It's just me and the dog, and he's not even a complete man...

So, in case you're not into Facebook yet, here are the first pictures of the next Laleman girl!

Two Years, nine months

Dear Rachel,

This week, you turned 2 3/4. I've been having a hard time explaining to people how old you are because you're so much more than two, and when you say two, people have this image of a toddler in their mind, and you are so NOT a toddler anymore. You're also not quite three, but you're also too old to refer to your age in months (see the post about the creepy woman I used to work with who still referred to her tweenager in months)


This weekend, your Nana and "Gwompa Wick," as you now call him, will be heading back to Illinois. We will be very sad to see them go. They have done such an amazing job of helping us take care of you, and teaching you new things, I'm sure your IQ will drop the second they walk out the door. We're a little bit nervous about how you're going to take all of this, but short of slashing the tires on their vehicles, there's not much we can do to make them stay. Don't worry too much, though. We will see them again soon - in July at the very latest, and hopefully, they'll be down again for an extended stay in 7 months or so.


Your independence is bubbling to the surface more and more lately. You're a very strong willed little girl, and sometimes that gets you in trouble. OK, more than sometimes. A lot. Some days it feels like there's a fit every couple of hours. We have figured out that a lot of the times it has to do with how hungry you are, so that helps, but not if we don't have any food ready.


You've been learning knock-knock jokes from your grandparents because they needed some entertainment while they were down here. You learned a bunch of them very quickly, and now, when you're ready to tell a knock-knock joke, you'll knock on the table. You're not quite the master joke-teller as you still want to tell all parts of the joke instead of letting the person you're telling it to do part of it. It goes something like this:

You: Knock knock
Me: Who's there?
You: Who's there? Kanga.
Me: Kanga who?
You: Kango who? NOT Kanga who! Kanga-woo! AHAHAHAHAHA!

And then Nana taught you about knee-slappers, so you'll throw your arms in the air and smack your knees all while fake laughing.


We've been trying to prepare you for the new baby that's going to be entering our lives, but you don't really seem all that interested. When we ask you whether you think it's going to be a boy or a girl, you tell us you don't know. When we ask you what we should name the baby you tell us, "Not yet." You will kiss Mama's belly every night, and say goodnight to the baby, but that's about it.


We went to the rodeo again this year, and you loved seeing all of the animals. You played with the baby chicks, touched a cow, and asked all kinds of questions about the horses. In fact, you have just been full of questions the entire month. You're such an inquisitive little girl. You want to know everything about everything, and I fear the day that you get your own phone. We'll have to take out a second mortgage to pay for your minutes.


You also started memorizing books this month. I sat down with you a few weeks ago to read the "Rain Book" to you, and you opened it up and started reciting the whole thing to me. I ran to get the video camera so I could get it on tape. I'll get it up here in a couple of days.


Next week we should know whether you're having a brother or a sister, and I'm sure we'll start making preparation for the baby to come. I hope that you'll help us with decorating the room, and getting the house ready for your sibling to arrive. You've been such a big help in other ways around the house, like cleaning, "making dishes," and picking up your room, I just know you're going to be a great big sister.


We love you very much.

Love,
Daddy

Thumpity bumpity...

I finally got to feel the baby move last night. Little Farfalina or Facuño bumped around a bunch while I was resting my hand on Monica's tummy. She has been feeling the baby flutter around for a few weeks now, but it would become quiet when I tried to feel.

We have a sonogram scheduled for St. Patrick's Day, so hopefully we'll find out then what we're having, and finally be able to settle on a name.

A letter to our dear friend...

Dear Maria,

You see, we had this assignment of sorts to write you a letter for your ACTS retreat this weekend. Well, I was never very good at homework, so of course, I'm doing this last minute, but I'm doing it up big. For the whole world.


You have been such an integral part of our lives since the day we met. You have been there for every step of our relationship, from the starts and stops when we first started dating, to standing in our wedding, and to being a wonderful Godmother to Rachel.


When we first found out about your cancer, we were almost paralyzed. How could someone so vibrant and full of life get a disease that is so terrible? However, though it all, you handled it as you handle everything - with strength and serenity.


I don't know how you do it, how you remain so positive in the face of everything that is so potentially devastating, but you do, and in the process, you make all of us feel like everything is going to be OK.


A couple of months ago, you called us to come over to distract the two of you for a while. I think you and Gregg were going a bit stir crazy, and you needed some different people around besides yourselves. We were more than happy to come over and chat, hang out, whatever we could do to help. Later that evening, your brothers showed up, then your cousin, then Andy and Cindy, and a few more folks, and we ended up having an impromptu party. I told Monica later, "That's exactly what they needed. Their house has always been the place for people to get together, and Maria looked so happy tonight to have all of her friends around her."


I think that is what we love most about you. That you are a friend to so many people. That you always welcome people into your home. That you are such a positive influence on everyone around you.


You bring people together. Your strength and courage has been an inspiration to us all. We love you.


Love,
The Laleman Family

In which my past comes back to haunt me

"Daddy, who is that? Is that you?"

"Yes, Rachel, that's me."

"What's that on your yip?"

"It's a mustache."

"A must-stath? Can you wipe it off?"

"No, you don't wipe off a mustache."

"YES! WIPE IT OFF!"

Two years, eight months

Dear Rachel,

I've been working on this for a couple of days now, so I really didn't forget, I've just been busy. This week you turned 32 months old. You are quickly approaching the big 3, and even more quickly leaving your "toddler" status in the dust.


It has been an incredible journey with you over the past month. You've got some mad language skillz and it's been a lot of fun watching you slog your way through the minefield that is English. You do really well, considering how difficult the language is, and when you get things turned around, we try to help you sort them out.


Your imagination has really taken off this month. When you play you become other people and characters. Your favorites are from "Cars." But your imagination is showing in other ways as well. A few weeks ago, you got up on a Saturday morning, and went to your closet to pull out a diaper. I asked what you were doing, since you were wearing pull ups during the day, and you turned to look at me with a sad expression on your face and said, "Andy peed in his diaper. I need to change him!" We then proceeded to take off Andy's clothes so that you could change his diaper. You also like to play as if you're a dog, making Nana and Dodd put the dog's leash on you to take you for a walk.


Speaking of diapers, the only time you're wearing them now is when you sleep. You wear pull ups almost all day, and haven't had an accident in weeks. You're do a great job of telling us when you have to go potty, and you're even getting into the whole privacy of going to the bathroom now. Most of the time, when you have to go, we'll help you get everything situated, then you'll look at us and say, "Get out, please."


Something else fun this month has been you figuring out relationships. You play with the words and tell us who everyone is now. To Nana: "Dada, is Nana your Mom? Are you Nana? Are you Grandma Connie? Are you Daddy's Mom?" You're getting that each of us has different roles in life, and different names for our roles. You also know what your mother and I do for a living. Mommy teachers the kids at her school and I help teachers fix their computers (if only my job were that easy).


Your Nana and Dodd have become such an important part of your life, I don't know what we, you, or they are going to do when it's time for them to go back to Illinois. We will certainly miss them being around to help out with taking care of you, and I know that you will miss having them around to play with, go for walks, get pushed on the swing, and all of the wonderful things they do with you.


You are so quickly becoming a big girl, and while it's sad for us to see you lose some of your dependency on us, it is also such a joy to watch you learn and play and grown each and every day. We know that you will be a strong, smart, independent little girl, and we can't wait for you to pass on some of those things to your little brother or sister. Things are going to get very interesting in the coming months, but I'm sure that you will adjust like a champ.

We love you very much.

Love,
Daddy

Two Years, Seven Months

Dear Rachel,

I fully acknowledge that I have been slacking in my fatherly blogging duties in not writing your letter over the past 5 days, but it seems like every spare moment lately has been spent working on our new deck, which you love, by the way.


So...wow. This month has been absolutely amazing. I'm having trouble deciding where to start. I guess we'll start with Christmas. This, I think, will be the first Christmas you remember. It's certainly this first Christmas that you "got it." You got that Santa was bringing your presents, you got that something special was happening. You helped us decorate our Christmas tree, and you were very intrigued with all of the Christmas lights that were up. Everywhere we drove, when you saw some you'd say, "Ooooh...Kiss-miss yights!" You raked in at Christmas again this year, and loved opening all of your presents. You finally understood that the purpose of ripping off wrapping paper was to get to the present underneath, rather than to play with the wrapping paper.


Nana and Dodd have been here for over a month now, and you absolutely love having them around. We see them almost every day, and I don't know what you're going to do when they go back to Illinois in a couple of months. I don't know what we're going to do. Nana has been instrumental in getting you to eat things that stubborn two year olds don't want to eat, and they've both been really great about helping us with picking you up and entertaining you.


You are such a smart little girl. I can't believe that you already know all of your letters by sight. A couple of months ago, you started spelling things out of the blue. We were in the mall one day, and there was a sign that said "WOW," and you looked at it and said, "Dada! W, O, and more W!" This past month, you've been spelling everything you see. When we get you out of the bath, you spell what's on our shirts - "B-R-O-O-K-L-Y-N!" You spell what's on the cups we drink out of, and you spell out signs on buildings. You love showing off your spelling abilities. You've also started to get the idea behind counting. You've been able to say your numbers up to 10 for a few months now, but you never really knew how to count things. This month, since we've been potty training, we've been having you count the M & M's we give you when you pee in the potty (I know, bad parent for rewarding peeing with candy...but it works). You still get your counting off sometimes, but a lot of the times, you will be able to tell us exactly how many "M's" there are on the counter.


Speaking of potty training, we had a breakthrough about a week ago. We've been trying for months to get you to tell us when you had to go and you never would. Then one day, we started taking you to the potty, and every time you had a dry diaper, we'd add in some M & M's and tell you that you were getting extra for the dry diaper. A couple of days later, you started saying things like, "I don't want to go pee pee in mine diaper," and a day or so after that, you came right up to me and said, "Dada, I need to go make water tinkle." I about fell out of my chair. You've gone a couple of weeks now with very few accidents, but we're still working on the other end. You still don't like to go poop on the potty, but I have a feeling it won't be long.


In addition to your letters, you're trying new words out. Or, rather, new versions of words that you already know. You get past tense now, but still don't know quite how to put things in past tense. The funniest version of this has been when you're trying to ask about something one of us did. It comes out, "Dada, what you do'd?" You also still have trouble with "my" and "mine," because it always comes out something like "where mine shoes go?"


Finally, you discovered your first favorite movie this past month. One day, we decided to put on "Cars" and it was love at first rev. For a week after that, the only things we heard from you was, "I want to watch Co-ars!" "Is dat Yightning Ma-Queen? Is he very nice? Where is Sally? Where is Flo? Is dat Mat-o?" and of course, "Ka-CHOW!" In fact, you were riding your tricycle around (you finally learned to ride it without a push from us - thanks, Nana!) last week saying, "I'm Sally! Call me Sally!" and when you'd ride backward, you'd insist on us calling you Mater.

As always, we can't wait to see what this next month brings. We love you very much.

Love,
Dada

Dreeeeeam.....dream, dream dreeeam

I walked into Rachel's room this morning to wake her up. As she stretched and rolled over she said, "No, no, no. I don't want eggs in mine cup."

Huh?

Two Years, Six Months

Dear Rachel,

Earlier this week, you turned 2 1/2 years old on the same day your Grandpa Rick turned 61. It was so nice to be able to spend a birthday with Dad again. Grandma made dinner, and you helped bake the cake!


This has been a really big month for you. There are two things in particular that have happened this month that will forever alter your life.


The first is that your Grandma Connie and Grandpa Rick have moved to Texas for the winter. Even though it's just three months, I have a feeling it's going to have a really big impact on your life. When you think back on your childhood, years from now, I'm very glad that you'll have so many memories of the times you spent with your grandparents.


The other big thing is that this was the month we found out that you will have a little brother or sister. You've been the only child for so long, and now that's going to change. I'm not sure how it's all going to turn out, but in less than a year, life as you know it will completely change. We think you understand that there is a baby coming, because you'll tell us that, yes, you're going to be a big sister, and you tell us that Mommy has a baby in her tummy. I'm just not sure how much you understand it because you say it like it's no big deal. But it's s really big deal.


Your speech is improving dramatically every day, and you're repeating almost everything we say to you. It seems like every day you wake up with new concepts and words that you've learned, and sometimes we wonder where you learn things.


Your potty training is coming along, but you're still not ready to drop the diapers yet. You're perfectly happy to pee in your diaper all day until we make you sit on the potty. We're trying really hard to get you to go more often, but I guess you're just not there yet.


I'm amazed at how much you're remembering these days. It started several months ago when you'd tell us about something you did a few days back, but now you are really remembering long term things (at least in regards to your age.) When Nana and Dodd are here, you talk a lot about the subway from when we were in New York almost 6 months ago. "We go WHOOOOOOOOOA on sub-ay tain!" It makes me wonder what your earliest memory will be when you grow up.


Whatever it is, I hope it's a happy one.

We love you very much.

Love,
Daddy

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is Dad's 61st birthday. Sixty one, and still going strong.

This was the first time in several years that we've been able to celebrate Dad's birthday with him in person. It's so nice to have Mom and Dad down here for a few months, even if it is temporary.

Rachel is thoroughly enjoying her time with Nanna and Dodd, and I think the feeling is mutual.

Happy Birthday Dad, and many more to come!

We all love you very much!

Ahem....

Coming in late July....

Three, oh, it's a magic number

In case you're keeping track, the old Laleblog has been at it for three years.

OK...three years and five days, officially, but you know, sometimes these things get lost in the shuffle that is life.

Thanks for tuning in.

Finally!

It seems like Cubs fans are as split on this decision as America was (and still is) on the election.

I, for one, am in the relief column. I think Woody should have been let go a long time ago. He was a great pitcher when he was young, but he never corrected his mechanics and it led to years of injuries and paying him millions of dollars for not pitching.

If you ask me, he and Prior should have been cut the Cubs should have kept the core of their starters from the 2003 season, instead of dismantling a team that came closer to a World Series than any other Cub's team since 1945.

So long Kerry...thanks for the memories. Maybe we can use your salary to buy some decent pitching.

Two Years, Five Months

Dear Rachel,

This past weekend, you turned 29 months old. We've had a lot of ups and downs this month, but it certainly has been a fun journey.


First of all, I have to tell you how historic this month has been. You have no idea what our country has been going through over the past 8 years. You will probably not remember this election, or going with me to vote for the man who will be our first President of color, but you certainly did know who the candidates were. One night, I was sitting with my computer open on a news website, and there was a split picture of Obama and McCain. You came right up, pointed to each picture and said, "That's Barak-a Obama, and that's John MA-Cain." I hope that some day you'll understand just how significant this election was. I'm glad that you got to come vote with me.


You started going pee on the potty again this month (I think it's an appropriate transition - politics to pee), except now it's not going potty or going pee pee, it's "making the water tinkle." One night, when we were having a hard time getting you to even sit on the toilet, I asked if you wanted to go make the water tinkle for me, and you said "YES!" Ever since then, you've been going to make the water tinkle at least a couple of times a day. We still have to prompt you, but sometimes you will tell us that you're ready to go.


You're very quickly learning to play the system. Last month, we started making you do the things you refused to do when you got out of time out. Now, when you tell us "No" or "You do it" and we say, "Well, then, I guess you'll have to go to time out," you pipe up with "I forgot to..." and proceed to do the thing we'd been trying to get you to do in the first place. Do be do be do. For example, a few weeks ago, we had been playing outside, and your mother asked you to pick up your toys before you came in. "You do it." "If I pick up your toys, you're going to time out." "I forgot pick up my toys."


This past month was the first Halloween that you'll probably remember. You certainly got the concept after so not understanding last year. You were very excited about wearing your bumblebee costume, and when we practiced trick-or-treating at our own house, you were perfectly content to knock on the door all night and let me put candy in your pumpkin bucket.


Even with our practice, there was one thing we didn't anticipate: The first house we came to, I asked you to knock on the door ("You do it." "OK, I'll ring the doorbell for you."), they answered the door, you said "Tick or teat" and proceeded to walk into the house. I love the fact that you are not shy around people you don't know, but we need to teach you some good old fashioned fear. You said "Thank you" to everyone who gave you candy, then when we got home, you proceeded to eat a bunch of it.


Now, we don't usually give you a lot of candy, so all of this sugar in your system got you all drunk-like, and giddy. You stood outside with me, dancing with no music. Then you looked up. "STARS!" Dancing disco style, you continued looking up, pointing your fingers at the stars. "Dada, I dancing wif STARS!" You were up until 11 PM that night.


Part of the "terribles" this month was your starting to tell us not to do things: Don't look at me, don't talk to me, etc. For a couple of weeks, you were very vocal about it, but once we started putting you in time out for "being mean" you started trying to internalize it. Now, instead of shouting "Don't" at us, you'll whisper it, like we can't hear you if you whisper.


You're also really starting to understand when things are funny. There was one day when we were playing around, and I don't even remember what happened, but you started laughing hysterically, then stopped all of a sudden and said "That's funny!" There was another point this month when you learned our names, and at first, you were trying to pronounce your mother's name. You still have a hard time with some words, so it first came out as "Mon-Kia," which is funny to us because of a completely different story from another time, long before you were born, but when we started laughing, you got it. You got that it was funny, and that it wasn't really Momma's name, but it was close. You get that it's a joke when you call her that, so when you want to be funny, you'll yell out "MON KIAAAAA!"


Your Nanna and Dodd will be here in just a few weeks and will proceed to spoil you rotten for three months straight. We're also hoping they can help straighten out some of your behavior. We love you very much.

Love,
Dada

Yes, we did.

Enough said.

There's bees!

Chris, and maybe Dad, should remember that phrase well from our lunchroom duty days. And yesterday, no truer words could be spoken...