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Mon, Jun 25, 2007 10:00 AM
Call it the Weekend of the Rides.

On Friday, we attended the annual Summer Festival at Mary Mother of the Redeemer in Montgomery County. We bumped into quite a few familiar faces, including Katie's old sitter, Miss Mary. Katie had a blast with all of the carnival rides--from the carousel (Miss Big Shot asked to ride alone) to the giant slide (I went with her once and then she did THAT alone, too!). She enjoyed a big rainbow sherbet waffle cone and played one of the midway games with Steve. In fact, she tossed the winning ball and scored herself a stuffed tiger.

On Saturday afternoon, we made our first summertime trip to Sesame Place. We opted to go after 4 p.m.--partly to take advantage of the reduced "twilight admission" but mainly to dip our toes in the water of this park. I'm glad we did; it's definitely not my favorite place. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of amusement parks in general, but I've grown very spoiled by Disney's speed, cleanliness, and efficiency. By comparison, the Sesame Place staff and service were painfully amateurish. Nevertheless, Katie enjoyed many of the attractions and got to "meet" Elmo, Big Bird, Telly, and Baby Bear.

The funniest part of the day was when Steve accompanied Katie into "Nets 'n' Climb"--which the Sesame Place website describes as "hundreds of yards of cargo netting connected by 200 feet of suspended net tunnels." They headed up the stairs to start the adventure while I looked for a seat so I could watch. Eventually, I spotted them at the top of the three-story structure. Even at that distance, I could tell from Steve's body language that something was wrong. I stared intently, wondering, "Is Katie stuck? Is she at the top, paralyzed with fear?" But I should've known: it was just the opposite.

Mercifully, by the time they made their way back down, both Steve and Katie were smiling. When we finally reunited, Steve was shaking his head in disbelief: "Susan, I was having chest pains... I thought it was The Big One! My knees were killing me... and she wouldn't stop! She's extremely athletic!" While he was still recovering, Katie and I went in together. We navigated through the entire system of nets and tunnels and, in Steve's defense, it *is* a bit grueling. At one point, I lost Katie in the maze because I just couldn't keep up to her. And the next day, both my knees were black and blue, and I had soreness in muscles I didn't know I had!

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Sun, Jun 17, 2007 6:00 PM
I think most subscribers have already been alerted to it, but I created and posted a Father's Day Tribute slideshow from Katie to Steve. I'm not sure who likes it more--Katie or Steve! She has asked to watch it about 50 times...and counting. In fact, just a few minutes ago, she and I were watching it on my computer when Steve came in to clean his fish tank. As the music wrapped up, he asked her, "Who's your favorite Daddy of all time?" Never missing a chance to bust his chops, she grinned and said, "Mommy!"

A few minutes after that, as she was "helping" with the tank, the old, dirty filter hit the carpet. I went to get the spot remover (we go through copious amount of that stuff!), and then I worked on the stains. When I told Katie not to touch the wet spots, she made a quizzical face toward the bottle and asked, "Dat djugar-bree?" He and I started laughing--knowing that we're always telling her which containers of pudding or Jell-o are off-limits because of artificial sweeteners.

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Thu, Jun 14, 2007 7:00 AM
Just posted: a three-minute photo slideshow of Danielle's graduation party. Check it out under "Videos."

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Tue, Jun 12, 2007 10:00 AM
As a married couple, Steve and I are demographically abnormal. But try telling Katie that. Two recent incidents gave me insight into HER budding perspective on age and parenthood.

The first incident occurred at school last week. Katie and I had walked that morning. She was in her stroller finishing up breakfast when another mom and daughter pulled around the drop-off circle. This particular mom looks to be about 15 years older than I am. When Katie saw her driving toward us, she looked at me and asked, "Dat [so-and-so's] Grandma?"

The second incident occurred the following day at Wegmans. While waiting in line, Katie and I befriended a little girl who was there with her mom, brother, and grandparents. As we were walking out, we saw the family in an enormous gold Lexus. The grandfather was at the wheel and gave us a series of friendly honks. "Ohhh!" Katie exclaimed. Then she smiled and remarked, "Dere Daddy dribin'!"

* * *

So much for etiquette in the A.M.: This morning Katie pointed to the fridge and barked, "Get my war-duh!" When I reminded her to ask nicely, she quickly added, "Pleeeeeeeeease." Perhaps I should've stopped there, but instead I looked her in the eye and said, "Remember to always say 'please' and 'thank you.'" She then leaned in close and whispered, "Jut get my war-duh, 'kay?"

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Thu, Jun 7, 2007 1:00 PM
The other day I was asking Katie about her day at school. She told me she played with Ashley (one of her faves in the Rainbow Room). I responded that perhaps sometime we could get together with Ashley on a weekend. Then I mentioned the possibility of a play date in our basement (which is being finished as I type). This put Katie's mental wheels in motion, and made it clear that Katie thinks a "Dee" is a core component of every family unit: "Atchley come bate-ment... and Brett and Colin, too... watch tee-bee to-gebber... play toys... work-uh-puttle... ever'body all to-gebber... and all duh mommies and daddies and Dees..."

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Mon, Jun 4, 2007 8:45 AM
A few anecdotes that illustrate Katie's personality:

* On Thursday, we went to the annual Family Fun Fair at Elbow Lane. The available bathroom was in a new-to-us area: the "Meadow" classroom where Katie will go at age four. Anyway, Steve took her in there to use the toilet, but she wouldn't allow him to accompany her: "I big girl. I don't NEED you." Similarly, during Saturday errands, he held a door for her, but instead of simply walking through, she struggled to push open the other door herself. (She did it, too.)

* On Friday, we were invited to go swimming at our neighbors' house. When I arrived at Elbow Lane, as is often the case, Katie ignored me and continued playing. However, when I said, "Want to go swimming with Maddie?" she couldn't run to me fast enough. And when we walked out to the car, Katie paused and in nearly a single breath laid out the complete pool preparation process: "I-need-wear-bwim-diapuh-put-on-dunblock-MOMMY-put-on-dunblock-Daddy-duh'nt-need-dunblock-go-g'rage-get-my-rap-get-towel-bor-pool..." I love how she assumes so much responsibility for thinking through these things (even though Steve and I both have such matters well under control!).

* Danielle's new bedroom set arrives this week, and in preparation, Steve and I were moving a large piece of furniture out of her room. I wish I could've videotaped this because I'll never adequately capture Katie's gestures and attitude. But, basically, she acted as though she were in charge of the whole operation--assessing the weight of the piece, moving her hands around quickly (gosh, where'd she get that?!) to see what would go where. She even tried to LIFT it. Realizing she wasn't strong enough, she resumed managerial responsibilities and oversaw our labor.

* Despite her overwhelmingly independent spirit, last night we saw how vulnerable she still can be. Before we moved that same piece of furniture, I transferred Katie's infant photo albums from one of the drawers to Katie's bookshelf. Soon after, while I was doing laundry, she found the albums and opened up the very first--the one that contains all the photos from the hospital. But I didn't know she had done that until I heard this pitiful whimper: "Mommy...Mommy..." She walked toward me, holding the album and pointing to a picture of me lying in the hospital bed covered in blankets. She also saw the pictures of her being examined by the nurse and the ones with all the monitors and tubes in the NICU--and started crying more. What seemed to bother her was that (a) I seemed to be sick, (b) I wasn't holding her, and (c) she couldn't see Steve, so she thought she was "alone."

I started to explain, but she was getting really worked up, so I sent her "downgairs" to he who makes all things better. Steve explained to her in age-appropriate language how the umbilical cord was her food source and how her belly button marks where it was. He also explained that she had trouble breathing but soon got better, and how she was too little to swallow medicine, so the doctors put it right into her body. She definitely calmed down, but I KNOW it was still on her mind at bedtime. She was exhausted and would normally have passed out. Instead, she cried for me three times, just wanting me to be there with her. She also got up crying in the middle of the night. Steve brought her in with us, and she slept in our bed until 7:30... when she woke and immediately said, "Dee pictures my dick" (I know that looks obscene, but it's just Katie-speak for "I want to see the pictures of when I was sick"). She spent a good 20 minutes re-analyzing every detail and telling me, in her own way, all of the things Steve told her last night. (So much for "I don't NEED you"!)

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