Big Girl Room

Here I am in my big girl room! Daddy finished painting it on Thursday and Mommy got it all set up on Friday. When I came home from school it was all ready for me. The first thing I did was test out the bed.

Following the tour, we had my Big Girl Room Party. Mom had been asking me what I wanted to eat for my party and all I ever answered was cupcakes. For the dinner portion of the meal I kept saying no to all of my usual favorites, like pizza. Finally Mom found out why. She asked me why I didn't want pizza and I answered "Pizza too messy for my new room!" Once I understood that we would be eating at the kitchen table I signed on for the pizza. We even had some veggies and dip before the pizza so I could have "Cocktail hour!"
That night I was excited to get into my bed and Daddy got he railing installed. We also put a gate on my room "to keep Lily out" (or so they tell me). I didn't go right to sleep and made up some excuses for people to come back and see me, but I stayed put in bed and slept all night. Mom & Dad were thrilled!

As my reward for staying in bed I got to launch some of my balloons (leftover from the Big Girl Room party, of course) and I thought this was terrific fun! All of the balloons are gone now except one that had lost its oomph and only "launched" as far as the patio.

Next weekend we will be working on my baby sister's room. Poppy and Boppy are coming on Sunday and Monday to help paint and get it ready.

July 4th (and Canada Day)

Happy Canada Day and Fourth of July, everyone! I had a great long weekend up in Michigan. The weather changed a lot, but it wasn't too hot and it is fun at the beach no matter what. We drove up to Lake Michigan on Friday night and as usual, I fell asleep 45 minutes before we arrived.

On Saturday morning we went to a farmers' market with JJ and SuSu (Daddy's aunt and uncle) and I ate bluebirdies, strawbirdies and the biggest brick of rice crispy treats that you've ever seen (which I happily ate until I dropped it in the grass and Mommy/"the Fun Police" took it away)! That afternoon I got in a little time on the beach, and then Jamma arrived from Canada and we played in the sand and had a terrific time. She brought me some Crocs, which I love. In fact, I love them so much that I insisted on taking them into my crib. When Mom and Dad came to check on me later, they found me wearing the Crocs-- and I wore them all night!

On Sunday morning we went to a fabulous park that kept me very busy. And at lunchtime Poppy and Grandma Boppy arrived for the day. We had a lot of fun at the beach, but only the Nova Scotians thought the water was warm enough for much swimming. Poppy tried to build sandcastles and I wrecked them as fast as I could. He kept trying to convince me to let him bury me, but I didn't fall for it!

My new favorite time of the day is "Cocktail Hour!" and it provided good incentive to get me into the tub after the beach, so I would be ready to have cocktails-- well really it is the snacks and dip that I like, but a refreshing lemonade at the end of the day is pretty nice, too. Mom and Dad just hope I don't yell "Cocktail hour!" at school on Wednesday!

On Monday my second cousins, Kate and Ian, came and I had so much fun playing with them. I liked following Kate around and doing what she was doing.

Tuesday morning we left to start our long drive home and part of it included a stop at Glenn and Ellen's (Mom's unlce and aunt) for a cookout in another part of Michigan. It was fun to see them and I got to see Poppy and Boppy again. I liked their two very big dogs, but on the way home I told Mom: "I don't ride them. Too tall." (Sorry we didn't take any pictures there! What were we thinking?)

I was a great traveler and loved Mom's surprise bag--especially my new notepad which kept me busy until I fell asleep coloring. When we were almost home, I told Mom that I wanted to go to "my new house" (which means Johnny and Suzie's house on the beach), but once we were at our other "new house" I was glad to be there. After nine hours on the go, we made it home in time for a bath and my usual bedtime routine. This was especially important since I am scheduled to move to my big girl bed on Friday. I am sure I will tell you about that soon!

P.S. In other good news, Mom did not have Baby Purple while we were traveling. Her due date is 5 weeks away and I am getting excited!

2.5

I turned 2.5 last week and as you can see my sense of style is really coming along! I got another new pair of sunglasses- they don't last long around me-- and like the others these can be worn right side up or "uppaside down."

We had a good weekend. Mom's friend Gretchen was visiting from Alaska (a former co-worker at the Red Cross) so she and her friends had lots of plans. We had dinner at our house on Saturday evening and I helped get things cleaned up. I even washed my kitchen so it was ready for company.

We got a new minivan this week and I love it- especially the magic door! We're busy getting ready for baby (6 weeks to go)-- and her name is "Purple" now, if you ask me.
We went over to a friend's house last night for a quick play date after dinner and a tramautic thing happened to me. I got six splinters in my hand. Let me tell you, it takes a lot of Clifford the Big Red Dog bandaids and ice to make that feel better.

Daddy's Day

First, let me give a shout out to all the fathers out there, especially my own! For Daddy's day we took him out to dinner Saturday night (left) to the restaurant of his choosing and thanks to the newly discovered wonder of chocolate milk, I was very well behaved. Sunday morning, Mom and I made Daddy breakfast (bluebirdie pancakes) and served him on the patio.

Now backing up a little, overall we had a pretty good week, with the exception of a glitch with selling our old house, but that may be resolved this week and hopefully the deal will go through. Aside from that, Dad went to South Bend Thursday through Saturday for his hockey reunion. Mom and I kept busy while he was gone.

I have a new favorite hobby in sidewalk chalk. It is also Mommy's favorite activity since she can sit in a chair on the patio and have both me and Lily happy and busy. It isn't neat, but it is fun! I got a new table for outside, complete with umbrella, which is very cool and we got it just in time since it was hot again this weekend. We played some soccer with Dad and you can see Lily and I were dragging from the heat!

I also started swimming lessons on Saturday morning. It was fun and I am getting really good. I blow bubbles and kick and love to jump in. The only thing I didn't like was the rescue dummy that I could see laying in the corner behind the big water slide. It was a life-sized man and I kept asking Mommy about him "Man sleeping?" And I didn't quite get her explanations that he was like a big doll.

Some other stories from this week . . . I have a new expression. If I make a not-so-polite noise, I now exclaim: "I Beeped!" (this is new from exclaiming "Katie's bum loud") Mom and Dad think it's hilarious, but don't know where it came from. I remain interested in trying to ride Lily like a horse. Lily is not so interested in this game, but is nice about it and just tries to get up and leave . . . I also told Mommy that I had a little black shirt and she had a white shirt-- a big white shirt, but it was big because of my baby sister . . . If you ask me what time it is I will tell you two minutes. It is the only time-related answer I know since Daddy will send me in from grilling territory to tell Mommy "Two minutes."

On the Fence

For those of you waiting to see my professional photos from last week, here is one that we scanned. I look like an agreeable 2.5 year old in this photo, don't I?

Well before I talk all about myself, let me fill you in on a few pieces of news. First, we sold our old house. Yeah! Daddy is thrilled that he will only have to maintain one lawn now! And in new house news, we finally got our fence installed. Lily and I were excited to explore the far reaches of our yard and Mom and Dad like having us both contained! Of course it rained most of the weekend, so we didn't get to play outside much, but when we did, I got to wear my boots.

Mom and Dad had their big black-tie affair on Saturday night and they looked very dressy when they left. Their photo was taken there, so we'll post it on the blog when we receive it. They had fun and I kindly slept in until 7:40 so they could catch up on a little extra sleep.
Despite the rain, we had a few excursions over the weekend. I spent Saturday morning with Dad going to some of our favorite places: Daddy's work (there is candy there); the grocery store (there are samples there, like apple slices, donuts, cheese and bread); and the library, which I pronounce "Lie-birdie." Also, FYI, strawberries are "strawbirdies" and blueberries are "bluebirdies."

On Sunday we tried to go to the park, but everything was too wet, except the balance beam (which is really just walking around the perimeter) and one swing was dry-ish but Daddy made me push him on the swing, instead of the other way around.

We ordered the bedding for my big girl room this week and Mom is planning for how Daddy will paint it. Perhaps this is how he will celebrate Father's Day?!?!?

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

For weeks now Mommy and I have been singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at bedtime, but we didn't know I would get to sing it publicly! We went to a baseball game today and we saw my old babysitter and she invited me up on the dugout to sing it during the seventh inning stretch. Under the pressure I didn't sing much, but I did clap loudly when we were done. I liked being at the baseball game, but my wiggles got the best of me and I kept Daddy on his toes!

We had my 2.5 year-old pictures taken this weekend. I was very wiggly there too and only smiled when I was being devilish and saying "no!" We will be sending photos out soon and Mom will put some up her for all to see.

Perhaps the highlight of the weekend (said sarcastically) was our trip to find a formal dress for Mommy. She and Daddy are going to a fancy party next weekend for Daddy's work and let me tell you it is quite a challenge to find a formal maternity dress on short notice. We finally found one at a wedding shop, but not before I wreaked havoc on the store and all the ladies shopping there.

Poppy came down to visit this week and he and Daddy went to the Memorial golf tournament. They had fun, despite the heat. I was sad to see Poppy go home and put his placemat back on the table after he left and Mommy had put it away. And I kept asking where Grandma was. They told me she had to work (only five more days until retirement now, so none of us feel to badly about that!) , but I didn't really get it.

Otherwise, I have been busy being busy. I have been wearing my dog boots a lot and I think they look terrific with shorts. We are in the process of starting to get my big girl room ready, but Mom is torn between two bedding sets and I like them both--and have picked both when given the option. We think Daddy likes one better because it would probably mean that the room would stay white (no painting for him!) so he is not bringing an unbiased opinion to the decision.

Summertime

We're ready for summer here! We enjoyed our three day weekend at home doing summery things and the weather was definitely summery at 90 degrees!

I ate my first popsicles, which I HAD to have after seeing all the bright colors in the package. We went swimming and I really enjoyed jumping in to the big pool and "plashing" Mommy and Daddy. We ate hamburgers and corn on the cob. And you might be able to tell that I got some new sunglasses, which were worn almost everywhere we went.

Today we went to a new park to play and had a picnic lunch (or a paddywhack, as I called it, since we've been singing the "knick knack paddy whack" song). You can probably tell I had lots of fun there. You also can probably see that I have two newly skinned knees . . . looks like we will need a lot of bandaids this summer!

In other news, I named my baby sister this weekend. I told Dad her name was Blue and then later I asked Mommy if I could see Blue. Mom & Dad weren't sure whether this name would make the final cut . . .

We are supposed to get our fence late this week or early next week, so that will be nice for Mom & Dad-- they won't have to chase Lily and me into the neighbors' yards when we get an itch for freedom!

The Negotiator

I'll admit it. It is not easy to get me to do things these days. Mom says she feels like she's working with the UAW. Everything from my potty treats ("No, two jelly beans," I say. "Green and purple.") to how many more times down the slide before we leave the park to how many books I get to take into my crib. This must be why they call it the terrible twos, although I am far from terrible!

We had a good weekend and we got the most of the daylight hours since I was up by 6:30 a.m. both days. On Saturday we all got up and got ready, had breakfast and Mom and I headed out to get my hair cut and run to the grocery store. As we were pulling out of the driveway Mom realized it was only 8:14 and the hair place wouldn't even be open yet!

My haircut went well and I got both a sucker (because it was the only way to get me to stay still to have my bangs cut) and a purple balloon, which I have carried around quite a bit the last few days.

Saturday we went to a wedding. I was my usual busy self at church. I had a babysitter for the reception part even though I was invited. Mom and Dad enjoyed themselves and I got to see my old babysitter who worked at my old school.

Sunday we went out to breakfast and after focusing mostly on sausage and eggs realized how yummy pancakes are and how wonderfully sticky syrup is. Our new house is close to our favorite breakfast restaurant so I bet we'll be going back a lot.

I was big on taking my baby for a walk this weekend. She made several trips to the park (and a few trips down the slide) in her stroller. I would pack up her diaper bag and had to have a blanket and then I would say "Bye. See ya!" and head to the front door.

We're looking forward to the long holiday weekend and hope to have some summery weather!

Baby sister update: she is moving a lot, but I don't really have the patience to keep my hand still while I wait for her to move. Mom was to the doctor last week and all was well with the latest blood tests (all clear on gestational diabetes) and everything else. Mom's weight gain has almost caught up to where she was with me at this time (she had been quite a bit lower) so I think the unlimited ice cream may be coming to an end at our house . . .

Mommy's Day

Happy Mommy's Day to all the Moms! My first gift to Mommy was that I slept in until after 8 for the first time in a long time. Unfortunatley she woke up at 7 anyway! So once I got up Daddy and I made breakfast for Mom. I helped mix the eggs and I buttered the toast between seizing the opportunity to eat the butter.

After I did these jobs Dad realized it might be easier if Mommy and I went and watched Elmo so he could finish up without all the distractions! I am getting used to Mommy's bump and now I snuggle into it when before I just got annoyed that it was taking up my space.

We got Mommy flowers (pink roses at my request) and I made her a flower pot at school (also with pink flowers) which I was very excited to give her.

My favorite thing to do today has been to clean my table. I use Lily's squirt bottle with water and scrub and scrub. Mom & Dad are trying to figure out how to really put this skill to work! We've had a nice day and made it out for a quick walk between all the rain. The park is still too wet to play, but I ask about it everyday anyway!


I had a good week at school and talk about playing on the "big outside" (the big playground, as opposed to the small one). I make lots of fun things and I love taking my lunch.

If you ask me what my full name is, I might tell you it's "Katie Katherine." We had a sleep breakthrough this week thanks to Dad. Mom was out one evening and Dad put me to bed and let me read my books in my crib and I didn't cry at all and just sat there and read until I fell asleep. We had tried this before at naptime, but it just resulted in me throwing all the books out of the crib and then wanting someone to come pick them up. It's funny because Mom & Dad can hear me "reading" to myself, often repeating things from when we read the books earlier.

Home Alone

Come on! Did you really believe I was home alone? No, this was our first weekend without company in a long time. And boy did Mom and Dad miss having the extra entertainment for me!

We had a good week and continue to make progress on getting the house in order. Mom was happy because she and Dad finally hung up this shelf thing and they didn't even say any bad words while trying to get it up. I just sat in my seat, ate raisins and watched.

In addition to my swingset and the park, we continue to find fun things to do at our new house. Sometimes I get to take a bath in Mommy and Daddy's big bath tub. When the cars are out of the garage I get to play basketball, which I wanted to play all weekend. It's the Hoosier in me (referring to the state, not my allegiance to IU). On Sunday at 7 a.m. I was up and asking to play!

We enjoyed the nice weather this weekend and I was outside a lot. I did some fingerpainting and would alternate between asking for a towel to wipe my hands after each color and then just wiping it on my clothes or in my hair. Thankfully, they were washable paints!

I am still having a little trouble settling down to naps and sleep. Today I never did have a nap. And then Daddy and I went on an errand in the late afternoon and I fell asleep in the car. He even carried me into the house and I was still asleep, so we both had a little rest. Daddy told Mom that I needed a little noise to sleep and could she put on the hockey game?

We ended our weekend with a yummy dinner and an ice cream cone, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I am doing well at school and every night I ask if I can go back to the "new school" tomorrow. My new funny thing to say is "Oh my gosh," which I say with a pause before each word and usually shout it out at a funny time like when I am looking at a book by myself and see an animal that I like or when my legos fall over. Mom and Dad say I turn into more and more of a little person every day!