My View on Christmas Day

Being in Labadee, Haiti on Christmas Day was a little surreal - but gorgeous! What better way to celebrate Christ's birth than to enjoy His creation?!

Thanks, mom and dad, for a wonderful family cruise that will always be remembered fondly.

Little Beach Lover

Katelynn's first trip to the beach finally happened over Christmas week during our port excursions. Her first experiences of the ocean were in the turquoise waters of the Eastern Caribbean! It was so much fun to watch her play - she went absolutely crazy over the waves and the sand. She stayed near the water the entire day, gladly accepting any adult "on duty" to play with her. She didn't even mind when waves crashed over her entire little body.

I am definitely an ocean girl, and it looks like KK is too. Too bad we are land locked here at home!

It's OK

When Katelynn gets upset about irrational things, her Nanna tells her "It's OK, It's OK." This seems to have a calming effect and helps her cope with the many daily difficulties of being two.

We just returned from a family cruise on Saturday. The flight home was uneventful until we entered the very windy DFW area. There was so much wind shear when we landed that the plane began to tilt wildly. We landed with a very heavy thud, and I was happily surprised that one of the wings did not slam into the runway. It was one of the roughest landings I could remember.

I let out a big sigh of relief and remarked to Gene how nervous the landing had made me feel. I had my arms wrapped tightly around Katelynn, who was sitting on my lap. She turned around and looked directly into my eyes and said, very seriously: "It's OK, mommy."

Funny Bones

One of KK's favorite books right now actually happens to be a Halloween book. It is a silly little book about a skeleton who is looking for his funny bone. When he finds it, he laughs so hard that he loses his head. This always makes Katelynn giggle in delight.

The other day we saw a morose looking teenage boy wearing a black t-shirt with a skull and crossbones on the front. Katelynn shouted in glee: "FUNNY BONES!" Now that made me laugh so hard that I nearly lost my head as well!

Homemade Play Dough

I have to bring pink play dough for all the kids in KK's pre-school class. Buying that much of it at the store would cost a small fortune, so the school suggests that we make it at home. I thought that Katelynn and I should give it a dry run first, especially since she asks to "do baking" all the time lately anyway. I went to the internet and discovered there are approximately 38,000 recipes for play dough. I began to notice a trend too - they all require either powdered alum or cream of tartar. (Side note: In response to powdered alum I said "huh"? My mom informed me it can be found in the pharmacy/ medical area of the store... although Wal-Mart didn't have it there. I noticed it is for sale in Amazon's grocery store.)

I had neither on hand, so I improvised. The play dough turned out great... for a day. She had a great time. But the next day I took it out for her, and 10 minutes later she was completely covered in it because it was so darn sticky.

I have now purchased cream of tartar. That one is on the spice aisle. Once I perfect my play dough recipe I will post it.

Test Day!

This is a fun and interesting test that only takes a minute. Count the number of basketball passes the guys wearing white make to each other. Click here to play!

Second Birthday Pics

KK's second birthday party was a few weeks ago. She had a great time with her friends Hayden and Caedyn. (Only guests with rhyming names were invited...) Two friends was perfect!

Katelynn thoroughly enjoyed herself. She chose her favorite monkey pajamas for the evening's attire. She relished in all the attention and discovered a new love for Skittles (which mom used to hide...I mean decorate... her horribly frosted cupcakes). She also seemed to "get" the gift thing, and thought it was pretty great. She is a big fan of the "Happy Birthday" song now.

My little girl is two - where has the time gone?!

Gifts

I don't think I ever really believed my parents when they used to tell me that buying gifts for my brother and me was more fun than getting things for themselves. Now I am a parent... and I get it.

Her birthday gift was an Elmo that does everything. He tells stories, dances, sneezes, asks to be picked up when knocked over, and more. He still has not made an omelet for me though. Darn. Katelynn thinks her Elmo is pretty cool, but not all her friends are so sure. Her buddy Bobby stayed clear on the other side of the room from him and eventually screamed to have him put away.

For Christmas she got a sandbox. Yep, we gave it to her early. After all she is still only two... she doesn't really know or care about the exact date of Christmas. She is in love with her sand box, although she has already found herself in trouble for hurling its contents at the back door.

Potty Talk

I hope I don't jinx myself by actually posting this in writing, but Katelynn is showing a ton of progress with potty training. Whoo hoo! Friday she went the entire day with no accidents. This is not the first day that has happened, but in the past I have been marching her to the potty every hour or so whether she needed to go or not. This time, I did not march her to the potty once - she told me every time she needed to go!

Today there were numerous opportunities for her to have accidents and she did not, so I am feeling a twinge of excitement that things have finally really "clicked."

Funny how easily I can discuss bodily functions at length since I became a mom...

2 Year Stats

I was shocked to learn that KK has grown more than 4 inches since her 18-month well check. She is over 97th percentile for height at 37.25 inches long. Her noggin is around the 75th percentile, and her weight is also at 75th percentile, at 28.25 pounds. Her height-to-weight ratio, on the other hand, was around 25th percentile. Doc says she is fine, just "long and lanky."

At least these stats were fun to learn and helped offset the depression of the peanut allergy discovery!

UPSIDE DOWN!

Daddy is the only person that plays the "Upside Down" game with Katelynn. Mommy gets physically exhausted way too quickly and tells KK that "only daddy can do that game". When Daddy comes home from work, KK often demands "UPSIDE DOWN!" and she goes on an inverted "ride" around the house.

It makes mom nervous... and Nanna too when she is here. I think Dads are supposed to play these kinds of nerve-wracking games with their kiddos, though. It's hard-wired into male DNA or something. And KK certainly seems to love it.

A World Without Peanut Butter

My last blog post was about the Peanuts gang, which I just realized is ironic. This week, Katelynn had her two-year well check with her pediatrician. I was a chicken and did not want to give her peanut butter at home. So I brought a peanut butter cracker to the office and gave it to her at the end of the appointment.

Within five minutes she was broken out in hives, and crying and clawing at her throat and tongue. It wasn't severe; Benadryl did the trick. (I've seen some horrific pictures on the internet, and her reaction was nothing like those.) And thank goodness I had an experienced doctor there to help watch her. But I was pretty depressed that day, worried about what this means and feeling a little helpless about my lack of knowledge on the subject.

Now we have to decide whether to get full blown allergy skin testing done... not to mention years ahead of me of informing teachers and caretakers about this problem.... then leaving it in God's hands that they will all follow through! I'm not too thrilled to have something so scary that is not in my control. I like being in control! At least there is so much more awareness these days.

Worst of all, poor girl may never get to enjoy a PB&J sandwich in her lifetime. That's just not right!

True Meaning of Christmas?

This week Katelynn watched her first Christmas show on TV. Appropriately, it was "A Charlie Brown Christmas." (Gene loves Snoopy and the Peanuts gang and has quite a collection of ornaments and t-shirts.) She enjoyed it, and I was reminded how much I always loved watching the Christmas specials every year, like "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and that weird claymation Rudolph cartoon that came on every year.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" is so timeless.... I always giggle every year when I hear some of my favorite lines like these...

Sally: "All I want is what I... I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share."

Charlie Brown: "Rats. Nobody sent me a Christmas card today. I almost wish there weren't a holiday season. I know nobody likes me. Why do we have to have a holiday season to emphasize it?"

But of course, the best part is actually the story told by Linus at the end:

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. "

Katelynn's Monkey

Katelynn will be flying, and cruising, in December. It will be the first family trip since she was ten months old and only crawling. Now she could run across an entire airport terminal in about five minutes if she so desired. I noticed a cute little harness at Wal-Mart to keep your little one tethered in situations like these. It is a bit less offensive than a standard "kid leash" because it looks like a cute little monkey riding on the kiddo's back, and the monkey's tail is the leash.

I decided to buy it, and the good news is that KK loves him! She wore him for four hours straight today, and loved the "game" of me trying to restrain her when she ran away. She even named him "Stinker."

Clifford Wants a Cookie

KK's latest obsession is a little 10 page paperback book that I received as a hand-me-down, called "Clifford Wants a Cookie." She demands it before both nap time and bed time and insists on taking it into the crib with her all the time.

This little book will not be much longer for the world at this rate. It is already looking pretty ragged. I thought that the internet would come to my rescue, and looked for a hard back edition online. Nope! She has chosen a special edition book that was only printed in soft cover, and can only be found on "rare book" websites - seven bucks or more for a paperback the thickness of a dime!

I checked in at Kinko's and it would have cost 15 bucks to have it laminated and bound! So, I bought a role of contact paper at Wal-Mart and patched it up myself. It will last a lot longer now.

Thanks Pam for the book! Hand-me-down books have been such a blessing with this little reader.

Have Patience

When I was in the 3rd grade, I participated in a church musical and still remember this song, sung by Herbert the Snail:

Have patience, have patience

Don't be in such a hurry

When you get impatient

You only start to worry

Remember, remember

That God is patient too

And think of all the times when others

Have to wait for you.

I have been singing it to KK lately because she doesn't want to wait more than five seconds for anything. Fast forward to Tuesday night. KK announced "potty" and actually began to make her way to the bathroom. (This was new! Usually I have to take her practically against her will.) She didn't make it in time and a huge puddle resulted. I began to clean up the mess and Katelynn very appropriately began to sing with glee: "Have patience, have patience...."

Ahhh.... from the mouths of babes!

Faux Fur

Katelynn's Nanna recently bought her a big piece of fuzzy fabric, since she loves soft things so much. When she gave it to her, she explained to KK that it was "faux fur." Ever since then, KK has been yelling "fofur!" whenever she sees it, which always makes me grin.

Earlier today I was making a corn casserole and KK was "helping" by standing on a kitchen chair and trying to stick her hand in the batter. I told her it was time to add spices and she shouted "Vanilla!"

This kid gabs incessantly now, and every day brings at least a few funnies like those. It's the little things that keep me going!