More Lights!

This is definitely one of Calleigh's favorite phrases right now. She loves the Christmas lights and we were able to satisfy that passion when we went out on our annual light viewing on Friday evening. Included in the outing were Ron, Elaine, Duncan, Calleigh, Wanda, and I. We drove to our usual haunts but didn't go to quite as many places as usual since Calleigh was getting antsy. And we saved the best for last. There is a house right down the street from house that decks their house out in millions of lights and barely has an empty patch of grass due to all the lawn ornaments. We discovered it last year and now this year Calleigh is old enough to enjoy it. I can sum up what she thought of it by telling you that as soon as we got in the car to leave she started crying her eyes out. She did not want to leave! To top it all off, while we were walking around the yard (along with dozens and dozens of other people), a fire truck came through the neighborhood with Santa riding along so that was an added bonus (she doesn't mind Santa when she sees him from afar). All in all, it was a very nice evening although Calleigh didn't get to bed quite on time.

On Sabbath, Ron and Elaine came with us to church and then on to Sabbath School so they could witness Calleigh's singing first hand. Unfortunately, "Jesus Love Me" or any of the other usual songs weren't sung so she didn't really participate as she usually does. We did have a birthday which hasn't happened in a few months so it was a test to see if she's "grown up." She made some faces but didn't cry. And at the end of the song when everyone clapped, she joined in. Definite progress! We saw Aunt Wanda at the church and we realized that all of us girls were in red so of course, we had to take a picture. It turned out very well except for the fact that Ron had a smudge on the lens of his camera which perfectly coincided with Calleigh's head! At least you can still see her. After church, Ron and Elaine came over and ate lunch with us.

Saturday night we headed down to the Mall at Millenia. Yully planned a surprise birthday party for David (24th b-day is on the 16th) at P.F. Chang's which is in the mall. Since it started at 7 pm, we knew we wouldn't be able to stay because Calleigh had to get to bed but we still wanted to at least make an appearance. We got there early and walked around the mall for a little bit and then met the rest of the gang at the restaurant. And David was surprised so that was fun!

Sunday morning we did First Watch as usual. While Calleigh was napping, I resisted the urge to take a nap myself and instead cleaned out our closet and organized my maternity clothes (which I'm mostly still not wearing). I wanted to go through our clothes and other items to see if there was anything I could take to the Salvation Army before the end of the year for tax purposes. I ended up with a couple of boxes of things to drop off tomorrow.

Toni, Terry, and Megan came over for the Patriots/Raiders game which quickly turned into a blow-out - - always nice. David went with Yully to SeaWorld for the day since Yully was having her work Christmas outing there. A little after six, Ron and Elaine came over and the five of us departed for the Orlando Christmas parade. I figured we could tape the end of the game although because the Pats already had 42 points when we left, I didn't bother watching the end to see the last touchdown. The parade went around Lake Eola and started at 6. We got to the finish line of the parade around 6:45. I was afraid it would be very crowded and limited parking but wouldn't you know, we found a single parking spot about five car lengths from the route. And even better, two minutes after we got to an empty spot on the curb, the parade started. It couldn't have worked out any better. I have to admit, even though I'm an adult, when I heard the sirens and saw the four motorcycle cops leading the parade, I got a chill. I do love a parade (thanks Dad!). Of course, it has a new excitement to it because of Calleigh. She sat on Duncan's shoulders for much of the time and she just didn't know what to make of it all. We spent a lot of the time just watching her face as she looked in wonderment at it all. It's funny when you think about how these things are just ordinary to us but she's experiencing so many things for the very first time. One of my favorite things about a parade is the marching bands and there were several that went by. I was curious to see if she would be scared of the drums (I think I was, someone please confirm) but they passed about a foot in front of her (very loudly) and she didn't bat on eyelash. We saw a bunch of floats, trains, Christmas trees, dancers, baton twirlers, motorcycles, horses, and much more The only sad thing is that we had ended up leaving at 8 pm (already past Calleigh's bed time) and we were only a little more than half way through the parade. A shame! Today Calleigh has repeated "marching band" a bunch of times and also has said "nice lady, flag" a bunch too. The latter is because a lady in the parade stopped and gave Calleigh a little American flag. Oh, one other thing I wanted to add...a couple of times either a float or people would go by that were playing or singing Jingle Bells and Rudolph and Calleigh would break out into song with them. So cute.

Speaking of American flags, let me go back to Friday. We went to a couple of yard sales and at the first one, they were selling some little boy clothes so I knew they had a small son. When I walked up with Calleigh in her stroller, Calleigh says "Get out" (she spotted a toy) and the man running the yard sale says "Oh, first words?" I said, "Ah no. She says quite a few." Calleigh then proceeded to point to the flag hanging there and says "American flag." The man was quite taken aback! She then walked up to a little riding toy and as she wipes the seat with her hand, she says "Dirty" which indeed it was. I told him she calls it like she sees it! It turns out he has a three-year old son who started talking only six months ago so he wasn't used to someone so small speaking so well.

Okay, so back to the present. This morning Elaine joined Calleigh and I for story time at Leu Gardens. Our intention was that afterwards we would go to the museum in the gardens that has a bunch of decorated Christmas trees. It turns out that you could only do guided tours and we arrived in the middle of a tour. So we decided to just skip it and walk around. As we were walking through the gardens towards the entrance to leave, we passed a little girl, probably around 3, that was walking the opposite direction with her mother. Without a word, Calleigh grabbed the little girl's hand and started walking with her as Elaine and I just stood there. She completely turned her back on us and didn't even glance over her shoulder as she just took off the other way with the girl. I have no idea how far she would have gone had I not chased after her. After the gardens, I stopped by the FH employee store to get my new pair of 1908 sneakers (free!) and then I stopped at the Credit Union to get out my Christmas money. Like last year, I put an amount in my Credit Union account each pay period directly out of my pay check and now at the end of the year, we have a nice big amount to use on Christmas gifts. I get it in cash so that we can do the envelope method. I cringed a little and looked around to make sure no one was paying too much attention as the teller counted it all out in a very loud voice. Thankfully I didn't get jumped our anything.

So there we are. Caught up. We leave in a little more than three days and I have a list of like 16 things to do before we leave. So far, I have crossed off one - - purchase a car seat to have mailed to Boston. The one my parents have doesn't recline and we really need it to. We'll bring back theirs to put in Duncan's car.

Before I close, let me share a few Calleigh stories. As I've said in a previous post, one of Calleigh's current favorite songs is "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Not only that, but we checked out the Itsy Bitsy Spider book from the library so we look at spider pictures all the time too. Well, on Sunday morning, Duncan discovered a little spider crawling near the dog's food bowl. So he brought Calleigh over to see it and she was quite taken with it. It was a real life itsy bitsy spider! Soon after that, we went to First Watch and Calleigh took her nap. When she got up, Toni and Terry were here. So just about the first thing she does is go over to Toni, grabs her hand, and starts saying "itsy bitsy spider." She wanted to go over and show Toni the spider. Of course, the spider was long gone by then so we had to explain it has gone back to its web (although maybe Duncan did away with it, I have no idea.) Nonetheless, she went over to the spot where it was and peered all around to try to find it. And she's still talking about the spider. I'm glad I'm not afraid of them because I'm now hoping we'll find another one.

The other cute thing is that on Friday we went to Publix and got a balloon. Soon after we got home with the balloon, we went outside for a walk with the dogs. Since I didn't want the balloon to get away, I tied the string to the arm of her Curious George (known as Monkey George) stuffed animal. I thought I was being careful. Wouldn't you know, as Calleigh played with the balloon, the balloon ends up popping off from where it was tied at the top. Thank goodness she wasn't overly upset about it but since then, she's been talking repeatedly about how "Monkey George broke the balloon."

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have time to post on Thursday night.