Christmas, 09

Christmas with little ones is so much fun! Leading up, we went to see Santa as he traveled through downtown Olive Branch. Reese had his list and read the entire letter to Santa. Santa kept it so he could remember it. Raygan-Elise wasn't as thrilled with Santa. She screamed! Santa tried real hard to win her over. He walked around and talked to her and whispered secrets in her ear. She warmed up a little...and by that I mean she didn't scream when he stood beside us but she didn't crack a smile either. Then, we went to the Hernando Christmas parade. Reese was more thrilled with trying to catch candy than the bands and floats passing by him. He just kept saying do you think they'll throw candy. Raygan-Elise smiled and clapped some. None of the very loud tractors, 18 wheeler (the front part), banks, or even firetrucks scared her. She just walked around my chair and stared at all of it!!

We started off this week in Clarksdale on Sunday. We opened presents at Ruru's first then SL that night. Raygan-Elise loved tearing the paper. And Reese was just super excited! I think Raygan-Elise's favorite gifts were her Magna-Doodle from Anna and her baby doll, from Hammie. Reese loves his Barakagun DS game from Anna. He said he can't eat anymore because the game changed his life!! Raygan-Elise got a rocking horse from Ruru and a grocery basket from Mamaw. Reese got a Spongebob game from Ruru and a hot wheels track from Mamaw. All the kids (except RE) got a marshmallow gun from Aunt Billie. That was a big hit with the cousins!! Reese loves his! That night we went to SL where they got a lot more gifts. The children had so much fun. We usually do Christmas in Clarksdale on Christmas Eve night and although I complained I feel blessed we did it early, as Ruru passed away Christmas Eve morning. She will be missed so much but as she said, "I'm ready to go home!"

Today, Santa came and of course tons more gifts!! Reese was SO excited yesterday! He set many traps to catch Santa but then changed them all. He took a nap to try and stay up late last night, but he still fell asleep. We called Norad Santa tracking all day and tracked Santa around the World on the computer. Brian said he has never seen him so excited! This morning he was thrilled with all his video games, guitar, and microscope plus everything else. Raygan-Elise was excited to see all the presents. She walked straight to her balls and then to her corn popper walker toy. She smiled each time her furreal pet cat made noises! She has been very very happy today! I think the tubes and meds from earlier in the week are definitely helping!

Then, we opened our presents. Reese's school had a fundraiser where the kids got to shop for their family. Reese got Raygan-Elise a book, me a heart necklace and earring set, and Brian a lighted key chain! Then they opened our presents to them. After the 3rd Mickey gift, Reese said hmmm, I'm getting a lot of these this year. Then, the big finale came! He opened the box and stared. When it finally sunk in, he grinned from ear to ear. Brian and I both got teary eyed!! Then, the big news-- Reese, I wonder when we can go....what about tomorrow! "YES!!!," he yelled, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" and his arms flew up in the air. We are so excited and have been packing the car all day! It will be a fun-filled Mickey Week!! We leave tomorrow around lunch! Reese says his Favorite part of Christmas is all the toys and I think Raygan-Elise's is the food (she's gotten so good at using baby sign for more, all done and eat.) She even says ma sometimes when she signs more.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone!!! From our family!!!

My Funny Children!

Personalities!! I tell you. Sometimes they are like night and day. Reese-the ever talkative, happy, smiling, question asking, curious boy and Raygan-Elise- the vocal (yet with no words), strong-willed, demanding, although yes curious girl!

I think the older a child gets in school, maybe the less time during the day they have to talk and be social...too many worksheets and tests that must be accomplished. Now, I'm not saying this is the teacher's fault; its just school now. We love Reese's teacher, Mrs. Samsel. We've known her since we moved to OB. Her daughter, Jorja, was in my class with Reese for 2 yrs. and they've been in the same class until this year! Now, back to my point...talking. So, sometimes Reese comes home and he just has so much built up that he wants to talk about to me...So, we got in the car and without stopping to breathe or pause here is his story from last week on our drive to get Raygan-Elise from her school:

"Mom, I can't wait till I'm like 16 and can drive a car and I will say-mom I'm driving to a friends house and if u let me u will say ok but be home by midnight and I will say ok but I'll come home at 1 and then get grounded so that's not good (and without taking a breath) who are the people on the side of the road that pick up stuff. Are they just environmentally friendly or what? And if u r a passenger looking outside the more restaurants you see you get hungry then if its not a restaurant just a store with windows then u can see the food and get even hungrier. I'm a really good drummer. I remember that day when we had that party and we were trying to figure out who was coming at the right time and then u said Zoe coming at 1 and Clayton coming at 2 and Olivia coming at 3 and really our Christmas tradition should really be breaking something. Wanna know what made me think of that. It was that bent tree right there."
And there was actually another story bt the driving and people on side of road but I was typing yet at that time. We love his funny off the wall stories. Brian says he's just like his Poppa!


Now, Raygan-Elise is 18 months old. She is saying bye, mama, and sometimes baba. She was assessed through Simple Strokes and First Steps and does have an expressive and receptive language delay, which we've discovered (after a failed hearing test and a visit to an ent)is probably due to fluid buildup in ear. We've had 3 speech sessions and it does seem to help. Mrs. Angela gave us a little game of saying specific sounds to "name" specific objects. Some nights Raygan-Elise tries, sometimes not. But she is only 18 months! Her personality is really starting to show! She loves dancing and shaking head to any music. She even started blowing kisses last week! She has also gotten better at shaking her head yes and no but often gives us the wrong answer that she is trying to give. She had ear tube surgery last Tuesday (weighed 22 lbs 0 oz the morning of surgery) and the ENT said her ears were awful and bled a lot due to fluid build up damage. We are hoping this helps her a lot with both her frustrations and language. Early this week her ears were still looking bad (with the tubes you can see the infection, which is gross but helpful in knowing to go to doc) so back to the ent we went. More antibiotics and antibiotic drops and they cultured it! Hopefully this will be it for a while!