We figured that it’s time to introduce the junior bed to Katherine, now that she’s two. We headed to SouthCenter Toys R Us, where they rolled out and delivered a crib instead of bed. Of course, we didn’t discover this until we got home, dragged the crib up the stairs and cracked open the box! Poor Steve had to package it back up, and stuff it back in the Volvo. I delivered it back to SouthCenter (yes, all 30 miles away), and had to get assistance to roll this crib into the store, wait 20 minutes in returns, before acquiring the right product.
The assembly process was a hoot. Katherine grabbed her wooden screwdriver and insisted on helping. Steve may have found the process less amusing, since she got in his way more than anything….She loves to play on the bed. But, she hasn’t gotten to napping in it yet. The first afternoon after we assembled the bed, she insisted on moving all her animals to the junior bed, tuck in her toes and leave the room. A few minutes later, I’d hear “jingle, jingle” of Lambey and her saying “mama?” I figured after 20 minutes and the third time that this was enough and now she’s back to sleeping in her crib. We’ll keep trying to nap in the bed, but it’s going to take a while to transition.
Oh Christmas Tree, Lovely Branches…
While this is K’s third Christmas, it’s the first time that she’s been able to really participate in holiday activities. We started several nights ago by building an “EZ” gingerbread house kit. It’s not clear who got messier – Steve with the frosting or Katherine “organizing” the candy. We debated whether to use the glue gun, but Steve nixed that to be traditional. Suffice to say, we’re using the glue gun next year!! We dripped about a pound of wet confectioner sugar frosting into a plastic bag, cut a hole in the bag, glued the house together and waited for it to dry. Meanwhile, I gooped frosting on gingerbread men, and Katherine glued just about every type of candy on them. They look….a bit unusual, but it’s pretty clear who worked on them. ๐ The house has a sort of disorganized look, but K loves it. I’ve had to relocate it, so that she doesn’t pick the candy off to “try it.”
A few days later, we went to Redmond Town Center with friends to take their holiday train. It’s this clown train with lights that tours the parking lots at the mall. Before the train tour, the kids trooped into the Santa house and had their picture taken together. Katherine spied the candy canes and grabbed one ever so quickly. She was reluctant to sit on the stool beneath Santa, but after some convincing she sat down and proceeded to suck her candy cane. All the pictures, I think, have this stuck in her mouth (oh well!).
Yesterday night we finally purchased a big 6-7 foot noble fir. Katherine came with us to the tree sales place in Redmond and watched Steve and the tree guy poke and shake trees. We finally selected a nice thick tree. As the tree guy carried it to the car, Katherine exclaimed “Dada, open car trunk!” We carefully drove the tree home on top of the wagon and put it in the living room. It was fun, but slightly crazy couple hours as Steve strung the lights, K took ornaments out of the Christmas boxes and insisted on trying to put hooks in them. It got a little dicey when she got to the glass ornaments – no causalities until this morning when she pulled one of the tree and it broke.
Today, we made our third annual visit to Nordstorm Santa. K was pretty apprehensive about sitting on Santa’s lap. Steve carried her to the front of the line and they stood to the side watching Santa for almost half an hour. By the end of the half hour, Steve had convinced K that if she sat on Santa’s lap, that she would get a treat or candy cane. She was pretty enthused, running and almost reaching the candy cane basket a few times before our turn. Of course, we got to Santa finally and she exclaimed “no, no, no Santa!” We ended up doing the bye-bye Santa trick, where he leaves obviously and then sneaks behind the chair to get the picture at the last minute. Katherine was so freaked by the incident that I had to sit in the chair holding her with Steve perched on the side of the chair.
