Chocolate Lollipops

One of Katelynn's latest fixations is "chocolate lollipops" (a.k.a. fudgsicles). I was surprised that they are only 60 calories each, so they make a reasonable sweet snack. As you can see, KK enjoys them wholeheartedly.

Daffodils and Fried Ham

Nearly every night, I sing songs to Katelynn before her bedtime. She is always eager for a new one and seems to learn the lyrics at lightning speed these days. Usually I have to wrack my brain. Despite having learned hundreds of songs over my lifetime, I can never think of a good one on the spot. The other night, an oldie but goodie popped into my head and Katelynn loved it, especially the part at the end. Do you remember this one?

I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills

I love the flowers, I love the daffodils

I love the fireside, When all the lights are low
Boom dee a da, boom dee a da

Boom dee a da, boom dee a da

She also likes this one, which I remembered from a summer that I helped with church day camp for the little kids:

Fried ham, fried ham

Cheese and bologna

And after the macaroni

We'll have onions, pickles and pretzels

And then we'll have some more fried ham

Fried ham! Fried ham! Fried ham!

Same song second verse... English accent a whole lot worse...

Same song third verse...Robot accent a whole lot worse...

Same song fourth verse....Texas accent a whole lot worse...

Little Photographer

Today Katelynn took her cell phone (a Pink Razor hand-me-down from her Aunt Jen) and pretended it was a camera. She chattered away, directing me. "Mommy, I am going to take your picture."
"Sit still."
"SMILE!"
"Mommy, sit still!"

She was cracking me up and I assumed she learned it all from me. Then she began to arrange my feet too, crossing my ankles and making more detailed demands.
"You need to sit up straight mommy."
"Move this foot here."
"Move that arm over a little bit, mommy."

I guess she learned this from the photo shoots they do at pre-school - which are only twice a year. It is amazing, fun and scary how much little kids pick up from their environments!

Better...

Well, the days after my last dismal post were much better. KK continues to be a handful, but I have been much better able to focus on her strengths and deal with the weaknesses as they come!

Just the next day I took her to the park and laughed as she rounded up several new friends, loudly calling them all "Sister" until she knew their names. (She picked this up from one of her Sunday School teachers and it cracks me up!) She is a very social little girl and it is fun to see her interact with other kids. She will grab someone's hand and enthusiastically say "Come on!" as she herds them to her activity of choice.

Yesterday we went to the mall, which she loves because she gets to ride the carousel and play at the lego table in Carter's. At Carter's she played nicely with the other kids, and talked one of them into giving her a huge balloon toy. She proceeded to flirt with the checker and "beat" him playfully with the balloon. Then at the carousel, I had a big discussion with her about how we were only going to ride it once, and she could not cry or throw a fit when we had to get off. When the horses came to a stop, an inkling of a tantrum appeared. I told her that she would never get to ride again if she threw a fit, and she stopped. Thank God for small favors!

And thanks also to all my friends who check in on the blog and leave such encouraging comments!

Hard

Lately attempts to "raise" Katelynn are just.... hard. I put "raise" in quotations because sometimes I just feel I am managing a wild animal. A smart wild animal.

The tantrums have reached new proportions. At least before, I could often anticipate the tantrum - making her leave the park, taking away the pacifier, etc. Lately there is zero rationale. She asks for yogurt then throws a fit when you give it to her because "she didn't want yogurt." She hurls her cup across the room because there is a miniscule amount of sticker residue on the bottom. (That one happened to Nanna.) She throws her Easter candy across the room because it is the wrong color.

She has mastered the public floor throw-down, or intensive foot stamping if she decides to remain upright. She is immediately loud and obnoxious. She has also learned to use both verbal and non-verbal manipulation skills and tries to play her parents off one another. Tonight she told daddy to "go to work." Shortly thereafter she went to hold his hand because she knew that mommy wanted to hold her hand. Of course, she is a perfect angel at preschool and Sunday School. I am glad for her teachers and for the break those days give me... I'm sure they would return her to me immediately if she acted the same way there!

I have tried all the time-honored disciplinary techniques... I consider myself to be a pretty strict mommy for the most part. The techniques aren't working....

Being around her lately is hard on the soul. Sunday my parents were over for Easter, and KK began to chatter about "going to Nanna's." Before I even let Nanna check her calendar I was enthusiastically telling KK she could go! She had made my Easter morning so darn miserable up until the arrival of guests. So, she went home with Nanna and PopPop on Easter night, and Monday I got a mental health break. And that definitely helped.

In the meantime, I pray this is a stage and that this ugliness will soon subside, at least a little. And I will put one foot in front of the other, reminding myself that being her mommy is my most important job ever, even if the most difficult. Every job - especially this job - has its bad weeks!

Product Plug

For the most part, kitchen gadgets sit in my drawers un-used. There is usually not a substitute for a great set of knives. However I found one gadget that I use all the time. It's the "As Seen on TV" Vidalia chop wizard. It cuts onions plus all sorts of other things (fruits, potatoes, bell peppers, tomotoes....) so quickly and into very small cubes, which I love! Especially handy given all the chopping and cutting I do for a toddler on a daily basis.

The instructions recommend cutting larger pieces in halves or quarters and this helps. I usually cut onions into 3 or 4 smaller sections first. Then... super easy clean-up. It's 3 pieces that drop easily into my dishwasher. The blade panels pop in and out with no complicated parts. Mine also came with two types of blades. One does small cubes and one does tiny cubes. I alternate depending on my mood.

The only negative I can think of is that it makes such a loud popping noise upon impact that I often trigger the "glass break" alarm in our house! (It's just a quick beep-beep as long as the alarm is not armed.) I love this product!

Breakfast

Lately breakfast for KK has been hard. Other than guzzling down a big milk, it is hard to get calories into her first thing in the morning. It's the only time she is more of a picky eater. So lately, I have gone a bit unconventional. Many a morning, she eats Orville Redenbacher Smart-Pop popcorn for breakfast. She loves to have it in her own zip-loc bag and eat it in front of her beloved TV show Caillou.

Usually by about mid-morning she will succumb to an offering of fruit and mommy can feel better about the contents in her little girl's tummy.