is a bit morbid, I named him "Skippy," thinking that would take the edge off the fact that we have a skeleton hanging in our daughter's bathroom because she likes "for Skippy to watch me take a bath" (let's hold all commentary, please). Well, one night we were waving Skippy's hands (he's rather rickety, as you can expect), and K said, "What's Skippy doing?" Well, JT drops the classic: "Skippy says GET ME OUT OF THE GRAVE!" Now to be clear - I am mortified, thinking our daughter will be scarred for life. But then you realize - K has no idea this is supposed to be scary. Instead, for the next week, she runs around telling me: "Look, dada! I got Skippy out of the grave!" From the mouth of babes...gotta love it. :-)
For my part, as I (finally) finish typing this, I am done traveling with work for the rest of the year and couldn't be happier about it. Work travel is great, and I love the miles, but this trip was officially the one that made me say "if I never get another passport stamp, I'm ok with it." Simply put, travel used to be grueling but something you looked forward to. Now, finally, travel is truly an inconvenience. Everything I love is in CLT now, and those roots are deeper than ever. And where your treasure is, there will your heart be. Translation - this guy is looking forward to the end of this project, where he knows his work will be centered in the Queen City - right here with his family, his running trails, his breweries, and his Tarheels. :-) Oh, and did I mention that the cough I had before I left has now been passed to my family, meaning that the entire house is now hacking? Yeah - good times... :-)Oh, and there is just this one more little detail....
WHA, WHAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Now - keep in mind that this blog is for October, and it's mid-November as I get around to typing this. Given that, suffice it to say that I have a lot more information vs. when we saw these lines. What I will tell you is that, at month's end, JT was definitely late, we had strong double lines, we were elated (but nervous obviously given previous experiences), and were as anxious to get confirmation as possible. We actually scheduled an early ultrasound right before I departed for Singapore, and what was saw was nothing short of a miracle - we actually saw the heart forming! It was too early for a heartbeat (so we scheduled a follow-up for November 11), but we did see the heart forming. With that piece of information, I'll leave this blog as a cliffhanger. And besides - I need to ensure I've got stuff to report for November!
So there you have it - October 2015 recorded for posterity. Talk about a JOURNEY to get this written. Going forward, I realize that I'm either going to have to write less or just jot a few notes down on the site as I go. I really, really, REALLY want to continue doing this, but it's just getting tougher and tougher to find the time. The current thinking is that I'm going to get up 10-15 minutes earlier every morning to start reading the Bible (and ensure I get at least a chapter in). I'm thinking some days I should try to wedge a few updates in as well. We'll see how that goes, as I gotta try something!
Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Chat soon!
Love,
Sam and Jenny
