Athens To Atlanta Road Skate

... Or Athens to Dacula for me. I did the 38 miles (with Bethany who won 2nd place in her age group.... not me, I'm too old) without stopping in 3 hrs, 49 minutes, a 10 mph pace! I was proud of the not stopping part alone. Danny did a ridiculous, as usual, 5 hrs, 12 min for the 87 miles all the way to Atlanta. We had a great weekend in Atlanta and the flights went very smoothly minus one nice barf session Reagan provided us with to start the trip off on a good note ... before we even pulled away from the gate in San Fran. We enjoyed the rest of the flight, strawberry smoothie stained pants and all. Maybe too much bouncing/moving right after we ate it. It wasn't the smoothie itself, cause I was fine. Anyway, she was of course in love with the doggies, Cooper and Bailey, at Aunt Carol and Uncle Howard's house. Here she is doing her "nice doggy" approach we've taught her before. They needed no particular approach as long it wasn't silent and sudden from behind or something, but it's good practice for Reagan.
Aunt Bethany, why does "beebee" Faire just lay there? (Cousin Faire's 4 1/2 months old!)

Catching Up ... Reagan's 18 Months Old!

I've been thinking about blogging, just not getting "a round tuit". Well, I finally got one :-) Reagan increases her understanding and vocabulary constantly ... I can't even begin to capture every new thing she's doing/saying. She copies almost everything we do. You should see her hold, cuddle, kiss the head of, and pat her baby doll. She "brushes" her teeth, she pretends to go on her potty and even closes the lid when she's done, she cuts food with the side of her fork and spoon, she says 2 word phrases like "mama uppie", "uppie peas" (up please) "dada yummies" (Dada's eating yummies), "nigh nigh beebee" (night night baby), "dada hum" "dada week" (dada's at work). She's enamoured with dogs, says "daggie" and "oof, oof" and just today learned to say "meow" instead of just "me" for cats. She's also able to point out shapes now - circle, square, triangle, heart, star. It seems like she's getting colors too, at least red and blue, but I'll need some more proof before I claim that.

In mid-September, Great Grandma and Grandpa Kalkman were here visiting and we all had a great time. Grandma helped us pick tons of apples and trim our way-out-of-hand rose bushes (we don't have a clue, so we hadn't touched em). What an improvement! I want to know how to trim up all the other plants now too! We made 4 apple pies completely from scratch. Worth it! They were awesome! Here's a couple pics from their visit:


Late September, Grandma Connie sent Reagan a game with those realistic looking plastic animals in it. She loved them so much, we've since bought a bunch more in bigger sizes. Oh yeah, and because of these, she says "warees" now too which is walrus. Thanks Grandma Connie!
A recent playgroup at our house: Reagan's learning from Zoe and Jack how to do Ring Around the Rosie.
Reagan feeds her baby doll "doos".
... and wears the princess purse our neighbor found for her ... um, what? How does she know to stand like that? Do I do that!? :-)
... and here she is cutting her sweet potatoes with her fork

BOZO, Blocks, Benches

Even though she's a little young for this, she thinks the Bozo Clown is pretty cool. She's trying to bring it to me so I can make it work. Thanks Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Martin!

She's also a little young for these huge blocks, but Cam's been waiting so patiently to have an excuse to play with them - they're his from his childhood. She loves when he makes a bench and if I'm in the other room, she calls "mama!", walks over to me, points back toward where she came from saying "dat". I follow and she walks up to the bench, points to it and says "dat" looking at me expectantly. Cameron informs me I'm supposed to sit on the bench. I do and she immediately pushes on my back ... my turn is over ... her turn now.

"Reagan say cheese"

"Tees"

Cam's built a couple elaborate forts and ball mazes for her and she thinks they're pretty cool, but not quite as much as Cam yet.
Putting birdies on top made it way cooler though :-)

Conversations with Reagan

Cameron: "Reagan, do you want some juice?"
Reagan: "Doos [nod nod nod]"

Cameron: "Mama!" [yelling from upstairs]
Reagan: "Mama!" [yelling from upstairs, same tone, relatively same volume]

Melanie: "Do you want more crackers?" [bland diet after puking]
Reagan: "tees"
Melanie: "oh, you want cheese? That'll make you feel yucky right now. Do you want bread?"
Reagan: "ed" [an attempt at 'bread']

Poor Reagan

After going through a 12-hour stomach virus with Reagan Thursday night and then seeing the doc and finding out nothing else was going on, she was fine until last night again (saturday even though this post is dated Fri ... that's when I started writing it ... how do you edit the date?!). She had vomitted 12 times between 6:30 and 4am the first time and then last night, just 3 at night and 3 this morning. Not sure what's going on, but the fever still goes up to 100.something every evening, so now with this, I'm starting to feel like this is more of a thing instead of a few commons issues like sore throat and stomach virus. I'm calling the doc in the morning again since they said to call if there was any more vomitting after the first long night.

Fever with Teething ... Myth or Reality??

So, her fever's still up at night ... low grade ... but there. Today I noticed the corners of molars piercing through on both upper sides. I've heard molars are tough and take a couple months to come in and it's hard to believe she's having this fever for any other reason ... BUT, the doc says it's a myth. The American Academy of Pediatrics book I have as well as everything else I've ever read says they can get a low grade fever from teething. What gives?

Baby Inliner

That's the name of what I'd like to invent. Joggers have baby joggers and bikers have baby bike trailers. It would be like a jogging stroller, but would attach to your hips allowing your arms to be free for counter-movement and balance.

Why do I care about inline skating all of a sudden? I signed up for some torture ... the Athens to Atlanta Roadskate Event ... except this time I'm doing the shortest 38-mile version ... unless I'm feeling gutsy the day before, then I may switch to the 52.4-miles. (In 2004, I had a funeral for my ankles after skating 87 miles in 11 hrs and 45 minutes ... never again.)

Anyway, I dusted off my old inline skates (which still have mucky and now rusted wheels - oops! - from all the rain that made that day in 2004 extra fun ... of course I didn't clean them when I got home ... I wasn't ever touching them again!). I took them for a spin today at the State Park and was a little nervous, especially since I'd be pushing the jogging stroller at the same time. Overall, that part worked fine, especially if I pushed one handed to do the "skater arm swing". It wasn't very fun when it was slightly uphill with a headwind though ... on top of pushing the stroller, which isn't that light cause we got a cheaper one ... oh, and on top of the rusty, sticky wheel - that worked itself out by the time I was heading back with tailwind and slight downhill - ya know, when I didn't need it. My feet were hurting almost immediately, mostly because I wasn't relaxed enough and was clenching them the whole time. I skated for about 25 minutes and that felt like enough right now ... hopefully, skating has a quick feet/knee/hip adaptation period just like biking does with the butt bones ... because I only have a month until the event! My one hip that's really tight is especially feeling it. After today, 38 oughtta do me in just fine. I'm optimistic that it was just rustyness all around though and that I'll feel better next time I go out.

Oh, and Reagan was mesmerized by these crazy wheels attached to my feet. In the middle of my skate today, I parked her and did some circles in front of her on the skates and all I kept getting from her was the sign for "more" while she stared with wide eyes and open jaw.