Christmas

December 25, 2007

I'm almost certain that Katie set the 2007 Eastern Time Zone record for sleep by a child on Christmas morning when she slept until 9:45.

The previous day, we had hosted a Christmas Eve gathering at our home and Katie apparently wore herself out showing off her "flying" skills as she leaped to and fro almost non-stop from the ottoman to the couch. If the guests weren't "wowed" by the Katie show, they very well should have been.

Following her Christmas morning sleep-in, Katie then prolonged the anticipation of the present unwrapping by declaring that she would need more time upstairs to watch tv and get in the mood to open her gifts.

Finally, at nearly 10:30, she announced that she was ready to begin Christmas.

Including all time zones in the continental US, I'm nearly certain that Katie was the last child in the nation to open her gifts. With an audience of Melissa and I and Grandmommy and Papa, Katie walked into the living room to marvel at the new bistro table loaded down with gifts. For the first time in her life, she seemed genuinely happy with the prospect of tackling a pile of presents. Also firsts this year included her joy in actually opening the gifts herself and the excitement of the gifts themselves. Last year, she didn't show any interest in opening her presents and paid little mind to them when they were unwrapped for her.

Her favorite gift was a Littlest Pet Shop treehouse play set. But her most memorable exclamation was uttered as she peered into an oversized gift bag loaded with various gifts. She looked over the side of the bag, stuck her hand inside, and exclaimed "Oh my gosh!" As we collectively wondered what treasure had evoked such excitement, she pulled out a tube of four small My Little Ponies. Who would have known that she'd be so astonished at such a simple gift. A cute moment.

When Grandmommy and Papa had to leave for Charlotte a few minutes after the gifts were eventually opened, the three of us played with Katie's assortment of new toys. With still a lot of day remaining, we decided to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks, which Katie enjoyed. Until she finished her sucker.


The Pile



Her Favorite Gift



Fancy Lollipop

Togetherness

A couple of nights ago, Katie and I ventured out to the Wal-Mart to get a few ingredients for Melissa's baking needs and to get out of the house for a few minutes. We had a fine time in the store looking at the toys and the fish.

On our return to the van:

Me: I sure like going shopping with you. Do you like going shopping with me?
Katie: Sure I do. But I like it when Mommy goes better.
Me: You mean that you like going shopping better when just Mommy goes with you?
Katie: No, I like it when we all go together.

First Performance

December 19, 2007

Katie sings all the time. And always has. Ever since she was a toddler in her crib, she'd sing. But for today's preschool Christmas program, a show that she and her little friends have been practicing for a couple of weeks - a chance to really shine and show the world her performance skills - Katie had promised that she wouldn't sing a word.

With Nana and Melissa positioned in the audience and me on the far aisle with a obsolete camcorder at the ready, we awaited Katie and her class for her first ever public performance. The kidlets filed in and Katie was positioned on the first row, in direct eyesight of Melissa. She found Melissa in the audience and firmly reminded her, "I'm not going to sing, Mommy." Chuckles emanated from those who heard her.

She delivered on that promise.

With a host of children lined up on three rows singing their rehearsed songs, Katie stood silent. She rang a little jingle bell at the appropriate time during the song with the bells, but she remained silent.

It was a good thing that the battery of our ancient camcorder only held about a two minute charge, despite an overnight refill. After all, a 15-minute video of Katie not singing can only be so entertaining.

Were we disappointed with the performance?

Not at all!

Despite her stubborness, Katie mesmerized us with her new skills at keeping control in an unfamiliar situation.

We were proud of her.

Over Lunch at the Taco Bell

December 16, 2007

We stopped by the Taco Bell for a quick lunch today. Katie was especially conversational. We had all been eating for a couple of minutes and were momentarily quiet. Katie broke the silence by engaging Melissa in a pleasant conversation:

Katie: "So how was your day today, mom?"
Melissa: "It's been a good day."
Katie: "What have you done today?"
Melissa: "Well, I took a shower..."
Katie: "That sounds good. What else have you done?"
Melissa: "I also printed up some Christmas card envelopes and ...."

And Katie seemed genuinely interested in everything Melissa had to say. It's fascinating to hear ourselves through her conversations.

A few minutes later, she engaged Melissa again:

Katie: "Mom, when I was a little girl, I called you "Mommy."
Melissa: "I know. And I wish you'd still call me that now."
Katie: "But I'm a big girl now, and I call you 'Mom.'"
Melissa: "But I wish you'd call me 'mommy.'"
Katie: "When I'm a really big girl, I will call you 'Mother.'"
Melissa: "Oh, boy..."




Jumpin' in the leaf pile

Parties and Photographs

December 15, 2007

This will be remembered as the day when Katie attended two birthday parties and photographed her first pictures.

Katie was in a great mood today. She and I played and had a pillow fight. And she likes it when I swing her by her feet. This little trick has evolved from something less extreme when, a few weeks ago, Papa had picked her up by her feet hung her straight down. Pretty simple, but she loved it. From that, I now pick her up by her feet and whirl her in an up-and-down, high-thrill, dizzying and dazzling carnivalesque trick. It's exhausting.

Melissa took Katie to her first birthday party of the day, which was held at a dance studio. There, she dressed in a princess leotard and danced around with the other princesses. Melissa said that Katie had a fine time. They returned home from that party and Katie lay on the couch. She was pretty tired and wanted to rest. But there was little time for rest as we had to make haste and head to Chili's where we joined Nana and Little Papa. She fell asleep in the van on the 20-minute trip to the restaurant. To her credit, as exhausted as she was, she was very well behaved for the remainder of the evening. Encouraging.

After a nice Chili's dinner, we returned home with Nana and Little Papa for a birthday dessert of a decorated chocolate chip cookie. Katie had been waiting to dig into it all day. She wasn't disappointed with it, and even stole a couple of bites of cookie from Nana, the birthday girl.

After dessert and gifts, Katie grabbed our camera, for whatever reason, and decided that she wanted to take pictures. Here are her first ever photographs:

First Photo: "Nana"



"Nana With Wand"



"Little Papa"


"Daddy and Little Papa"


The Artist

Dry Nights

December 13, 2007

Two nights ago, Katie spent the night with her Nana. During the bedtime preparations, Katie announced that she wouldn't be wearing a pullup to bed. She'd be wearing underwear to bed, just like a grownup. Skeptical, Nana allowed Katie to try a night without a pullup.

To Nana's amazement, and ours, Katie went the entire night without incident. She awoke dry!

Again, last night while changing into her pajamas, Katie again stated to Melissa that she would be sleeping in underwear. Like a grownup. And again, Katie awoke dry.

Tonight, just to test her, I said the usual "Go get on your pullup." She stopped and laughed, stating that she doesn't wear pullups anymore. I asked her what prompted this decision. She said it was because she's almost four-years-old and didn't want to live with the potential embarrasment of being a four-year-old who still wears a pullup to bed.

This decision to stop wearing pullups was similar to her decision to stop taking a pacifier to bed. During her two-year checkup, the doctor stated that it was time for her to wean herself off of a pacifier. After a couple days of coaxing, she simply announced during nap preparations that she didn't need a passy anymore. Passies were for babies.

When she makes a decision to accomplish a new task, she masters it.

Figuring out Christmas

December 6, 2007

Last night, Melissa wrapped one of Katie's gifts and placed it under the tree, thinking that Katie would be excited by seeing it....

Apparently, the workings of the Christmas season are still foreign to Katie. After sliding it under the tree, Melissa said to Katie something like "There's your present under the tree. On Christmas day, you'll get to open it."

Strangely upset, Katie responded with "On Christmas day, I won't open it. I'll open ZERO presents." There was a sense of hurt in her voice.

Melissa, trying to get her to understand said "But on Christmas, everyone else will be opening their presents."

Still, Katie held firm with "I will open ZERO presents." Still, with a sadness in her voice.

Melissa thinks that Katie was wanting to open the present right then. NOT on Christmas! In her classic toughie style, however, there was just no way she'd let her mommy know that she was a little bit upset at not having permission to open the gift right then.

==============

We're seeing a dramatic improvement in Katie's behavior in preschool. Three consecutive days now of near perfect behavior. And she had a great playgroup outing at the Chuck E Cheese today.

Snickerdoodles

November 27, 2007

After a quick dinner, I picked up a copy of the Family Fun magazine that Melissa recently subscribed to. Right there on the cover was a little girl displaying a red plate full of chocolate cookies that she supposedly just made with her mommy. That gave me the idea to make some snickerdoodle cookies with Katie. I figured they'd be like a craft she can eat. Making sure we had all the ingredients (cream of tartar? - Got it!), I asked Katie if she'd like to assist me while I made up a batch of cookies. But, of course! As I measured out each ingredient, her role was to dump the contents into the mixing bowl. It was a task she seemed to enjoy. Once the cookie dough was all prepared, she then watched me demonstrate how to role a dough ball into the cinnamon/sugar mixture. That was her next job. Again, she seemed to enjoy the process of ensuring that each little dough ball was completely covered with cinnamon and sugar.

Both cookie sheets that we prepared baked up perfectly. We then allowed her to sit and watch a "Charlie Brown Christmas" and nibble on her edible craft.

Cheap Entertainment

November 26, 2007

It's now dark by the time I get home. And cold. Taking an evening stroll with Katie just isn't palatable now because of the darkness and the cold. So we now have to be innovative and create some indoor fun. Sometimes coming up with instant fun is tough to do. But thanks to the new Wal-Mart that just opened up less than three miles from our house, we have that big box store to occupy our time. And it's just minutes away. Tonight, after dinner, we took advantage of the brand new Wal-Mart by allowing Katie to watch the fishes in their tanks, roam the toys, peruse the children's DVD choices, and eyeball the cakes and cookies. While I trust we won't spend every night there, it made for a quasi-fun evening.

Pizza Inn Art Exhibition

November 9, 2007

When asked for her Friday evening restaurant selection, Katie offered up Pizza Inn. Good one, Katie! One of our favorites. We arrived to find the place packed and had to wait in line momentarily.

As she often does during these brief waits, Katie perused the dividing wall onto which the owners tape up coloring sheets completed by children. Being the expert artist that she is, Katie enjoys checking out the colored bears, puppies, kittens, etc. and explaining which ones are "good art" and why the bad pictures can't be classified as "good."

After finishing her slice of cheese pizza, bowl of steaming broccoli soup, and chocolate chip pizzert, I corraled a coloring sheet and crayons for her so that she, too, could contribute to the art wall. She found this especially exciting.

Her first gallery piece was a puppy wearing a party hat. When finished, she walked with me to the front of the restaurant and got the attention of one of the employees. The lady gave her a piece of tape that we then applied to the top of her sheet. Katie proudly stuck her "good art" to the wall. I guess she's now officially an artist with exhibition experience.

Pleasant Evening

November 7, 2007

I walked in the door after a day at work to find Katie proudly displaying some of her artistic work in her newest coloring book. A duck or something. Whatever it was, she was really proud of her efforts. Melissa was putting the finishing touches on a tater tot casserole.

Katie has been promising that she'd eat tater tot casserole if Melissa would only prepare it for her. She also promised to eat a miniature banana if Melissa would just buy some. At dinner, she was served both but then stated that she'd be eating neither of them. Through some creative coaxing, we finally got her to eat some of the casserole and all of the mini banana.

Katie now sings the dinner blessing. And each night, she offers up a different version. She improvises each song, but they're always respectful and sweet.

After dinner, she and I played several different little games while Melissa relaxed. We also read "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Thumbelina." "Jack" was the better read. Stories are just more exciting when there's a giant who chases after the hero. Katie kept trying to speed me along when I was reading "Thumbelina." No giant, after all.

I watched Katie draw the following creations....


It's a mouse (or rat?) and a couple of crabs. I don't think I've seen her draw the crabs before, so I think she's just drawing what she visualizes. She's got some skill.


More detail...

From the Archives

Pillows of Terror!

This is one of my favorite videos of Tiny, when she was still tiny. The captured action occured in the Monterey Bay resort in Myrtle Beach. It was a brutal cold night in March of 2005 and we were holed up for the night. I suppose we were getting ready for bed and were letting Tiny burn out as much energy as she could when she found that she really enjoyed falling backwards off a pillow. To boost the thrill for her a bit, I added another pillow to the stack. And voila!, the "Pillows of Terror" were created. My original fleeting thought was "Pillows of Death," but that just didn't seem appropriate.

I've lost track of how many times I've watched this video:

Election Day

November 6, 2007

Some fun tonight after dinner and a chocolate-dipped creme puff (liked the chocolatey puff part, but not the creme part!). We boarded the van and headed to town hall to perform our civic duty by voting. I explained the concept of voting to Katie on the short trip to the polls (there's a few people who want to make the rules, so we pick the ones we want). Melissa and I inked in the circles of a couple of town counselperson candidates. For that, we received a couple of "I voted" stickers, which, of course, were handed over to Katie to adorn her clothes.

Back home, I worked with Katie on writing all the letters of the alphabet. She can write all the letters now, but needs some ongoing help with the "R" and "Z."

New additions to her vocabulary were "pedestrian," and "cacophony."

From Nov 07

Artist

For the past year or so, Melissa and I have been watching Katie's development as an artist. We're convinced that she's been blessed with some serious artistic skill. After all, she draws better than the both of us. Seriously. She learned to write her name about two months ago, but we just had her learn the basic, Helvetica font. Nothing fancy at this point in her life because she'll start getting creative with writing her name when she's in 5th grade, right?

I came home one night this week to see that she's been practicing writing her name like this:



We don't know where she learned to write like that.

Halloween

October 31, 2007

So this year's costume we found at what would seem to be the most unlikely place for finding a Halloween costume: Cracker Barrel. Who knew?

Nana and Melissa spotted a ladybug costume at the Cracker Barrel during a recent dinner there when what we were really looking for was a tasty country-fried steak dinner with the sawmill gravy. And we got our money's worth out of the costume. There was the neighborhood Halloween party, the preschool party, and then the main event.

Nana joined the three of us for a pizza dinner prior to taking to the street. After dinner and fitting Katie once again into the costume, we all headed outside where we...took some pictures. Some good ones, too. And then...a group picture with the kids on our street. By this time, Katie's patience was thinning. The night was supposed to be about filling that orange pumpkin bucket with candy, right?

Yes, it was time to start the candy harvest. But in our neighborhood, most of the folks just leave big bowls of candy on the front porch with a sign saying something like "Take two pieces." While we also left a bowl of candy, we didn't leave the sign....

At first, Katie was just excited to be filling the pumpkin bucket with candy, but as we progressed, she'd examine the candy as soon as it was placed into the bucket. To the nice people who didn't favor Miss Ladybug with some chocolate of some sort, Katie fearlessly announced "I don't really like that candy." With some immediate politeness training from Melissa and me, Katie amended her "trick-or-treat" greeting to "Trick or Treat! Give me some candy I like!"

Clever, but not exactly what her mother and I had in mind.

A couple of houses later, she again examined the candy after it had been dropped into the bucket and gleefully exclaimed "Thank you for giving me candy I like." What every candy giver wants to hear.

Our neighborhood is huge but it's immensity is not so obvious until Halloween. It seemingly takes an hour to get around just our block. And that one block seems like enough. The bucket was filled and we were tired. In fact, Katie had been ready to quit about 20 houses prior to our final stop.

And then we returned home to learn that some of the big kids emptied the cauldron of candy we had left for the trick-or-treaters, leaving crumbs for those who'd follow. They apparently needed the guidance of a "Take two pieces" sign. Next year, that's what they'll get.

From Oct 07

From Oct 07

From Oct 07

Grown Up Food

August 21, 2007

Two nights in a row!

Last night, Melissa cooked up some terrific fried chicken strips, macaroni & cheese, and fried okra. With her plate full of the same food that Melissa and I were eating, Katie ate everything on her plate. The chicken and mac&cheese were a given that she'd eat, but I didn't know if she would like the okra. Turns out she loves the okra. So we're now at three vegetative things she'll eat without much of a fuss: Applesauce, corn, and okra.

Tonight, Melissa baked up a tater tot casserole, which consisted of tater tots, hamburger, and cheese. It's a tasty dish. While Melissa and I also ate a side salad with the meal, Katie had her casserole, corn, and applesauce. Much to my surprise, she ate a good bit of the casserole. And the whole time she exclaimed just how much she was enjoying the grownup foods. The corn gave her some problems, and she was only able to get three little nibblets down.

It's baby steps towards grownup foods.

New Things

August 11, 2007

Well, Katie promised on her half birthday that she would stop peeing in her pullups during naps. Today, after nap, she walked into the laundry room where I was, well -- doing laundry, and she proudly stated "Look, Daddy, I still have on my underwear!" This was significant because it meant that she took a three hour nap in her underwear (not her pullups, like usual) and she was still dry. I asked her how she did that, to which she exclaimed "Because I'm three and a half!"

In another significant development, she ate corn niblets during lunch. Finally! Something vegetative other than applesauce. She repeated the trick during dinner. She reminded us of the mantra that we've been trying to impress upon her, that if she'll eat another fruit or vegetable other than applesauce, then she won't have to eat applesauce every single day.

So now it appears that we have added a new food to her extremely limited food repetoire: welcome, corn!

The love affair with Remy continues. He joined us for dinner tonight where he slurped wonton soup.

Remy

August 10, 2007

Melissa and I travelled to Hillsborough this morning to make our payment for our dining room set. Nana came to stay with Katie in our absence. Nana brought a surprise gift for Katie, which might be her most cherished gift of her young life: a talking Remy the Rat plush toy from the movie "Ratatouille." I didn't get to see Katie's initial reaction, but when I walked in the house following their introductions, it was the most giddy I think I've ever seen Katie. She absolutely couldn't have been happier. Every time she sees Remy on tv, she talks about him for hours afterwards. Remy has replaced Leo from "Little Einstens" as her new favorite animated character.

The Remy toy kept her occupied the entire time that the hired movers spent unloading the new furniture and while we polished and organized. Good timing, Nana!

It was a big day for both Melissa and Katie. Mommy got the dining room set she's been desiring for five years, and Katie got a Remy toy.

As the husband and daddy, I'm going to enjoy the good vibes gushing through the house for the next few days.

Half Birthday

August 9, 2007

I took a day of vacation today so that we could head to Wet N Wild water park in Greensboro for a full-day of fun in celebration of Katie's half birthday. We're unaware of any family that celebrates half birthdays, so this is unique fun for all of us. It's actually a great excuse to use a vacation day for some fun in August, a month usually too hot to do much of anything outside. In fact, on this day, the heat index in Raleigh was 113 degrees. I was slightly concerned about the heat and how it might effect us, but I counted on the fact that we'd be in the water all day. Kinda hard to suffer from heat exhaustion when you're soaking in water. That was my mindset, anyway.

This half birthday was very important to Katie as she's been excited just anticipating that she'll be "three-and-a-half." After she woke us in the morning, and we reminded her of her half birthday, she smiled widely and said "I'm going to stop pee-peeing (nocturnally, that is!) and I'm going to stop fussing." Sounded good to us!

Prior to stopping at our water park destination, we stopped by a house in Hillsborough to check out a dining room ensemble that Melissa had located on Craigslist. While Melissa and I came to terms with the owner, Katie accompanied her daughter to the backyard where they petted a Great Dane and a turtle.

Following our "we'll take it!," we resumed our trip. Most amazing to me was the fact that Katie was content to ride the entire trip - both ways - without music or tv. She happily rode along playing with a Happy Meal box and applying stickers to it. And as she rode, she sang softly. It was one of the most contentedness she's displayed in quite a while.

At the park, it was blistering hot. But, as I had hoped, we couldn't feel the heat because of our near constant immersion in the various pools. The only telltale indicator that the temperatures exceeded 100 degrees was that the pavement was heinously hot! Katie had a fine time playing in the kiddie pools, sliding down the kiddie water slides, riding with Melissa and I on a couple of "grown-up" rides, and eating ice cream, of course!

As usual, we closed down the park. At our Denny's dinner, Katie overheard a colorful character behind us. She stopped her drawing, laughed softly, and said "he talks funny." It made us laugh to hear her observations. Without a nap today and lots of activity, it didn't surprise us to hear her ask permission to go to sleep in the van. She always asks permission to go to sleep in the van. Since she asked politely, we consented, of course!

It was a great half birthday celebration. She wants to make the half birthday trip to the water park an annual tradition. Sounds good to me.

Lots of Love

July 15, 2007

Following "grown-up church," Melissa and I picked up Katie from "Children's Church." Teary-eyed because one of the little boys in the class had knocked over her blocks, she saw us from across the room and came to us chattering "can I have a sucker?" The teacher confirmed that Katie had been on her best behavior, so, yes, we confirmed that she'd be getting her sucker. As she made her way out of the room, she stopped in front of an older girl, whom Katie apparently knew. Katie stopped, waved and said "Hello!". Then, tilting her head, she said "I love you" to her acquaintance. The girl giggled.

This evening we went to Pizza Inn for dinner. While Melissa was at the salad bar, the waitress asked me Katie's age and I told her 3-and-a-half. She's close enough, I figured. Katie asked me "Am I really three-and-a-half?" I told her that I had rounded up because she would soon be at the half year in her age. She asked if I could bring the waitress back because she wanted to "ask her a question."

I flagged down the waitress and told her that Katie had a question for her. Katie turned to her and said "I'm three years old." It turns out her question was more of a correction to my previous age answer. The waitress laughed and asked her "Do you have another question?"

Katie looked up at her and said "I love you!" The happily surprised waitress giggled and responded in kind.

July 12, 2007

As we made our way from the van to Target, Melissa held Katie's hand, which Katie understands is what we do to keep her safe from "cars bumping into her." She saw a family ahead of us in the parking lot, and the youngest of the children appeared to be around 16. She noticed and exclaimed that they were not all holding hands. She then verbally processed that information, noting aloud that when people are grownups, they don't have to hold hands in the parking lot.

Yes, she did acquire another LPS animal combo on this Target trip. This time, we bought her the puppy and duck in a rowboat.

Katie is cracking herself up making up her own lyrics to childrens songs. She giggled when she performed Itsy-Bitsy Spider for me by dropping the first letter from each word in the song.

Mommy's Birthday

July 10, 2007

Katie was very kind to Melissa today on Melissa's birthday and let her mommy sleep in. That's always an appreciated gift to both of us. For fun, the two of them went to a kiddie matinee for a showing of "Chicken Run," which Melissa found a bit too intense for a three-year-old. Fortunately, Katie seemed not to notice the questionable scenes.

The three of us met up with Nana and Little Papa for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Nana wanted to see if Katie understood that it was her mommy's birthday, so she asked "Do you know what day it is today?"

"Tuesday" was Katie's matter-of-fact reply. It was Tuesday indeed! Nana looked stunned.

What Nana didn't realize was that Katie has taken a keen interest in learning the names of the days of the week. Melissa had purchased Katie some new underwear last week, and each of the five panties displayed a cute little picture and the name of one of the days of the week. Starting on Monday, Melissa informed Katie that she was wearing "Monday" underwear. This initiated a hunger in Katie to then learn all the days of the week, excluding weekends. As we traveled to the restaurant, she was trying to recite each day in order but usually missed a day or two. Regardless, her display of this new skill was impressive.

During dinner, I encouraged Katie to sing "Tonight You Belong to Me." I had been singing the song last week, which I learned as a child from the movie "The Jerk," and I noticed that she'd get silent when I'd sing it. This, of course, meant that she liked it. Melissa and I would sing it from time to time. Then last week, she surprised us by singing all of the part that Melissa and I had been singing. Her favorite part is at the end when the lyrics say "Just a little ol' me!" And that's her part to sing solo!

After dinner, we proceeded to Nana's house for an iced chocolate chip cookie "cake." Tiny enjoyed her dessert but couldn't finish it because she was "stuffed." She then allowed us to capture video of her singing her new song!

Here's the performance:



As a special birthday present, Nana allowed Katie to spend the night!

Beach Vacation

Weekend: July 6 to July 8, 2007

Grandmommy and Papa took Katie home with them on July 3rd. All reports back indicated that the three of them had a fine time. They went to the beach two times as well as an Independence Day concert on the waterfront in Beaufort, complete with fireworks. The most memorable experience of the fireworks, from Katie's perspective, was the periodic shower of fireworks residue that would rain on her head and neck.

When Melissa and I arrived on Friday, we received a joyous welcome from her, which was nice. As much fun as she had with her Grandmommy and Papa, it was nice to know that she at least missed us a little bit, although she'd never admit to it. We celebrated Melissa's birthday on Friday evening with the traditional lasagna and suntanned snowman cake. For the first time ever, Melissa relinquished the decorating of the cake, giving that role this year to Katie. Katie placed the M&Ms in all the right places and surprised us all with how well she could decorate.

On Saturday, Grandmommy drove us to Atlantic Beach. The surf was especially rough, causing the usually pretty water to be brown, and there were scads of seaweed clumps littered about the sand. As a result of the difficult wading conditions, Katie occupied more time than usual to playing in the sand and roaming around with me looking at various large holes that people had dug in the sand.

In the evening, we went to the Beaufort waterfront to watch a reggae concert. Katie danced mightily with the other children, walked along the sidewalk checking out sand crabs and boats, and went with Papa to secure herself a free ice cream cone. Along the way, she struck up a conversation with some teenage girls. She's become quite the conversationalist lately with just about anyone who'll talk to her. Her conversation starter seems to remain the same for any stranger: "Are you a mommy?" From there, Katie will ask questions about the person's clothes, or shoes, or whatever pops into her head.

On Sunday, we all took a boat ride into Oriental for breakfast. Katie delighted in watching the porpoises and large marine birds. She also enjoyed bumping over the waves of oncoming boats. On the return from the restaurant, she jumped out of my lap, walked up to Papa and asked if she could drive the boat! Not content to just sit in Papa's lap, she asked if he would give up his captain's chair and the wheel to her! I guess Papa made driving the boat look pretty easy, so she figured she could handle it.

===============================================

We stopped at a McDonalds on the way home from the beach. At our prompting to eat, Katie started stuffing french fries into her mouth. I commented that she shouldn't stuff any more as her mouth was full. At that comment, she started chuckling. I asked what was so funny.

She responded with "You sure ate a big bite of fry!"

It was something I had said to her several weeks ago, but I couldn't remember the location. Not thinking that she'd remember either (but thinking I'd toss it out there), I asked "Where was it that I said that?"

"Red Robin!"

Yes, it was at the Red Robin some two or three months prior that she had bitten off a big bite of french fry and I made the comment she just quoted. At the time, she laughed and laughed about me having said it. Why? We don't know. It just struck her as funny.

It amazed us that she not only remembered the comment, but that she also remembered the restaurant where I said it.

Bowling

July 2, 2007

Melissa took Laura, Sarah, and Katie to the bowling alley today for a fun outing. I wasn't there to witness them, so we'll let an email from Melissa capture some of their event:

"We've had a good day. Went bowling. I scored a 100, Laura 85, Katie 80 and Sarah 60. Gotta love gutter guards! I hate I didn't take my camera. She looked so cute in her little bowling shoes holding that big 6 lb bowling ball. She did really well, though. She insisted on getting the ball herself and carrying it over to the ramp and letting go. Then we played a few games in the game room and they all got prizes with their tix. I'd say everyone had fun! "

Social Butterfly

June 30, 2007

Melissa and I -- well, Melissa especially -- have focused a lot of energy in helping Katie become socialized with other children. Melissa's efforts have included bi-weekly MOPS outings, weekly playgroup outings, sporadic neighborhood gatherings, and weekly Sunday school attendance. Despite our best efforts, Katie just hadn't seemed particularly interested in playing with other children.

Until about three weeks ago.

Something in her developing brain turned on three weeks ago, and we now find that we're raising a social butterfly. If there's a child to play with, she's game.

Yesterday, I mentioned to Katie that 5-year-old Ben was outside. She couldn't get her pink crocs on fast enough to get outside to see him. By the time she got her shoes on and shot outside, Ben had already went inside his house. But his older sister stepped outside. Katie really likes Sydney and struck up a conversation about Sydney's cats. I returned to my landscaping chore, which I was performing a few feet away but out of immediate view.

Moments later, Katie rounded the corner and said something like "She wants to know if I can have a Chilly Willy!" "Sure," I said. Delighted, she ran back and I could hear her shout "He said I could!"

Following their Chilly Willies, the two of them and neighbor Rachel went inside Sydney's house to play with Petshop animals. This was significant because it was Katie's first solo play outing in another child's home. Melissa checked on her every 20 minutes or so, but Sydney's mother assured Melissa that Katie was on her best behavior. Melissa asked to see Katie playing, and went upstairs to see the three girls. Rachel commented that Katie used the word "concentration," which impressed the two older girls.

Katie asked Melissa to leave. Just four weeks ago, Melissa would have had to force Katie outside to even say "hi" to those same girls.

Candy Land

June 28, 2007

Melissa went to a scrapbooking party after dinner, leaving the Tiny one and me to our own mischief. We played with Littlest Petshop animals for a while. This past weekend, while Grandmommy and Papa visited, we went to Andy's for lunch. Tiny's meal was served in a large paper reproduction of a vintage Ford Sunliner. The car is spacious both inside and out and offers ample room for at least half of Tiny's LPS collection. At least it's a freebie and we know where we can get another one when the animals eventually tear this car apart.

Just to get out of the house, I suggested that the two of us venture to Toys-R-Us to look at a potential addition to Tiny's LPS collection. She seconded the motion, so we did just that. At the store, she had to have each animal I'd show her. I started putting those animals that she just had to have on a separate shelf for her to "think about." I believe that shelf finally held about six different animals for her purchasing consideration. Her choice: the chinchilla!

On our way towards the checkout, we strolled past the board games. I figured that Tiny was probably old enough to start learning game play, so we stopped and perused the selection. Were the choice hers, she would have bought the "Hungry Hippos" game, but the label stated it was for kids 4+. The choice was between "Hi Ho Cherry-O" and "Candy Land." I remember liking Candy Land as a tot, so I opted for that game.

Once home, we sat down and played two rousing games of Candy Land. She really seemed to enjoy it. She caught on to the rules almost immediately and couldn't wait until it was her turn again. (My turn usually lasted less than 5 seconds.) She drew some favorable cards that propelled her gingerbread pawn towards the finish, leaving my pawn in the dust. She won both games on her own! She was excited to win the game, which meant that her gingerbread pawn had full permission from King Kandy to eat all the candy depicted on the playing board.

It's nice that she's now at an age to enjoy playing board games.

Daddy's Birthday

June 20, 2007

Tiny gave me a great gift today as she was as sweet and fun as ever! Melissa, Tiny, Nana and I went to Fuddrucker's today for lunch. We had a nice time as Tiny wallowed all over Nana and had Nana "shoot" her. They had all come from an animated movie in which a hunter shoots at one of the characters, an antelope. For the remainder of the day, Tiny insisted on being an antelope, too, and wanted us to shoot her. She doesn't really know what it means to be shot yet.

For dinner, we whooped it up and went to TGI Friday's for a great meal and great time. The waitress learned that it was my birthday and promised to get the singing group together. Yuck! I requested no singing, but she actually convinced me to let them sing for me because Tiny might get a kick out of the song. Well, OK! Bring on the embarrassing singing! A group of six or so waitstaff gathered, I stood up on the booth bench waving a red napkin over my head, and they sang. Tiny loved it. She danced next to me and clapped along with everyone. I got a kick out of watching Tiny enjoying the show. The singing waitstaff seemed to enjoy her enjoying them.

Anecdotes

May 14, 2007

Tiny hasn't yet learned to avoid tattling on herself. During tonight's dinner conversation, I asked her about her visits to Nana and Little Papa's house:

Me: "Does Nana give you too many treats when you go visit her."

Tiny: "Yes."

Me: "Do you say 'That's too many treats, Nana.'"

Tiny: "No. I eat them."

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As I was tucking her in for the night, she was rolling around under the blankets and must have boinked my head with her elbow. I don't remember feeling it, but she exclaimed "Ooops! I smashed you in the face, Daddy!"

Unaware that I had been "smashed," I asked her to repeat herself.

She again exclaimed "I smashed you in the face." Then "Sorry! I didn't mean to. I forgive you!"

I chuckled aloud as I realized she took on my "forgiving" part of the conversation.

Beach Trip

May 4-5, 2007

This weekend featured our second weekend beach trip of the very young season. We headed to Grandmommy and Papa's beach digs in Newport on Saturday morning. The trip was peaceful and easy as we listened to various kiddie tunes and played My Little Pony on the van's DVD. Just how did our parents endure lengthy road trips prior to the invention of the in-car DVD systems?

We arrived at our destination in the early afternoon and then headed back to Havelock for the Cherry Point Marine Base Air Show. What an impressive collection of military aircraft and exhibits! Once on the base, we took a short ride on a military bus to the leading edge of the event, which consisted of a commercial Delta airplane. Tiny has been eager to take an airplane trip ever since we delivered Nana and Little Papa to the Raleigh airport. While the Delta airplane wasn't going to fly, Tiny seemed to enjoy walking through the cabin and sitting in the big seats. Following that walk-through, she and I climbed aboard a Marine rescue helicopter where we had the good fortune to sit in the pilot seats. She enjoyed that!

We continued to tour the massive event grounds as military aircraft performed overhead. As we strolled along, Tiny couldn't help but notice an area set aside with nearly a dozen inflatable "bounce houses," or what we called "moon walks" when I was a child. We shelled out the $5 and let Tiny sample several of the inflatables. She bounced and hopped and laughed for at least 30 minutes until we finally convinced her that she might like to see the big Clydesdale horses. At the Budweiser tent, Tiny was captivated with the beautiful Clydesdale giants. Following the horse viewing, we learned that the air show was closing at 5pm. - Surprise! - We thought it would be ending much later, so our air show adventure ended early.

On Sunday, we had intended to spend some time at the beach. A passing nor'easter quashed that plan. With wind gusts approaching 40 or 50 mph, a day at the beach had to be scrubbed. Tiny had every intention of jumping around in the waves and splashing like a dolphin, but our explanations as to the inevitable miserable outcome were ignored. To prove our point, we visited Pine Knoll Shores and took the boardwalk to the top of the sand dunes. From that spot, we looked down on the long stretch of beach, which hosted only a solitary family that was determined to have some beach fun. The winds were cold and brutal. Tiny quickly decided that a retreat to the warm and waiting car was a much better plan than enduring a sandblasting on that cold, desolate shoreline.

The three of us and Grandmommy took in some shopping in Morehead City where Tiny expanded her Littlest Pet Shop collection with a beach-themed set. The trio of new animals included a sandcastle and three ice cream cones. Tiny would have been satisfied if we could have purchased the ice cream cones separately! Most of the rest of her evening was spent playing with her new LPS additions.

Click the pic below to see photos of the fun.

May Beach Trip

Here's a video of Tiny playing with Papa during our visit:

First Crush

May 1, 2007

Over the weekend, we became aware that Tiny is likely going to be boy crazy. She already has a first crush at age three. When there's a lapse in conversation, she manages to fill in the gaps with constant questions and giggles about a boy named Leo. We don't know his last name, but we do know that he's six years ago and quite the music conductor. He's an animated character on the Disney Channel's daily cartoon "Little Einsteins." (Click here to see him.) Every mention of his name brings a big smile to her face, and she jumps around like she can barely contain herself.

Voicemail

April 27, 2007

While at work today, I had been working on my computer or talking to my colleagues when I looked at my phone and saw that my red voicemail light was on. Since I had been near the phone for several minutes and didn't hear the phone ring, it meant that I had not yet turned off my "Do Not Disturb" feature, which causes incoming calls to move directly to voicemail. Usually, those missed calls pertain to business matters and don't necessarily require me to speak with the caller. But this one missed call nearly broke my heart. Tiny had wanted to call me to ask me to come home. She wanted to play with me, so Melissa had dialed my work number and gave the phone to Tiny so she could surprise me. Of course, I didn't get the call. Instead, I listened to the resulting voicemail, and here's what I heard:

Hi Daddy ... Daddy!
I need you, Daddy!

I'll talk to you later. Bye Bye!

He didn't answer.

Melissa in the background: "If he's not talking, it might be his voicemail."

I called home just as fast as I could dial. Melissa picked up, had figured it was me and had told Tiny that I was calling to talk to her. Tiny was eager and happy to be talking to me. Hearing her sweet, happy voice, so pleased to be talking to me erased the heartbreak I was feeling. She wanted me to come home after work so that we could go to McDonald's for chicken nuggets and french fries.

"Then, after I eat my chicken nuggets and french fries, I'm going to drink my milk and then get my special treat."

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Actually, we all went to Sweet Tomatoes for our Friday night fun. Tiny usually eats a pretty good meal there. We ventured to the toy store after dinner where we pick up a couple of after-Easter Peeps stuffed animals and some new Littlest Pet Shop toys. Outside of her art, the LPS toys are her favorite occupation. Sometimes she merges the two by posing an LPS toy and drawing a still-life portrait of the pose.

She's a great girl.

Strawberry Picking (Pics)

April 26, 2007

Tiny has been waking up earlier than usual for the past week or so. Melissa typically gets to sleep until 7:30 before Tiny rousts, and the day of go!go!go! begins. On several recent days, Tiny has awakened at 7:00 and on a couple of occasions, 6:45 - oh! horror!

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Today's playgroup event took Melissa and Tiny to an Apex strawberry farm that catered quite well to children. For $5, Tiny received both a berry basket for hauling her harvest and instructions on which strawberries were suitable for picking - Just the red ones. Not the green ones and not the ones with just a little red on them.

Then it was out to the field to find the best berries for Daddy! Melissa did the actual picking, but Tiny provided the supervision, giving her approval on select berry beauties that Daddy would certainly appreciate. While Melissa scoured the berry patch to select only the most suitable gems for plucking, Tiny's tough scrutiny deemed some as Too big! - and others Too little! Eventually the small basket was filled, and just in time because Tiny's attention had drifted on to other goings on.

The strawberry farm featured a friendly horse that another visitor decided needed to eat an apple. Tiny marveled at just how messy the horse devoured it. Globs of apple and spit streamed from the horse's mouth. That horse needs a napkin, doesn't he Mommy!?

Then, over there, Melissa led some of the kidlets on a quest to find the farm's peacock, which was screaming from the hardwood thicket. The small parade followed her to the source of the noise and were delighted to chase the fowl around the grounds, where he pleased them all with his uproar.

Tiny continues to develop her social skills and played happily with her friends in the playgroup. As she did last week, she found joy in sharing suckers with each of them.

Click the following pic to view the fun!

Strawberry Picking

Farm Day (Slideshow/Video)

April 19, 2007

Today's playgroup event took Tiny and Melissa to the NCSU Research Farm for "Farm Day," an annual event hosted by NCSU students that offers children the opportunity to see and touch a variety of farm animals. Tiny couldn't have been more excited to arrive at the event and was all smiles as the two of them drove onto the farm property. On the grounds, the NCSU agriculture students had set up several pens with a friendly farm animal or two inside each one. Tiny had a great time feeling the sheep's fleece, petting a horse and cow, and holding a baby chick. She had hoped to pet the pig, but when it squealed up such an awful commotion while its wrangler tried to grab it -- well, Tiny and her playgroup friends decided that the "squeal pig" was maybe just a bit too scary to touch. Also big fun was the chance to watch one of the students squirt a stream of milk right from the cow's udders. Tiny had a fine time walking around looking at the amazing animals. Melissa and the other playgroup mommies had packed lunches, so Tiny and Melissa sat and ate on hay bales -- Are these real hay bales, Mommy? -- and savored their fun in the cool spring sun. Following her peanut butter sandwich, Tiny enjoyed a small cup of chocolate ice cream offered by the farm. And for the big finale, she shared some of her pastel Easter suckers, which the playgroup kidlets couldn't wait to eat! Tiny had a great time with the animals and her friends!

Click on the photo below to view pics of the fun!

Farm Day

And here's a video!

In the Stream

April 17, 2007

Tiny continues to improve in her ability to get along with other children in social settings. There's still room for improvement, but she's much more tolerant now than even a couple of months ago. Today, in her MOPS session, she fussed mildly at another child who had decided that Tiny might need some assistance in completing a puzzle. Once she completed the puzzle, however, she passed it on to the child who had coveted it. She's fiercely independent and doesn't mind reading the riot act to anyone who offers her unsolicited help!

Prior to dinner this evening, Tiny and I took advantage of the warmer weather to explore the stream behind our house. We've had considerable rainfall this week, so the stream had some nice remnant puddles suitable for wading. With her pink rain boots on her little feet, we ambled through the recently felled timber to our newest adventure. She was excited by the prospect of having permission to stroll around in the stream. In the water, she shuffled her feet slowly and carefully, exercising special caution to keep from slipping. She probably would liked to have walked in some of the deeper pools, but Daddy thwarted that idea! That fun lasted for about ten minutes, then it was back inside for dinner.

Toys for Sale

April 11, 2007

Because the play room is now overflowing with numerous forgotten and lonely toys, Melissa decided to clear the clutter and see if we can become wealthy by selling off some of the stockpile via Craigslist or a yard sale. She enlisted Tiny's assistance in determining what toys to sell off. Tiny has become quite familiar with our question: Do you want another child to have this toy? We've noticed that she tires of most toys almost instantly. There's a few "core" toys that are mainstays in her toy rotation, but mostly it's just her art sessions that she loves. She will spend large swaths of time drawing, coloring, painting, molding Play-Dough, etc. Needless to say, the art easel will not be appearing on Craigslist or at a yard sale!

We entertained Mimi and Granddaddy for dinner. Tiny put on a dance recital for them afterwards, which included examples of her breakdancing abilities and general rolling around on the floor. She's eclectic with her dance routines.

New Friends!

April 10, 2007

Tiny had some visitors today. Some previously unknown - to us! - friends of hers stopped by for a quick, unannounced visit.

These were her pretend friends!

This was the first time she's ever mentioned the existence of any pretend friends. She was so excited when she announced that they had arrived. Melissa was uncertain as to how many stopped by, but Tiny explained that one of them -- the "spooky" animal -- didn't feel comfortable being with the group and went upstairs to be alone. Meanwhile, downstairs, Tiny performed a number of tricks to the amazement of her little pals. They stayed only briefly -- about 15 minutes -- then departed. We're hoping that the spooky animal left with the rest of the bunch.

After our evening walk, Tiny helped me try to establish grass in some of the front lawn's bare spots. She did a fine job of scooping bagged topsoil with her orange, plastic shovel and depositing the small mounds carefully in the exact spots to which I had pointed. Watching the two of us scraping, shoveling, and tossing out seed was a solitary toad who seemed intrigued enough with our activity to simply stay put and monitor our progress. From time to time, Tiny would poke at him with an aluminum tent stake to prompt him to hop a bit. His hops produced gleeful squeals from her every time!

After dinner, she and I sat down for an advanced art session. She loves watercolor painting, so we brought out a new set of watercolors. Tonight I suggested that she draw an image of her choice -- an animal, of course! --with a crayon and then paint the hand-drawn figure. She didn't need much convincing once I stated that this is the technique used by real artists. She went on to draw and paint a handful of multi-colored watercolor animals.

Carousel

April 9, 2007

This evening served as our "weekend" because I had to work both Friday and Saturday evenings. After a satisfying dinner at our favorite Pizza Inn, we headed to the mall to allow Tiny to enjoy some of the activities she's come to appreciate. As we strode through the seemingly empty mall - so sad! - Tiny said "Thank you for bringing me here." I don't believe we'd received an unsolicited comment of appreciation from her prior to this heartfelt moment.

To our chagrin, two of the three activities -- the "jumping house" and the little train -- were gone! Only the carousel remained. Tiny didn't seem to even notice the departure of the other possibilities. She was content to drift up and down for several minutes on her white pony. Weeeeeeeeeeee!

Next up, a visit to the toy store to grab a gift for an upcoming playgroup birthday. So far, in all our visits to toy stores or toy departments, Tiny seems content to look at or play with the toys at the store and doesn't make a fuss about needing to bring anything home. She browsed her favorite toys and looked at them and laughed, but then was quite happy to place them back on the shelf and move on to the next fun thing.

On the ride home, Melissa popped in a specialty CD that we hadn't heard in several months. Purchased from the State Fair when Tiny was a baby, each track includes lyrics that allow for the singer to sing her name. Though she'd heard that cd countless times as an infant, she didn't seem to remember a single tune. The first time she heard her name, she asked "Did she just say my name?" We confirmed. Each subsequent mention of her name on each forthcoming song produced "No Katie!" from her. To our amusement, she argued with each singer of every song. She attempted to inform the singers that she was some sort of dinosaur - a pterodactyl? - who had a rhyming name we'd never heard prior.

Easter: Bunny Mania (video)

April 8, 2007

This magical day of chocolate bunnies finally arrived.

Melissa and I like to inform Tiny of upcoming holidays and special events that may not arrive for weeks or even months. We'd started hyping up Easter Sunday - and the associated chocolate bunnies - three or four weeks ago. We're not sure if she remembers last year's bunny feast and how she had tore into the 2006 bunny - beginning with his long, chocolate ears; however, she advised us regularly as to what her strategy would be in 2007. Again, her carnage would start with the long ears. From there, her strategy seemed to change daily. At her last pre-Easter briefing, she claimed that after the bunny ears were consumed, she would then skip the head and torso but would flip the bunny over and resume with the bunny's feet.

Still in her Little Einstein pajamas, Melissa and I launched a crash course of the "Getting Warmer/Getting Colder" game as the moment of the Easter basket search was at hand. Not sure if she actually understood what we were trying to teach her, we let her start her hunt. She immediately headed down the stairs and continued down them even as Melissa and I chanted "You're getting colder. Getting colder..." Now convinced that she didn't really understand the rules of the game, we blurted out that the basket wasn't downstairs. She climbed back to the top step and headed toward the bonus room where the basket rested in her tv chair, turned to face the wall and awaiting her to investigate its unusual position. With some minor prompting, she stuck her head around the turned chair to gleefully find the basket of goodies.

"IT'S A CHOCOLATE BUNNY!," she exclaimed, followed by "IT'S ANOTHER CHOCOLATE BUNNY!" as she verbally inventoried her bounty. She plucked the brightly colored flower basket from the chair and plunked it on the floor to examine its treasures. Four chocolate bunnies, miniature chocolate bars, watercolor paints, play-dough, and a My Little Pony movie. Good stuff. And, yes, Tiny was allowed a solitary Reese's miniature egg. After all, it is a special day.

At church, with no children's Sunday school, Tiny sat with Melissa and me in "Big Church." The last time she sat in a "Big Church" service with us -- well over a year ago -- she had talked nonstop and finally had to be taken out to the lobby where she and I roamed the halls until the service ended. This year, Tiny seemed amazed with the choral arrangements but bored with the pastor's Easter message. When he was speaking, she amused herself by sketching puppies, kitties, and other animals in her drawing pad. And to our pleasure, when she did speak, she whispered! Overall, she did much better than we expected and earned a Lifesaver sucker for the trip home.

Lunch with Nana and Li'l Papa proved especially difficult for our three-year-old chocoholic. With new bunnies and assorted chocolates within eye-shot of every turn of her head (strewn about the floor, in the table decorations, on the Easter cake), Tiny's addiction could not be eased in our pleas for her to eat her dinner roll, her applesauce, a couple of bites of banana, some baked beans. Stubborn as she is, and since it was Easter, she was allowed to eat the biggest of the bunnies. Departing from her most recently stated bunny-feasting strategy, she nibbled on him "top down" style: starting at the ears and ending with the feet. Nothing splashy about the approach, but it satisfied her nonetheless.

Grandmommy and Papa joined us later in the afternoon. We all stepped outside for a quick Easter egg hunt on the front lawn in the surprisingly brisk April afternoon. Tiny made quick work of the hunt, and her little basket was soon heavily laden with treasure eggs that would spill from the basket whenever she'd abruptly change course as she darted from this spot to that. Afterwards and again inside, she marveled at each egg's chocolate treasure with a cute little - gasp! A Three Moosekateers bar!

With all the searches finished for the day, Tiny laughed, played, and danced her special dances to our renditions of "Coming Round the Mountain" and to Cotton-Eyed Joe from the CD player.

Playgroup Egg Hunt

April 5, 2007

Today, Melissa and Tiny attended playgroup, a nice collection of other 2- to 3-year-old kidlets that Tiny meets with once every week for any number of fun activities. The group had an Easter egg hunt today. Each child's mother brought ten plastic eggs, loaded with toys or candy. Tiny has come to love the concept of the Easter egg hunt and the surprises found within each egg. The playgroups have been great for getting Tiny ready for pre-school. Where once she had little use for the other children in the group, she now seems to be establishing small social connections with them.

In the evening, Tiny and I walked around the neighborhood with her little friend Noah and his dad, Thom. Noah really likes Tiny and she seems to really enjoy his company. There's a natural and easy bond between them. Tonight's walk took us to mud puddles, a gravel pile and "yucky" houses. Yucky houses are those homes currently under construction and that are especially dirty and littered with trash. Tiny usually asks if we can go look at the "yucky" houses. She'll parade through each room of the house and ask what room it will be when completed. On the construction site, we found an unlocked house and eventually hiked upstairs. It was great to see Tiny engaging in a small conversation with Noah. She and he were looking out the upstairs window when she turned to him and said excitedly "We sure are up high in the air," to which he turned to her and exclaimed "yes, we are!"

As the neighborhood walk neared its completion, Noah spun around and asked if Tiny could come inside and play. We did so for a few minutes. He showed off his fancy fire engine to her while she held tightly onto one of Noah's little dump trucks. It's nice to see her becoming increasingly social with other children!

April 4, 2007
Grandmommy and Poppa stopped by on their way to Richmond for dinner with us. While we enjoyed white spaghetti and broccoli salad, Tiny continued her struggles with eating "grown-up" food and ate some cheese cubes and applesauce. She managed to eat two slices of banana (without gagging), which resulted in a reward of a miniature Twix. We continue to try to get her to eat what we eat for dinner, but it's a battle.
After dinner, Tiny and I walked around the block. I found some maple seedlings and introduced her to the joy of throwing them and watching them spin back to the ground like little chopper blades. Back at home, we sat on the driveway and inspected the night sky. She recognizes Venus and knows that all the stars that she sees are actually distant suns.
She spent the last bit of her evening playing with Easter eggs. She enjoys placing candies inside them and amassing a pile of loaded eggs.

Reading Her First Words

April 3, 2007
I sat down with Tiny tonight to read her a couple of books just before we got her ready for bed. One of the books - her favorite of the recent library loans - is a book with pictures of dogs made from various fruits and vegetables. When we first brought it home, she was simply intrigued with the fact that dogs were made out of vegetables. In the past week, however, she's noticed the words associated with each image: "Bad Dog" and "Mad Dog" and "Chilly Dog," etc. Last night, she wanted me to help her read the words. We started with "Bad Dog." She proceeded to sound out the letters. "Buh" "Aaah" "Duh." Putting them together, "BaaaahhDuh." Then more quickly "Bad"! Very exciting. She smiled. She moved to the next picture and next little word: Mad. Again "Muh" Aaah" "Duh" And then "MaaaahDuh" Followed by "Mad." Again, she was tickled with herself. We continued and I helped a bit with a few of the bigger, more complicated words. She quickly tired of the exercise and decided to relax and enjoy my interpretive reading of "The Baby Beebee Bird."