The 15th Started at Sunset

My dad called me this afternoon and we made an executive decision that for his birthday this year we would be following the Biblical definition of when the new day starts. Thus, my dad's birthday would start at sunset and we could start listening to our Christmas music! I fell asleep at about 8:45 this evening listening to the wonderfully familiar strains of Bing Crosby's 'Silent Night.' What could be better? By the way, as you can see, my falling asleep was just a nap. I often take little cat naps in the evenings.

Calleigh is in great health. The Roseola has not reappeared nor has she had a temp since Sunday. So we're glad that was such a temporary thing.

On Wednesday morning, Calleigh and I went over to a playground in Winter Springs. I brought along some hot dog rolls since there is a pond with ducks and turtles (and gators??) to feed there. Calleigh really didn't get the concept at first that you're supposed to THROW the bread into the water. Instead, she kept eating it. She finally figured it out but insisted on putting every other piece into her mouth. The playground is under construction and we found out that they're putting in a little water park (similar to the one we've been to a few times in Winter Park) there which hopefully would be ready for spring. So that's exciting news.
Since it was kind of rainy, there weren't many other people at the playground but there was one little boy there that took a liking to Calleigh and insisted on pushing her in the swing. She was happy to oblige him.

Last night we had Shannon, David, and Megan over for Pizza Night and to watch the football game since they don't have the NFL network. Once again, David and I were part of another extra inning/overtime game and once again, there were poor results. I swear we hadn't watched any sporting event together over here at our place since the last one of those games. He's now outlawed from the house. But it was good to have them over. We hadn't seen Megan in almost two weeks since she was up visiting her sister in Maryland last weekend. She just found out that her brother and sister-in-law will be having a baby girl in early April (well, she already knew they were having a baby but the girl part is new).

This morning Calleigh went to two new places. First, we went to a playground that we hadn't been to before. They're smart at this place because they have a canopy over all the stuff. So often you can't go on the slides or anything because they bake in the sun. And yes, things would be baking today. It was like 85. There were two other little girls there and one of them took off her flip flops (be bops in Calleigh terms). Calleigh became obsessed with them. She wanted to play with them. Eventually the little girl came back and grabbed them and Calleigh got upset and hit the girl in the head with her hand. Not hard but she hit her. Unfortunately, I was on my phone at the moment with Duncan's old boss talking about something work related so I'm sure I didn't react as I should have. I apologized to the girl and told Calleigh to tell her she was sorry. I don't know that Calleigh said exactly that but at any rate, I grabbed her and we left. I think I probably should have done a time out instead at that point or something.

After the playground, we went to story time at a different library over near Waterford Lakes. We hadn't gone on Monday because of going to the doctor and then on Tuesday when we could have gone to the 18 months - 3 year old session, it was Veteran's Day and the library was closed. So off we went to an Orange County library instead. There were way more kids at this one (like 35 compared to our 10) but we managed a seat right in front. All of a sudden, we hear this loud booming voice say in not the most pleasant of tones "Boys and girls, it's story time." From the back of the room this large lady in an orange tent dress down to her ankles with a scarf tied around her head makes her way up to right in front of us. Calleigh took one look and started crying. I was a little embarrassed quite honestly and a little perturbed that we would come all the way for her to be scared and want to leave. But I was also surprised that they would have someone who didn't seem very friendly to be up front telling stories to kids. Nonetheless, we moved to the side of the room and Calleigh recovered enough to enjoy herself.

On the way home at about noon, Calleigh fell asleep with about eight minutes left in the trip. Apparently the experience tired her out. I tried to keep her awake but it's tough while you're driving. She woke up as soon as we got home but I was afraid the damage might be done. Sure enough, I put her down as usual at 1:15 and she didn't fall asleep until about 2:30. I had my fingers crossed that she would fall asleep at all. So I ended up letting her sleep until about 4:40 (later than usual) because of that but also because I knew she would be up a little late tonight...

The space shuttle Endeavour launched at 7:55 this evening and we got a great view of it. We took Calleigh down to our little pond and as we gazed over our lighted up fountain with the almost full moon in the background, we saw the Endeavour light up the sky. It's really neat no matter how many times you see it. We tried pointing it out to Calleigh but she was much more interested in the 6-month old baby that a man standing next to us was holding. Calleigh loves babies!

Before we saw the launch, we spent a little time playing with the leaves in our "front yard." Who says we don't have fall down in Florida? Yes, I know it's a little weird that we're playing in them at night but night starts so early now!





I'm trying to teach Calleigh her manners by saying "Please," "Thank you," etc. "Please" has been a challenge so far but she doesn't need any help with the "thank you." In fact, just about her favorite phrase right now is "thank you much." She says it all the time but at the appropriate times. Of course, when I saw "You're welcome" afterwards, she repeats that back to me like she's supposed to say it. The other one she doesn't need help with is "excuse me." Somehow she figured that one out. If I'm sitting on the floor blocking her way to somewhere, she'll say "excuse me" as she tries to get around behind my back.

I'm finally getting her to somewhat cooperate with getting her picture taken. So often it's a challenge because as I've mentioned, as soon as she sees the camera pulled out, she runs over to try to see the pictures on it. Yesterday I brought it out and said I wanted to get a picture of her so could she stand there for a second and say "cheese." And she actually did! A couple of days ago she got her hands on the camera (she knows she's not supposed to but I think it's when she had the Roseola and I felt bad) and walked around the room holding the camera up (although not to her eye) and kept saying "cheese." So she definitely gets it.



Well, that is all for now. Merry Christmas to those of you listening to your music. I was actually a little jealous tonight. As we walked to see the shuttle launch, one of our neighbors was setting up the Christmas lights on her bushes. I could see into her house and saw the garland already going up the banister on her stairs. Awesome!