At Least She Can Blow Her Nose, Now!

I know this isn't a subject most folks want to read about, but Kate's been such a trooper with this latest cold that I wanted to take note of it. While she was a little under the weather in August at Terri Lynn's wedding, that was very minor. It didn't involve a runny nose or coughing. This cold, though, is a big one and we haven't had anything like this since March.

Despite the enormous amount of stuff coming out of her nose, she is in great spirits. She actually likes to blow her nose, which has been a huge difference with this cold. Finally! Yea!

On Friday, when the cold was in its infancy, we went to dance class (me hoping this was just another minor cold). One of Kate's friends tried to kiss her and Kate said, "I have boogies!" It was hilarious. Let's hope we didn't end up infecting our friends at dance class!

School, Dance & Play...

First Day of Preschool--No Tears! Kate began preschool nearly a month ago on August 25 (Photo 1: here she is with the Triceratops in the lobby of her school). She attends once a week for three hours. It's a nice break for mommy and Kate seems to enjoy it as well. Kate doesn't cry at all when I leave her. One of her buddies is in class with her, so it's nice to have a familiar face there. She has had a couple of minor incidents where she's gotten "hurt" on the playground. Nothing serious, but she has needed muchh comforting according to her teachers. By the time I pick her up at 11:30a, she is exhausted and I receive absolutely the biggest hugs I've ever received followed by several, "Mommy, I love yous..."

Dance Class: Kate began dance class in August with her pals Matilda, Samantha, Parker and Kylie. It's a Tiny Tot class without mommies. All of the mommies huddle to watch the tots through a tiny observation window. Kate enjoys this class more than I could have possibly imagined. While she hates her pony tails, she wears them for dance class. She despises tights, but wears them without complaint. But beyond how much she enjoys the class, I am astounded at how it has changed how she plays. Kate revels in movement, loves watching herself in the mirror, and dances her way through much of the day. She points her toes, bows and spins whenever the music moves her! It's such a joy to watch and I often catch her "practicing" her moves from class. Her class teaches primarily ballet and alternates between tap and tumbling every other week.

Photo captions: Above she is showing off her fantastic moves in her dance outfit. Below, she is showing off her moves while visiting Papa Ron & Nama Vicki on the golf course.

Imaginative Play: Whenever Kate is not dancing around, she's usually playing with her characters and Little People house. While that's nothing new, the way in which she plays has totally changed. For the past few weeks, she has been using her characters to reinact her television programs. For instance, it began in the pool with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. She'd have them solve mysteries like they do on My Friends Tigger & Pooh. She has characters use a "map" like on Dora the Explorer and says "Mission Completion" like on Little Einsteins. You'd think she watches TV all day, but I am still a strict enforcer of just one program in the a.m. and one in the p.m.

Grocery Store: Kate takes her grocery cart through the house and then ends up at the cash register to "buy" things. I love setting up the food for her to "buy" and watching her decide which foods she'll purchase as she walks around putting food into her grocery cart.

Birthday Parties: Kate's obsession for all thing birthday occured sometime after Keith's birthday in August. Now she really loves playing with her Melissa & Doug wooden cake (thanks Auntie Dale!) and plastic cupcakes to throw birthday parties for her characters at least once and often several times a day. She even puts out her tiny cards throughout the house to "decorate."

The only down side of this "advanced" play is her desire to play with me (or daddy or whomever is around) much more. I suppose we should revel in her desire to spend time with us since I'm sure this phase will be short-lived and change before we know it.

In the Kitchen...

Just Pass the Bread, Please: Despite the fact that most child care experts say to do otherwise, I have found great success over the past few months at getting Kate to try new things or eat the veggies on her plate by bribing her with garlic bread (or crackers and sometimes even fruit). The experts say something about not treating some foods differently than others, but I think they are crazy. You would have to have dead tastebuds not to notice that peas don't taste as good as french bread laden with butter and garlic, right? Even peas that are laden with butter and garlic or whatever still don't taste or feel the same as garlic bread (or crackers, etc)!

While she's not completely out of the I won't eat any vegetable unless it is made into a nugget form (aka broccoli cheese or spinach cheese nuggets), she actually eats lettuce, sometimes will eat carrot sticks or carrot wheels and peas. She has always eaten corn, but I hardly count that as a vegetable since it's so starchy and delicious. This week, we are moving back into the vegetable at lunch effort where I serve a vegetable at lunch whether she touches it or not.

In another effort to get more veggies into Kate, I picked up Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook. LOVE IT! While I am not particularly thrilled at pureeing vegetables, again, I am quite skilled at it, so after a couple of evenings of work, I have plenty of veggies in the freezer to sneak into everything from tuna salad to lasagna to french toast. I particulary love that the recipes are simple and just regular food that kids love (like spaghetti, mac & cheese, grilled cheese, etc). I put carrots in my french toast (who knew how good that would be) and sweet potato and cauliflower in the lasagna without any complaint from Keith or Kate. And, just for fun, I still offer a veggie at dinner so if she eats it, double the nutrients! Awesome.

Food Milestones: There have been a couple of other food milestones over the past couple of weeks. Kate actually ate a few bites of hot dog at Nama's and Papa Ron's house. She's not asking for more, but it's nice to know she'll eat it if I have to offer it (like, when I find some that don't have nitrates in them and don't totally gross me out!). She still thinks ketchup is "yucky!" She also managed to eat a couple of french fries when Keith and I took her to the beach on Labor day. She dipped them in the ketchup, then, too, so maybe ketchup is growing on her. I'll have to whip up a batch from the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook before she acquires a taste for the commercial version with all the added junk she doesn't need.

Cooking: Kate has been asking to "help" mommy in the kitchen a lot this August. Ever since we made Daddy's birthday cake, she realizes how much fun cooking can be (and how tasty). While Kate "helps," she usually peruses through a kid-friendly cookbook I received from Parents magazine. She took a strong liking to one of the recipes, Pear Bear Muffins. She asked for two weeks to make them. Once we finally did, she was so proud (see her proudly displaying her muffin, above and to the right). She even asked if we could deliver them to her friends (which we did)! Next up from the cookbook is chocolate covered fruit. She's also been eyeing a pool cake...not sure what occasion we'll use to attempt that one! She also has spread peanut butter, jelly and butter on her sandwiches and even helped crack eggs. Maybe with some encouragement she'll happily take over dinner preparation one day.

Washing Dishes: Along with the new interest in cooking came a strong desire to clean up afterwards (hmm...wherever does she get this?). I'm so happy that she loves helping to wash dishes. She's improving immensly and doesn't dump water out of the sink as much anymore!

Traveling Diva & Summer Fun

After publishing the last entry, I was thinking about this summer and felt like I hadn't really covered some of the exciting things we've done!

A trip back "home" to Michigan: Kate and I traveled to Detroit by ourselves in May to spend some quality time with my grandmother. It wasn't the first time we traveled alone, but it was much different than the first time when she was 7 months old. I thought this time would be so much harder and it wasn't. Kate is a terrific travel companion. Thanks to my pal Faith who shared the tip of strapping the car seat to the carry on luggage, I was able to manage a stroller with Kate, a carry on bag, the diaper bag and my purse all by myself! Kate ate lunch on the plane, read some books and then watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I splurged and upgraded us to Business Class on Airtran, so we had plenty of room and nobody to bother us.

In Detroit, she made herself at home at the house of Mimi and Joe Joe (pictured here in their basement with Joe). Despite the fact that she's 37", she still squeezed into the pack n play each night without complaint and for nap time, also. We visited with grandma on a couple of occasions. Each time I learned something new about my mother and her siblings that I didn't know before. For those of you who don't know, my grandmother had ten children. She has some amazing wisdom and shared a few gems with me that I hope to some day share with Kate.

We made our way to Brighton so I could pay respects to my childhood babysitter and then to my favorite playground as a child...the Mill Pond. My how it has changed from a couple of swings and spinning wheel to a huge, wood climbing structure. Words cannot do this thing justice. Somehow I didn't take any pictures while there, so I must return and get a couple!! We fed the ducks together and I reminiced about doing the very same thing with my dad many, many times.

A Trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan: We traveled again to Michigan, but this time with Keith, Papa Paul and Grandma Ebbo on our way to Terri Schroeder's wedding. Again, my little traveling Diva sat in her car seat during the entire flight without complaint. This marked her seventh round trip flight in 2-1/2 years! Kate was very excited to go to the wedding. She knew we would all be wearing our fancy clothes and couldn't wait to dance to music. Unfortunately, she came down with a bug and begged daddy to take her back up to the room before the reception even began. Thank goodness Aunt Betty and Uncle Ken agreed to stay next to us and Keith and I were still able to enjoy the reception while Kate and Aunt Betty had some good bonding time.
We stayed an extra couple of nights in Grand Rapids to relax and spend time with Aunt Betty and Uncle Ken. We took Kate to the John Ball Zoo--she enjoyed seeing the brown bears (her first time seeing bears, I believe), but grew very tired after that and pretty much cried through the rest of the exhibits until we left! She kept saying, "I just need to cry now."

From our hotel room, we could see an indoor carousel at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Keith and I walked with Kate across the river, up and down lots of steps to take Kate to the carousel. We pay to get in, go to put her on the carousel and she freaks out. For the next two days, she kept saying, "I didn't like that carousel..." Too bad she didn't figure that out until we walked over there.

Kate did totally love the Children's Museum. Too bad we discovered the little store, kitchen and restaurant area on our way out. Makes me lament not having something like that in Orlando. We have great stuff, but nothing compares to this place or any of the other Children's Museum's I've visited (Indianapolis...Atlanta...New York...Grand Rapids).

First 4th of July Fireworks: On the 4th of July, Keith and I finally kept Kate up past her bedtime so she could watch the fireworks. We had terrible weather...lots of rain, but that did not keep us and the Lee Family from packing up their mini van, cramming in 4 adults and 3 car seats and tons of gear. We set up our tent and enjoyed a wonderful display without any major downpour. I am so greatful to have such great friends who make us do things we otherwise wouldn't and to do crazy things like this together. Speaking of which, we sat in the rain under a tent the night before listening to live music with pretty much the same group of friends at our city celebration. The kids had a blast running around in the rain (don't worry, there wasn't any lightening).

Daddy's Birthday: For Keith's birthday, Kate's speaking was nothing new, so I knew that hearing her say happy birthday would fill him with warm fuzzies, but wouldn't be the same experience it was for me nine months ago when her language was just taking off. So, instead, I took the opportunity to have Kate help make a homemade chocolate cake for him. She loved it...both the cooking and the eating, though, she prefers vanilla ice cream. :-)

What I did not anticipate was her complete enthusiasm for wearing the party hats and decorating with balloons. She wore her party hat each time we had cake over the next couple of days (and sang happy birthday, again and again). She was so disappointed when the weekend ended and I took down the decorations. She thought we should just continue celebrating every day!

The Beach: Unfortunately, we have only made to the beach twice this summer (maybe three times if we go Labor Day). Kate loves running in the sand, knocking down towers and negotiating the waves. At first, she was just a little timid of the waves, but after going in with her daddy, she warmed up. She really enjoyed standing at the edge of the water and taking on the waves! I even managed to keep enough sunscreen on her to avoid any nasty sunburn and she was a sport and wore her hat 99% of the time.

In all, I'd say we had some great times this summer!