Our Weekend

Birthday Party #1:

Katie rides in wagon.  Good.

Katie tries to "cook" with large jugs of condiments.  Bad.

Katie ransacks the utensils.  Bad.

Katie tries to throw a frisbee.  Good.

Katie sticks her hand in the ice bowl and then throws a handful in the community pitcher of lemonade.  Bad.

Katie dances.  Good.

Katie finds a bird bath.  Bad.

Katie runs around a lot.  Good.

Katie grabs a cup, dunks it in the bird bath and takes a sip.  Bad.

Katie tries hot dog and doesn't like it.  Good.

With no cup to be had, Katie tips the bird bath just enough to get her lips to the edge for another sip.  Bad.

The cake is unveiled.  Katie walks up to it and sticks her finger in the side.  Bad.  But funny.

Katie eats only 3 little bites of chocolate cake and about 6 bites of vanilla ice cream.  Good.

Birthday #2:

Katie takes a header out of a sandbox onto a stone patio.  Bad.

Katie engaged with play kitchen for the entire party.  Good.

Katie eats a toddler-sized vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting.  Good.

Katie pokes her own eye on the way home and has a complete meltdown in the car.  Bad.

I think we have another birthday to go to next weekend too.  Sigh.

In other news.....

Katie's been singing the ABC song for a while now.  Most of the time she ends the song like this, "Now Katie knows ABC's.  Next time won't you sing wit me."

Today it ended like this, "Now Strawberry knows ABC.  Next time won't you sing Baby Bell."

I'm trying to teach Katie how to answer, "What's your name?"  Lots of people ask her when we go places.  She knows her name.  She's known it for a long, long time.  But, when I ask her, "What's your name?"  She says, "Macaroni".  She has a nice laugh over this.  

"No, that's not your name!  What's your name?" I reply.

"Macaroni Kid."

Not to say M&M's aren't good, but maybe next time

you'll get a 100 Grand Bar!

Love you guys!

Filmtastic Friday

Light? What light?

Did I say that there was light at the end of the tunnel in my previous post?

Ohhhhhh, I spoke too soon, my fine friends.

Everyone out there has heard of the "Terrible Twos".  But have you heard about the "Tempestuous Twenty Two Months"?

I didn't think so.

Hello and welcome to Tantrumville, Miss.  Hope you enjoy your stay.

We've now experienced two full blown tantrums.  Both have happened within the last 7 days.  I could blame it on the sickness, but I think it's just where she's at right now.

The first one was Saturday night right before bed (and actually lasted until after 'lights out') and the second one was post-nap yesterday afternoon.

Katie was frustrated about something.  She couldn't express what the issue was and it just turned into a screaming/crying bout that lasted about an hour.

An example:

Are you all done with your yogurt?

Katie all done.

(I take the yogurt away)

Katie want yogurt!!!!

(I give yogurt back)

Katie all done!!!!!

(I take the yogurt away)

Katie want yoooooguuuurrrrrttttt!!!!

and on and on and on.  

We moved from wanting/not wanting yogurt to wanting/not wanting raisins, wanting/not wanting to be picked up and wanting/not wanting strawberries.  All of these items were originally requested by her.

Finally, I got her to eat two strawberries.  She seemed content, screamed a little bit more at me and then finally asked to read a Mickey Mouse book.  At that point she calmed down.

It was like night and day.  The tantrum shut off and happy giggly Katie was back like nothing had happened.

I felt like I was walking on egg shells for the rest of the day.  In no way did I want that to happen again.  

Dudes,  I was, like, scared.

Aaaaaaa-CHOO!

Man, I hate colds.  Hate them.  H-A-T-E them.

Katie ended up catching a cold last week.  I can't remember the last time that she was sick.  It must have been before she was talking though, 'cause I don't remember it ever being this bad.  It feels like she spent the entire weekend crying.

Ugh.  It was horrible.  

Most kids are perfectly content to let their snot hang down to their knees.  Not our kid.  If one little droplet of mucus should peak it's goopy head from her nostril all hell breaks loose.  The screaming begins....

"BOOOOOOOOOGGGGIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!" 

Speaking for myself I can say that after about 5 or 6 days of this, I'm pretty tired of it.  I mean, is it okay to be annoyed by your own kid?  Don't get me wrong, I love the little booger-machine, but is the screaming really necessary?

I also have another question:  How do you teach a toddler how to blow their nose?  She can't do it.  I've tried to show her while explaining in detail what I'm doing.  I've even blown boogies out of my own nose without a tissue so she could see them come out.  Did I mention that I caught her cold?

Not only does she not understand how to blow her nose, she won't take a tissue from me to wipe it herself.  WE have to do it.  If she screams, "BOOGIE!" and I hand her the tissue she throws it on the floor and continues to scream.

Serenity, NOW!

Sigh.

Since the cold seems to be on the way out, we went to a farm today.  Katie got to shovel dirt into a plastic bag and plant a seed in it, pet a goat, look at a caterpillar, pet a baby chick, pick some fresh spinach, fall in the mud, go on a hay ride, touch a fresh chicken egg, see a green tractor, and sneak a bite from the leaves of said fresh spinach (not too sanitary, I know).

There's been only a few boogie screaming incidents, just your average amount of toddler whining and quite a lot of giggling today.  I think I see light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Photo Friday

Meet Katie's best pal, Giorgio.

Katie's first taste of corn on the cob.

Katie has recently begun to host dinner parties.  She likes to invite all

of her buddies.  She cooks and serves them a variety of meals

including such hits as: pasta, apple, raisin, meatball

and ice cream.

She is a great host.  She stops at every seat to make sure that 

her guests are comfortable.

A generous portion is served to each guest.

It's time for piggy back rides!

...........................................

SHOOT THE BOOT!  SHOOT THE BOOT!

Ha Ha

Katie cracks herself up.

For example, take this statement:

"Everybody eat a.....OOOOPS."

This was said while feeding her toy animals a fake apple which she then accidentally dropped on the floor.

She laughed hysterically for about 5 minutes over this.  She kept saying it over and over and laughing harder and harder each time.

Today it was the word, "Empty".

She likes to make jokes too.  In one of her favorite books there's a forest scene with a moose, some bunnies, a raccoon and such.  She'll point to the animals and with a sly smile say, "Monkey!" Then she giggles when I say, "Noooooooo.  That's not a monkey.  Silly Katie!"  She does the same thing with the scene in the desert, on the beach and even in Antarctica.

One day she's going to pull on my pant leg, I'm going to turn around and look down at her and she's gonna hit me with, "So, a horse walks into a bar......"