Up, Up, and Away!

I know we have to teach children about letting go at some point or another, but after our traumatic trip to the grocery store yesterday, I don't ever want to let go!!!

There they floated, in all their glory, high over our heads with dangley colorful strings to entice tiny eager fingers. The grocery store balloons. Katie was being wonderful during our somewhat spontaneous evening grocery run. I packed the racing cart higher than I planned, but Katie sat peacefully waiting for me to finish walking up and down the aisles waving and honking her fake horn at passersby. She sat patiently as the cashier checked us out. I thought we could make it to the car without any issues for the first time in her two and a half short years. Just as I began to push the cart toward the exit, a sweet, but oblivious manager walked over to Katie and said, "Would you like a balloon?" Well, of course she wants a balloon! "What color would you like?"

"PINK!" Katie grabbed the PINK balloon, and even said "Thank you" without being provoked, leaving the manager feeling warm and fuzzy inside, I'm sure.

As we headed outside, I held onto the end of the string, without Katie's knowledge since she has to do everything herself, to save it from disaster. The whole while, I kept telling Katie that she had to hold on tight or else the balloon was going to fly away and she'd never see it again. I held onto the string as long as I could, but she wanted to do it herself while I unloaded the groceries into the back of the car. So, I let go.

I finished putting the last bag into the back of the car when I heard Katie shriek, "Mommy, catch it! Mommy, catch it! Catch it! Reach!" Katie was trying to climb out of the cart to reach high in the sky to catch the balloon which was already way out of reach. With all the compassion in the world, I said something like, "Katie Bear, it's gone. I'm sorry, honey, we can't reach it anymore. Look up there, see how far away it is already? It's too far away. We'll have to get another balloon the next time we come to the grocery store, but you'll have to make sure to hold on so so so tight so it doesn't fly away." Her eyes welled up so fast and she began crying the most pitiful cry I've seen to date! She looked up in the sky and said, "Bye-bye, balloon." Oh, my poor munchkin, if only mommy didn't let go...

Damn you helium!

Study Guide

Since family is arriving around July 2nd for a long weekend visit, I thought I would create a list of Katie's odd vocabulary. She generally pronounces words correctly, but there are a few words or phrases that often make us laugh because we just can't figure out where she comes up with them.

1. Flip-Flops = Foo-Farts
2. Charolette (Whitaker) = Shart
3. Strawberry Milk = Chocatte Berry
4. Yogurt = Yurt
5. Robot = Boobot
6. Fruit Juice Snacks = Yummy Fun or Juicies
7. Spoon = Boose, sometimes boosey
8. Madagascar Movie = Animals
9. Most names that start with the letter J = Jeremy (but she can say "Josh")
10. Tom and Jerry = Jeremy
11. Mickey Mouse = Mouse
12. Napkin = Cane-keen
13. Kitchen = Chicken
14. Caroline = Coin
15. Coffee = Chachee
16. Cracker = Caw-Caw

The following three words/references are used interchangeably and are sometimes hard to decipher:

1. Danimals = Momo (she can clearly say "animals" when referring to the movie Madagascar, but cannot for the life of her say "danimals.")
2. Grandma = Mama
3. Nemo = Momo

Katie is very polite and will usually say "peeze" and "thank you or thanks" for most anything. Likewise, she will eagerly apologize for wrong doings when prompted. When you yell for her she will yell back, "OK, Mommy/Daddy, I coming." But, she is also demanding and requests that we "A'mon, Mommy/Daddy! Follow me!"

Katie is very loud and doesn't have much of a quiet button. She doesn't like it when babies are sleeping, so she will get close to their face, whisper "baby seeping," then out of no where scream "wake up!" She loves how things echo and is always yelling "echo" everywhere to see if her voice will indeed echo. She is so fascinated when it actually does.

We've recently discovered that Katie is the life of the party. Hmm, I wonder where she gets that???

Small Wonder

I don't sleep very well when Jimmy isn't home, so he suggested that I let Katie sleep in our bed and maybe it would help. It seemed like such a good idea in theory; just having her in the bed should help me sleep. After we watched Toy Story, which she LOVED, I asked her if she wanted to sleep in mommy and daddy's bed and she got so excited that she raced to our room and started to climb on the bed. Before I could get there, she was half way up the bed yelling at me to "Do it! Help, Mommy!"

"Katie, what do you say?"

"Peeze?"

According to Katie, it was clearly playtime. She bounced, rolled around, and chatted up a storm. It was the chatting that got me to thinking about Small Wonder. You remember that 80's sitcom about a little girl robot named Vicki (or as Katie calls them, "boobots.") who was part of the family? Well, I just kept thinking, what if Katie had an on/off switch. I wonder how much simpler my life would be. I didn't have too much time to daydream about this thought because her constant chatter kept distracting me.

I would close my eyes and try to sleep, but I felt this dark shadow breathing over me. Sure enough, I'd open my eyes and Katie's face would be right in mine, giggling as soon as my hair tickled her face. I'd say, "Katie, you have one more chance to settle down or else you're sleeping in Katie's bed." One chance after another came and went. Finally, I had to break down and put her in her room even though it was great fun for both of us while it lasted.

Coincidence or Double Life?

We found this in the Sunday newspaper and couldn't get over the odd facial similarities. Could my mom be leading a double life? Even the hairdo is the same!!! Should I be calling her Phyllis???