Smarty Pants

"Should we get I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M?" That's what Sean said/spelled to me yesterday. Katie stopped playing, ran over and said, "Oooo... yeah, I want to go get ice-cream, can we? Please?" This is not a word we spell often, we don't have it that often so we were a little surprised. I guess we shouldn't be, since last summer Katie picked up on "P-O-O-L", but we just figured that one was used often. Later, as we were pushing Katie in the cart at Target she was singing a song from Super Why! "I really love to spell, S-P-E-L-L. I really love to spell, S-P-E-L-L!"

This morning, Katie noticed four items sitting in our living room. 2 were boxes of diapers, one was a box of refill wipes and the fourth was a 12 pack of toilet paper. We heard her talking to herself, she commented, "This one is tall, this one is medium and this one is small." I knew that she could tell the difference between two objects but that she threw a third in there was pretty impressive to us... maybe the expectations I had for a two and a half year old aren't what they should have been, or maybe we have a smarty-pants on our hands!

Carolina Cheerleader

Okay Carolina Grandma this one is especially for you!
One of Katie's favorite gifts was a new Carolina Cheerleader outfit. She opened it, said, "Yeah, Carolina!! I'm ready to get dressed now." and promptly put on this outfit before opening any more gifts! We were happy to celebrate another win last night!

Go Tarheels!

The Days Following Christmas

"Glory to God in the Highest and eat your peas!" This is the proclamation that Katie, being an angel, gave the shepherds. She later placed a burp cloth on her head and said, "I'm a shepherd... no, I'm Mary." She told us the Christmas Story - and how Baby Jesus was born in a manger. As she sings, "Baby Jesus We Love You" (the song from her school Christmas Program) these past few days - it has just been delightful that after the presents have been opened and the visit with family is done Katie is still focused on the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus!

Ryan had a great first Christmas as well. He is a natural at opening presents, and like his sister expressed joy at every gift received. I think he would have been content to just keep working on ripping and trying to eat the paper all day! Clothing and toys alike received shrieks of glee from both kids. It was a fun morning opening gifts and a great afternoon spent with Sean's side of the family!

On the Move

Well, Ryan isn't officially crawling - he's not on all fours - but he is pulling himself using his arms and his head is up so he's pretty darn mobile! On top of that he's pulling himself around with a purpose. The boy is on a mission to attack the Christmas presents under the tree. He makes a beeline for that area of the room the second we set him down! So far he's only opened up one gift that I have to rewrap, but I'm sure glad that Christmas is only a few more days away!

The Message of the Child

We experienced Katie's first school Christmas Program yesterday morning. It was beautiful - simply done with only 2 and 3 year olds participating. The vicar of the church started reading a version of the Christmas Story - The 2 year olds came in wearing animal ears - there were cows, sheep, and donkey's (Katie was a donkey!). They sang a song about loving baby Jesus in their own way - baa, moo, hee-haw. Next the 3 year olds came in wearing halo's or shepherd's headdresses. They sang "Go Tell it on the Mountain". Then a birthday cake was brought up the middle aisle and all of the children sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Kids were brought to the parents and we went outside to the courtyard to eat cake.

Katie actually participated and sang, she didn't seem too thrown by all of the grown-ups or camera flashes. What a great reminder that this simple story about a baby in a manger can be told by our 2 and 3 year olds! Jesus IS the Reason for this Season!

Christmas Decorating

We did it! I wasn't sure we'd get our Christmas tree up and decorated this year but we did! Katie was a big help hanging the ornaments, now if we could just convince her to leave them where she placed them the first time instead of rehanging them by the hour! She was excited to have her Little People Manger Scene out again and had all of her Little People gathered around to "worship". It was okay until she asked if the table from her dollhouse could come and worship too... I mean I know that even the mountains bow down and the rocks cry out - but can a table worship? How to explain all of this to a two year old who at the moment is going on twelve. She's stretching us right now, and pushing and prodding, and at moments driving us crazy. Then there are moments when I catch her in a pondering moment, singing about baby Jesus, or helping to cheer up her brother and the love and joy I have for these precious children of mine... well, it's humbling. Okay, enough rambling for tonight.

One Fish Became Two

In case anyone was wondering Katie not only still has her fish, she has apparently added a friend. Now the orange and yellow fish has a friend who is black and white. These fish are so well cared for, they get buckled into their carseats, ride in the stroller, sleep in their big-girl beds all night long and snack on whatever food Katie is eating. I wonder what the fish thought of eating fishsticks this afternoon?

The Fish

I had not realized that two-and-a-half year olds had imaginary friends or pets, I thought this was something that started a bit later, I guess I was wrong. Yesterday morning on the way to school Katie was "fishing" with her slinky off the edge of the seat, she caught a fish and I asked, "Is it a big fish?" to which she replied, "No, it's very little, tiny." I asked her what color it was and she said, "Orange and Yellow." I said, "Is it's name Goldie?" and she said, "Yes." Then she asked me if it was a boy or a girl. Upon arriving at school Katie climbed out of the van and I noticed that she was keeping her hand cupped - she informed me that she was holding her fish and taking it to school to show her teachers. So we walked into the school and waited outside the classroom door with several other parents who noticed that my daughter was standing there with her hand cupped. "She caught a fish on the way to school." I said by way of explanation. They smiled, nodded, and asked Katie a few questions about her fish. The teacher opened the door and Katie showed her fish off to the teacher and aide. I told her to have a great day and as I left I saw her sitting down playing with playdough with her right hand and cupping her fish in the left hand. I chuckled and figured this would be the end of it... I was wrong.
When I picked Katie up from school she came running out all smiles like normal and then with her hand cupped told me that "Nemo" had a good day today too. We came home and she asked where she could put her fish. The fish enjoyed the afternoon playing, eating tortellini (my daughter's idea of a great after-school snack), and watching cartoons.
Daddy came home and was introduced to "Nemo" who at various times throughout the afternoon was also called "Dorothy" and "Goldie". We took Nemo with us outside on our evening walk and the fish was placed in the cup-holder on Ryan's stroller for safe-keeping. Nemo stayed there until bath time when Katie ran to get him and took him in the bath with her. Before bed Nemo had to have one last drink of water and then was carefully placed in bed so that he could listen to the bedtime stories. I haven't heard mention of the fish this morning and haven't asked, we'll see if he shows up again or if that was just yesterday's "friend"!

Ryan's 6 Months Old!

Today was Ryan's 6 month appointment. I can't believe he's already half a year old. My baby is getting too big, too fast. He weighed in at 16 pounds 2 ounces (40th percentile) and is a long 27 1/4 inches long (75th percentile). He flirted with the doctor and nurse, rolled over on the examining table, and had 3 more shots (ouch!). He's still not crawling but he's moving himself around within a few feet, turning to face whatever interests him - yikes! Should make Christmas and decorating that much more interesting this year!

After the Road Trip

We had a great Thanksgiving with my family in North Carolina. Ryan was a real trooper on his first road trip and seems to be a good car-rider just like Katie. Katie really entertained us with her songs and stories from the backseat. We heard her legs "fighting", she pointed out big trucks and birds, snacked, and sang The Wheels on the Bus among other things.

While in Asheville we had some beautiful weather, sunny and in the 60's. With such comfortable temperatures we were able to rake up some leaves so Katie experienced her first jump in a pile of leaves (this may not seem like a big deal but since we currently live in Florida, leaf-pile jumping is a real treat!) Speaking of weather treats, on the morning after Thanksgiving we had some snowflurries... brrr!

In addition to the leaf-jumping Katie had a good time jumping on the trampoline with her cousins. She helped grandma make cranberry-orange relish for Thanksgiving dinner and played piano with her grandpa. Ryan spent time checking out his grandparents and meeting his uncle and cousins for the first time. We had a great visit, but as always, it was nice to get home!

Wigglers

Here is a rhyme Katie must have learned at school, she taught it to me yesterday:

Wiggle to the Left, Wiggle to the Right

Wiggle Down Low, now Wiggle out of Sight

Where did my wigglers go??

Here they are!

"Wigglers" are fingers and they wiggle behind her back to go out of sight. Pretty cute!

Bread Making

We finally used our bread machine again yesterday! It was a wedding gift and we used it fairly often when we first got married, then we moved to Virginia, had a tiny kitchen and so it was packed away. That was also around the time that we started having kids and bread-making just wasn't on the top of the priority list. Anyway, when we moved into our larger apartment we found we had plenty of counter space and so the bread maker has been sitting there. Yesterday Katie started asking if we could make cookies, I really wasn't in the mood (Ryan had not slept well the night before so neither had I!) and then I remembered that we had a bread mix so I asked her if she wanted to help make bread.
Katie was so excited to help pour in the mix, add the water, and then to keep peeking at what was happening. We watched it go from powder to a small dough ball, then rising and getting bigger and bigger. Finally, when we came inside from our evening walk it was time to take the warm, fresh bread from the machine. As I popped the loaf out to show Katie she said, "Oh, is it manna?" with such awe. Obviously I had to tell her that no, it was bread and that only God can make manna, but she was still excited to eat her bread and has been asking for small pieces all day today!

Sweet Siblings

Yesterday Katie decided that she needed to hold "the baby" yet again. This time she had more than just holding him on her agenda, she wanted to read to him! I managed to finally convince her that it would be easier to read to him if he sat next to her rather than on her lap. Aren't they sweet?!

A Happy Fan

Go Gators!

A Lion 2 Years Running!

I hadn't intended to dress Katie up for Halloween this year, not because I have a problem with Halloween or dressing up, I just figured Katie wouldn't be aware and so we'd keep it easy. Earlier today while we were out for a walk someone asked what the kids were dressing up as... later when we got home Katie said, "What am I dressing up as?" so I quickly found the lion costume we had gotten for Katie last year - thankfully I had remembered correctly that it was on the big side last year and therefore would work this year too! The one problem is that I bought it in Virginia where it's a bit cooler in October so the costume is a bit thick for Florida! Katie put it on, posed for a picture or two and now refuses to take the costume off even though she's sweating underneath - oh well - at least she's a happy little lion!

A Dedication and a Pumpkin

Today Ryan was officially dedicated, at church, before the Lord. His Life-verse is Zephaniah 3:17 which says, "The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." The dedication service was a great reminder of our duty as parents to model and teach him (and Katie too) in the ways of the Lord. Yet at the same time how much we have to trust in the Lord, that He is faithful and that He will watch over our young children and draw them to Himself, not because of anything we do but because of what HIS son, Jesus, did for us.

After church we noticed a pumpkin patch across the parking lot and since we missed out on the Pumpkin Patch at Katie's Fall Festival we decided this was the time. Katie really enjoyed looking at all the different sizes of pumpkins and some of the gourds too. We came home with a small pumpkin and some face stickers, yippee - another year we've escaped the mess of carving (can you tell that I'm not a fan of that gooey mess?!)

The Answer Is...

In a previous post I mentioned that Katie was saying, "I have another question." Well, all of sudden she has started saying, "I have another answer." Obviously, I ask ,"What is the answer?" She's really coming up with great answers! Here are a few examples:
The Answer Is:
1. I'm going to school, that's the answer.
2. It's time to go to bed, I'm tired.
3. We're going to eat breakfast and then go to church.
4. I love you.

The other big thing that Katie is up to is singing the songs she has learned at school. The songs we hear the most right now are:

1. Zippidee doo dah, zippidee-A, my oh my what a wonderful day, plenty of sunshine heading my way zippidee doo dah, zippidee-a. Mr. Bluebird's on my shoulder... it IS TRUTH, it's Actual, everything is satis-zippidee doo dah.... (keep this ring going for 3 or 4 times at least and don't forget the bouncing knees!)

2. He's my rock, my strength, my shield (something, something, something) in the (something) field. (This one is complete with fist on palm for emphasis)

3. Allelu, Allelu, Allelu, Alleluia, Praise Ye the Lord (Although Katie sings Alleluia everytime.)

Fall Festival

Friday was the Fall Festival for Katie's preschool. While the weather was hot, humid, and generally more like summer than fall it was still a great day! We stayed with our class and went around as a group. Our group started with the walk-a-thon (a school fundraiser) and a popsicle. Next it was on to cookie decorating with gooey frosting and yummy fall sprinkles, Katie loves licking the sprinkles off, forget the rest of the cookie! Pizza was next followed by some apple printing with pink paint and an apple relay game. The 2 year old version of this game is that everyone carries and apple from the box to the basket. Later as we talked about it, Katie was telling us that she had picked the apples and put them in the basket! They also had a kiddie pool full of shredded paper with spider rings hidden inside, but Katie wanted nothing to do with the "bugs"! We had Mother Goose telling stories and then we had to leave because of a tired two year old who was melting down quickly. We missed out on the hayride and painting pumpkins, but figure we'll get the opportunity next year! All in all it was a fun day.

Mealtime Prayer

We usually say a prayer of thanks for our food before our meals. When Katie was little it was her repeating, "Dear Jesus, thank you for our food, we love you very much. Amen." Since she started school she has been learning even more meal-time prayers.

Last night we were getting ready to eat dinner (Katie had eaten earlier and so Dad and Mom were sitting on the couch.) I started to take a bite and Katie said, "Uh oh we forgot to pray."
Mommy: "Okay, what prayer should we say?"
Katie: "God our father..."
(For those of you not familiar with this one it is an echo prayer that is sung)
so I started singing too: "God our father. Once a..."
Katie: "No, mommy, you don't sing."
Mommy: "Okay, I won't sing you can do it."
Katie: "Okay... God Our Father, God Our Father, Once Again, Once Again.... No, Daddy, close your eyes... like this." (Daddy had been watching our cute girl saying the prayer, what was he thinking?!)
Daddy: "Okay, my eyes are closed."
Katie: "God our father, God our father, once again, once again, we thank you for our blessings, we thank you for our blessings, Amen, Amen."

Now that our food was properly prayed for and cooled we could eat! :-) How thankful we are though that Katie knows who to thank for the food that has been provided and reminds mommy and daddy when we are remiss!

It's Bath Time

Bath time has gotten interesting at our house. Ryan has developed a bad habit of kicking his feet and splashing in the water. This causes water to get into his eyes, which he doesn't particularly care for... he then responds by kicking even more... which gets even more water into his face. No long luxurious baths for Ryan!
Katie, on the other hand, always enjoyed her baths. Recently though, she has started really testing the waters. She literally keeps wanting to drink the bath water despite the number of times mommy and daddy have told her that we don't do that. We get a bit frustrated at times. So we found it a bit endearing the other evening when Katie told her daddy, "I'm going to be cooperating." (How many 2 year olds use 5 syllable words?)
Tonight as daddy started his, now routine, hand-holding and counting to 10 while he rinses shampoo from her hair, Katie - at the count of 6, sat up and said, "I need a new deal." (I guess often say, "Okay, here's the deal." and lay out the plan. Later she said, "I have another question." waited and then she said, "and another question and another question." we're still waiting for the question, we'll keep you posted!

Holding the Baby

One of Katie's favorite things to do after her brother was born was to hold Ryan. She used to say, "He's so little and so tiny." He used to look little and tiny while she was holding him. Tonight she asked to hold him and as I snapped this picture I had to stop and wonder how much longer it would be before he outgrows her. Yikes!

To put it in perspective, here is another one that was taken during Ryan's first week... what a difference 4 months makes, slow down kids you're growing too fast!

The Zoo

Nope, I'm not even talking about our house! :-) We visited the Central Florida Zoo yesterday. It was a rainy day and was pouring as we arrived, we had decided we would have to cancel the visit after all, which did not sit well with Katie. Suddenly there was a break in the clouds, blue sky moved in, and God graced us with enough time (just over an hour) to visit this small, but nicely done zoo. We saw elephants, tortoises, turkeys, lemurs, a leopard, howler monkeys, eagles, snakes, and looked for a cheetah that most have been moving so fast we couldn't see it! We had a great visit and finished up the outing with lunch at McDonalds.

Heard Around Our House

Here are some things that have been heard from Katie lately around our house:

1. It's okay Ryan, I'm right here... it's okay, I'm here baby boy. (This is as he's fussing.)

2. I went pee!!!!

3. No, That's MINE! (Can you tell we have a 2 year old?)

4. This is NOT fair.

5. I don't WANT to go to timeout.

6. I love you.

7. Jesus, my rock, my sword, my shield. (sung)

8. The driver on the bus says, "Moo Come Back" (sung - and yes I've tried to explain that it's Move On Back!)

9. I'll TRY it. I can TRY it.

10. I have to go away from you. I'm mad right now.

11. I'm not mad at you.

12. We can enjoy it.

13. Did Ryan come out of your tummy? Is he going to stay out? (She is hoping he will!)

14. Do I have bones? Do you have bones?

15. Daddy's home!!!!!

16. What are you doing? (This said as we're changing her diaper or something else equally as obvious!)

17. It's a love bug, a love bug! (High-pitched - totally girly-girl)

18. Can we do something?

19. Here's the deal.

20. Is the sun up yet?

Titleless

I have spent countless minutes trying to come up with a title for this post... I have started typing this post at least 3 times but have always become discouraged by my lack of a catchy title. Then tonight, I keep having trouble with the spacing, deleting my pictures, so what you see is what you get. AAAAAAAAAARGH!

Here's what I want to share.

Ryan got his own exersaucer this past weekend, he's enjoying being upright. He absolutely adores his big sister, makes me wonder if my little brother ever looked at ME like that! Today Ryan had his 4 month check up, all's healthy and well with him! He's rolling over on a regular basis and even surprised the doctor by rolling over on the table while she tried to examine him.

Katie is back to her normal self, enjoying school and trying to do everything by herself (well except for her sleeping which she still prefers to have mommy or daddy around for.) I've finally gotten a few more pictures taken recently so enjoy - and do tell... what would you have titled this post?!

They CAN Do It!

Anyone who knows me, knows that we have struggled with Katie and sleep. Ryan started sleeping through the night, or only waking once very early on, I thought we had it made! Well, a week and a half ago Ryan caught a cold from Katie and so we had him sleeping upright, we changed the way we were putting him to bed, our routine went out the window. The past two nights we've spent trying to get it back and it's been tough. Ryan seems more intent on chewing on his burp cloth, licking his fingers, or sucking on his lower lip (never seen a baby do this before). He is also now capable of rolling from his back to his stomach and likes to practice this in the middle of the night. Katie is weaning herself from the afternoon nap but going to sleep more easily... she just keeps waking up and wanting her daddy or mommy to stay with her. I realize this is just a season, I'm trying to remind myself of this... so I'll post two pictures, proof that my children really CAN sleep!

Did You See That?

Last night our family journeyed out to the Oviedo Marketplace Mall for dinner at Chick-Fil-A. We had just finished eating when another family sat down at the table behind Katie and Sean. Well I noticed immediately that the guy's pants and shirt didn't quite meet up and he was showing some crack... about the time I noticed it Katie turned around, waiting for Sean to get her out of the seat and it obviously caught her attention, she was riveted, staring (in shock maybe?!) As Sean picked her up she said to him, "Daddy, did you SEE that?" Thankfully she didn't point or refer to it any further. We had to hold in our laughter until we were further away.

While we were walking through the rest of the mall it rained, hard. As we were leaving we were blessed to see the most beautiful rainbow I have seen in a long time, maybe ever. I know it was Katie's first real rainbow... it was so clear you could see every color. Thank you God for showing us the rainbow.

Say What?!

On the way home from preschool I was talking to Katie about her day. It had been picture day "Our class was like a family!", they had cherry popsicles "Mommy, do YOU like cherry popsicles? Does daddy?", they went to chapel (here she started singing Jesus Loves Me!), she played with Kennedy, and then she said, "Mommy, I have a cookie." or at least that's what I heard and so I said, "Oh, did you have a cookie today for snack?" and she said in that "you're so silly" tone, "No mommy, it's not a snack boogie!" as I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that my daughter was holding up her finger with a nice big boogie on it! Thank goodness that SHE knew it wasn't a snack! :-)

Pick Me Up

I have been using the lack of sleep, due to sick kids, as an excuse for my grouchiness. I know that I don't have to be all smiles all the time, but still, I do need to work on controlling my temper. One such moment was Sunday afternoon, Katie was whining, or fussing about something and she wanted me to pick her up, I looked at her and said, "Katie, I don't feel like picking you up when you're being all fussy and whiny." and then I got "hit"... gee, when do I most need/want a hug? When do I most need/want a kind word to be "picked up"? Not when I'm happy and it's easy for the people around me to give that to me, but when I'm feeling upset, why should my child feel any differently? When I stopped trying to get things done and just sat with her we both calmed down and felt much happier... guess I should try that more often.

Unexpected Sweetness

The kids have colds, snotty colds. This is not fun. Katie is constantly saying, "My nose does NOT feel good." as she wipes the snot across her cheek and reaches with the same hand to twirl my hair. Ryan is taking it a bit better, although he's had a few more fussy moments than normal. Yesterday evening as we were getting the kids ready for baths and bed both kids were fussing and whining, I was exhausted from two days of this, Sean was worn out, we just wanted to get the kids to bed before we were carried off in straight jackets.
We had just finished sucking snot out of Ryan's nose, a process that he does not appreciate or enjoy, so he was screaming his head off, but as we settled down for a bedtime snack he stopped crying, looked up at me and suddenly lit up with a smile, such a sweet blessing.
As I sat holding him, I could hear Sean giving Katie a bath in the other room. She was "wearing shampoo" and needed to have it rinsed out (not always her favorite process, despite the "no tears" promise on the bottle!). Anyway, I heard Katie say, "Daddy, you're a good washer." and a minute later, "Will you hold my hand?" So Sean held her hand as he rinsed her little head. The next words, "I love you, daddy." This unexpected bit of sweetness really ended the day on a positive.

Bonkers

As Sean was getting ready to go to work we were talking about the day, Katie walked in at the end of the conversation.

Mommy: "I plan to stay around here today. But if the kids drive me bonkers I may take them out somewhere."

Katie: "Mommy, I want to go bonkers. Can I?"

Yikes, what a beginning!

The Sleepless Wonder

Katie's at it again. This 2 year old child has never been much for sleeping, she only recently started either sleeping through the night or only being up once for a short time. I guess we threw too many changes at her recently with a move, starting preschool, all on top of adding a baby brother... she is now up multiple times in the night AGAIN, and often not going right back to sleep. Thankfully, 3 month old Ryan has been only getting up once in the night. If anyone is interested in pulling an all-nighter you're welcome to come spend time with Katie!

Here we go! I'm finally entering the world of "blog". Hopefully this will help me better keep up with friends and family. We'll get started, hopefully, with a picture of the kids. Katie LOVES holding Ryan. Enjoy!