When John and I were dating, many people asked when we were getting married (the fact that most of them asked me and not him is worthy of an entirely different blog post). As soon as we were married, the question became when are we going to have a baby. I was sure that as soon as we had Katrina, all the queries to see how we placed on the ladder of social normalcy would end. Not so. It wasn’t three weeks after Katrina was born, that we heard “When are you going to have another one?” Because you know, my hormone tornado-swept, just-pushed-out-a-watermelon body was ready to cope with that question! As an aside, the day Katrina was baptized, a member of the congregation came up to us and said “Since you make such beautiful children, I hope that you will be a good Catholic and have a large family soon.” As if the entry way to Heaven was guarded by a child-friendly, number-loving god. “Only one kid? Nope, can’t get in.”
John started out wanting one child and I started out wanting three. So we did what any newly wed couple would do – we compromised on two. But at three months into parenthood, when John, holding Katrina said “This isn’t so bad, I think I could see us having three,” it was pretty easy for me to make the leap again. So now that we want more kids, the obvious question is when, followed by the next question how?
The when is pretty easy to answer – not right now. As I get used to my new job and as John is in the middle of determining where he is going to be job-wise next year, we aren’t ready to add a new addition right this second. Which is giving us the space to contemplate the how. If we end up with three kids, we’ve discussed and agreed on adding a child through adoption. This stems from my zero population growth mentality (although it is clear that it isn’t how many kids you have as much as how many resources are used – again, worth another blog post). So our big decision is if we are going to try to have another biological kid or expand our family through adoption first. We are spending our time reading about domestic versus international adoption (leaning towards international), attachment parenting, and other adoption specific issues as we mull over the endless possibilities.
At the end of the day, the answer to “When are you going to have another child?” can be summarized as “Who knows?” We hope to be able to answer that question soon, but for now we are enjoying being parents together in the same zip code and we are having a blast at that.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Another first!
Here is Katrina's first picture that she has taken with help from John to stabilize the camera. Artistic, no?
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Barnyard theme
I should totally be doing work right now, but after working 14 hours (with a couple of breaks - putting Kiki to bed, etc), I'm taking a fifteen minute internet break. Which of course means more blog updates.
Last year for Katrina's first birthday party, we threw a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" themed party. I wrote out the pages of the story and taped them up on the wall with pictures of Katrina at various stages throughout the year. For her second birthday however, we opted to go for a barnyard theme.
It all started with Katrina's love of tractors, which began last year when we went strawberry picking. Since then, whenever she sees tractors, she has been super excited. Since we don't want to go theme-crazy around here, we chose a couple of key ways to thematically go with the idea. So I thought I would post the first percolation of Kiki's bday theme - the invite.
Most of our friends got evites with a very cute pic of Katrina. However, we are inviting three of her daycare friends, who got homemade invites. Kind of on the folksy side, but barnyardy nonetheless. The inside reads "Cluck Baa Moo, Katrina's turning two! She's hoping at her hoedown that she will see you!" What are you doing for your kid's second birthday or what have you done? I love to see and hear ideas!
Last year for Katrina's first birthday party, we threw a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" themed party. I wrote out the pages of the story and taped them up on the wall with pictures of Katrina at various stages throughout the year. For her second birthday however, we opted to go for a barnyard theme.
It all started with Katrina's love of tractors, which began last year when we went strawberry picking. Since then, whenever she sees tractors, she has been super excited. Since we don't want to go theme-crazy around here, we chose a couple of key ways to thematically go with the idea. So I thought I would post the first percolation of Kiki's bday theme - the invite.
Most of our friends got evites with a very cute pic of Katrina. However, we are inviting three of her daycare friends, who got homemade invites. Kind of on the folksy side, but barnyardy nonetheless. The inside reads "Cluck Baa Moo, Katrina's turning two! She's hoping at her hoedown that she will see you!" What are you doing for your kid's second birthday or what have you done? I love to see and hear ideas!
TP Fun
I almost thought that she would grab the whole roll off and decorate the bathroom. At least the light in the bathroom made for some good shots!
First snow
Life here has been hectic, and not in the best of ways. Last week my computer finally bit the dust - I can't even turn it on. This is oh so bad. Not only can I not access pictures, posts to the blog, etc., but also files that I need for work. The day my computer died, I also lost my wallet (found), keys (found), and had experiments that didn't work (they finally did). To top it all off, I am coming down with a cold. All this is a means to apologize for slacking off on the blog. John has been busy too. He is giving a talk on Thursday and next week he is giving a job talk.
So...lucky you! We are going to inundate the blog with lots of posts to catch up before Katrina's birthday on Sunday. Here are pictures from Katrina's first play in the snow (and by snow we mean the white fluffy stuff that doesn't stay on the ground for very long here in Bawlmer). She loved it and calls it scrunchy and snoooo.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Three words (or bragging about your child)
This is a fun activity that some moms I know have been playing. The question is “If you were to describe your child in three words only, what would they be?” This is a question that in one form or another, has been percolating through my mind since the day Katrina was born. It is really hard to attribute characteristics to your child, especially your first, without knowing if what you are observing are normal developmental stages or truly their own personalities shining through. However, approaching two years of observations both of Katrina and other children in her age cohort, it has become a bit easier. The three top characteristics that I would assign to Katrina (in no particular order) are:
A sense of humor – sure, all kids like to giggle and laugh. But with Katrina, it is a mission. She not only likes to laugh when someone tries to amuse her, but she also asks us to make funny faces, to tickle her, and to chase her. Laughter is expected to be turned on and off at a moment’s notice. Katrina also loves to make us laugh. She tries very hard to be serious (with the lower lip jutting out) and then to catch your eye to see if you think she is funny (we often do). She likes to play the “Where is it?” game where she hides her hand, fingers, spoon, stuffed animal, or other object, then walks around with her shoulder shrugged and arms in the air, asking “Is it?” Only when you start to “look” too, does she pull her item, giggling “Ta-da!” that she has tricked you into being silly with her. We have often gotten reports from daycare of Katrina spending tens of minutes cornering some kid into a giggling showdown, so it seems as though she is also sharing her humor. It is true that Katrina is not all laughter when she first meets you or sees you after a long pause, (she often seems shy and observant), once she warms up to you, she is all about smiling and laughing. I hope that this is a trait that will remain and help her through the ups and downs that life will throw her way.
A sense of fairness – Although Katrina is definitely going through her “Mine! Mine!” stage typical of those approaching two, she has also exhibited an unusual sense of fairness. If she is playing with a toy that someone else wants to play with and we tell her that it is someone else’s turn, she hands over the toy. This doesn’t mean that she does it without reservations – she will often hang around and after 10 seconds or 10 minutes, proclaim “Trina’s turn!” In addition to understanding the idea of turns, Katrina also makes sure that she distributes things fairly. Whenever she is making coffee in her play kitchen, we all get a cup (along with instructions “Hot! Blow, blow!”). Whenever she is ripping up old mail, we all get pieces of the trash. Whenever Daddy tires of flying her around the room, she proclaims “Mommy’s turn.”
Curiosity and drive – Yes, all children are curious, and I held out on ascribing this trait to Katrina for a really long time for that very reason. But the truth is that we hear “That?” all day long and are often able to help her transition from one activity to another by the promise of something new. She always wants to be held to see what the other parent is cooking on the stove; she loves to point out different things on our walks. Katrina seems able to work on a problem to try to solve it (especially when we aren’t in the room to be asked for help) and I don’t often see her abandon a project until it is done (although it can be left temporarily). We are trying to encourage her hard work and the biggest reward is the sense of pride and achievement that she gets on her face when something finally goes her way. It is really heart warming to see.
While I know that this is a list of three things, other characteristics that I would ascribe to the Kikster are: an independence streak, a good mix of caution and socialness, and a love of reading.
A sense of humor – sure, all kids like to giggle and laugh. But with Katrina, it is a mission. She not only likes to laugh when someone tries to amuse her, but she also asks us to make funny faces, to tickle her, and to chase her. Laughter is expected to be turned on and off at a moment’s notice. Katrina also loves to make us laugh. She tries very hard to be serious (with the lower lip jutting out) and then to catch your eye to see if you think she is funny (we often do). She likes to play the “Where is it?” game where she hides her hand, fingers, spoon, stuffed animal, or other object, then walks around with her shoulder shrugged and arms in the air, asking “Is it?” Only when you start to “look” too, does she pull her item, giggling “Ta-da!” that she has tricked you into being silly with her. We have often gotten reports from daycare of Katrina spending tens of minutes cornering some kid into a giggling showdown, so it seems as though she is also sharing her humor. It is true that Katrina is not all laughter when she first meets you or sees you after a long pause, (she often seems shy and observant), once she warms up to you, she is all about smiling and laughing. I hope that this is a trait that will remain and help her through the ups and downs that life will throw her way.
A sense of fairness – Although Katrina is definitely going through her “Mine! Mine!” stage typical of those approaching two, she has also exhibited an unusual sense of fairness. If she is playing with a toy that someone else wants to play with and we tell her that it is someone else’s turn, she hands over the toy. This doesn’t mean that she does it without reservations – she will often hang around and after 10 seconds or 10 minutes, proclaim “Trina’s turn!” In addition to understanding the idea of turns, Katrina also makes sure that she distributes things fairly. Whenever she is making coffee in her play kitchen, we all get a cup (along with instructions “Hot! Blow, blow!”). Whenever she is ripping up old mail, we all get pieces of the trash. Whenever Daddy tires of flying her around the room, she proclaims “Mommy’s turn.”
Curiosity and drive – Yes, all children are curious, and I held out on ascribing this trait to Katrina for a really long time for that very reason. But the truth is that we hear “That?” all day long and are often able to help her transition from one activity to another by the promise of something new. She always wants to be held to see what the other parent is cooking on the stove; she loves to point out different things on our walks. Katrina seems able to work on a problem to try to solve it (especially when we aren’t in the room to be asked for help) and I don’t often see her abandon a project until it is done (although it can be left temporarily). We are trying to encourage her hard work and the biggest reward is the sense of pride and achievement that she gets on her face when something finally goes her way. It is really heart warming to see.
While I know that this is a list of three things, other characteristics that I would ascribe to the Kikster are: an independence streak, a good mix of caution and socialness, and a love of reading.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Cowgirl
I will post more tonight or tomorrow if I have time, but I just wanted to show off the hat I got Katrina in Austin. She finally wanted to wear it!!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Update on Katrina
So as several of you know, Katrina has been out with a bad stomach bug. Ok, maybe it hasn't been that bad, but as the first full blown stomach flu that she has had, it has been rough for all of us, John included as he arrived safely home over the weekend (boy was I glad to see him!). That is primarily why there are no new pictures of the weebeastie and why my posts have sounded a bit discombobulated. After staying home for three days, after cleaning out the carseat of vomit twice (word to the wise - if your significant other put in the carseat, learn how to both put it in and take it out. It will save you a lot of time and frustration!), after doses of pedialyte and nothing much more than pasta, rice, and crackers for five days, Katrina is doing better. We think. Today is her first day back at daycare, after being in high spirits yesterday. We are hoping that she is almost all recovered and that we won't be exposed to the remaining 71 stomach bugs out there any time soon.
Year Two of Drowning in Kid Stuff
Last year it was pretty easy to come up with a list of things that were really essential for us to have as parents (well at least things that made life truly easier). Since we have heard from a couple of new parents that the list was useful, we thought we would do a repeat. This year, it is a bit harder to come up with a similar list. It isn’t because we don’t use things – we do, everyday in fact. It is more because it is hard to deem that something is really essential. So after much thinking and pondering, here is our list for year two. Most of these things make life easier, but I feel positive that if we didn’t have the majority of them, we would have found something else to take their place.
Lotions – Katrina has really dry skin and we would have been lost without Eucerin, Vaseline (for her thumb), and a prescription of Eucerin-hydrocortisone. I know – not a glamorous way to start off the list, but probably one of the things that we have used the most.
Books, books, and books – again, another generic category, but without a doubt, this is Katrina’s favorite set of items to play with. She loves to read. The only way that we can get her to sit through diaper changing in the morning is if we give her a book to read. We read in the evening a minimum of three books, and on the weekends many, many more. She already has a bookshelf half filled with her own books and a basket downstairs and one in her room. When she wakes up in the morning, she has books in her crib to keep her busy until we can come pick her up. This love of reading has developed more recently in the last six months. Her current favorites are: Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever, My Big Tractor Book, The Monster at the End of This Book, and anything by Doctor Seuss. We just got library cards two weeks ago, so Katrina has been in love with all the tractor and race car books that we brought home, along with the Cookie Monster book (but only if read in a cookie monster voice).
Blocks – if books are her favorite things to do, blocks come in a close second. She has loved blocks for a long time, but in the past year has learned that she can make her own towers to knock down. This is very exciting and has resulted in our living room carpet sprayed with wooden blocks, plastic blocks, and fabric blocks.
Babylegs – a throwback to the days of eighties legwarmers, these were particularly useful for us in State College. Babylegs really do make diaper changing a lot easier than tights and were a good extra layer under pants and dresses. A bit pricey, but definitely worth having at least a couple of pairs. And how can you not get the biker chick ones?
Robeez shoes – Before Katrina was walking, we used Robeez to keep her socks on (the cheaper, pretty nice knockoffs at Target were much easier to pull off). Once she started walking, we still kept her in Robeez almost all the time because the thin rubber soles are recommended by pediatricians for being helpful in teaching infants how to balance on their feet. The nice thing about Robeez is that they also hold up really well. We have three pairs that we are saving for future kids.
Froggy – I don’t have a picture of this toy, nor can I tell you who makes it because I cut off the tag when I bought it, but Katrina has a small flat frog that is her constant companion at naptime and bedtime. Puppy and bear and baby and Iorek get a lot of love too, but it is froggy that is her favorite and who helps soothe her the best. Not all children have attachment objects, but when they do, I think that it makes life easier.
Big floppy hats – With Katrina’s fair skin and lack of hair until recently, it was very important for us to keep her head and face covered up during the summer months. The bigger, floppier hats seem to be the ones that she kept on her head the best. I think we got them at Target and one at Gymboree (a children’s clothing store).
Umbrella stroller and booster seat – These two pieces of equipment have definitely made life easier. We started using the booster seat when Katrina made it clear that she really preferred to sit with us at the table. The one that we got (from Fisher Price I think) has four adjustable settings and was really easy to take with us when visiting grandparents. Our lightweight umbrella stroller replaced our heavy-duty stroller sometime this year. As Katrina became more mobile and less willing to sit, the umbrella stroller was easy to just fold up and carry along and light enough for Katrina to push puppy in as well.
No cry discipline solution – This was the only book that we read this year. I didn’t think that if we had a healthy child that we would do much reading of parenting books. Then Katrina turned 16 months old and our mild mannered child began to throw fits. We weren’t sure that we were handling them in the best way and after reading reviews of toddler books, this one kept being brought up. I picked it up and was relieved to find that it reinforced a lot of the approaches that we were already taking with the mooch. Additionally, it made me realize that one of the primary reasons Katrina would have a meltdown (besides being tired), was because we weren’t giving her enough warning to know that things were going to change. So now, we tell her that in five minutes we will stop playing and go to take a nap, change diaper, etc. Then we tell her again in three minutes. This hasn’t gotten rid of all of her tantrums (if only!), but it definitely reduced them a lot. This book also has other useful suggestions that all pretty much boil down to being firm, treating your child with respect, and reminding yourself that your kid is her own person (which is easy to forget as you make the transition between baby to toddler).
Things that still got a lot of use this year – Maya pouch, pack and play, and breastpump
Lotions – Katrina has really dry skin and we would have been lost without Eucerin, Vaseline (for her thumb), and a prescription of Eucerin-hydrocortisone. I know – not a glamorous way to start off the list, but probably one of the things that we have used the most.
Books, books, and books – again, another generic category, but without a doubt, this is Katrina’s favorite set of items to play with. She loves to read. The only way that we can get her to sit through diaper changing in the morning is if we give her a book to read. We read in the evening a minimum of three books, and on the weekends many, many more. She already has a bookshelf half filled with her own books and a basket downstairs and one in her room. When she wakes up in the morning, she has books in her crib to keep her busy until we can come pick her up. This love of reading has developed more recently in the last six months. Her current favorites are: Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever, My Big Tractor Book, The Monster at the End of This Book, and anything by Doctor Seuss. We just got library cards two weeks ago, so Katrina has been in love with all the tractor and race car books that we brought home, along with the Cookie Monster book (but only if read in a cookie monster voice).
Blocks – if books are her favorite things to do, blocks come in a close second. She has loved blocks for a long time, but in the past year has learned that she can make her own towers to knock down. This is very exciting and has resulted in our living room carpet sprayed with wooden blocks, plastic blocks, and fabric blocks.
Babylegs – a throwback to the days of eighties legwarmers, these were particularly useful for us in State College. Babylegs really do make diaper changing a lot easier than tights and were a good extra layer under pants and dresses. A bit pricey, but definitely worth having at least a couple of pairs. And how can you not get the biker chick ones?
Robeez shoes – Before Katrina was walking, we used Robeez to keep her socks on (the cheaper, pretty nice knockoffs at Target were much easier to pull off). Once she started walking, we still kept her in Robeez almost all the time because the thin rubber soles are recommended by pediatricians for being helpful in teaching infants how to balance on their feet. The nice thing about Robeez is that they also hold up really well. We have three pairs that we are saving for future kids.
Froggy – I don’t have a picture of this toy, nor can I tell you who makes it because I cut off the tag when I bought it, but Katrina has a small flat frog that is her constant companion at naptime and bedtime. Puppy and bear and baby and Iorek get a lot of love too, but it is froggy that is her favorite and who helps soothe her the best. Not all children have attachment objects, but when they do, I think that it makes life easier.
Big floppy hats – With Katrina’s fair skin and lack of hair until recently, it was very important for us to keep her head and face covered up during the summer months. The bigger, floppier hats seem to be the ones that she kept on her head the best. I think we got them at Target and one at Gymboree (a children’s clothing store).
Umbrella stroller and booster seat – These two pieces of equipment have definitely made life easier. We started using the booster seat when Katrina made it clear that she really preferred to sit with us at the table. The one that we got (from Fisher Price I think) has four adjustable settings and was really easy to take with us when visiting grandparents. Our lightweight umbrella stroller replaced our heavy-duty stroller sometime this year. As Katrina became more mobile and less willing to sit, the umbrella stroller was easy to just fold up and carry along and light enough for Katrina to push puppy in as well.
No cry discipline solution – This was the only book that we read this year. I didn’t think that if we had a healthy child that we would do much reading of parenting books. Then Katrina turned 16 months old and our mild mannered child began to throw fits. We weren’t sure that we were handling them in the best way and after reading reviews of toddler books, this one kept being brought up. I picked it up and was relieved to find that it reinforced a lot of the approaches that we were already taking with the mooch. Additionally, it made me realize that one of the primary reasons Katrina would have a meltdown (besides being tired), was because we weren’t giving her enough warning to know that things were going to change. So now, we tell her that in five minutes we will stop playing and go to take a nap, change diaper, etc. Then we tell her again in three minutes. This hasn’t gotten rid of all of her tantrums (if only!), but it definitely reduced them a lot. This book also has other useful suggestions that all pretty much boil down to being firm, treating your child with respect, and reminding yourself that your kid is her own person (which is easy to forget as you make the transition between baby to toddler).
Things that still got a lot of use this year – Maya pouch, pack and play, and breastpump
Friday, January 11, 2008
Missing Daddy
John's been out this week at a conference in Austin, TX - it is going really well and he is having a lot of fun catching up with people and meeting new contacts. Katrina was pretty sad about Daddy leaving, so on Sunday I took her to the Air and Space museum in DC to see the planes like the one that Daddy went to work on. She had a lot of fun and now when I ask her "Where is Daddy?," she replies "Work. In airplane. Tsus (Texas)."
I miss John too, and nothing brought that home more than cleaning vomit from a carseat that I had never removed or installed. This after not feeling so great myself made for a couple of rather unhappy days, and while Katrina bounced back from the stomach bug/food poisoning thing pretty quickly, she seemed rather glum and clingy today. We can't wait for John to come home tomorrow. We miss you hon!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Feeding the brain
John and I have always been told that we were the smart, brainy type. We loved school, did well at our studies, and were genuinely interested in excelling at our work. That being said, we are trying a different approach with Katrina. Even before the recent study came out detailing that it is better to tell your children that they are hard workers instead of just plain smart (NYT piece that I can’t seem to find right now), I was very leery of telling Katrina that she is smart or showering her with loads of praise. I didn’t want her to just assume that she was born with intelligence – I wanted her to work hard for what she learned and I wanted her to learn things because she was interested in them, not because it was something all the smart kids were supposed to know or love. We wanted the praise that we showered on her to have a value, instead of being empty praise that she can accumulate as easily as curls on her head. We hesitated to seek out and label anything that Katrina did or said as being a sign of above average intelligence (though the same cannot be said of the grandparents, but I think that that is a universal grandparent trait!). We aren’t doing the best job of it, as evidenced by the fact that Katrina has started to tell herself “good job!” when she does something right (but after all, how can we not tell her that she does a good job when she puts her shoes on for the first time). We try to tell her “good try,” or “thanks for listening to mommy,” or “thanks for helping,” instead of “good job.” We want Katrina to grow into an adult who works hard and doesn't feel a sense of entitlement beyond our Constitutional Rights. In addition to watching the language that we use, we also didn’t want to push her into traditional educational stuff early on (like reading), especially since all research suggests that most early bloomers have adjustment issues or fade later in their childhood/early adulthood.
With these thoughts in mind, we shied away from all of the early educational stuff – Baby Einstein, Leapfrog, classical music to play in utero, flashcards, early readers primers, etc. Turns out that some of that wasn’t a bad idea. Recent research suggests that toddlers who watch educational movies may have developmental language delays. That being said…a few months ago we went to a family baby shower. The host (Hi Aunt Pam!) ended up giving a really nice goody bag to Katrina, which included alphabet flash cards. Katrina loves them. They fit into our diaper bag and are great entertainment on the road. She may not know her letters, but she does know all the pictures and has started to recognize some of the letters.
In addition to the flashcards, our next-door neighbors gave Katrina a set of alphabet cards with magnetic letters. Not only have we been playing with them almost everyday, but we are using them to review colors, pronunciation, and letters. All this “educational” stuff is on top of the heavy reading that we do – I think Katrina’s book collection will eventually rival our own, which is pretty impressive!
So how does this jive with us trying not to push the school stuff on Katrina? I guess the biggest thing that we strive for, is that all of this is Katrina led. My inner geek was worried that Katrina didn’t even like books because she couldn’t sit still through a simple picture book for almost the first whole year of her life! Eventually she did, and now she can’t get enough of it. Our goal is to talk to Katrina about everything and to provide her with the opportunities to pursue what interests her, even if it leads her off the path that we ourselves have chosen. We fully believe that children who develop an interest in learning, have one because their parents are involved in their lives. Our walks in the neighborhood involve talking about the birds and wind and planets and stars – almost anything that John and I would talk about amongst ourselves. We try to always answer her questions, and in turn ask her to describe her drawings or her choices instead of simply praising them. We are doing what works for us. I'm sure that there will still be plenty of things that we messed up on that she will spend her adulthood "working through." :)
With these thoughts in mind, we shied away from all of the early educational stuff – Baby Einstein, Leapfrog, classical music to play in utero, flashcards, early readers primers, etc. Turns out that some of that wasn’t a bad idea. Recent research suggests that toddlers who watch educational movies may have developmental language delays. That being said…a few months ago we went to a family baby shower. The host (Hi Aunt Pam!) ended up giving a really nice goody bag to Katrina, which included alphabet flash cards. Katrina loves them. They fit into our diaper bag and are great entertainment on the road. She may not know her letters, but she does know all the pictures and has started to recognize some of the letters.
In addition to the flashcards, our next-door neighbors gave Katrina a set of alphabet cards with magnetic letters. Not only have we been playing with them almost everyday, but we are using them to review colors, pronunciation, and letters. All this “educational” stuff is on top of the heavy reading that we do – I think Katrina’s book collection will eventually rival our own, which is pretty impressive!
So how does this jive with us trying not to push the school stuff on Katrina? I guess the biggest thing that we strive for, is that all of this is Katrina led. My inner geek was worried that Katrina didn’t even like books because she couldn’t sit still through a simple picture book for almost the first whole year of her life! Eventually she did, and now she can’t get enough of it. Our goal is to talk to Katrina about everything and to provide her with the opportunities to pursue what interests her, even if it leads her off the path that we ourselves have chosen. We fully believe that children who develop an interest in learning, have one because their parents are involved in their lives. Our walks in the neighborhood involve talking about the birds and wind and planets and stars – almost anything that John and I would talk about amongst ourselves. We try to always answer her questions, and in turn ask her to describe her drawings or her choices instead of simply praising them. We are doing what works for us. I'm sure that there will still be plenty of things that we messed up on that she will spend her adulthood "working through." :)
New baby in the house!
All out congratulations are in order for the newest member of the family - Caleb was born on Saturday to John's cousin (and mine!) Valerie and her husband Jason. Pictures should be up and coming to their blog soon I hope! He is absolutely adorable! Congratulations Valerie, Jason, Aunt Pam, and Uncle Tim!
200th post!
Can you believe it? Its our 200th post! Almost two years ago we launched this blog with our first post. Now, we have a baby who is about to be two, we are both finally working on our careers, and we are living together. We've come a long way baby!
So, in honor of our 200th post, we are having a contest. Come out of the woodworks and show us some love people. All you have to do is leave us a comment and on Katrina's birthday we will have her randomly select one of you for a special prize. Come on - you know you want to!
Playdate
About ten days ago, we had a lovely visit from Jaleah and her mom Khrysten. Khrysten was Katrina's main daycare provider up in State College and we absolutely loved her. Her 2.5 year old and Katrina had a lot of fun together and we had a chance to do a couple of playdates before we left the area. Luckily for us, their extended family lives close to Baltimore, so they are up here every now and then. I was curious to see how the girls would interact with each other - did they remember each other at all? Turns out that I need not have worried. Before Jaleah showed up, Katrina was saying "Leah, Leah, hug, hug!" It took the girls all of about five minutes to find their stride and then they were off. Here are just a couple of pictures of the girls.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Future architect model demolision expert
As I'm busy thinking of the more serious blog posts en route over the next couple of weeks, I wanted to share several pictures of what has been keeping munchin and all of us busy and having fun in weebeastie land.
Where is Katrina?
There she is!
Even Athena likes Elmo
Katrina's tower
Mommy's tower
Katrinazilla
Katrina in a box
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Question and recap time
Last January we wrote a collection of entries about things that we learned during the first year of parenthood - what items were useful for baby wrangling, breastfeeding, daycare, our worries as first time parents (mine and John's ). Since we are still highly opinionated people, we'll be going at it for round 2. This is your chance to ask us to cover a topic that might interest you. We will even loosen the "rules" and say that you can ask us about anything, even if it is not Katrina-centric. So fire away!
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Santa! Cookies! Toys! Kitchen!
We've had Christmas pictures ready to go for days, but our internet connection has been flaky, and I haven't brought my computer into work when I came in over the holiday "break." So now, a good week after the Christmas festivities have ended, is recap 1 (I hope that John will prepare a blog post with a cool video like he did last year).
The biggest change over Christmas 2006 was that Katrina opened every single present that was for her and really got into the swing of things by handing out presents from under the tree to everyone. Last year she spent 30 minutes opening one present and by the time she was finished playing with it, it was time for her morning nap! She got lots of great loot from Santa and his elves - blocks (both plastic and wooden), a doll cradle, a bus with a handle to pull (she loves sitting in it too!), a handmade apron from Grandpa for her kitchen, books, and a chair that is just her size. She has spent the last few days playing with each and everything. It was a lot of fun to see how much difference a year makes!
And as per request, her letter to Santa was as follows:
Dear Santa,
Cookies! More! Come here! Door! Knock-knock! Santa! Note! Cookies! Santa! Note! Here! Bye-bye!
Love, Katrina
Tune in for several posts coming in the next few days!
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