About Our Katie » October 2006 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Mon, Oct 30, 2006 9:00 AM
A week or so ago, my friend Maranie emailed me and mentioned that her daughter Veronica had had some strong opinions about Halloween costumes--resulting in the purchase of two different get-ups. I wrote back and said that Steve and I had just picked out Katie's costume, as she doesn't yet have such opinions.

Wrong.

On Saturday, Steve and I wanted to put the witch costume on her for a trial run. She went ballistic. It took almost an hour to get her to put it on, and even then, she was insisting on "Cookie Monst! Cookie Monst!" We were afraid she was going to rip the darn dress off.

This morning is the Halloween parade at Elbow Lane, and I'm hoping she'll be more agreeable with her teachers than she was with us. She might go trick-or-treating "dressed up" as a hard-headed two-year-old.

* * *

Yesterday evening, the three of us took a ride to Joseph A. Banks to get some new dress shirts for Steve. I often chide him that he should break out of his rut--he's always wearing blue-striped shirts!--and try new colors. While in the store, Katie saw just such a shirt, pointed to it, and announced, "Daddy work! Daddy work!"

Later, she and I were exploring on our own. She found some boxes of silk cumberbunds and ties. She kept touching them, and I kept removing her hand and saying, "No touching please." After about four times, she stopped her hand in mid-air and started BLOWING on a box. It took me a second to realize she was following the letter but not the spirit of my "law." Fortunately, her body language made it clear: She wasn't being defiant; she was being funny. And I have to admit, it was pretty clever.

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Sat, Oct 28, 2006 12:30 PM
Katie was up early this morning--5:00, to be exact. As soon as Steve brought her into bed with us, she expressed three desires:

* "Down-gare" ("go downstairs"),
* "Opey" ("oatmeal"), and
* "Mall" (self-explanatory!).

Three-and-a-half hours later, Steve and Katie were waiting downstairs while I got dressed for Little Gym. When I entered the family room, I saw Steve sitting on the floor with his mouth open and Katie wearing a plastic bag (from chandelier shades) on each hand. When she saw me, she put her covered fingers on his teeth and explained: "Den-diss."

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Thu, Oct 26, 2006 8:50 PM
This is Fall Festival Week at Elbow Lane. During the day, the kids are doing all sorts of fun activities--making scarecrows, taking hayrides, creating fall-themed arts and crafts. Tonight was the first family event: Pumpkin Decorating with Daddy. Steve didn't take our digital camera and only got a few blurry shots on his cell phone. However, he did come home with a pretty funny story.

According to the teacher, today Katie used a wooden block to place an imaginary stamp on each classmate's hand (and she announced "Stamp!" with every application). Apparently it was a very popular move. When one of the boys later used the potty, he objected to washing his hands. You can guess why: He didn't want to rinse away his stamp!

Steve said Katie was well-behaved but "in her own world" during tonight's event. Despite being preoccupied with closing any open doors and rearranging furniture, she managed to paint a pumpkin. Steve decorated one, too--and did a very nice job, I might add.

Tomorrow is Family Day (including the petting zoo, moon bounce, and hayrides) and Monday is the annual Halloween parade. I'm attending both of those events, so I'll be sure to take some photos.

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Thu, Oct 26, 2006 8:30 AM
My mother-in-law (it's her birthday today, by the way!) once told me a story about how HER mother-in-law, Nanny Fanelli, took a bunch of her grandkids into New York City for the day. She gave each of them a five-dollar bill, which was probably equivalent to today's 20-dollar bill. At any rate, most of the grandkids had no trouble finding ways to part with their windfall. Only one--Steven (as they all call him)--came home with the original bill in his pocket.

Early indications suggest that Katie may have inherited this tendency to treasure the almighty dollar.

Over the weekend, Steve gave her a one-dollar bill, which she put into her "purtz" for safekeeping. Later, when she saw Steve hand Danielle a bill, Katie wasted no time in extending her hand and saying, "Katie money!" When he gave her a single, she again tucked it away in her handbag.

Yesterday she opened a Halloween card from my mother-in-law. It contained FIVE one-dollar bills. Katie's face lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw them: "MONNNNEY!" she said. She proceeded to shuffle the bills around in her hands (perhaps imitating the way Steve and I always have our cash all going the same direction?) and on the floor before again tucking them away in her purse.

For those keeping score, her kitty so far is up to $7. However, she may not be a total saver. When Steve asked what she's going to buy with her money, she immediately--and enthusiastically--replied, "WHIP KEEM!"

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Tue, Oct 24, 2006 6:55 PM
And a couple more:

* Gran'll love this story: Last night at bedtime, Katie and I did our routine of a bath followed by reading and then singing/rocking. As I was rocking Katie, she requested an object to cuddle--not a bear, not a doll, not a blanket. Her desired object: a book. She took it in the crib with her when it was time to sleep, too.

* Tonight Katie was helping me make dinner. My job was to rinse and trim the asparagus, hers to place the clean stalks in the pot. She must've gotten bored with that job, though, because I caught her scrubbing the already-clean asparagus with the dish sponge...

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Tue, Oct 24, 2006 2:00 PM
A couple of quick stories before I forget:

* Katie is starting to form bona-fide sentences--"I hide," "I help," and "I boom" (the latter is used whenever she falls, whether intentionally or accidentally).

* She continues to call Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell "Daddy" whenever a campaign ad airs on TV. While I agree that Steve and Ed resemble each other, Steve is younger and way thinner than Rendell. He gets insulted every time she says it. (Judge for yourself: http://www.governor.state.pa.us/.)

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Fri, Oct 20, 2006 12:30 PM
Hooray! Our friends Stacey and Andrew are the proud parents of a baby girl: Madeleine Simone Gordon.

Born yesterday at 5:30 p.m. at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, California, Baby Madeleine weighed in at eight pounds, two ounces and is 22 1/2 inches long.

I haven't seen any pics yet, but reports indicate that she has dark, curly hair and big blue eyes (which I assume she'll keep, since both parents have them, too).

She was nearly two weeks "late," but I'm sure everyone agrees she was definitely worth the wait. :-)

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Thu, Oct 19, 2006 11:30 AM
Every day, Katie says and does plenty of things you could categorize as adorable or heartwarming, and, for the most part, she's a pleasure to be around. But, in the interest of balanced reporting, I feel I should provide The Rest of the Story or, more accurately, Stories:

* Sunday night, Katie climbed out of her crib not once, not twice, but three times. On Monday, with Steve by my side, I commenced with a serious, pre-bedtime spiel. When I set the stage with some vague statements--"You're a big girl now, and you have a very nice bed"--she seemed to get my point immediately. At least, she reacted with an extremely guilty countenance, suggesting that she recognized her misbehavior from the previous night. But when I got more direct to close the sale--"So Mommy and Daddy need you to STAY in your bed tonight"--she gave us an impish, subversive smile suggesting that she knew she has some power in this situation. (Whatever the reasons, Katie hasn't climbed out in the three nights since.)

* "Share" is a four-letter word to her right now. While playing with a train set at the new Wegmans store, she snatched a piece away from a little boy. When I quickly gave it back to him, she reacted equally quickly to up the ante: She placed her entire body across the table, blocking that boy AND his brother from getting to any of the pieces. When I immediately pulled her up and away, she smacked me in the face. That, of course, resulted in our immediate departure not just from the play area, but the entire store. As we walked downstairs, out the door, and across the parking lot, she was wailing, "Nooooooooo hoooome! Nooooooooooooo hoooooome!" Then, when she realized how close Wegmans is to our favorite pizza joint, she started shrieking, "Peeeeee-duh par-lor! Peeeeee-duh par-lor!" (We still went home.)

* Once, while Gran was visiting, Katie got mad when we took her out of the tub. Gran tried to distract her by "inspecting" her toes. It wasn't working, though; Katie was still ticked! When Gran said, "OK, now let me see those fingers," Katie put her forefinger in her mouth quicker than you can say "hard-headed brat." (At that point, Gran and I started laughing so hard that Katie couldn't help but get back in a good mood.)

* On another occasion at Wegmans, Katie had asked for a chocolate chip cookie. She insisted on opening it herself but seemed to have little interest in actually EATING it--until I did. When she saw me munching on a little piece, she marched over and said "MY cookie." When I handed her what was left of the piece I was nibbling, she shoved it into her mouth and gave me a look that I can't accurately describe without compromising the family-friendly nature of this website.

By the way, this post is a very long-winded answer to Aunt Mimi's question. Yes, we do have Katie's Halloween costume: It's called "Adorable Witch."

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Tue, Oct 17, 2006 10:00 AM
Tomorrow is Steve's birthday--and a milestone one, at that. I've been telling Katie that Daddy's birthday is coming up, and she's been practicing her rendition of "Happy Birthday," which goes something like this:

Hah-ee bur-day to Daddy
Hah-ee bur-day to Daddy
Hah-ee bur-day to Daddy
Hah-ee bur-day, Daddy

Yesterday after school--and before he got home from work--she and I worked on a special project, which I explained was for his birthday. He ended up heading home sooner than expected, so she and I tucked the gift away on the dining room table.

Well, wouldn't you know it... The second he walked in, Katie ran to him, grabbed him by the arm, and started pulling him to the dining room--saying, "Hah-ee bur-day, Daddy!" all the while.

Steve realized that she was a bit premature in her announcement, so he stayed in the kitchen, preserving (what's left of) the surprise. :-)

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Fri, Oct 13, 2006 8:30 AM
Wednesday after school, Katie and I were emptying the diswasher together. I'm not sure what sparked the idea, but she suddenly began singing "Baa Baa Black Sleep"--and it was actually semi-recognizable. When I chimed in, she looked at me as if I were a total genius for knowing the words.

Last night, she sang the song for Gran on the phone. Of course, Paw-Paw had to get HIS turn, too. Katie made it extra sweet by adding "Paw-Paw" into the lyrics: "Baa Baa Paw-Paw ah-you-wuh?"

This morning, she was playing with some stickers before school. As she applied a sparkly star to a page, she started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Usually she just sings "A-B-D-D" over and again, but her repertoire seems to be expanding.

* * *

I never coached Katie on this, but Gran discovered that Katie can tell you clear as day where Grandma lives. While Steve and I were away, Gran asked her, and Katie replied: "Neeeeeew Jer-zey!" I guess Katie has been paying attention!

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Wed, Oct 11, 2006 12:00 PM
One other thing I forgot to mention last night... Steve put Katie to bed while I drove Gran to the airport. He said when he and Katie sat down in the rocker, she picked up her new mini-photo album, turned right to a picture of Gran, and earnestly informed him, "Gan home Paw-Paw 'tuh-ee." Translation: "Gran went home to Paw-Paw in Kentucky."

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Tue, Oct 10, 2006 9:30 PM
For years, Danielle and I tormented Steve about one of his favorite beverages: Crystal Light. We teased him mercilessly about it being a product designed for, marketed to, and consumed by WOMEN, not men. For a long time, he stuck to his guns, insisting that Crystal Light isn't a gender-specific tea, but rather a convenient, tasty, no-calorie drink.

Recently, however, he caved and began drinking a no-calorie green tea mix instead. To reinforce the fact that it isn't Crystal Light, he dubbed this new beverage "Man Tea." The first few nights he drank it at dinner, he would take a swig and then do a series of Tim Allen-style grunts.

Needless to say, it didn't take long for a certain protege to catch on that this "Man Tea" is a pretty nifty beverage. Soon, Katie was not only taking swigs of the diet green tea, but also doing her own macho sound effects. (Check out the video clip to see what I mean.)

Since we (I) don't want Katie to consume any artificial sweeteners on a regular basis, Gran and I bought some decaf green tea bags and brewed an even more special potion: "Katie Man Tea." So far, she's buying it, but it is a little frightening to hear your toddler say, "Moh Man Tea, Mommy!"

(Word to the wise, ladies: Think carefully before you dive into a gene pool. Juuuust kidding, Steve. Sort of.)

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Thu, Oct 5, 2006 9:00 AM
Yesterday at pick-up, I had a chance to speak with Katie's main teacher, Miss Karen. She remarked on what a strong need Katie has to help/nurture her classmates--patting them all at naptime, assisting anyone who's getting a lunchbox from the fridge, and even helping with trash disposal at every opportunity.

Then the teacher asked, "Does Katie clean a lot at home?" I snorted and told her that yes, she definitely likes cleaning AND helping at home. Miss Karen said that didn't surprise her a bit, and she added, "Katie does everything very fast, and she always has an agenda."

When I relayed that last observation to Steve, I said, "Now, who does THAT sound like?" He said it sounded like me, I said it sounded like HIM, and I suppose we were both right.

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Wed, Oct 4, 2006 9:30 AM
You know your daughter is ready for the potty when...

* She applies her own diaper-rash cream.

* She can successfully put a diaper on herself and any number of dolls and stuffed animals (and often rushes THEM to the potty for "pee-pee" or "poopy").

* You find her in the morning with no pants or diaper on--and the wet diaper has been neatly folded over on itself and placed in a corner.

When it comes to the potty, we're still letting Katie set the pace. And she's doing pretty well. She uses the toilet quite a bit at home and has the whole routine down pat.

We haven't attempted many public-restroom visits. Nor have we converted to training pants or regular panties. But, perhaps I'll bring some undies down to the family room and let her put them on her babies--just to get the hang of things...

***

Another recent Katie trick: On Monday, she walked up the Wurstas' yellow slide... backwards. I have no idea what gave her the idea to try this, but she did it twice.

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