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Wed, May 28, 2008 4:45 PM
Last Wednesday, Katie went for an evaluation by a speech pathologist. Having never had speech therapy, I found the process to be very interesting. First, the therapist had Katie identify a series of objects. Next, she put on bubblegum-flavored latex gloves and examined Katie's mouth and tongue.

It turns out that Katie isn't moving her tongue enough and could benefit from some exercises. She also hasn't mastered some sounds that she should know by now ("F" and "Y" are the two biggest examples). However, the therapist said we might want to wait until she is a bit older, when she might be more cooperative during the sessions. Even so, she asked me to get her hearing tested and to have the pediatrician check out her nose and ears since there is a definite "nasal" quality to her speech.

The appointment with the pediatrician was this morning. Not surprisingly, we confirmed that Katie's hearing is just fine. However, when I mentioned what the speech pathologist had said about the nasally sound, the doctor immediately asked Katie to open her mouth. When he saw her enormous (and they are ENORMOUS) tonsils, he told me to get an evaluation by an otolaryngologist. He was all the more adamant once I told him how consistently and loudly she snores. So Steve and I called together and took the first available appointment (in mid-September!) with an ENT from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

* * *

Last week was also the orientation for parents of Elbow Laners who will be attending camp for the first time. After attending the session, I was even more excited about Katie attending camp. I also felt tired just HEARING what her days will entail.

The director explained that she'll be part of a group with 13 to 15 campers and three dedicated counselors. Those counselors will stay with Katie and her peers all day, every day, and will move with them through the various activities. Elbow Lane hires a specialist to run each area, and Katie will interact with a wide range of them. She will be swimming twice a day (once for instruction, once for fun). She'll learn to play basketball (they call it "rim ball" for her age group), tee-ball, and soccer. She'll also have time in gymnastics, dance, music, drama, and arts and crafts. They even have a "nature" module where the kids hike throughout the property and then listen to a professional storyteller in a tee-pee.

On June 22, Steve and Katie and I will go to "Meet the Counselors" day and learn even more about what to expect. I, for one, am expecting to pick up a filthy-dirty and dog-tired but happy little girl every afternoon!

Comments:
Katie H.: Casey spent a lot of time at ENT appointments at Cincinnati Children's this last year. If at all possible make the first appointment of the day and if you can't get that, be prepared to wait. They somtimes ran up to 2.5 hours behind!!!

Sarah: Keep us posted about Katie's speech therapy. I'm glad her hearing is OK.

And camp sounds like fun!

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Mon, May 19, 2008 9:30 AM
All that stuff about fostering independence, self-reliance, and self-respect? Sometimes I'd like to take it back. Katie possesses all of those traits--and, quite frankly, it's really wearing me out. There are times I wish she would just sit placidly in front of the TV and not feel compelled to watch, understand, and repeat every little thing we say or do.

There are about 50 examples I could give from the past weekend (which was particularly exhausting, probably because we had such a rocky week with Steve's health stuff). Here are just a few illustrations:

* We have this new set of cushioned furniture on our patio. Even though it's supposed to withstand the weather, we bought covers so it would stay nicer longer. On Sunday, as we drove home in the rain, Miss Worrywart barked from the back: "It raining! Are da cubbers on da new burniture?" We assured her that yes, they were. Remembering the night before when we HAD forgotten to cover one, she barked again: "ALL UB DEM?!"

* As Steve backed our car out of the garage, Katie shrieked and made him stop. Why? Although SHE was buckled in her seat, her baby wasn't, and she knows you can't put the car in gear without everyone being safe. We were on our way to eat lunch, and at the restaurant, she broke out a pack of wipes she had stashed in her purse and informed me that Baby had poop in her diaper and needed to be changed in the bathroom.

* On Saturday, we went to the Spring Fair at Titus Elementary. Since he hadn't been in the office (where our credit union is) all week, Steve was short on cash. So he borrowed about 20 singles from the copper pot that serves as Katie's bank. Normally she pays little attention to the pot, but the next day, she got a stool and went to get some cash (she must have had some scheme in mind). When she found it contained only an "IOU" Post-it note, she demanded answers. "Where my MONEY?!" she asked. "Oh, sorry, I had to borrow some yesterday," Steve replied. "Well, djew need to AXE me birst, Daddy!"

* This morning, Katie said she wanted to wear her Strawberry Shortcake outfit, which consists of a knit tank top and shorts. I told her it might be too cold and suggested we watch the weather on TV to be sure. She disagreed and immediately enacted her own check of the weather. She raised her blinds, opened her window, declared "Lep, it cold out. I wear domedin' under it." She meant "over" it, and so she proceeded to put on her Strawberry Shortcake get-up with sweatpants and a jacket on top. When I told Steve, he just said, "She always has her own mind, her own agenda, and her own solution." Which I think will ultimately be good. It's just awfully tiring for me in the meantime.

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Fri, May 16, 2008 2:00 PM
Yesterday, Katie was "Star of the Day" (probably for the last time this school year). At dinner on Wednesday evening, Steve and I asked her what book she'd like to bring in to share with the class. Her eyes glimmered with mischief as she got up and went to the family room. When she came back in, she was holding A Creature Was Stirring (the book I mentioned in another recent post). With a smile, she said, "I bring in dis book, da teacher HAB to day 'dupid'!" Steve and I persuaded her to choose another, less "controversial" book, and she did. Gran says he and I are still in big, big trouble, though!

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Wed, May 14, 2008 9:30 PM
Katie and I kicked off Mother's Day weekend Friday evening with a birthday party at a classmate's house. The party invitation indicated that it would be a "Once Upon a Dream..." party and to "Come as your favorite princess if you'd like." Katie and I are (were) BOTH novices with this whole concept. So when she asked to wear jeans and a T-shirt with princess shoes, I figured, "No big deal--not every girl will be dressed up, anyway."

How wrong I was.

When we arrived, it was immediately apparent that every girl was going to be dressed up--and not in the understated princess "dresses" Katie has, but in full frou-frou-Gone-with-the-Wind get-ups. Katie looked downright grungy, and at first, she seemed bothered. But she turned down repeated offers to borrow a dress from the hosts, and when the "real" Belle and Cinderella arrived, she proudly announced to them, "I don't hab a prindess dretz, but look at my djews!"

Belle and Cinderella led the little ones through a whole series of activities--music, crafts, face-painting. However, the highlight for Katie was dancing to "High School Musical" and Hannah Montana tunes. (If you haven't already, check out the new "Dancin' fool" video I posted earlier today.)

The next day, we attended a First Communion party for our neighbors. They had hired a kid-friendly deejay, which Katie thoroughly enjoyed. About an hour and a half into that party, she and I had to dash off to ANOTHER birthday party. This one was at Sweet and Sassy--a day spa for little girls.

The Sweet and Sassy party had a princess-esque theme, as well, and at first Katie again refused to conform. There were two closets chock full of frou-frou dresses--which the 11 other girls eagerly snapped up. Katie watched cautiously as the other guests got their updo hairstyles and make-up applications. It wasn't until the stylists broke out the nail polish caddies that Katie decided to participate. She donned a dress, got a "manicure," and walked the "runway"--though she never did let them touch her hair or face.

When it was time for cake, she eagerly devoured two pieces and two drinks. And when it was time for each child to autograph a souvenir picture frame for the birthday girl, Katie was the first to sign. I held my breath, but then couldn't have been prouder as she took the Sharpie and wrote "KATIE" just as clear as day. (After so much party pushback from her, I wasn't sure what to expect!)

With the ice-cream cake fresh on her lips, I asked if she wanted to go back to the Communion party. Her response: "Bye-bye everyone!" We got back home and she continued to run around, dance, and play until bedtime.

In spite of that breakneck pace, on Sunday morning she woke up at 5:45--ready for Mother's Day festivities. (On Saturday morning, she had whispered to me, "We hab pretent bor djew! Dere domedin' betchel in my clotet and domedin' betchel in Daddy's clotet!")

Steve was generous enough to take her out and keep her occupied till after 7, when she got right in my sleeping face and whispered--loudly--"Happy Motter Day! We making djew breakbast!" I went downstairs and opened my card and gift (a lovely and somewhat intimidating food processor), and then we feasted on homemade waffles. I learned that Steve stored the Kitchen Aid; Katie was responsible for hiding the Bisquick. :-)

Alas, the day/weekend went downhill from there, as Steve experienced increasingly debilitating knee and back pain--culminating in an ER visit on Monday and postponement of our vacation to "Blorida."

Comments:
Sarah: Oh no, is Steve OK?

And what happened to pizza parties and sleepovers for little girls? These sound like mini proms and carnivals!

Alisa: Sorry to hear about Steve. Hope he's doing better.

Your nonconformist should meet mine. At the Gymtastic party -- complete with noisemakers and an overly exuberant "party coordinator -- he wanted to be off playing basketball or climbing things while the rest of the kids sang "The Wheels on the Bus". At Parti Palooza, he was in the other room playing with Legos while the kids were jumping in the bouncy houses. Craig is still immensely proud to believe that he's thinking for himself at 20 months.

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Fri, May 9, 2008 11:00 AM
Yesterday I had lunch with friends from Launch International. As I was telling some of the latest Katie stories, my friend Susan said, “Why aren’t these on the blog?!” Thanks in large part to last week’s Internet outage (more on that in a bit), I have admittedly fallen a bit behind.

So, without further ado, here are some recent stories to illustrate Katie’s personality traits.

* * *

1) Katie is resourceful.

A couple of weekends ago, as Katie and I were about to get dressed, I suggested she put on a particular item of clothing. I went on to my room and proceeded to shower and get myself dressed, and she did the same (except for bathing, of course). I didn’t realize it until later that day, but complying with my suggestion hadn’t been easy.

As it turns out, the item of clothing was hanging on the upper rack of her closet. Rather than getting help from me or Steve (who was also home), Katie simply lugged her wooden kitchen stool upstairs and then placed one of her plastic stools on top of the big wooden one. That enabled her to get that item from the top of her closet. When I finally saw what she’d rigged up, I said, “Katie, did you do that?” She looked at me as if I were the world’s biggest idiot, shrugged, and said, “Well, I couldn’t reach it wit’ ONE dool!”

2) Katie is confrontational.

Three days last week, we experienced a very frustrating Internet outage. By Friday, Steve and I were both at the end of our ropes. Although I'm not one to blow my stack, Steve isn’t nearly so, ah, reserved. So as I slumped in my office chair, he was venting—a bit loudly—about the situation.

Watching from the foyer, Katie interpreted his loud tone as an attack on me. As soon as he walked out of my office, she stopped him and gave him a stern reprimand: “Djew need to go day ‘dorry’ to Mommy!”

“Say ‘sorry’? For what?” I heard him reply.

“Djew were GREAMING in her bace!” Katie barked back.

He and I burst into laughter and tried explaining that he was just venting TO me, not screaming AT me. (There’s no question that Steve is capable of some pretty impressive screaming. Lucky girl that she is, Katie has yet to experience that—and when she does, he’d better watch out. She’s liable to try grounding him for a month.)

3) Katie is quick-thinking.

Last weekend, I was reading to Katie from the book A Creature Was Stirring, which puts a fresh spin on Clement C. Moore’s “The Night Before Christmas” poem. The new poem happens to include the word “stupid.” We haven’t really talked about that word at home. However, it must be a “no-no” at school because she gave me a rash of you-know-what about the fact that I uttered it. Finally, I said, “Look, Katie, I was just reading what’s IN THE BOOK, ok?!”

Fast forward to Wednesday night. We’ve been working with her to say “Oh my gosh” or “Oh my goodness” instead of “Oh my God.” But as she “read” to her babies and me, she slipped: “Blah-blah-blah-oh-my-GOD!”

“KATIE,” I said, giving her The Look.

I could see the rapid flash of recognition in her eyes—followed just as rapidly by an idea: “But, Mommy, I ju’t reading what IN DA BOOK!”

Comments:
Katie H.: And, she has a steel trap mind!!

Sarah: That girl is wicked smart!

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