Photo Friday: Kate at the Park

Here it is again, Photo Friday, and the only pictures I took this week were at playgroup on Wednesday. (It's been a busy week, but more on that later.) Most of the pictures I managed to take were of other people's kids. I only have a few of Katelyn, and just one of Padyn in which she is eating her snack in a not terribly exciting or photogenic way. Hence, today's photos feature Kate, who was very excited about her friend's little bike. I'm not sure what she would have spend her time doing at the park if she didn't have that thing. It entertained her for an hour.

Katelyn chasing Owen around the playground

Later this weekend I'll try to post some pictures of Padyn as to not appear to favor one child over the other. One day, I'm sure Padyn will be keeping track.

So, here you go, Auntie. Sorry I didn't have them posted for you at 8am. I'll try harder next week.

Belated Happy Anniversary to Me

I can't believe that I totally missed my one year anniversary as a blogger. March 10th, 2006 was the date of my first post. Lisa and the girls were here visiting and she helped me get it started. Katelyn had yet to bless us with her presence and Padyn had no idea what "school" or being a big sister was all about.

And here we are, 307 posts later.

Just in case you like reminiscing as much as I do, here's my very first post. Not terribly exciting, but it does have a cute picture of Coley and Padyn.

It was so hard to start blogging. I was self-conscience about everything I wrote. I was nervous about what people would think of it, of us, of me.

Now? I can't imagine keeping track of our life and memories any other way.

Mindblowing

I just realized that Katelyn will be 1 year old a week from today.

One week. Seven days. I have no idea how many hours, minutes, or seconds that is, but I'm sure it would still not sound right.

How can she be turning one?

I usually think of her as "just a baby" until I start really looking at the things she's doing that aren't very baby-ish...

climbing onto her sister's bed...
pushing anything she can around the room (right this moment it's the laundry basket)...
recognizing people and squealing at delight (especially Daddy)...
holding something up to her ear and pretending to say "hello"...
throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way...
wanting to play outside...
dancing to music in her toys...
trying to jump...
trying to climb up onto the couch (usually followed by one of those aforementioned tantrums)...

The year has gone by too fast. Who said that was o.k.? I don't remember giving her permission to grow-up so quickly.

At the same time, I'm really looking forward to seeing who this little girl becomes.

Can't Fool Her

Katelyn knows who her "Bear Bear" is. She knows. And she will not readily accept a substitute.

I was just putting her down for her nap and I said, "Let's get Bear Bear!"

She smiled, gurgled, and eagerly looked around. And didn't see him.

Nor did I, so I did what I usually do in this particular circumstance...I chose a substitute. Because, why not? It's always worked before.

"Oh, here's Baby Doll! Baby Doll will take your nap with you!" and thrust Baby Doll into her arms.

At this point with Bear Bear, she would squeal, squeeze the bear with all her might, and shove his nose into her mouth.

With Baby Doll, she looked at her with mild disgust, threw her to the floor, looked at me with mild disgust and whined. Guess substitutions aren't cutting it anymore.

After a brief search, the object of her desire was found on the living room floor. When I presented him to her, she did her usual things, and sighed with contentment as I put her down in the crib.

Better sure as heck hope Bear Bear never goes missing...

New Accomplishment #894

Katelyn just climbed the entire flight of stairs by herself. She's never managed to get beyond step #2 before. I'm not sure if that was a lack of skill or lack of interest. But today. All the way to the top. First try.

I, of course, was hovering 3 millimeters behind her every step of the way in order to ensure her skull stayed intact rather than opening up on the tile floor in the event of a backwards spill. But I could have stayed all the way at the bottom for all the help I was. There was no sliding backwards, no loss of balance, and no hesitation (though she did stop to rest momentarily on the landing).

When she reached the top, she turned around, smiled the biggest smile she could manage, squealed, then crawled as fast as her two little legs could carry her into the playroom. Victory!

Currently as I am type this, she is attempting to climb up on the couch. If only her little legs were a bit longer.

Photo Friday

I finally remembered to break out the tunnels for the girls a few days ago. Katelyn had never seen them and was a bit hesitant at first. She wasn't too eager to go in until Padyn convinced her it would be the most fun thing she did all day. Eventually she got the hang of it, crawling in and out, squealing with delight, and playing peek-a-boo with us through the holes.The other new thing we did this week was set up our own personal playground in the backyard. Kate's been wanting to go outside for days, banging away on the glass slider, trying to convince us that she should be OUT THERE. Now she can be, and I don't have to worry about her eating the tanbark or scraping up her knees. Yesterday, Padyn and Katelyn actually played nicely together for 10 minutes without me hovering nearby. After 10 minutes, Padyn decided it was time to do something mean to her sister (Kate had a toy Padyn wanted) and outside time was over. But still, it was hopeful seeing them play together peacefully for a little while.

Finally... A Helpful One

Yesterday Kate signed something that is actually helpful to me in determining her every need and desire. She signed "milk."

Now, we still have to work on this one. She is signing it when she sees the bottle. Hopefully she'll soon spontaneously sign it to let me know she wants it before it is ever in her line of sight. But for now, I'll take what I can get.

Things I Never Thought Would Come Out of My Mouth #156

My lap is big enough for both of you.

At Least She Knows...

The 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month we go to story hour at our local coffee shop. The shop happens to be owned by our church, and the story hour is run by a few people that work for the church. At the story hour 2 weeks ago, I helped out since one of the people who usually does it was out of town. I helped lead the singing and read a few books. Padyn was not particularly happy with this arrangement. I think she prefers for me to sit in the back and sip my cappuccino while she sits criss-cross applesauce in front of her beloved Miss Wendy, absorbing story after story. Well, last time, whenever I stood up to lead the songs, Padyn would cling to my legs, tell me she wanted up, or hide behind my legs and refuse to sing. It's not the easiest way to sing "Wheels on the Bus" and "If You're Happy and You Know It," but I managed.

Flash to yesterday. Kate woke up sick, so I put her back down for a nap and one of my friends came over and picked up Padyn to take her to story hour. In the car on the way over, Kendra was talking to Padyn and her son, Gan. She said, "Aren't you excited? We're going to story hour. Won't that be fun?"

Padyn says, "I didn't like the singing last week."

"Why not?"

"Because I was being annoying."

She may need a little help differentiating why questions from what or how questions, but she certainly got that one right.

Goodness Gracious, I Think She Can Talk

Katelyn just told me she wanted a ball.

She pointed to the bright pink golf ball (the one seen here and here) sitting high up in the spare change bowl on the entry way shelf and she said, "Ba! Ba! Ba!"

She looked at me, pointed back to the ball and did it again.

So, of course, I gave it to her.

She then proceeded to bop herself in the lip with it and give herself a nice little cut. Her lip will probably be fat tomorrow. Just when the potato bump on her noggin is about healed.

She may be verbal, but clearly we still have skills to work on yet.

Kate's New Sign

Yes, that's right. She's signing. And this new one is just as helpful as her other frequently used one.

Ready?

Fan.

As in, ceiling fan.

At least she can thank me after she asks me to turn the fan on.

Photo Friday-The First Days of Spring

It may not be spring quite yet, but it's certainly in the air around here this week. Sunshine, temperatures in the mid 70's, cloudless skies and long afternoons. It's been a fabulous treat for the girls and I. We've shed the pants and sweaters for short sleeves and capris, we've visited the park in the late afternoon, and have been able to be outside more. Yesterday I even let Kate ride her "bike" outside. Really, it's a walker/scooter that Auntie bought for Padyn when she turned 1. As you've seen in previous pictures, Kate loves it. You should have heard her squeals when I let her walk it around outside yesterday. I thought the neighbors were going to come out and complain about the happy baby disturbing their quiet afternoon. She was practically running with the thing. Of course, I have no pictures because I was too fearful of her falling and giving herself a nice road rash on her face. I hovered very close-by, usually with my hand on the front of the walker. And that cocky little girl. Do you know what she did? She picked up my hand and pushed it off her walker. She wanted no help from me. I can see the future now.These pictures are from Tuesday night when we went over to Papa and BonBon's house for dinner. It was a beautiful evening, so before dinner we went outside to play baseball and run around. We blew some bubbles, threw the ball for Yogi, and chased the kitties. As you can see, we even got to pick oranges (a new favorite food of Katelyn's).

Spring, I hope you aren't just teasing us. We're ready for ya.

Kate practicing standing on her own. She never fell. She just slowly, gently put herself back on the ground.

Since you're wondering about the bandaid, I'll just tell you. She has a bug bite on her face that she keeps itching and making bleed. I was getting tired of telling her to stop it, so I just stuck the bandaid on instead.

Mmmm....oranges. Papa and his girls (and Yogi)

There's Usually a Reaon Behind Everything

I think I just discovered the reason behind Katelyn's uncharacteristic tantrums that she's been throwing the last couple days. Tantrums that I didn't think a not-quite-one-year-old could throw. Throwing herself to the ground, kicking her feet, crawling backwards, clawing and climbing up me while trying to get away...all this while screaming at the top of her healthy lungs. The reason could still be that she's quite a little bundle of fire bent on torturing those who love her most, but it could also be due to the two sharp beginnings of a one year bottom molar cutting through her bottom gums. I saw them this morning while she was lying on her back laughing. I won't be happy about that, either. Especially since this is her 4th or 5th tooth in the last month and a half or so. Not happy at all.

Now if only I could figure out why Padyn has a fever for the second day in a row. The second day we are trapped in the house-no playgroup, no school, no bible study for Mommy. Home. All day. Again. So fun for us.

Visit to the Dentist

I can't believe I forgot to tell you about Padyn's first trip to the dentist on Monday! I didn't take my camera because I just knew she wasn't going to let me capture the moment on film, but I'll try to share it with you in such a way as to create a picture in your head just as clear on a photo would be. OK, maybe not. But I'll tell you about it anyway.

First, you have to know that Padyn's dentist, Dr. N, is a good friend of ours. Her husband was a friend and fellow nerd (a.k.a. Engineer) of Joel's at Davis. So, it's not like Padyn had never met Dr. N before. She's interacted with her socially for years. She knew who she was going to see.

Did that matter? No. She went to bed Sunday night saying she didn't want to go to the dentist in the morning. The first words out of her mouth Monday morning upon waking were "I don't want to go to the dentist." She was weepy all morning. I really don't understand where this came from. We hadn't talked much about going to the dentist. She had read the book Dr. N sent to her a week before, but that was it. I talked to her about visiting the dentist as I do any fact of life, calmly and without extra information: We're going to the dentist. We go every 6 months. The dentist is going to check your teeth and keep them healthy. You know, not making a big deal out of it.

Padyn apparently had picked up from somewhere that it was a big deal and was something to be fearful of. As soon as we got in the car, she covered her mouth with her arm and hand. Her mouth remained covered for the next 30 minutes-in the car, in the parking lot, in the reception area, playing with the puzzles, and looking at the Nemo fish. (Isn't that cute? A dentist office with clown fish in their fish tank?) She continued to cry. I did my best to remain calm and not scream at her to stop crying. I was still thinking through the best way to deal with the mess without getting upset with her when Dr. N came out to greet us and walk us back to the exam area. When Padyn saw Dr. N, she calmed a bit and stopped crying, but her mouth remained covered.

Dr. N was awesome. She knows perfectly how to handle children. She is a pediatric dentist, after all. But I was so impressed with how calm and unflustered by Padyn's behavior she was. She talked to Padyn as if she wasn't crying, didn't mention the fact that her mouth was covered, didn't coddle or feel sorry for her. She just kept talking and asking her questions until finally Padyn stopped whimpering and talked back-without her mouth covered. Then, when Dr. N offered her a Dora or a Dragon Tales video, that was it. Padyn was won over. She sat in the dental chair with her mouth wide open for the next 20 minutes. She kept her mouth open even when it didn't need to be. She was so eager to please Dr. N and show her what a good patient she was. She got her teeth counted, polished, brushed with fluoride and even flossed. She smiled when Dr. N took a Polaroid picture of her at the end. She talked to everyone who would listen for the rest of the day about what a bright smile she had. She's wanted to floss her teeth every night AND brush twice a day since then.

Utterly amazing turn around. I'm interested to see what happens in September when her next appointment comes around.

Bad Mommy Move #374

I feel pretty badly about it. It's always terrible when you accidently hurt your child. An accidential scratch with your fingernail or a pinch with the car seat buckle. Those things happen. You feel bad, but really, it's a fact of childhood. But this? This was like something on a bad reality show... "Confessions of a Neglectful Mother" or something...

Last night a baked potato dropped on Katelyn's head.

Now, not that I'm trying to defend myself, but I didn't actually drop it on her. I put it on the counter after I took it out of the microwave. As I was reaching for the other one in the microwave, the one on the counter rolled off. Kate happened to be right underfoot, as she usually is when I'm trying to make dinner. Smack on her noggin. Let me tell you, she was not happy.

Immediately I stuck her head under the sink faucet so that she didn't get a burn. I was a bit upset to say the least. She's screaming, I can't fathom what just happened, and Padyn is standing by asking what happened. Not the best moment in parenting. Fortunately, she didn't get burned, but she did have a red spot on her head for a couple hours. But how tough is my kid? She cried for like 1 minute, then went right back to playing with her Leap Frog Magnetic Fridge Farm as if baked potatoes fall from the sky everyday.

From now on the kitchen is off limits to people shorter than 3 1/2 feet when baked potatoes are on the menu.

This is So Funny, it Should be on America's Funniest Videos

I love my friend, Lisa. And I love her girls. And I love that she manages to capture perfect moments on video that make me laugh so hard I almost pee my pants. This little nugget that she posted last week is my new favorite.

Thanks, my friend!

Eleven Month Update

It's amazing how quickly this past year has gone. Even more amazing is the fact that in a few weeks time my baby will be one. ONE! My brain spins just contemplating it. Gone will be the baby. In her place will be a toddler. And if her behavior now is any indication, this little girl is going to give us a run for our money in toddlerhood. I can't wait.
But, I have one more month to call her a baby, so baby it is. This is what the baby is up to lately...

Weight: Who knows? Somewhere over 20 pounds.

Height: Not really sure of that either.

Feedings: 4 bottles a day, 3 solid meals, and 1 or 2 snacks

sidenote: I stopped nursing last week since she wasn't getting much anymore. She is loving her bottles. She squeals and laughs until I hand it to her. Then she greedily sucks the whole thing down.

Sleeping: 2 naps a day, about 1 1/2 hours each. About 12 hours at night.

New Habits and Skills: Kate has developed quite a few new skills this past month. Not all of them are cute and endearing. For instance, the desire to put her hands in the open toilet or eat the toilet paper after pulling a large strand from the roll. Not so cute. But really, the cute things outweigh the annoying (i.e. purposely dropping food on the floor and standing up in the bathtub) things. For instance, the love of her teddy bear. Just this afternoon when I gave him to her for her nap, she squealed in delight and pulled him to her face as if she was going to devour him in her excitement. She loves the bear. She usually only gets it when sleeping, so the rare times I give it to her outside the crib, she is so thrilled I think she may pop a blood vessel from all the screaming. Last weekend when I wanted her to sleep in the car, I gave her bear. She spent the first 15 minutes of the car ride talking to him, then the next 45 minutes just playing with his ears and eyes. So loving. So fun to witness.

She isn't trying to walk on her own yet, but she is constantly pulling herself up on things and trying to get around that way. She's almost comfortable walking only holding one of your hands, but she certainly prefers two. She can push herself around a bit on those little toddler bike/car things. She loves pushing around her walker or Padyn's babydoll stroller. Unfortunately, she has yet to understand the stroller is a dangerously precarious object that would rather fall over on top of her than move forward. Eventually she'll get it.

She is signing "Thank You" and occasionally "More." I'm not sure about "All Done" or "Eat." I've seen some evidence of them, but whether or not she's really got them is questionable. She'll wave hello and bye-bye, stick her arms above her head when you ask, "How big is Katelyn?" and clap whenever she feels the need to applaud herself. Speaking of applauding herself, she knows when she's done something new and great. The other night she climbed on and off one of those previous mentioned car/bike things by herself. When she got off (to standing, mind you) she turned to us, put her free hand up in the air, and hollered in that happy way that she does. She was so so so proud of herself. I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard.

She continues to enjoy crunchy foods of the carbohydrate variety. Actual food that she gains sustenance from...that's still a bit of a struggle. She does not want to eat real fruits, vegetables, meats or cheeses. She does love a few baby foods, so I just keep mixing in baby food she doesn't like with food that she does. Her menu is the same everyday: oatmeal with banana and some fruit she won't eat for breakfast, an orange vegetable with some protein baby food she won't eat for lunch and yogurt with some green vegetable baby food she won't eat for dinner. The only things that change are the foods she won't eat. I figure she's still getting a varied diet. Her snacks are varied. I try to fool her occasionally with a dried veggie or fruit. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

After giving me such a hard time in the sleeping department, Kate has really become the world's easiest baby to put to bed. Give her the pacifier, her bear, lay her down...night night. Usually we don't hear from her again. Thank you, God!

Other new things that she seems to love are giving you things and then taking them away, stealing her sister's sippy cup, pulling Padyn's markers out of their box and off the table, crawling with something in each hand that bangs on the floor while she moves, drinking water out of a sippy cup (usually Padyn's), and swiping everything within reach off Padyn's nightstand. I'm sensing a pattern of behavior that is not going to make Big Sister happy in the next few months.

And next month? Well, besides eating cake for the first time, I have a feeling we may be seeing more of that walking action. And hopefully many many more of those smiles and squeals that she's so fond of these days. I think I'm going to miss this baby...

Comparison at Eleven Months

Kate's always in the top photo...

Here they are, finally. Only a week after Katelyn turned 11 months. The trouble is, I don't have a ton of pictures of Padyn at this age. She was mobile by now (Finally! The child didn't crawl until she was almost 10 months old!) and we had a really slow digital camera that just couldn't keep up with her. Instead of being constantly frustrated, I just stopped taking so many pictures. Of course, that's not the case anymore. Well, Katelyn's mobility is occasionally a problem, but I happen to have the world's most stellar camera, so her warp-speed crawl does not usually prohibit at least one good photo from being shot.Kate is finally catching up with her sister in the teeth department. She's cut 4 in the last 3 weeks. At least, that's what it feels like. There are three new ones on top that I'm not sure when they actually made an appearance, and a fourth bottom one seems to be making a break for it. Needless to say, the last week has been a snotty mess. I remember Padyn was cutting the third and fourth top teeth when on her first birthday and she already had all four on the bottom.But the hair still isn't coming in. Good thing Katelyn is so cute or I'd really be concerned with her baldness.I don't know about you, but they're just not looking so alike to me these days...

Photo Friday: Sisterly Love

I shot these this morning. I was trying to get a picture of the girls happily playing together in the playroom. But alas, by the time I got my camera out, happiness had turned to unhappiness. Padyn had some toys that Kate wanted to play with. That didn't sit well with Padyn. She decided to hide them under her body. Katelyn was not fooled by this maneuver. She knew the coveted baby doll toys where underneath her sister. The pictures tell the rest of the story...

Katelyn tries to pull Padyn off the toys by her hair.When Mommy stepped in and vetoed the hair pulling, Kate tried for the Under the Body reach. That didn't work out for her either.In the end, no one was happy.

They're going to hate me when they are older...

Spontaneous Praise

The other evening we were walking home from the park, and when we turned on our street, we could see the remains of the sunset over the roof of our house. It was a pleasant orangey/yellow sunset that you get at this time of year. We couldn't see much, but enough to know what it was from.

Upon seeing it (without me pointing it out), Padyn shouts, "Look what God did!"

I replied, "What? What did He do?" (knowing what she was talking about, but just curious as to see what she would say).

P: "The sunset! He made the sunset!"

M: "That's pretty cool, isn't it?

P: "He did that with His powers."

M: "Yup. God's pretty powerful, isn't He?"

And then she always has to go ask me a question that theologically seems a bit above her head...

P: "Mommy, where are God's powers?"

I should have said in her tummy, but I didn't want to scar her for life. She probably won't get that I was joking.

M: "God's power is in Him and all around us."

Here is where I can't recall the rest of the conversation word for word (why don't I write these things down immediately?), but it was something like this:

P: "We do things for God. Daddy and me do things for God!"

M: "What things does Daddy do for God?"

P: "He fixes things! For God!"

Signing or Playing?

Kate's been doing this a lot the last few days. I'm not sure if she's signing "Thank you" or trying to do the Indian whooping noise. She makes no noise while she's doing it and will just do it spontaneously. Neither Padyn nor I have been showing her anything that looks like this, so I have no idea where it has come from. It doesn't seem to be connected to a specific action or activity. It does happen most while she's in her highchair. It's pretty fun to witness, especially since she's mighty proud of herself afterwards.

Oh Yeah

My weekend? Fine, thank you. Yes, yes. Very fine.

What did I do, you ask? Well, let's see...it's hard to keep it all straight now...

There was the sleeping in. Yes, yes, that was very nice. Very nice, indeed.

Of course, there was the staying up late. Too late. But really? What's too late when you get to sleep in?

There was lounging. Definitely lounging. Mostly by the pool. Usually there was a book involved. And occasionally a beer.

Did I mention the dinners out? Without children? Where I got to enjoy my meal? On one occasion, for 2 hours! Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Oh, and there was some shopping. Remember shopping when you could take your time? Try things on? No one trying to climb out of the stroller or pulling things off the tables as you strolled by? It was like that.

Laughing. Screaming. Throwing of money and dice. There was quite a bit of that. There was even some birthday cake (made by me).

Wine. Did I mention the wine? And the Margaritas?

No scheduling of naps, meals, snacks, playtime or anything else for someone other than me.

Was I ready to come home? No, not really.

But when you get to come home to a fabulous husband and two beautiful girls, who, though not so elated as to be screaming in excitement at my arrival, were happy to see me after 2 1/2 days...it makes all that other stuff pale in comparison.

Well, maybe not pale. But certainly worth the trip back to reality.

Some Things Never Change

I was looking through photos to determine which 11 month ones of Padyn I am going to use for the upcoming (hopefully tomorrow) 11 month comparison post, when I came across this one of Padyn and her little friend taken almost 2 1/2 years ago... That look on Padyn's face? How's she's glaring at Haley Anne? She still has that look. I get it daily.

Outta Here

Did I tell you? I'm going away.
Far away.
Tonight.
On a plane.
By myself.

No children.
Sleeping in.
Doing whatever I want, whenever I want.
For two and a half whole days.

Feeling guilty? No way.
I'm so excited, I am almost speechless.
Almost.
Mostly I'm just gloating.

See you Tuesday.

Photo Friday

Padyn has developed this habit of sleeping under her covers during her nap. Like, completely covered with her covers. Head to toe. I think it might be a way to comfort herself now that I don't let her nap with her pacifier anymore. What this produces is an incredibly sweaty little girl with a curly damp mop on her head.Here's Padyn dressed up for her 80's Party. Well, really, it's her hair going to an 80's party. They rest of her is attending a Peter Pan Costume party. She's going as Tinker Bell. On her airplane.

Kate discovered that she likes Veggie Booty this week. Doesn't she look excited about it?

Yes, that's right...she's actually putting real food in her mouth...willingly. Who would have thought?

Happy weekend.