New Year

While we do a decent job of spreading out the holidays (we'll be doing Christmas presents with the other side of the family in a couple of days), the tree and lights had to come down last weekend. Meredith was sad to see the tree go and was only partially placated with the idea that now the birds were going to be able to enjoy the Christmas tree outside.

My illness has continued. I've been sick since December 17, and had my first halfway decent day yesterday on the 31st. Two weeks of being sick, much of it bedridden, over the holidays has been no fun--for me or anyone else. Meredith hasn't expressly told me that I was boring, but has been able to communicate the basic idea. Yes, sick parents are pretty boring. Meredith has filled the void by begging to watch TV and by doing her dinosaur puzzle over and over again. The parity between her begging to watch TV and actual viewing is about even.

Tomorrow we're off to Florida for 6 days to be on the Gulf coast. We'll be there with Grandpa Kerry and Grandma Gail, as well as Uncle David and Aunt Olga. It appears we're arriving just in time for a cold spell unfortunately, but at least it looks like we'll miss rain. Of course, even a cold day in Florida is a bit better than the average day in Minnesota in January.

The New Year is almost upon us. 2007 has been pretty momentous for us. We look forward to seeing what fun, adventures, new developments await us in 2008.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! This morning Meredith awoke a few minutes before 7:00 to check to see if Santa had come. Soon, the rest of the house was up and we opened presents. We made some pumpkin waffles and listened to Christmas music. It was a nice relaxing time. Meredith thought it was a good day. She was relieved to hear we'll spend another few days celebrating Christmas by exchanging presents with the other grandparents and keeping the Christmas tree a few more days. I think she's going to be disappointed when it's all over.

A few pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas day...

Pictures: Christmas with family

Despite the hurdles of illness and weather-related traveling woes, we've been able to have a fun holiday so far with family. My parents, Meredith's and Elaine's Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Dave, have come to Minneapolis to spend the holidays with us. Uncle Jesse rode out with them after flying into Green Bay from Arizona. We were also pleased to host the Jensen family. Meredith enjoys playing with her cousins Kayla, Natalya, and especially Zach. Zach is apparently a really cool guy according to Meredith. (I'd concur.) Their mom, Aunt Sonja, drove the five hours each way during questionable road conditions to spend the weekend with us.

Last week, Elaine was sick and Meredith was very sick. I got sick in time for everyone to come and was bedridden for much of the past 4 or 5 days. It's not been fun, but our main hope is to be well by the time we fly to Florida on Jan 1.

Below are some pictures from the past week. It appears upon viewing that Jen probably took a lot of these since she doesn't appear in them. Grandpa Dave escaped the camera this time too. So we'll have to rectify that.

PICTURES

VIDEO

Also, last Friday Meredith's school presented a whole program of holiday songs from the preschool, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes. The below video is one sampling. Apologies for the low production values. The brief moment of darkness in the middle is my attempt to record Elaine's reaction to the singing. Meredith is sitting in the front, middle with a red Nordic sweater.

Grandma Birthday Greetings

A message from Meredith to Grandma Cathy.

Seasons Greetings!

Seasons' Greetings and Warm Wishes for a Joyous 2008!

The Reise Family

Jen, Derek, Elaine and Meredith Reise

Milestones: Sounds and Spelling

As previously reported here, Elaine is moving across the floor of our house. She has mastered the "commando scoot" and gets where she wants to go. Some milestones of the girls...

Elaine (8 1/2 months)

Likes to:

• Grab cords, ribbons, necklaces, the cat, and the computer mouse
• Grab mouths
• Look at pictures in board books
  
• Play peek-a-boo with mommy
• Say "dada" to daddy
• Say "pbbbthm" for mommy

Is learning to:

• Use a sippy cup (still a ways off)
• Wave hello/goodbye
  
• Eat more varieties of soft foods
• Turn pages in board books (often backwards)
  

Elaine has begun to play peek-a-boo with her mom. She will lift the blanket over her own head, and pull it back and wait for us to say "peek-a-boo!" She does this several times with the biggest grin. We also noticed today that she's definitely making a specific sound for her mom. It doesn't really sound like "mama," but one can imagine it as the result of an attempt on the 'M' sound. What is unmistakable is that it is used to refer to her mommy and nothing else.

Meredith (4 1/4 years)

Likes to:

• Draw and tell stories
• Listen to the Beach Boys on the iPod
• Watch "Super Why" on PBS
• Look at books about everything
• Talk to grandparents on the phone and via web-cam

Is learning to:

• Write and sound out words
• Keep dangerous "toys" from her little sister
• Get into the holiday spirit with songs and stories about Santa Claus
• Sort of tell time (a 5 and two zeros on the digital clock is five o'clock)

Meredith recently wanted to spell and write out the word "salmon." (We were putting together our grocery list.) I asked her to sound it out. She decided the first letter was 'S' and wrote that letter down after a few tries. She then, with minimal prompting from me, sounded out the rest of the word correctly with the aid from me telling her that an 'L' was hiding right after the 'A'. She initially thought the last letter was an 'M' but then agreed it must be an 'N.' The end result was the perfectly written word. Several hours later on the way to the store with her mom, she decided to spell the word aloud. The first time she reversed the 'L' and the 'M' but then corrected herself on her own.

This is just the beginning of writing and reading. It is exciting to see Meredith start to put her knowledge together. We'll have a bookworm on our hands before we know it. Even now, Meredith will secretly turn on her bedroom light to look at books. (Sometimes to draw too.)

Meredith is looking forward to Christmas, but it seems she's looking even more forward to seeing both sets of grandparents in the coming weeks. Tonight she told me Santa Claus brings toys to good boys and girls on Christmas Eve and that Santa knows if you are bad or good, but only on Christmas Eve because that is when he is in the sky and able to see you. When I questioned this, she was insistent that Santa can only keep tabs on us during this one day. She's four years old and already she knows better than her dad on every issue she deems.

Now on Google StreetView: Reise Home

Our humble abode is now included on Google Map's StreetView feature. Minneapolis was recently added to this Google feature. They went around, apparently some time last summer, and took pictures of every street. Thankfully, we weren't outside doing anything embarrassing at the time.


View Larger Map

First word?

Last Friday, Elaine may have said her first word. I'm not an objective witness, but it seemed like she called me "dada." Elaine has been making the "dada" verbalization for a while now as an all purpose sound. It has seemed like she has used it in the last few weeks more frequently in my presence and when trying to get my attention. (See the December 10th post for a sample of her verbalization in the second video.)

On Friday, I pick her up after she awakes from her nap. Elaine is drowsy, but looks up at me. She looks up and down my face with an expression of assessment and then blurts out, mater-of-factly, while looking me in the eyes: "Dada!"

Since then, she hasn't done anything quite as clear; it does seem like she is using that verbalization for me with some consistency. We'll see in the coming weeks, but I'm thinking we can call that her first word.

Elaine and the Christmas Tree Hunt

Elaine continues to scoot around. Her favorite destinations are the computer, and cords she can spot, and of course the Christmas tree. It goes without saying that we're really having to keep an eye on her; especially as her speed increases.


The tree that Elaine is enraptured with.


VIDEOS:

Elaine practicing her scoot. Meredith is becoming an archivist.


Going for the tree.

Nutcracker

Meredith has enjoyed the festivities of the season. She enjoys the holiday decorations around our house and all the lights. Her favorite thing is the foot-tall nutcracker we have. She plays with it a lot and even unfortunately gave her sister an accidental bonk on the head with it when she was trying to show it off.

This week I brought Meredith and Elaine to the Nutcracker display at Macy's. It's the first time we have partaken of this big annual deal. They walk you through the story. I tagged along with a couple of groovy parents and kids from my ECFE (Early Childhood and Family Education) class.

Meredith thought the display and story were pretty neat. Though the crowds and lights and noise were a bit too much stimulation. She was also a bit fearful of the large mice that do battle with the toy soldiers. Even so, she was able to relate quite a bit of the story afterwards. It was an interesting experience. They pumped in enough music to remind you that, oh, this is a real, major musical work versus a simple children's story.

By the time we were done with the experience, it was early evening. Jen was able to escape work at the last minute and head over two blocks to meet us for some dinner in the Macy's basement.

PICTURES

In front of a display of rotating "dancers" at the Macy's display


Blurry picture at display


Girls just want to have fun

Fever

Elaine had a fever this weekend. The poor girl just sat and slept in misery. Thankfully, she ate and slept decently, considering. But there was a lot of whimpering and clinginess. Elaine typically doesn't like to be held for very long. But this weekend we couldn't put her down without a pathetic, low-energy wail.

This morning she seems to be mostly better. The weekend has gotten me thinking of the classic song, presented below with the assistance of Animal.





Elaine Video
I try to coax Elaine to say "daddy"



Meredith Video
Meredith explains her book of jokes and drawings to Jen.
Warning: This video contains some brief, 4 year old, potty humor.

States visited

Here are the states Elaine has visited in her first 8 months. Only 43 to go!




Meredith has gotten a little more around (and has been out of the country to Mexico). Here is the seasoned, 4 year-old traveler's map of states visited:



Create your own personalized map of the USA

Let it snow

Last weekend we got our first real snow of the season. Originally, forecasting as much as a full foot of snow, we got about 5 inches in Minneapolis. Still, a good amount when it comes to driving, shoveling, and playing in. We had the good fortune in that the storm came on the weekend, i.e. not during rush hours. (Isn't it funny that there was a time it was called rush hour--without the plural, and that was an accurate description?)

We stayed close to home. During the early part of the snow storm, I ventured to the post office and neighborhood co-op, where I procured our sustainably-grown Christmas tree. Lights were strung up and ornaments placed. I'm happy that I did the outdoor lights the previous week.

Meredith got some good outdoor play in. She played with both Junior and Eleanor outside, shoveling, sledding, and generally goofing around. We went to the mid-sized hill at Matthews Park just a few blocks away. It didn't take Meredith long to get used to and enjoy the high speed downhill sledding. (This often cautious girl volunteered to go down a steep part by herself as soon as we got there.)

Elaine spent the weekend indoors and her movement has exploded. She is on the cusp of crawling. She rolls, she pivots. She lunges. She scoots. She even drags herself with her arms on occasion. She can push her body off the floor. Often, she can get several feet across the room with some effort. What I also find notable is her frustration level. Elaine has generally been a patient and content baby (minus the first few months of colic and acid reflux). But she is clearly getting impatient with her ability to move and get to things she finds interesting. It's as if a light bulb went off above her head and suddenly she realizes what's possible. She certainly has the drive to try to move around that she really didn't have a week ago. But there has been a surplus of whining and crying along the way.


Snow Pictures





Video: Elaine shows her stuff