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.

Twas the Night...

...that C stayed away from home all night for the first time.

F and I returned today from an overnight stay away from C. We had a Regimental Ball that was out of town since there simply isn't anywhere here that will hold that massive number of people (92 tables of 10!!) There was child care provided on site there, but considering the number of children involved, we decided that we'd find a friend who could keep C here. A dear friend from PWOC and her husband and older children had her stay with them. C had been to their house before and spent a day with them when I was recovering from my surgery. She adores their boys and really enjoys their doggies. She ate well, napped, and even went to sleep at night without a fight! I am so impressed that she did so well. When I was her age, my parents would leave me with my grandparents or aunt and uncle. In the Army life, one doesn't always have the luxury of having family nearby, and friends are called on to stand in the gap. I am sooooooo incredibly blessed to have found such a family of friends here at Irwin-town. Makes my heart sigh that we're leaving so soon.

Diaper Talent

I think it's about time to push the potty-issue. C has taken to changing her own diaper, well, actually a pull-up. It's incredibly cute. She does the whole thing, including wiping. This is only a problem if it's not just wet. Then, she comes a-running, hollering "yucky! yucky!" Then we wash her hands...for one of the thousand times we wash each day: C just loves to wash her hands. I really don't want to deal with the potty until after we've moved. I'm not relishing the idea of taking a potty-training toddler on a 4 day trip. Yes, we're taking 4 days to do the drive, so we can stop and do a few fun little side trippy things on the way.

Tree's Up

and C is totally into it...all the time. I guess it's our own fault for having cute Hallmark ornaments that look a lot like toys to her. At first, the tree was a novelty, and she was good about asking Daddy and Mommy for an ornament to look at, would examine it, and then give it back to us to hang back on the tree. As the novelty wore off, she stopped asking, and just started pulling them off. She isn't very nice to them and has broken one or two. So, our poor tree looks awfully topheavy though. As she discovers new ornaments to mess with, I keep moving them closer to the top of the tree. Just another source for tantrums, but without the tree it just doesn't seem like Christmas.

Disney in a Downpour

The first time I was at Disneyland, I was 10 years old, and we went in the rain. This weekend, we repeated the experience. It was great...after we took a break from the park and let C have her nap, and stopped at Target to buy a new umbrella, a new outfit and rain coat for C, shoes for me (I'd only taken my sandals!) and a smaller travel-sling to carry diapers (etc) around with us. During the first go-round at the theme park, my feet were soaked and C was shivering. However, the second go-round left C with giggles and grins and cries of "more!" and "again!" and "fun!" Because of the rain, the crowds were really light, and we didn't have to wait long for any of the events and rides. One of our first stops was the Princess Fantasy Faire, where little princesses could get their pictures taken with three of the Disney Princesses. This venue thing is a great idea on Disney's part. Last time we were there, the Princesses would come out for an hour or so, but the line for each was out of control. I'm sure that way some families did nothing all day but scout the appearance sites and stand in line to see the Princesses. Now, the line for the Princesses is continuous, with the Princesses rotating through the day, and each little girl gets 3 princesses at one shot. Much more convenient. C, however was less than impressed with the live princesses, prefering images to the real thing.

On the other hand, C was thoroughly enamored with the rides! She is old enough now that she can voice preferences, and she asked to ride the "horse" (Carousel) and "elephant" (Dumbo) twice. She saw the rockets on the Astro Orbiter and asked to ride the "plane". The really great thing about the light crowd was that when she asked to do things, we were able to just go get on that ride before the inkling passed. We also went on the Small World ride, and although she started out on the seat, she quickly clambored up onto F's lap so she could see all the displays. The awe I saw in her face is indescribable. Of course, I couldn't get a picture of it because flash photography isn't allowed inside the ride. All in all, I know she enjoyed herself, and that made the whole day worthwhile.