LeVines

The Playdate

Katherine had an amazing playdate today. It started with Steve and Katherine visiting the Fialas while I had my workout. They dropped in, said hi and caught up. Apparently, Mandy their golden retriever brought Katherine her leash – once attached, they walked around the house.

They picked me up at the Pro Club and we headed off to the LeVines. Katherine played with her friend Sid and her older friends Adam and Derek. Playing consisted of staring at each other, playing with Sid’s toys and only occasionally vying for the same items. We had a couple very cute moments. Katherine took a real hankering to Suzi’s straw hat from Cuba. Our daughter looked very adorable in the big straw hat! She also played with Maggie, their poodle who really wanted to lick Katherine’s face and hands. Katherine probably spent 10 minutes on Eric’s lap squealing as Maggie licked her hands. They’re now fast friends.

After this busy morning, Katherine was beat. She fell asleep on the car ride home and woke up a couple hours later. We all rolled around and headed down the hill to the local toy store where we loaded up on blocks and birthday toys. Katherine was on a tear at the store, she kept running and grabbing Hello Kitty merchandise (oh please) and anything within reach. So, finally, I took her out to the sidewalk and Steve bought a ton of stuff.

We went to a party for Ian and India – who were turning 3 and 1. They had a couple Step 2 plastic outdoor structures in their new house (intended for outdoor use), and the kids had an amazing time. Katherine in particular loved the Storybook house with the plastic phone and patio chair. She would stand on the patio chair, grab the phone and walk around. She seemed a bit overwhelmed at times by the other kids screaming around the house and running thru the plastic house. On the whole though, Katherine played very well with the other kids and we had no major mishaps. She also loved their slide. Apparently, she walked up the stairs and even turned around once and slid down the slide backwards!! I missed this of course, but Steve swears it happens. After the party, we went to Coho to have dinner with Audrey and her parents. We ordered her chicken nuggets for dinner. It came with fries and grapes. She wolfed down the grapes first, then 6 or 7 fries that we left on her plate (we took a bunch off her plate). She jammed 2 or 3 in her mouth. Only after she was done did she stuff down pieces of the nuggets.

Overall, Katherine had quite a day. We went home, played with the PlayDoh and other party favors, had a quick bath, drank a cup of milk. Katherine passed out without a protest or cry tonight. I expect that she’ll sleep through the night.

More Words…

Katherine continues to become more verbal and it’s just so much fun to hear her talk. She now says “daw” for dog and “hei” for hi and “up” pretty regularly. We stopped by our local cider house. She spied their small dogs and sad “hei” and motioned for down. I put her down and she immediately put her hands out to touch the dogs. I confirmed that the dogs are friendly, and the teeny dog barked, wagged and jumped on Katherine. Well, she just loved it. Last night, she said “apble.” We were so proud and said “yes, apple apple apple”

She totally understands everything we say. I asked her to find Toby Bear and she’ll pick him out of her assortment of bears. She follows instruction very well – from helping to put on her coat to going to the front door to help with Bisco (and handing us his towel). She understands our routines and looks forward to participating.

Sense of humor

Now that Katherine understands what’s going on, she gets the biggest kick out of the smallest things. For instance, she kept pointing up to helium filled balloons at the party. Of course, I couldn’t reach them because they were up on the ceiling and the string were out of reach. So, i had to jump to get them. Katherine chuckled at that. She also brought toby bear in the car with her for our ride today. She would clutch him and then drop him at some point, making um umming sounds to get our attention. I would reach around, grab the bear and push it up and she would grab him out of my hands. She really liked toby peeking around the front car seat to say hi and seeing him moving around the car (courtesy of mom).

I jinxed us by saying that she would sleep thru the night. she just woke up with a big blowout. I think she had too many grapes today – or maybe it was the fries. Anyway, she’s pretty unhappy – better go manage the situation.

Painting a couple weeks ago

I just found pictures from Katherine’s first finger-painting exercise back on January 24th. Steve, Katherine and I went to a teachers store and got an easel, finger paints, bowls and finger painting paper. I had also purchased a plastic vest to theoretically keep her clean. We setup shop on the hardwood floor with newspaper underneath. Katherine was a bit puzzled initially and watched me paint. She caught on, dipped her finger in a bowl, and then put finger to paper. After a few minutes, we had a nice picture – courtesy of the whole family. We had to put Bisco behind the gate, or he would have contributed too.

As I explained to Steve, I learned two valuable lessons. One, put newspaper over the carpet in the kitchen. Two, wear clothes that I don’t mind getting paint on. The good news is that this is very much washable paint.