Summer 2011- Favorite Stories

It was a great summer with Kate. I stopped working so much and took some time off this summer. With Kate out of school, we spent a lot of quality time together and I have to say we enjoyed each moment. Here are a few of the most memorable...

We took Kate for her first movie in the theater...Winnie the Pooh. Fitting since that was her choice for theme for her 3rd birthday earlier this year. At the beginning of the movie, when the ads kept showing popcorn, soda and other snacks, she kept saying, "I'm not hungry!" She sat through the entire movie entranced. It was so fantastic watching her reaction to the story. I took her again to the movie this week (it was showing at the $1 theater) and she actually started reinacting the movie and restating scenes with her Strawberry Shortcake characters (my favorite: she threw a string down to one of the characters to help her out of a pit and asked, "Can you knot?... I cannot!...)

• Kate pointed out a truck and Keith said, yes, a truck like daddy's. Kate then says, I think it's a phone truck...because of the ball. Kind of scary because it was an AT&T truck!! We still have not figured out why she knows that the AT&T logo (that I refer to as the deathstar) stands for phones...



• I went to the bank near Kohl's and was driving by the entrance. Kate shouts out from the backseat of the car, "Mommy, they have Clifford, now!" Seriously, she saw the Clifford stuffed animals through two windows and no less than 100-ft?!



• Ok, this one is probably a year old, but I have no idea if I ever documented it and it's one I don't want to ever forget...One day, I told Kate we were going to go to Target before we went home. As I was driving, I was on automatic pilot and went straight toward our house instead of turning left on the road that leads to Target (mind you, Target being a full mile away, no signage nearby). Kate says, "mommy, you're going the wrong way, Target is that way!"



• Kate went with daddy to the park in our neighborhood and she pointed to a sign and asked him what it said. Daddy said, "it says, 'No Crying!'" Kate said, no it doesn't, it says, "No Pets!"

Our First Dance Recital

Kate's excitement for her dance recital only grew as her class practiced their dance to "I See the Light" from Tangled each week. Kate's obsession with all things Rapunzel blossomed in May when she saw the movie for the first time....and then at least five more.

Kate spiked a fever 3 days before the recital and complained of a sore throat so severe that she actually did not eat or hardly drink anything for 24 hours--unprecedented in this little one's life who pretty much lives for her next snack or meal. A quick trip to the doctor ruled out strep throat and she recovered in time for dress rehearsal.

At the dress rehearsal, they practiced the Grand Finale first and then classes were dismissed once they did their rehearsal. Kate, however, insisted on entering back into the auditorium to watch the rest of the dancers (our class was right in the middle, so we stayed an extra hour)!

Kate watched just as intently on recital day and just loved each and every moment of the day--from getting in her adorable pink outfit, having mommy do her hair to receiving flowers afterwards (though she said she wanted a stuffed animal, instead). After the show (12:30-2:30p), she crashed in the car--something she almost never does. Total and utter exhaustion (not to mention recovering from whatever sickness struck her earlier in the week).

Since the recital, she has caught dance fever. She does parts of the show, but even better, she tries to do some of the "ballet jumps" she watched other dancers perform. She even attempts these jumps while jumping in the pool. I've had to ask her to step off the outdoor ottoman several times as she is now using it as her personal stage (believe me, it's not big enough for that).

I thought Kate was mildly interested in dance and didn't really know if I'd be signing her up again this fall, but after this experience I can promise you this...we will be dancing next year!!

Check out the video here. Kate's hard to spot in the grand finale, she is to the right of the stage and often blocked by an older dancer.

Glitterama

There is someone at Walt Disney World/Disney Store merchandising who is cracking up every time he (it must be a man, no woman could do this to other women) sees the sales reports for the princess dresses. Why, you ask? Because that sick person knows that houses everywhere have been infused with pixie dust, a.k.a. GLITTER!

We bought Kate her first two official Disney dress-up princess gowns in late June. They were a mean deal, especially with Papa's help. She couldn't wait to try them on. We took them out of the bag and I noticed right away the enormous amount of glitter pouring off the dress. I'm not exaggerating. It left a nice pile in front of my closet where she admired herself in the full-length mirror...and the trail followed throughout the house. Anything she touched or walked by now has glitter sparkling off of it (it even made it all the way to Keith's chair at work). And, as I write, I notice my arms are sparkling, my dress and, of course, if I look in the mirror, I will surely see some on my face. Of course, I'm not covered in it like Kate. She looks as if she's just seen Tinker Bell and had a nice flight with her!

Tonight I spent an hour vacuuming the house while Daddy gave Kate her bath in hopes that with us being out of the house tomorow, she won't wear the dresses. Of course, when she came out of the tub, she still had glitter on her face and in her hair. I'm sure I'll eventually get used to the new sparkly Kate...and hopefully I will eventually stop noticing the new gleam to my kitchen floor, counter, couch, carpet....everything and stop cursing whatever designer thought children needed their dress up clothes to sparkle.

Fast forward 3 months to September (when this is really being posted). We're still wearing the dresses almost every day. Kate especially favors the Cinderella dress (the other is Princess Aurora's pink dress...aka Sleeping Beauty). Surprisingly, Kate prefers Cinderella's blue dress despite the fact that her favorite color is pink. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that she finally watched the Cinderella movie in August and fell in love with it as I knew she would. She adores the mice and who doesn't love Cinderella?! She appreciates that it's not super scary like some of the other princess movies (i.e. Princess and the Frog and Sleeping Beauty).

The glitter has declined, sort of. Last Saturday, I finally spent the day cleaning the house--I mean, really cleaning it--all day. As I was putting the vacuum away at the end of the day, she looked at me and said, "Can I put on my Cinderella dress?" As if she felt the glitter removed and had to instantly replace it. I grumbled a little, but pulled out the dress and put it on her and watched her dance around happily.

Kate Sings, Dances for Aunt Betty

Kate Turns 3!

Kate eagerly anticipated her Tigger & Pooh birthday party for weeks. She talked about it everyday and continues to talk about it today. Her birthday kicks off the official season where we have a birthday party (and sometimes two) every week following. When we talk about her friends' birthdays, she always proudly announces, "I had a Tigger & Pooh party!"

Papa Paul came over a couple weeks before the party to help draw a few trees to transform the family room into the "Hundred Acre Woods." He spent hours drawing and painting three 8-ft trees with Keith while I created hunny pots. Keith also made several signs to complete the look.

Grandma Sandy and Aunt Jennifer came over the day before the party to help me get all the food ready and assist with putting up our decorations. It was terrific to have the extra hands this year. I actually had time to put on makeup, relax for a few minutes and greet our guests as they arrived.

After about an hour, "Eeyore" made an appearance and the kids were able to enjoy donkey rides. This was the highlight of Kate's day! At the end of the day, she said, "mommy, my favorite part was Eeyore.

The kids also pinned tails on a drawing of Eeyore and put on their Super Sleuth badges to help us solve our mystery and find Pooh (a pinata) and of course bounced away in the bouncehouse and played on the swingset.

Kate ripped through her presents in good time this year. Among her favorites are her pillow pet, Minnie dresses, a stuffed Pooh bear and Miss Bunny, Melissa and Doug grocery cart, stuffed Barney (the only thing she actually asked for) & cloth butterfly backpack (perfect size for Kate). She loves her new Olivia books and is having lots of fun in the bath tub with her swimming doll, bath baby and musical bath instruments. What a lucky girl. She was fascinated with her new Care Bears DVD for several days, but mommy and daddy weren't as big a fan as Kate, so we let her watch her first Disney movie...Pinnochio (one of her gifts). She is hooked and has been pretending to be Pinocchio all week.

At the end of the day, Kate (and mommy and daddy) all wanted to have a nice dinner at our favorite local restaurant...Giovanni's, of course! It was a perfect day for Kate.

Amazingly, Kate started complaining about her ears hurting around naptime the following day. When she awoke, she continued to cry and complain (something she's never done before). Keith and I were off to the doctor's office (yes, Sunday hours, thank goodness) to learn she had a double ear infection. Poor girl. Thank goodness it didn't start to bother her until after her special day.

A Rocky Start to 2011...

I scribbled some notes to include in Kate's blog around the middle of January. Things were hectic after the New Year. It started off great. Papa Ron turned 75 and we had a celebration for him--Kate really enjoyed decorating his hotel room and of course singing to him! After Papa's birthday, we went to the circus for a friend's birthday. Kate LOVED the circus, the animals, clowns. She spent a couple weeks pretending to be a "silly clown" and carried around her beloved White Bengel Tiger for a couple of weeks.

Then, I got really sick (in hindsight, I think it was a touch of the flu) and so did sweet Kate, but I didn't want to forget some of the amazing things she was doing...changes were slight, but major. She began drawing arms and legs on Mr. Potato Head-like faces, her circles were becoming rounder, she began playing school, working and enjoying puzzles and loving her new play-doh ice cream set. She suddenly tried and successfully could turn knobs and open doors. I wanted to write about how she was becoming a little girl instead of a toddler and how that brought feelings of joy and sadness together.

And then my life changed drastically. I was offered a part-time opportunity with a public relations firm and Kate would be going to school three days a week. I frantically began searching the area for the best school/daycare situation for her. It broke my heart. Nothing fit perfectly and I had to compromise no matter what I chose. I finally settled on a brand new place that had just opened at the beginning of the year. It had only a few kids in Kate's class at that point and they were willing to work with my weird Monday, Tuesday, Thursday schedule. My first day would be January 31.

The first week went far worse than I ever could have imagined. Overall, Kate did okay. She didn't cry or scream when I left like other children do, but she did have a major potty accident--something that had not happened ever before. I can't describe how terrible I felt...like I had failed her.

And just when I didn't think things could get worse, they did. My mom went into the hospital on January 24...or maybe the 25th. I didn't learn she was there for two days. I was so engrossed in preparing for work and finding the perfect school for Kate that I wasn't paying much attention. Besides, mom had been in and out so many times, it almost seemed routine. It didn't seem to be going well this time, though. Keith and I talked about going to visit over the weekend. Kate was still sick and actually on antibiotics, so we decided to stay away. Besides, we had lots of plans to see mom and dad in February, so we would let her get healthy.

The problem is she never got healthy and never left the hospital. Things headed down a terrible path beginning my first day of work. Ironic, right? Mom couldn't breathe and agreed to go on a ventilator. My dad had called on Tues to tell me that things were really bad and that she was sedated and that the next 24-48 hours were critical. When we spoke again on Thursday, I heard my dad crying and knew things were as bad as I suspected. He called again at 6am on Friday morning and I was in the car, packed within 30 minutes. Who knew the first time I'd be away from Kate for two days would be to say goodbye to my mom? I always thought mom would be the one I left Kate with when I was finally brave enough to go away for a weekend.

So now she is gone and the gaping hole left in my heart and the hearts of so many throbs with emptiness and sorrow. Kate has never experienced loss...when my mother died, Kate was just over a year old, so she has no memories of that loss. And, we have only lost three toys in her 3 years of life (and one toy we amazingly found just before her 3rd birthday). Not to mention a toy certainly is not a grandmother. She knew grandma had been sick. We prayed for her so often and had been praying nightly for her up to her death. When I told her what happened, she quietly lay next to both Keith and me during our morning snuggle, absorbing it all. I told her grandma was with God and Jesus and we would not see her anymore. I told her Papa Paul was very sad and that he needed us to cheer him up. I'm thankful she's young enough not to feel the sense of loss the rest of us feel and am so happy that she has accepted the loss so matter of factly. We remember grandma with pictures, oodles of disney gear that she had purchased and most of all, the fun we had with her, but she does not ask where she is or why she didn't come to her birthday party and I find this completely and utterly amazing.

So this year, filled with changes and sadness has been a rough start. I know it will get better--we have much to celebrate this year as Keith and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage and I will turn 40 (somehow that is going to be a happy occasion, I think...). I do have much to be thankful for even if I miss staying home with Kate more than I ever imagined I could. It's amazing how much I miss the small things most: snuggling in bed reading until we felt like getting up, having a jammy day if we felt like it, and heading off to Sea World or some other fun destination on a whim. But, she is learning so much at her new school and adjusting very well .

I spoke with my wise Grandma Raymond today. How I love her. A mother of 10, and eighty-something years old (for some reason, I cannot remember right now). Anyway, she told me the biggest shock for her when she went back to work was how well the children did without her. She said she came home and dinner was on the table with homemade cake (you rock, Aunt Lillian!). She just couldn't believe it. Letting go is always the hardest part of parenting, she said.