Field Trips

Last week, Claire's class went on a field trip to a "pumpkin patch". You should know that in the southwest, the term "pumpkin patch" is loosely defined as a gathering of pumpkin(s) in an outdoor area. Each year I am in search of an actual field where pumpkins grow, but thus far all patches/farms/fields have been highly suspect and greatly disappointing, for me. The children, knowing nothing of what a real pumpkin patch might look like, seem to enjoy the brief time spent at them, as long as we aren't actually there for long.

Reagan and Claire are enticed by the promise of cotton candy. None of the other pumpkin patches we have visited have offered this delightful treat.

Luke and his Daddy, utilizing Luke's favorite method of transportation.

BFFs.

So glad he got to go on the school field trip, even though he was more interested in the trucks on the freeway on the other side of the fence, and refused to pose nicely in front of a pumpkin.

MJ

Dear Claire,

You are three today. Although time has probably not flown by for you, it seems like just last month that it was snowing in Tucson days before you were born. You are your own little snowflake; beautiful and unique, and everyone loves you. Your smile makes your little brother break out into a grin, and your big sister would rather play with you than with anyone else.

Sometimes you make us crazy. You are still sneaky, and we have learned to keep a close eye on you, as you are likely to get into lotion and rub it on the walls, or color on my nightstand with pens I have mistakenly left within your reach. Even when something is out of reach for you, you have no qualms about finding something to climb on to get to what you want. I have little doubt that you will use this skill in less devious ways in the future. At least I hope so.

You say the funniest things. Last week I told you we were going to fly in an airplane soon to go see Grandma, and your eyes got big. You said, "Really? Are we gonna fly upside down?" You are your father's daughter. And, like him, you are a night owl. You would be happy to stay up until 10pm, if you could sleep in until 10am.

You also remind me of myself when I was little. You are shy when you first meet someone, and you did not at all enjoy being the center of attention at your birthday party. You looked a little scared when everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' to you. And yet you have little fear when it comes to physical pursuits. You climb exceptionally well, and you love to run and jump. Your sister talks big, but you actually do big things, often without making a big production of it. You are also extraordinarily stubborn. You like what you like, and you are not inclined to change your mind, once it is set. I am still trying to figure you out.

You have an interesting taste for food. You like to dip your chicken nuggets in caramel sauce, your apples in ketchup, and you will eat almost anything if you can dip it in something. In fact, you have a bit of an obsession with dip. A few weeks ago, you decided you like lettuce, if dunked in ranch dressing. Your dad and I were very impressed, as we were sure none of our children were ever going to like salads. Your favorite food is probably cheese. A year ago, you ate aged bleu cheese and loved it. We often call you our little French girl, as you could live off grapes, cheese and bread. Once you decide you like something, you usually stick with it.

Often, it takes a lot of effort on our parts to 'help' you decide you like something, though. You are very particular about what you wear, for instance. You hate jeans, or anything that is "too tight", as you put it. You have a large closet full of clothes, but will only wear a handful of outfits. Your favorites include stretch pants, your gymnastics t-shirt, and a skirt with an elastic band that you got for your 2nd birthday.

You have recently decided you do not like green, and you have your own slang. You say, "suh like", and I think you mean "it's like" or "so, like...". It's very endearing. You also have some cute phrases we dub "McLarenisms". These include:

"Mommy, can I please have more fruit cottontail?"

"I want to watch Starburst for movie night."

We love you, Claire bear. Happy Birthday!

Saving my bank account, one pre-schooler at a time

My sister got me a gift card to Pottery Barn for my birthday late last year...and I finally made it to the store to wander around in bliss, breathing the smells and basking in the glow of their soft leather arm chairs and floral prints. These hopes were dashed, as I had Claire with me. Instead, my morning went something like this:

Claire, come over here. Come over here come over here come over here. Don't touch that. No, that's glass, don't touch the glass bunny, yes he's cute, don't touch him. Please don't lean against that mirror, OMG it costs over $300, DO NOT TOUCH that mirror. Do you want me to pick you up? I'm going to pick you up if you don't stay by me. Why did I not bring the stroller? Next time I'm bringing the stroller. You are so heavy. Okay, you can get down if you don't touch anything. No, you can't have those apples. Or the pears. Yes, they're pretty. Come here. Come here now. [Store clerk: Can I help you find something? Me: yes, do you have daycare?] Claire, don't go over there. That is not a toy. No glasses, yes they're pretty, no glasses no no, put it down. Get off the bed. No shoes on the bed, that's a white bedspread, do you see? Yes, those are shoe prints on the white bedspread. It's time to get down. Oh, pretty vase. No, you can't play with it. Put the flowers back. Come this way this way this way, I want to look at the clocks. See the pretty clocks? Come THIS WAY. No, don't go out the front door. Why is the front door wide open? Don't they realize that's a parking lot with cars out there? Stay inside. No, not in the display window. Get out of there, please. Be good, or no Mary Poppins on the way home.

And here I was, thinking it was a good thing we live so far away from Pottery Barn. Really, my checking account is saved by pre-schoolers.

Happy Birthday, Claire Bear

Dear Claire,

You are such a joy to be with. You are happy, obstinate, precocious, sweet, and ever cheerful. You love to dance, sing (your favorite song is Once Upon a Dream, or perhaps Baa, Baa, Black Sheep), jump, have tea parties, and help me in the kitchen. You almost always talk in complete sentences, with occasional Claireisms like, "I want all done," and "I sorry, Mommy". You are learning to get what you want by either being exceptionally cute, or accusing your sister of taking 'your' toy. You love Elmo and princesses, playing in the dirt and wearing dress-up shoes. You want to sleep in a 'big-girl bed' all the time, and you sleep well unless you have a bad dream or your sister wakes you up. You get very cuddly at nap time, and suck your thumb and rub your cheek when you are tired. After nap you happily exclaim, "All done nap!" and then you like to watch The Backyardigans or Toot & Puddle.

You want to be a big girl like your sister, and you look up to Kate with great respect. But you also are your own person, and I have seen Kate follow you in your activities from time to time. Your imagination is abundant and I am often amazed by what you come up with. I think you are looking forward to being a big sister, and the songs you sing to the "baby in Mommy's belly" are cherished. You love to read now, and will often sit down by yourself and read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? aloud, skipping the colors of the animals. You delight in playing hide and seek with Kate, even though you rarely hide, preferring to count loudly to ten.

We love you very much, Claire, and look forward to seeing you grow up before our eyes.

McLaren at her birthday party, refusing to let the sugar-induced cough stop her from eating more frosting.

The party

The house is quiet, and the kids are asleep. I was pretty sure they were never going to calm down after the gobs of sugar they ingested over the course of 2 hours the festivities this afternoon, but apparently they exhausted themselves. And us.

The party went really well; the kids were fairly well-behaved, and they all played together nicely, allowing the adults to talk together for at least a minute at a time. Claire wanted panda bear cupcakes, and they were a huge hit with the kids.

I put 2 candles on her cupcake and lit them; she blew them out before we could start singing. I re-lit them, and she blew them out. Once they were lit again and we had finished singing, she refused to blow them out. After a good minute of cajoling Claire, Kate came to the rescue, along with several of her friends.

Some of the uncouth bears might be flipping off future eaters, but it's hard to say with pandas.

There was surprisingly little fighting over presents, although Claire did not get to open many of them by herself.

MIA frosting, after Claire realized some of her friends did not consume theirs.

Presents!

The play kitchen from hell: OMG there must be 1,000,000 pieces.

Going all Martha

In preparation for Claire's birthday in 2 weeks, I tested out my cupcake decorating skillz. Are those not the cutest lion cupcakes ever? Claire picked off all the "mane" and refused to eat it. Then she ate mostly just the frosting (and the M&Ms, of course), leaving the strawberry cupcake behind. Kate nibbled at hers so much that half of it ended up on the floor. Instead of a vacuum, I should have bought a dog.


Claire decided to dress herself over the weekend. Tim brought her downstairs in this ensemble, and I was sure it was his doing until he corrected me. You never can tell.

Books

Claire is just now beginning to show interest in a bedtime ritual. Now that she realizes the fun in demanding certain criteria be met, she is adamant about performing the entire sequence each time she goes to sleep.

First, she has to sit on the potty and read her potty book, during which she presses the 'flush' button on said book approximately 8 times. Although she rarely produces anything, she always wants to flush the toilet when she is done: "Fush! Fush!" Then it's time to wash her hands, which is one of her favorite things to do throughout the day. I am starting to regret getting her one of those high step-stools that allows her to reach the faucet, as I find her at the sink playing in the soap and water multiple times a day. But hey, at least she's clean, right? Clean and wet. So, she climbs up her step-stool and does this little dance before turning on the water. I must get this on video, because it is so cute, and I have no idea why she does it, so it is likely to stop at any time.

After we are done in the bathroom, she runs to her room where she demands to 'wock wock wif Mommy' in the rocking chair. Whilst we do this, we must also read each of the following books at least once:

It is not a happy scene if one of these books goes missing.

The Birthday Monsters is affectionately known as the 'Cookie [too-tee] Monsters' book for reasons unknown to me. She appropriately wishes the hippo a happy birthday at the end of the story.

At the end of Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!, she waves bye-bye to the dinosaurs and firmly closes the book. She also laughs every time I read the 'some are tiny' line.

She loves to see the moon in The Going to Bed Book, and gleefully points to it each time she sees it. She also tells me, after I read the 'With some on top and some beneath, they brush and brush and brush their teeth' page, that they do this in the bafroom.

In Max's Toys, she loudly says, "Kaboom!" when Max has a 10-car train accident. Then on the last page, she tells me their room is a "Biiiig mess. Keeeen up! Biiiiig mess. Keeeen up!"

Conversations with Claire

Yesterday, Claire woke up before Kate from their afternoon nap. I walked into her room to pick her up out of her crib.

Claire: [Big smile.] "Hiiiiiii, Mommeeeeee!"

Me: "Hi, Claire! Did you have a good nap?"

Claire: [Vigorous nodding; pigtails askew.] "Yesssss!"

Me: "Good. Let's check your diaper."

Claire: "Otay, Mommy. Pee pee."

Me: "Oh, did you pee pee? Did you poo?" [My apologies...]

Claire: "No, Mommy, no poo."

Me: "Okay. Do you want a snack?"

Claire [Big grin.] "Yessssss. Jewsh?"

Me: "Yes, you can have some juice. Do you want some toast?"

Claire: [Pondering.] "No."

Me: "Do you want some crackers?"

Claire: [Shakes head while looking me in the eyes.] "No."

Me: "Do you want some Cheetos?"

Claire: [Eyes big; nods.] "Yesssss! Cheetos! Cheetos! Jewsh!"

Me: "You want Cheetos and juice?"

Claire: "Otay, Mommy."

Happy 1st Birthday, Claire!

Ladybug cake.

I almost missed the party, but made it home just before people began to arrive. I had scheduled the celebration for 11am, to work around lunch and naps, but that made for a tight morning of picking up the cake and some balloons. Unbelievably, the trip to Costco was faster than the trip to Party City. Somehow I got behind a family who bought $314 worth of SpongeBob Squarepants party stuff. Are you kidding? Sadly, it is true. But it made my $15 bunch of balloons seem so thrifty!

While I was pulling out of Costco, I received a call from Tim. It seemed that he had been enjoying the 70* weather and had decided to take a dip in the pool. Translation: while cleaning the pool filter, he moved too quickly, too close to the edge, and fell in. Luckily he was laughing as much as I was about it.

The party was fun. We had friends and family (from as far as California and Texas!) over to celebrate Claire's first birthday, and there were no disasters. Claire enjoyed her ladybug cake (her hands are still slightly purple), and several of the children present got to try cake for the first time. Kate and Claire are working out the property rights to the new sofa Claire got for her birthday, and Kate is happy to have yet more new toys to play with.

So dainty at first.

Handful.

Mom, did you know ladybugs are filled with a yummy strawberry cake center?

After several handfuls.

It's hard to see the black eye, but it's there! Not to worry, it was only frosting, and it came off with a good warm bath immediately afterward.

Let...me...pick...you...UP!

What? You can't breathe? You're not comfortable? What? I can't understand you, Claire.

Perhaps the best thing that happened yesterday was that Claire decided to take her first steps. She had been leaning/stumbling into our arms for the past week, but yesterday she figured out how to pick her feet up and take steps. She is now taking up to 6 steps at a time, on a fairly regular basis. I guess this is in line with her vocabulary explosion last week: her first word was 'puppy', while we were in Michigan, and by the time we got back home, she was saying 'mommy', 'daddy', 'bye-bye' and 'bunny'. What can I say? She's brilliant!

Post-Claire.

Ooh, pretty

We're just watching a little Today Show this morning while packing, and they had a segment on new luxury cars. The highest priced vehicle of all was the new Mercedes SLR McLaren! What a beauty. Even though she's not named after a car, Claire will probably be proud this one has her name.

Secrets to a stress-free morning

One of the best things that can happen is for Tim to be able to take Kate to school in the morning. It seems simple, but it's so so big. I don't have to scramble to time everything just right. Claire can go down for a nap whenever she feels like it. I don't have to drag a crabby baby across town, into daycare and back again, and drive her home as she falls asleep. And! And then I can use my free time for more fun or more productive things. Like having the cable guy come over to tell me that yes, we probably need a new cable box because "that's weird, it's not working". And then I can re-prioritize, knowing that I will lose my cable box in the morning, and sit down and watch last week's CSI: episode that I had recorded. I can drink my coffee in peace, and wait for the steam cleaner to heat up so I can mop the floors. All of this while the house is silent. Aaaah.

After that I can chase McLaren around the house with my camera, trying to capture cute poses and those adorable patent leather shoes.

Ms. Grumpy pants.

The best shot of the shoes so far. In any event, they are Circo from Target. Go buy some, quick before they're gone!

The downside of daycare, er, pre-school, and an update on McLaren

I think Kate is getting a cold. She is supposed to be napping, but I keep hearing coughing. Then I have to run in and check to make sure she isn't throwing up, because she's making that horrible "cough like I'm going to vomit" cough.

Claire's upper GI appointment was this morning. We arrived slightly after 8am, and waited 45 minutes to get called back. I hate that! I mean, it had to be like the first appointment of the day, and she's a baby! Don't keep the babies waiting, folks. They get crabby. Claire did really well, though. She was starving, and drank enough of the barium to allow them to perform the test. I only cried once, which I thought was pretty good, considering they had to strap her to a padded board, head strapped down as well, and rotate her little body around so they could x-ray her. That part only took about 10 minutes, and the rest was more of a wait wait wait exercise. After the rotating x-rays, they took lie-down x-rays about every 20 minutes for a little more than 2 hours, to see how the barium was passing through her system. The doctor who analyzed the results said that she did not see anything abnormal, and that that ruled out all sorts of 'bad things'. I'm not sure what those bad things are, exactly, but since they don't apply to McLaren, I'm not bothering to find out. So, the end result is pretty much where we started: they don't know what is causing her to vomit after eating solids. I did give her avocado in the mesh bag the other night, and just like the banana, she kept it down. I'm sort of afraid of what the next round of tests are going to be; I'm pretty sure they will be much more invasive than the one this morning, so I'll be trying to figure out if we should just wait another month to see if she passes through this phase, or if we should keep going with the tests.

What was I thinking?

I gave McLaren some banana tonight. I was making dinner, and Kate was ... being Kate, and I was tired and hungry and I thought, hmmm, how about some banana? Yes, it was in a mesh bag. But hello! bananas don't have juice! They are just pulp! They are just solid! And we all know how she does with solids. I fed it to her at 6pm. It's now 7:40pm, and I figure I have about 20 minutes before the barfing begins. I just now checked on her, and there is no vomit. Can you feel the tension?

For those just joining us, Claire has some trouble with solids. She started out just fine. She downed a whole box of oatmeal cereal and a whole box of rice cereal. Not in one sitting, c'mon. But over the course of what, about 6 weeks maybe, she ate like a champ. Then one night, she ate peas (after successfully having eaten them before) and she woke up with her head completely encrusted in them. Pretty much ever since then she has been unable to keep solids down for more than 2.5 hours. Seriously.

We've done 2 ultrasounds on her abdomen. The first one showed fat in her liver. I chalk that up to Dion the wonder tech. As a result of his ineptitude, Claire had to have blood work done to make sure her liver was okay. It is fine, one giant arm bruise later. The second one came back normal. No problems. No pyloric stenosis. No nothing. Next we are trying some sort of upper GI thing where she has to drink some fluid as they probably x-ray the crap out of her. Joy.

I'm sort of tempted to just wait a month and see if she can eat solids when she's 8 months old. I just don't know that all these tests are worth the heartache and pain that both McLaren and I will go through. Also, the tests are so expensive. Crazy expensive. Her lab work last week? That drawing of blood billed $180, of which TriCare paid $27 (I mean, really, it's a vial of blood). The ultrasound cost $762. Good God. When Kate had her UTI, they wanted to do all sorts of tests on her, too. Turns out she is normal, but I feel like we put her through hell to find out. Is it silly to want to wait this out? I mean, it does seem like something is not right. She used to be able to eat solids, and now she cannot. But she is certainly gaining weight, so I don't know that we have a really big problem right now.

7mo of chub. Is it Claire or Kate?

5mo of that same kind of chub... who is this?

*** 9:30pm update ***

Claire is sleeping like a baby! There is no puddle of banana goo under her chubby little face! I don't know that I'm in the clear yet, but it's been 3.5 hours!

Eww, eww

A few days ago, I had the brilliant idea to start bribing Kate with candy to get her to use the potty. She has a crush on M&Ms, so I bought a package of the dark yummies that were on sale at Target. I also bought a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups, because they sounded oh-so-good. I just opened one foil-wrapped candy, thinking what strange light was filtering through my windows that made the wrapper look yellow-ish. The candy inside was a bit gooey, and stuck to the paper cup, and I thought I smelled the sickly sweet scent of bananas. Dying for some peanut butter and chocolate, I ignored both of these warning signs, and popped the gooey mess into my mouth (as good as you can 'pop' a melty chocolate glob). No sooner had I done so when I had the sinking realization that that crazy banana smell was not a figment of my imagination: there truly was banana in my Reese's peanut butter cup. ICK. There is not much that I dislike more than banana-flavored things. Gross, gross, gross. I just downed a (small) fistful of Kate's dark M&Ms to try to get the taste out of my mouth, but it's still there, taunting me.

The house is so quiet. Everyone is asleep. Claire has been sleeping for almost 3 hours now. She likes to flip over onto her belly and suck her thumb to sleep now, and I guess it's doing the trick.

Claire is cracking me up now. She yells (YELLS) when she wants attention, or when she is tired. I found out the latter today at the commissary when I took too long to shop. She was very vocal about her feelings.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep up with the constantly changing baby clothes? I feel like every other week I'm pulling clothes out of the girls' drawers because they don't fit anymore. Then I come across some cute little outfit that will just barely fit for a week before it's too small. Organization tips? What do you do to stay organized with your kids' stuff?

Trying to fit in

Well, Claire wouldn't feel like one of our daughters if she didn't need to have some extra medical exams. We haven't had to visit the ER with her yet (do I even dare say that?), but her pediatrician called me this afternoon to let me know that she wants more tests done on Claire to find out what is causing her to get sick when she eats solids.

First, the ultrasound. We went to TMC for what was supposed to be a short ultrasound of Claire's tummy. What I got was everything from a lecture on how I should be breastfeeding my baby ("not that I'm trying to tell you what to do, and I'm not a doctor, but you know, it worked for my 2 kids"), to the tech telling me that he wasn't really sure what test he was supposed to be performing (at which point he sighed heavily and left the room to call the doctor's office to check). There was a lot of sighing from him over the next 45 minutes while he tried to scan her stomach, as she became increasingly impatient and tired. By the end, she was crying and cranky and we still did not have a good read on her stomach.

So, the pediatrician called me this afternoon to tell me that the results were a little odd and that we need to have some bloodwork done to rule out some problems with her liver. We also need to repeat the ultrasound to see if we can get some better results. For now she is fine with liquids (and she is obviously gaining weight), so we'll wait and see what the tests say.

The Ultrasonic Vomit Sprinkler

As the husband and "old guy" of the family I rarely get to comment on the blog. My reactions are reserved for concern for my wife's well-being and bodily functions of children. Today I have the privilege of recounting the latter.

As you may have read, we had a few hectic times this weekend. Most notably me getting to bail from a pool party in order to work on a Saturday. Leaving a single parent with two kids inside the fence line of a 5-foot deep pool is a little heartless, I know, especially since Jen needed her energy for what was to follow.

Claire has been having a little trouble keeping solid food down lately. After a month of cereal she decided that she would have none of it. During our time in Oregon we discovered her new hobby of dousing the room some 3 hours after her last meal. Being the caring young parents we had the doctor check her and true-to-form the doc recommended some tests--Ultrasound to be exact.

So I figured it was probably "just a phase" or something in the water in Oregon and figured we should try to feed her again... but just a little ... just in case. My co-conspirator mixed a quick meal and Claire downed a whopping 3 bites from a baby spoon or about the content of a thimble. Two concerned parents looked on, awaiting the arrival of Linda Blair but Claire seemed fine. Later she had a bit of a nap and woke up happy and playful.

In the meantime, Jen and I pressed with the plan of re-arranging the furniture to put Kate and Claire in the same room. Kate latched onto her music box that puts her to sleep at night and started walking around the house with it. She set the music box on the coffee table and would hit the button to start the music, and hit the button to stop the music... like you do when you are a toddler and seeking to prove you have power over something.

In came Claire to sit with Daddy and Kate. Daddy decided Claire could hold herself up at the table and watch. Kate decided she could show Claire how the music box worked. Kate, one at a time, would grab one of Claire's hands and hit the button thereby starting and stopping the music. Both kids enjoyed this tremendously and were laughing and smiling in a concerted effort to get Daddy's guard down. Claire sits down on my left knee and I have Kate sit down on my right knee to have a group hug... mommy is getting the camera, but is too slow.

From out of the blue, the adorable child on my knee begins to projectile vomit everywhere... I mean everywhere... her range was really quite remarkable - and the aim too. On Dad, on big sister, on the carpet... down Dad's leg and into both shoes... and after a few second a pause. I had just enough time to mutter comforting words to the toddler (covered in puke) trying to keep her from bolting across the living room dripping vomit, when the whole thing started all over again. Bluhhhh, bluhh.. and it was the good stuff too! None of that wimpy baby-milk spit-up stuff here-- we have full-up 2 am at mardi gras in New Orleans flashbacks, both with the smell and with the pair of vomit-soaked shoes you want to burn when you get a chance.

Kate's hands are up in the air, and I'll remember the "Uhhh... Daddy what do I do?" look for years. I was waiting for the "All done ... all done..." but it never came. She stuck it out, listened to dad and did not spread yak from one end of the house to another.

It suddenly became "Bath Time" and poor little Claire spent the next few hours sleeping it off.

I can't imagine why she keeps getting sick...think it's the beer? Or maybe the pickles.

Bringin' the heat

It was fun for the first minute. Then: tears.

Hot. It's hot here. Yesterday I walked outside and I thought I was in Arizona. It was 104* and dry. I was fairly certain that it was warmer here than at home, and after a quick call to Dana, I found out that I was right. Whew, triple digits makes for some hot days. I had forgotten how difficult it can be to sleep when it's hot at night and you don't have AC to cool you off. It reminded me a little of my summers visiting my grandparents in Detroit growing up. Lots of tossing and turning and trying to get the fan to blow just right to cool you off.

Mmm, blueberries.

First taste of popsicle.

McLaren got to try blueberries yesterday for the first time. She LOVED them. We put several frozen berries in a mesh bag and she chewed away for about 15 minutes, making a big mess and loving every minute of it.

Then, after dinner, Grandma gave her some popsicle "to cool her down". She loved that, too, until about 5 minutes later when she threw it all up (and then some) all over the living room carpet. No more popsicles for Claire for awhile.

Getting into a Groove

It took about a week of Tim being gone for Kate and McLaren to get over it and start acting like grown-ups about the whole thing. This morning they slept in until 7:20am (hallelujah!) and both are now napping like they usually do, which is quite well. I really don't know whether their change in behavior was due to Tim being gone or teething or being crabby or me not giving in to Kate wanting to eat brownies for lunch and Claire wanting some of my curry chicken and not getting any. Really. They are babies, after all. But all seems to be right in the world again, and I am so very GLAD.

One thing I'm not so glad about is that Kate got onto the computer this morning and now the menu that used to be at the bottom of my computer is at the top of my screen, and I'm having some trouble adjusting. But since that's the worst thing that has happened today, I'll take it and stop whining.

Poor Claire, though. She is not all that fond of her oatmeal, even though I'm mixing a little apple juice in with it. I held her on my lap this afternoon while Kate and I ate lunch, and her little legs were going a mile a minute, and her arms were moving at the same time and she was making all kinds of cooing noises to let me know that she wanted some of that chicken, thank you very much. I think she actually sighed when I put the last bite in my mouth. I'd let her try it, but I really don't think she'd like it and I'm pretty certain it would upset her little tummy. Not that that sort of thing has stopped me before. But curry chicken at 4mo is just not right.

Kate tries to drive away before I can get her swimsuit on.

Kate the Bully

We invited Erika and Reese over tonight for dinner and playtime, and I found out that Kate is a bit of a bully. I think it's because Tim is gone and she is acting out to show her disapproval of his absence, but she was not the nicest kid tonight to her friend Reese. There was some pushing, some grabbing of toys and a lot of hitting. I think Kate is trying to figure out how to 'play' with other kids now (she used to just ignore them and play by herself), and isn't quite sure how it goes. She does know that if someone is playing with one of her toys, she wants to play with it. Right now. Sharing is not yet in her vocabulary. But I suppose that is somewhat normal for toddlers? Please tell me that it is. They did try to make up after dinner, but fell over while hugging and Kate bumped her head pretty good on the tile floor. Now I'm listening to her cough and cry a little while she tries to sleep, and I'm hoping like hell that she's not getting sick. Wait until your Daddy gets home if you really need to get sick! Please, Baby Girl. Please.

McLaren and I got to spend a few quality minutes together while I got her ready for bed. I love changing her out of her clothes because she's ticklish somewhere near her chin, or her neck, or her underarms. I'm not sure where exactly, but when I take her shirt off she giggles and it's so cute. So cute. It makes my day. So after the giggling we just looked at each other, and she grabbed my fingers with her little hands and smiled with her whole face. She has the most beautiful eyes and when she smiles they light up like a sunny day. A while back my sister said that McLaren looks like she's just going to be such a nice person, and she's right. She does look like that.

Photo Update

3 months old.

Chubby cheeks.