French Braids

Recently Katelynn informed me that she is growing her hair out. No more cute bobs for this mommy...one of the first of many areas of control where I have to let go! She has also been requesting braids, braids, braids. I knew the concept of french braiding but have virtually zero experience. KK and I watched a YouTube video together; she informed me without hesitation that I could do it now that I had watched a video. Gotta' love the confidence of a 4 year old! So I gave it a try. I was pretty pleased with the results. It took about 30 minutes; hopefully with practice I will get a bit speedier. If she must have long hair, I do love the look of french braids.

Jokes & Sarcasm

Katelynn loves cheesy kid jokes now, even though she doesn't seem to completely "get" a lot of them yet. Today she heard a joke on TV and a lightbulb did seem to go off for her. She came to me giggling: "Mommy, who does a bee marry? [Pause] HIS HONEY!" [Hysterical laughing] I find it fascinating how sophisticated humor truly is, now that I see my four-year old trying to understand all the innuendos, plays on words, etc. I have heard a saying that you truly understand a culture once you "get" their jokes/sense of humor, and I really do think that is true.

She has also started to figure out that I don't always mean exactly what I say, but she still doesn't quite understand the nuances of sarcasm. Today Tyler spit up on me (yet again- daily occurrence, multiple times per day) and I said "Thank-you so much Tyler." Katelynn was confused, so I told her: "I said 'thank you' but didn't really mean it. That is called sarcasm. You can tell I didn't mean it by the tone of my voice." Katelynn: "That's silly to say thank you for spit up, mommy!"

Well, she does have a point...

Daddy

KK is getting more and more attached to her daddy these days. I was warned this would eventually happen! He is the "fun center"; he is the one who plays hide-and-seek and silly games like "airplane", "elevator", and "washing machine." Here are some excerpts of recent time spent with daddy:

Backyard camping. KK slept like a rock in her sleeping back on the ground. Gene's body felt like a rock after all night on the ground! He was a trooper and she loved it.

Games and cartoons on the iPad. Enough said. Even Tyler liked it!

Running. Well, so this isn't exactly time spent with daddy but it is time she wishes she could spend with daddy. A few days ago KK informed me she wanted to make a list of all the things she needed to go running with daddy. She came up with the items on her own and I just told her how to spell them. So cute!

KK is also learning how to work her daddy over pretty well. Gene had things to get done the other night and Katelynn said in a very sweet and coy voice: "Daddy, I want to spend time together, just you and me!" He definitely fell for that.

Growing Up

Katelynn has been asking for her very own library card for awhile now. I found out today that kids are allowed to get their own card starting at age 3. How cute is that?! So I let her get one. The librarian was very sweet and encouraging about it and treated KK like a miniature grown up, even giving her a Sharpie to "sign" her name on the card.

She was over the moon when she got her own zoo membership card with Nanna almost a year ago. Now she has another card to add to her collection, proof that she is in fact growing up... who said she could do that?! Sniff.

That Time of Year

We don't get to celebrate Spring for long in North Texas, it seems. There are a few glorious weeks, sandwiched on one end by miserable winter weather on one side and wretchedly hot weather on the other.

Thank goodness that during those few precious weeks, we do get to enjoy some gorgeous Texas wildflowers all across our highways! We are lucky enough to have a big patch of bluebonnets right at the end of our cul-de-sac. The other day, Katelynn asked to go take pictures in them. She was quite the little model and I got lots of cute shots of her. Tyler wasn't as thrilled but I did get a few that turned out cute.

The Bottomless Pit

The subject: One adorable 7 month old, almost 16 pound baby boy billed as "underweight" at the pediatrician's office (much to his mommy's dismay) The daily intake: Approximately 6 jars of baby food, usually with rice cereal/ oatmeal added, for a total of 36 total ounces of food per day. Plus nursing 4x per day for around 20 total ounces of milk. The cost: This baby food is organic and actually tastes good, so it comes in around 60 to 75 cents per jar. This kid is currently costing us about $125 per month in baby food alone! Of course he is worth it, but... wow! Concluding thoughts: So, picture a cup the size of a Big Gulp filled with baby food, all going into one tiny little creature over the course of a day. Then picture a big coke bottle filled with milk going into same baby. It's unbelievable to me! He has been eating this way for nearly a month... how is it possible he is still only the 5th percentile for weight?!