Meanwhile...

Enough politics for now. We are where we are. I'm thinking that when I turn 30 (in about 6 months), I might get back on my political bandwagon. Maybe a little political fight for gay marriage rights will get my blood flowing again.

BUT...enough of that for now...because there really are other things happening and other things that I care about much more.

I can think of three things right off the bat!

Bailey is rockin' her world right now. The latest development is that she counts to 5. No shit. It's just memorization, because when given the numbers (we have foam numbers and letters in her bath), she has no clue. But when you say "one" and hold up your finger, she will follow and say 2, 3, 4, 5. If you then say "six", she will say seven and then eight. She hasn't gotten 9 and 10 yet. Pretty cool.

The ironic thing is that Kelly and I do not actively teach Bailey. I mean, we don't sit down and "do numbers" or anything like that. We play with them - we put them up in order on the tub and say them as we are doing that, but her response has always been to just bat the numbers down. So we do it again. Same thing with letters. We are not actively teaching anything yet - we just sing the alphabet song and read to her constantly.

The thing is, Bailey is just smart. Who knows if this will last, if this is developmental or what. Honestly, we don't care. Our singular goal for Bailey is that she live a life that she is happy with. That she find her satisfaction and can look around at her world with joy and comfort. I don't give shit what she becomes - that is going to be her choice. I care that she gets her high school diploma and I'll push pretty hard to get her into college, but in the end, that will be her decision. So I really don't care if she is smart or advanced or whatever. Seriously.

But it's really cool to have your 18 month old look at you from the backseat of the car and tell you the numbers. That really is cool.

Connor is a growing boy. He is expanding and his Mommy's belly is growing with it. Kelly has reach the point of no return - her body is forever changed. No stretch marks yet, but she is very pregnant and it shows. Connor moves constantly and Kelly feels them all. He is now big enough that she feels him when he rolls, when he stretches, when he just wiggles for more comfort (we assume that's what he's doing, anyway). At night, when he gets really active, I spend time with my hand on Kelly's belly and feel our little boy kick and roll around. His greatest periods of activity continue to be about 20-30 minutes after Kelly eats. Our boy likes food.

Tomorrow we get to have another ultrasound. They were not able to see the spine, so we go back. We will have new pictures, and probably a 4-D shot, since our radiology office seems keen on giving them to us. We certainly don't complain. This will be our last, unless we have to have a sizing ultrasound. For Kelly's sake, I hope we don't.

At our last doctor's appointment, we scheduled all our appointments through the due date. That was kind of exciting to me. It's nice to be preparing to play the end game. Tomorrow marks the completion of 6 months of pregnancy...24 weeks along. We are inching closer to that magic mark where survival is much more likely if something really crappy should happen. I think we will both breathe easier when we hit the 30 week mark.

Well, I will anyway. Kelly's breathing is already seriously hampered by our son.

All the usual emotional effects are taking place, but there has been a bit of a period of calm. I think the most obvious effect right now is the exhaustion. Kelly is tired all the time and when she is not tired, she's dead on her feet. She is doing an amazing job keeping up with Bailey and me and has been a champion about helping around the house when she can. It was a rough start, but honestly, Kelly is a fantastic pregnant woman. She's really doing a great job going through it with a young child to care for...something I did not have to deal with.

And have I mentioned how beautiful her body is? God help me. She's a beautiful pregnant woman.

The holiday season is here and we are making many plans for the next two months. This weekend, I am putting together a craft project that will be incorporated into our Christmas cards this year. We are making plans for Thanksgiving and my Mom and Andrea are coming to our place for Christmas. I am beginning to think about decorating the Christmas tree in just a couple of weeks (I try to have it up the day before Thanksgiving) and we are introducing the concepts of "the holidays" to Bailey.

Yesterday, while driving to daycare, I told Bailey that this season was called the holiday season and that there are two really special holidays. I told her about how we spend this time with family, and how we give back to the world around us. I then explained a bit about Thanksgiving. She was very quite for a minute, and looking in the mirror, I could see her pondering what I had said. Then, quietly, she looked up and said in a small puzzled voice, "Happy 'ween"?

HA! I guess she understood that I was talking about a "holiday"...but since the only holiday she remembers or knows is Halloween, that is what she could come up with. Very funny...

Last weekend we went to Lowes to get mulch for our gardens. We walked in and they had all their Christmas stuff set up. Bailey took one look around and said "WOW...Momma, what is it?" This is one of her "key" phrases. I took a happy look around, my eyes filled with tears as I stared at the symbols of a holiday I love so much and said, "Honey...this is Christmas."

And so it begins. Kelly and I are starting to plan the gifts this year. I want to get her a keyboard of some sort - she loves music and I want something more advanced that what she has. I'm also interested in getting her one of those town rugs, that has streets and buildings and stuff...and a bunch of matchbox cars for her to push. I wanted to get her a tee-ball set, but I think we've decided to do that for her birthday in May. Makes more sense. Other ideas that have been thrown out are an easel and all the various supplies that go with it, a dollhouse of some sort, a play kitchen, and a doctor's kit. The theme this year is going to be on imagination and fun. This is the time for her to learn while she is playing. There will be plenty of time for full-on educational toys. I want her to have stuff to engage in active play, in self-driven imagination. I want her to be able to do art and to have toys with enough energy that she begins to learn some focus...some more long-term enjoyment (longer than her usual 5 minute max). Of course, we won't get everything on our list. That would be excessive and no child needs that much. In fact, I think it overstimulates and makes it harder, rather than easier, for them to concentrate.

The other thing is that we are going to try to stay away from light up, blinking, electronic toys. Those were great when she was little, as all the sound and colors were stimulating. But now, she needs to start using her mind to create the excitement.

God, I love this time of year. I really, really love it.