Kate, at 13 months is getting another tooth. She has this big gummy grin with two little bottom teeth and she LOVES her teeth. She shows them off constantly. Well, now #3 has joined the other two on the bottom. It was a couple rough days as this one poked through, but she is quite pleased with the new addition.
For some reason Reilly likes to sprint to everything that he does. I know he's up in the morning because I hear him run from his bed to his dresser - which are about 5 feet away from one another. Then I hear the draws slam because he has selected his outfit for the day. Then I hear him run to the bathroom - go to the bathroom - and run to see me.
During the day I hear sprinting across the downstairs - I'm not sure what the rush is, but clearly there is a need for this fitness moving around the house...
Kate's courage is getting more and more with each day. She's not walking but she's starting to challenge herself. She's pretty smart - I haven't seen her stand on her own except in the mornings when she does it on my bed. I think she knows if she topples over it will be fine. She stands up tall and just wobbles and then grabs on to me real fast. She's a bed surfer for sure.
While Nicole was helping to pick up Reilly's room today since he was at preschool, we made a startling discovery. Reilly has taken about 8 socks and stuff various things in each of them. Some have trash in them, some have change, some have cars in them, I think one even has a small train.
His mind is going so fast, all the time. Nicole and I opted to leave them in tact for fear of a lecture from this adorable 3 1/2 year old.
Well the Fashion Show is over, it was actually kind of fun. The Woman's Club seemed to have a great time of it and my Mom was the co-host which was great.
I wore an outfit from EMS which I got to keep and I wore the infamous wedding dress. The wedding dress was the grand finale, and guess who the groom was? SHAD! How fun is that?
Meredith took a couple photos - they are better than the ones we have from our actual ceremony.
We are trying to teach Kate how to do a couple signs so she can communicate that way instead of a grunt. She's already one step ahead of me - which makes me quite nervous for those teen years that are approaching quickly. Okay, 12 years or so, but nonetheles after how quickly the first year has gone - puberty is pretty much on the horizon.
At dinner last night, after about four or five replenishing of chicken on her highchair tray and helping her do the "more" sign, she pretty much figured it out. This morning I was giving her bananas and I said "more" and reinforced with my hands - she looked at me, took her pointer finger, pointed down to her tray and then started slamming her finger into the tray. It was as though she was saying "put more food on my tray and do it NOW!"
Perhaps I should conform to her ways, afterall, there wasn't an audible noise associated with it, it was simply a gesture. :-)
Ma and Da - Kate's got those sounds down. When she is not teething, even if she is vomiting her little brains out - she's great. Factor in the teeth, and she's not that fun, but she's cute. :-)
I'm thankful that Reilly and Kate love Nicole. But, I have found it interesting that everyone has become Nicole in Reilly's world with the exception of Kate. He has been calling Meredith Nicole for a couple months now. This association has recently gone to Nandi, which makes sense to me with the Nnnnnnnnnn sound, but then it moved to me and most recently Shad.
Again, I'm glad that he thinks so much of her that he wants everyone to be her... but c'mooooooon. :-)
While Reilly sobbed incessantly last night at Papa's house - begging to sleep in the bedroom with me versus his new tent - he picked up a blue linen napkin and said "we need to ask Kasey if we can borrow this". I then asked "why do we need to borrow that?" Hi reply was "because we don't have any blue napkins at home - we should have some - Kasey will let us borrow them."
I think his logic came from sheer exhaustion - but it was funny nonetheless.
On our flight to CA, Reilly and I flew on a 777 and were in two of the middle seats in the middle row. That's tough with a 3 year old. I thought I was prepared for everything - but... I was wrong. About an hour into a flight Reilly announced "I have to go poop", so we got up and headed to the bathroom. Up to this point, I had never taken Reilly to the bathroom on the plane since he was out of diapers. I brought him in - told him not to touch anything and I put multiple liners on the obviously already been abused bathroom. I sat him on the potty and stood with my legs touching his knees. The bathrooms are so small - we had no choice. He sat there doing his business - he had his hands on the seat and was suspending himself similar to a dupod (same as a tripod but with only two legs). He then said "Dad has me stand", unsure of what that meant, I just kept talking to him, waiting for him to finish up. He continued to sink more and more into the potty - then he said "Mom, help" and he reached out and grabbed the hips of my pants. They were yoga pants so they did not provide him the anchor he was clearly anticpated. With that he fell deeper and deeper into the toilet - I was afraid he was going to have a blue bum with the water that is in those toilets. Right before he hit the inside we managed to get him out - and his business was done shortly thereafter.
Poor guy, stuck in the potty on a 777. That can't be fun.
It's been crazy lately at work. I feel like even at the end of the day - it's just not done. I often feel better if after everyone is in bed, I logon again and get caught up on anything that might have happened after I left the office. It's become a habit over the past several weeks. The good thing about this pattern is that I feel like I am staying on top as best I can, the bad thing is I see the kids even less. I know the end of this cycle is in sight, so we're all making due. I tuck Reilly in every night - actually it's more like - I pick all the blankets up off the floor, put them back on top of him, put the books on his shelf, put the animals back in his bed, and turn him so his head is once again at the head of the bed - either way, I tuck him in. When I do this, I kiss him on the head and brush his hair to the side and say "I love you with all my heart". The last two nights, he in his sleep, has parted those dry lips while his eyes remained lightly shut, reciprocated my profession and said "I love you too".
It's a great way to end a long day.
On the eve of her birth she leaned against the walker and began to walk. Shad and I almost died! She cruised up and down the living room and kitchen just following the walker and with Reilly in tow. She hit a couple detours - when she tried to walk under the kitchen table - she quickly learned she was too tall.
Her birthday was great - we had a bunch of friends and family over for and early dinner and cake and ice cream. There were 3 Kates at the house today. Baby Kate, Sister Kate, and Diana's daughter.
Kate LOVED her first piece of chocolate cake - she even licked the plate - which I know she learned from Shad!
I read Snow Bear to Reilly tonight - and then we talked for a few minutes before he went to bed. I asked Reilly to tell me something that he liked about himself. He said he liked his two buses. I said, "I like your two buses too", he let me know he only had one bus and he need another bus because he couldn't fit all the kids in the one he had.
He laid down and went to sleep. :-)
