Outside with Oma

Because my parents and sisters were away for Memorial Day, Katie, Peter and I made 2 trips over the weekend to NJ to visit Oma. Saturday was a beautiful day and we sat outside with Oma on the nursing home patio. It was the first time in a while that Katie actively wanted to sit in Oma's lap. She even reached her arms up to Oma to have her pick her up. Luckily, we didn't let Oma try to do that. I love this picture. Katie and Oma are having a conversation and it's not a posed photo-op like many of the other pictures together (guilty as charged, but I need pictures of the 2 of them). Oma made the best comment about Katie on Monday. She said Katie was going to grow up to think that life is just one big party because she's always so happy. I hope she always stays that way.

I liked this picture of Katie and Peter. As you can see, Katie's discovered juice. As my friends Marcia & Oren warned me, you want to put off juice as long as possible because that's all they want to drink and it's empty calories. But don't disregard the role of peers among the 2-year-old set. Katie got very upset last week when we were at Hippo park and Grace and Erika had juice boxes and she didn't. So I'm saving juice for "we're out of the house, you can have a little" and still only when she asks for it.

Katie is also really into dresses right now. It's often her first choice of clothing, though I have to convince her otherwise if we are going to the playground. This cute one is hand-me-down from Robin. Thanks. She likes to sleep in a "dress," ie a nightgown. Peter and I have an ongoing debate about whether she is old enough for something that won't cover her. Katie's a pretty restless sleeper and doesn't stay under the covers, let alone even on the same side of the crib.

Katie and Meadow

I love this picture of the girls! Katie now loves walking Meadow. She holds the end of the leash, I hold the middle, and we walk in the neighborhood. She even gives Meadow a treat and says "Good Girl."

Pool time in Dallas

We spent a lot of time in Dallas hanging out by the pool. Peter and I are big pool lounging fans so it doesn't get much better than that! Here are some pictures to share.

Katie's "My Lesley." Using the word "My" is a real sign of affection for Katie.

We all still prefer Yeshey though.

Like our matching dresses? Thanks Dima for making us twins -31 years apart.

We're going to the zoo zoo zoo

A highlight of our trip to Dallas was a trip to the zoo on Papa's birthday. Papa loves the zoo and so do I. We last went to the Dallas zoo when Katie was 7-months-old and she didn't quite have the same appreciation for the animals that she has now. She loved seeing the animals! If you ask her, she'll tell you that the "turtles" were her favorites. They were actually 600 pound Galapogos tortoises. She also loved the elephants, half of the family is assuming that this is not political commentary... But speaking of politics, the following was a sign in front of one of the monkeys at the zoo. Why must people make anthropomorphic value judgments about animals' sex lives????

We left for the zoo a little later than ideal, so Katie was pretty tired. We only did half of the zoo and Katie was almost falling asleep in her strollers, so that's when we did the shoulder rides above pic has a lion behind K &P).

Cousin Donny offered to carry Katie, but she'd have no part of it, as you see above. Donny was a great person to go to the zoo with. He's in the meat business and it turns out that if it's been on the menu, he's eaten it.

The birthday boy holds Katie up to see the monkeys.

Happy Birthday Papa!

We had such a great time in Dallas. We have tons of pictures to share, including a special trip to the zoo for Papa's birthday. He claims he's 50, but we know the truth. Nana dressed Katie up in her finest jewels so here's a picture.

Swimming in Dallas

We're in Dallas for Papa's birthday and Katie has finally noticed there's a pool in the backyard. Last time we were here she called it "dirty water." I took a nap (what a shock) and Katie went swimming. The funniest part was that they couldn't find the swim diapers, so they put Katie in a regular diaper. Diapers and pools don't mix. Exhibit A

Swimming like a turtle

It's so amusing to hear what Katie comes up with. Each morning I wake up and think, what funny thing is Katie going to say today?

Yesterday, we were talking to Peter on speakerphone while she was eating dinner. He said, "What are you doing Katie?" and she said, "Guess."

Tuesday night, Peter was giving Katie a bath when she decides that she wants to float on her tummy. She says "I'm swimming like a turtle!" Katie wasn't swimming like a fish, like most people would say, no, she was swimming like a turtle. I don't remember her having any great affinity for turtles, but we did go to Central Park two times a few weeks ago and we saw the turtles swim in turtle pond. My guess is that's what she's remembering because she actually saw turtles swim, whereas she hasn't seen any fish swim.

She calls her sandals her "candles."

This picture was in my parents' driveway last weekend. She had a great time drawing with chalk with Daddy and of course getting chalk all over herself. She first called chalk "chocolate," but I think she got over that one, perhaps disappointingly. Aunt Rachel had a dinner party at my parents' house last Saturday night and Katie was the only child invited. We had tried to get a sitter, but I think Rachel wanted to show her off a bit and we knew Katie would go to sleep before dinner was served. It worked out great for everyone. Katie was happily dressed in her pretty purple dress (see Passover picture) and got to play with Aunt Rachel's friends. And then she went to sleep without much fuss in "Mommy's crib" upstairs. We woke her up when it was time to go home and she went back to sleep in her own crib a half-hour later.

Katie's newest expression is "Oh. Thank you." It goes something like this. "Where's my milk Mommy?" "In the refrigerator Katie." "Oh," pause, "Thank you."

Erika come over

Erika and Kelli were over one afternoon last week and Kelli and were chatting in Katie's room when we realized the girls were too quiet. They were in the (dry) bathtub playing with the toys. Considering Erika still looks for the afikomen in the toilet (we don't know why!), this wasn't too bad.

Katie continues to be a social butterfly. The difference is that now she specifically asks to play with her friends. She'll say "Erika come over" or "Go play Kevin's playroom." I love that she's developed relationships with her friends that go beyond my throwing her together with the children of my friends. What's funny is that last Saturday night Rachel was talking about how we were always thrown together with the kids of our parents' friends and now we choose to be friends with them independent of the older generation. What a great thing it is for us and I hope that Katie does this in the future too...

A busy day for Katie

Katie had a really busy weekend. We had Sorin's birthday on Saturday and Maddy's on Sunday. For the first time, I took Katie to a weekend party without Peter because he had to stay home while they did emergency repair work on our kitchen pipes. It makes me want to move because it's the second water leak in the past month, but then if we owned the place, we'd have to pay for all the repairs... Anyway, Maddy is Rachel's really great friend Mindy's daughter and she is turning 2. I've known Mindy since I was 8 and she's wonderful and it's so funny that now we have kids the same age. And there at Maddy's birthday party was someone I went to college with. Such a small world. Katie had a great time at the party. It was at a kids' gym and she went on the uneven bars and the zipline - this was neat, so here's a picture. And then after the party, we went to visit Oma with Aunt Rachel since she is very close. It's always more fun to visit Oma with Katie - she brings life to the place. And then, if the day wasn't long enough for Katie, we went out to dinner with Aunt Lesley and Papa, who was in on business from Dallas. We went to a very child-friendly restaurant, but Katie really wanted no part of it. She didn't want to sit down, she didn't want to eat much (which is completely not like her). I felt bad because Alan doesn't see her that often, but of course he understood that Katie can't always be on great behavior.

Happy Birthday Sorin

Here's Katie and her buddies Emma, Erika, and Aidan playing at their friend Sorin's birthday party. They all had a great time! We told Katie the day before that tomorrow she was going to Sorin's birthday party. The next morning we hear her singing in her crib when she woke up. She sang "Happy Birthday Sorin."

Breakfast with Puppies

Many kids of security objects. Katie uses hers to sleep with. I may have mentioned this before, but it wasn't until she was about 11-months-old that she became attached to any particular stuffed animal (and she has many), but she finally settled on "Puppy." Puppy, is actually 2 puppies, and she sleeps with both. We have a kennel full of puppies I bought once I realized that they were a necessary bedtime criteria, but Katie only likes the worn ones, the ones who get a bath every week in the laundry. Katie had a "sleepover" with her friend Erika on Friday night - we shared Ania while the parents went to a wonderful Shabbat dinner at our friend Beth's house. I set up the pack 'n play for Erika and Katie put one of her beloved worn puppies for Erika. Katie said, "Erika sleepover, Erika need a puppy." Wow - comprehension and compassion for Katie. If only she shared a little better on a regular basis...

Katie decided to take the Puppies out of the crib the other morning when she got up and they joined her at the breakfast table. It was cute so I took a picture and Katie said "Mommy took a picture, Katie eating oatmeal." She speaks in full sentences now. Her vocabulary is just booming, I can't keep track of it all. Yesterday morning she said to Meadow "What's the matter Meadow?"

Katie has a "pretty tail"

I like this picture of Peter and Katie. It was at Emma's birthday party and Katie's wearing one of the cute outfits that Nana bought her. In case you wonder why Katie smiles in so many of these pictures, it's really because she's such a smiley child. I don't just pick the ones where she's smiling - they are almost all like that!

Katie has a "pretty tail" in her hair, not a pony tail. Very cute. And she tells me "Sammed up Mommy" when she wants me to stand up. Her vocabulary is just booming right now and it's amazing to hear what she comes up with. She came back from Dima's saying "yeah," which she hadn't said before. Finally, another affirmative. She also knows a lot of her numbers now. She can press 5 in the elevator, which is an accomplishment only a city mom can be proud of.

Mommy and Daddy go Belize

So we left Katie with my parents while we went to Rohit and Hilary's wedding in Belize. We had to take 3 planes, including a very, very small one to get to the remote location, where we were met with many creepy crawlies and high heat and humidity. The rustic resort was complete with romantic mosquito netting over the bed. We're still itching from the experience. But I have to say that the plane wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (I almost didn't go because of it and I didn't even take the ativan). It was nice to get away and it was a good lesson for Katie that Mommy and Daddy go away, but they come back too.

Katie had a blast with my parents, or maybe I should say that they had a blast with her. My mom got a day off from work and Mom and Katie got to hang out with Aunt Elizabeth's mom Karen, so they all had fun. On Saturday, Katie's cousin Robin came over, they went to the children's museum, and Robin and Katie had their first sleepover! Katie slept in "Mommy's crib" and Robin slept in the "big bed." Katie came back talking about baby Ella sleeping in the doll cradle (my old doll cradle I brought down from the attic). I asked if she had named Baby. No, Baby is still Baby. Ella, it turns out, is Robin's stuffed baby elephant. Both Baby and Ella slept in the cradle with the blanket that Karen made my dolls for my 4th birthday. I love that Katie can tell me stories now. It's so much fun.

Thanks to Jill for lending me her great dress (again!), Ania for watching Katie at 6:30 am(!) and Kelli for having yet another Katie playdate so she'd feel at home.