Well Toto, we're not in...

...California anymore. That's right, we've arrived in Kansas. There are still miles to go before our final destination, but we've stopped in Wichita for the night. I have some dear friends from our last stint in Kansas who live here and have a 2 year old daughter as well. We're seeing them this evening and the girls will get to meet and play. I'm hoping C won't be terribly confused, since their daughter is "Sophie", and one of C's fave playmates from Irwin is also "Sophie". I'm not sure C understands that more than one person can have the same name. I hope the girls enjoy one another's company.

On another note, I'd like to comment on the Days Inn franchise. Most Days Inns accept/welcome pets smaller than about 25 pounds, so we've stayed with them all the way across the country, and quite economically. What's most interesting is the quality of the accomodations. It's funny (amusing-funny) but each room seems to be an upgrade from the previous one. We've really enjoyed our stays.

Central Time

There's a part of me that simply cannot believe we're back in CST. We spent night #1 in Kingman AZ, #2 in Albequerque NM, and tonight we're in Amarillo TX. The cats are handling the travel well (except for trying to get them out from under hotel beds!) and C's being a real trooper about all the time in the car, and hotels and restaraunts. She's still asking to go home, but not quite so often or adamantly. Perhaps she's beginning to understand what we mean when we answer that "we're on our way to our new home." We're quite glad for our DVD player, but she's even getting tired of the TV! We've been keeping a pretty decent pace with the driving, and stopping with plenty of time for C to bounce around and unwind before bed each night. Today we kept the drive short, only about 4 hours in the car, and stopped at the Don Harrington Discovery Center (Children's museum) before heading to the hotel. C loved it; she was delighted that Mommy and Daddy were letting her push all the buttons and flip all the switches! C has also enjoyed having Papa's attention; my dad flew out to Ontario to help me on the drive east. As nuts as we drive each other, I honestly don't think I could handle this trip without him. I hope he knows how very grateful I really am. While fast food has been the necessity for lunches on the day-drive, we've enjoyed some nice sit-down establishments in the evening. We visited a local diner in Kingman, called JB's. They specialized in comfort food; it was positively delish! We thought fondly of my Gr'pa in Albequerque, eating at Furr's cafeteria; it was his (and my Gr'ma's) favorite place to eat when they were alive. C enjoyed her mac-n-cheese and had fun with the whipped topping on her jello. (Picture to follow later). The trip is long, and I'm looking forward to getting to our new home, but it hasn't been too bad, all in all.

Disney'd Out

We chose a good weekend to do our last Disney trip (for a while). Apparently, on SuperBowl Sunday, people aren't as inclined to go to an amusement park as they usually are. It also drizzled and remained overcast most of the day. While the precipitation was inconvenient and uncomfortable as we waited for the park to open in the morning, it did keep the crowds at bay. I'm not sure we got our money's worth out of the day though. We decided ahead of time that we'd only go on the rides C would be able to enjoy, which didn't leave us that many. Small World was closed, and that was the one she was anticipating with the most eagerness. We rode Dumbo, the Astro Orbiter, Autopia, King Arthur's Carousel (but only on the bench seat), Casey Jr. (the cartoon-ish train), the Storybook tourboat, the Monorail, and the Buzz Lightyear ride. C did not like the Buzz Lightyear ride until I put her on my knee to see, and that only made the ride tolerable for her. She complained all the way out that it had been dark. "Is dark! No likey dark! No more dark!" This dark thing has been going on for some time, leading to the nightlight that's traveling with us. However, the "no dark" stipulation left out all the story-rides that would have been suitable for a toddler. *sigh* The trains were a big hit, and she likely would have ridden Casey a second time, if the wait hadn't gotten so long by the time we went back to it...and if we hadn't arrived at the line to discover someone had tossed their cookies right outside of it. Ew. The storybook land tour did not impress her much, and she "drove" on Autopia for about 30 seconds before losing interest, which led me to discover that driving from the left side of the car with the steering wheel on the right is a major pain (in the shoulder). After making the rounds of all the rides of interest, we tried to go back to the ones C enjoyed. We stood in line for the Astro Orbitor a second time, and when we got to the rocket, she balked, saying she didn't want to fly again. Same scene at Dumbo, round 2. About that time, she wanted to see the princesses. I really love the new Fantasyland "exhibit" where they have the princesses in the pavilion at one location with the coronation and storytelling events. C got to see the princesses, and participate, but without having to stand in line for an eternity. We did have to stop mid-day though, for a nap in one of the restaraunts, because C woke up at 0600 and was tuckered out by 1100. I'm sure the shortness of the nap also led to her crankiness later in the day, and the subsequent refusals to enjoy her favorite rides a second time. All in all, it was a good way to break away from California. By intent or by accident, we have developed a tradition, as a family, that when we leave a post, we go amusement park-ing. I finally feel like the move is real now...for me (Fred felt it about a week ago.)

On a side note: Disney park prices are CRAZY. I wanted to get a sweatshirt for C and me, but for the prices they charge, we could have bought a coat! I did, however, find a really awesome stocking cap and scarf that are super-soft and super-cute. They were worth the inflated prices, since I can never find ones that don't itch to high havens. Just in time to move to weather where I'll need them!

Around the (farewell) Horn

F's fond of sports phrasing, and he mentioned today that we've gone "around the horn" in saying farewell to our California families now, in just one week. First, we said our "see you laters" to our Chapel family, then Regimental Staff family, the Shop family, and now the Family family. We've been blessed by having made and had so many connections while at Fort Irwin, and it feels like we're really on our way out now.

Homeless

As my Gr'pa used to say/sing, "We're on the road again..." That's right, our household goods are all on a moving truck, we've cleaned and cleared housing ($560...not bad, all considered) and are currently in transit. C keeps asking to go "home" and we explain it over and over again, but I don't think she's going to really comprehend it until all our things are in the new house. I've had her say "good bye" to as many of our friends (that we could fit in) and familiar spots at Fort Irwin, but she just waved and said "see ya later," to them. Perhaps she's following my lead, since I'm not saying "goodbye," just "see you later" out loud. The packup went reallywell, and I was pleased with the way I saw things going, but won't know for sure how well they did until we're unpacking them. The loadup didn't impress me as much. The guys were too anxious to "get 'er done" and moved too fast with our furniture and boxes for my comfort level. I hovered a bit much and I'm pretty sure they were glad when I had to absent myself to go handle a childcare issue. During this whole leaving process, I just have to publicly praise God for providing such care from our friends. Several gals helped watch C during the busy-ness, and one family even invited us for a home-cooked dinner on our last night on post. It was incredibly restful to be able to eat a dinner that wasn't at a restaraunt, since we'll be getting our fill of those during this move. C was able to play while we ate (after she was done), and it tasted wonderful! Some others offered to bring us meals to the house, but we couldn't accept, because it was the place to eat the meals that had us most challenged at the end! Still, the thought meant so much to us.

Tonight's stop was Auntie Irene's house for dinner with their family and Auntie Jennie's too. One blessing about living out here in California was having some of F's aunts and uncles close by. We didn't see them as often as we'd like, but we're at least trying to see them one more time before leaving. Auntie Irene fixed an incredible dinner (can't wait to try out the chicken recipe on my own in the new home!) and we just got to relax. What a treat to have a dinner I didn't have to cook, rush away from in order to get things done to get ready to move, or do dishes. I felt so pampered! Thank you so much Auntie!

In other news, I can tell that I'm getting into a really bad habit with the television shows and C. After exploring Auntie Irene's house a bit, she found the television there. She sat right down and here's the coversation:

C: "Watch George please?"
Mommy: "No, Auntie Irene doesn't have any George."
C: "How about Bob?" (as in Bob the Builder)

I laughed so hard, I couldn't figure out what to say to that one. After I could breathe again, I told her that we'd watched enough shows for today in the car, and we were going to play. She accepted that, and we moved on. But how's that for some early creative thinking!

"...Back Soon"

C is definitely a child of routine. We have finally found a nighttime ritual that works. As long as we can follow the routine, bedtime, even naptime goes off without a fight. Without the routine though...ugh...scary thought.

Step 1) When C starts the bedtime fussies, we ask her if she's ready to take her friends upstairs. If we ask if she's ready for bed, she says "no", "no likey bed". If she's really ready,

Step 2) she'll gather up her 'friends' and go to the steps, and says "uppease". She has so many stuffed friends, she can't walk up the stairs by herself.

Step 3) Place C in the bed, and she asks for "bug on" and "house on". The bug is her nightlight that she picked out herself when she developed her darkness issues. The house is one of those village houses that lights up. This one is decorated as though it's autumn and has pumpkins and turkeys and such on it. F thought it would be a good nightlight until C could pick one out of her own. They've both stuck.

Step 4) Turn on the bug and house.

Step 5) Tuck into Thomas blanket and Mommy blanket {the blanket I made for her while I was pregnant}. Depending on how tired she is, maybe skip to step 8.

Step 6) Read bedtime books in whatever order requested: Goodnight Moon, called "moon"; The Going to Bed Book, called "cow book" (I'm not sure why); and one of the following: Kittycat Lullaby, Have You Got My Purr?, or Guess How Much I Love You, called "bunny book".

Step 7) Pray and sing "Jesus Loves Me" together.

Step 8) C says "Mommy back soon." This is my signal that she's ready for me to give her kisses and leave her room. She doesn't like to say goodnight. I think she just needs to know that I'm coming back at some point.

Step 9) Kiss one hand repeatedly until "full", switch and repeat with second hand. Kiss each cheek, nose and head.

Step 10) C specifies what she's going to kiss on Mommy and Mommy bends to facilitate kisses, for example: "cheek" -kiss- "orcheek" -kiss- "kiss hair" -kiss- "kiss nose" -kiss- Yes, she only says kiss before the part on parts other than cheeks. Very odd.

Step 11) I say "Mommy loves C". C says "I wuf you Mommy." and I finally leave the room.
As I discovered in the hotel with my folks, if I don't leave the room, C does not go to sleep, no matter how much of the rest of the routine is adhered to. I can come back after she's asleep, but she needs to go to sleep alone.

A Tale of Two Papas...

...and Christmas 2007.

For those who speak Army, today is the end of max/block leave, and for us, the end of "Christmastime". It's been an amazing season around our house. I can't believe the difference it makes, living this season alongside a child. C's catch phrase has been "I likey Christmas." It's so cute.

Our house seemed to have a revolving door. The Wong grandparents arrived on the 23rd, my sister on the 24th, and my parents early Christmas morning. C was so excited to see each and every one of them. One of the most priceless moments was after my parents arrived for the morning, and C was playing with Papa and Grammy Lippert and then Richard and Anita came over from their hotel. Casssie looked at my dad and pointed, saying, "Papa," turned to Richard and pointed at him and said, "Papa." She looked again at my dad, pointed with a "Papa," and back to Richard again. She repeated one more time, getting more excited with each "Papa." Finally, she exclaimed, "Two Papas!" This discovery thrilled her to no end.

Perhaps my favorite moment was the one I did not expect. Every time a package arrived, or she saw a present-type package, C has wanted to open it. We'd tell her she had to wait until Christmas. Then, we put the package in the storage room, where we kept all the Christmas gifts until we were ready to open on Christmas morn. I expected C to clamor to open each one as it came downstairs, so I took her aside while F and Rachel brought the gifts for everyone to the living room. I fully expected a wide-eyed, eager reaction to the pile of gifts, perhaps with a run to them. My expectations were unfulfilled. It was beautiful. When I brought her into the room, and put her down, she ran first for her grandparents, exclaiming Papa! (even for her grandmas...it took a bit for her to figure all the people out) and hugging each of them, over and over. F and I actually had to pick her up and put her in front of the gifts and encourage her to open them. It was beautiful.

The day after Christmas was so much fun! F's aunties drove up from Southern California to see all of us, since Richard and Anita were here. F cooked a tasty steak lunch and we played some games while C napped. We laughed so hard! However, Auntie Jennie strongly objected to the use of gestures while playing "Catch Phrase." We're thinking she needs a coach's challenge flag.