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"!