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Anna!

Kate skis

Kate has been asking if she could learn to ski. When she's asked this, she's been referring to downhill skiing. Dave and I think she may need to wait until next year, especially since the skating attempt was short lived, and not especially adventurous.

On, Monday, though, my mother and I let her try cross country skiing. She did wonderfully. She actually took right to it! She got herself to move forward, and even turn, really well, and she didn't mind it at when she fell a couple times.

We are so proud of her!

Grandma Gebler's pocket change

Yesterday we had a great visit with my Grandma Gebler. She loves spending time with the girls and they both love her. Anna sat still on her lap longer for her than she's sat for me any time in the six months.

At one point, Kate saw some change on the coffee table and asked about it. Grandma told her she could have it. Kate took it and explained to Grandma, “I’m going to put this in my Piggy Bank, and when I have a lot of money, I’m going to give some to people without enough money…”

“Yes,” I jumped in to clarify, “Kate’s going to give some of her money to charity, save some for college, and spend some on something she wants, like a book.”

“…and a wrapping paper cutter,” Kate added.

My Grandma, probably baffled by the wrapping paper cutter, focused back on the donation to charity. “Oh,” she said to Kate, “you’re going to give some money to people who need it. That’s a great thing to do, because some people don’t have as nice of house as you, or as much to eat.”

“Right,” Kate said, “So I’ll give some of my money to them, but I’ll only give it to people without babies.”

Neither my grandma nor I said anything for a second. Then I said, “What did you say, Kate?”

Kate repeated, “I’ll only give my money to people who don’t have babies.”

I wondered for a second what Kate had against babies, and asked, “Why, honey?”

She looked up at me, and then said, somewhat exasperated, “Because change is a choking hazard!”

Aunt Diana & "Nunky" Nathan

Last week my sister Diana and brother-in-law Nathan visited for a couple days. We had a great time, and Kate and Anna both loved playing with them.

Kate's alphabet

While we were waiting for our food at Friday's last night, Kate was looking for certain letters on the kids’ menu. She circled a few M’s, then paused. Looking closely at her menu, she commented, “This ‘M’ is a little upside down.” I explained it was really a “W.” She looked for a few seconds for another “M,” and when she couldn’t find one, she flipped the menu over and circled what was now an “M.”

Kate's first time out on the ice

Kate and I had such a special outing together yesterday. We’d gotten her ice skates for Christmas. We’d planned to skate at the rink a couple blocks from our house, but it’s not open, so Kate and I went downtown. It was so much fun. The first time she started skating, with me holding her under her arms, she exclaimed, “I’m skating! It’s my first time skating!” She was actually pretty brave. She let me help her along, not minding if I went fast, and she did try it on her own a little. Longevity wasn’t her strong suit, though. We only went around the rink one and a half times before she wanted the hot chocolate I’d promised her.


So, we went into the ice “shack” (I use the term shack very loosely; it’s a Starbucks!) and drank our hot chocolate and hot vanilla out of fancy grown up cups, with covers and those wraps around them.

After our break, we went around the rink one and a half more times before she decided she wanted to leave. She didn’t get much beyond walking to me from three feet away, but I was secretly worried she wouldn’t even let go of my hands. We definitely spent longer sipping our drinks than skating, but it was a great time together.

After we got our skates off, we walked around downtown a little, looking at the lights. We walked to Cathedral Square and enjoyed the lights there. I carried her on my back some of the way, and we just talked and had a great time. It was great just to be out together with nothing to do, just the two of us. We commented, “Just the K’s (Kate and Kristal) are out today.”

Anna's whistle

Anna loves to put things in her mouth. And she loves to make noise.

She hit the jackpot with this whistle Kate got in a goodie bag at a birthday party. She loves to hold that thing in her mouth and make it whistle, whistle, whistle, with every breath, in or out.

Advertisers' Target

Every time Kate watches Dora, several times a week, advertisements come on at the end. I always rush to flip them off, for fear she’ll soon decide she just has to have a swimming doll, a peeing doll, cars that drive on the wall, or the dreaded Moonsand. It hadn’t happened, and I was always grateful.

Well, today broke that streak of luck. Kate succumbed to the advertising. She was not immune. She has now decided she needs one of the products she saw advertised.

We were at the project table, and she was cutting “circus hats” (triangular pieces of paper she decorates by gluing on little pieces of paper that she’s cut out). She commented on her scissors, “You bought me this scissors so I could learn to cut, right? If you want to cut, you need to use a scissors… or a knife. Unless it's wrapping paper. There’s a special cutter for wrapping paper. I saw it on T.V.”

Then, later, we were talking about the change she’s saving in her piggy bank. I told her after she gets enough money, she can give some to charity, save some for college, and then buy something she really wants. I told her she could think of something that she really wanted to have. You guessed it, what she really wants is a Scotch wrapping paper cutter.

I can see the executives in the board room now: “Our target audience will be women, ages 30 – 50… and Kate, a three-year-old in Wisconsin.”

Kate vs. the flamingo

When Kate went to the doctor for her three year check, the doctor asked her to stand on one foot. She struggled, so the doctor told her, “Stand on just one foot, like a flamingo.” Kate couldn’t do it very well.

Yesterday morning, she was looking at a book and found a picture of a flamingo. She said, “I can’t stand on one foot like a flamingo.”

I said, “You’ll learn.”

She thought for a second and said, “OR, a flamingo could just learn to stand on two foots!”

What have I done to her?

My poor little Kate. I don't know what I've done to her. It started when we'd babysit my friends' sons while they were in diapers. When Kate would inquire about the different parts in there, I'd just casually explain. I didn't want to make it seem dirty or embarrassing.

But now it's a topic of conversation much of the time...

A couple weeks ago, Kate was talking about how boys had penises. I, for some reason, volunteered that it wasn’t just boys, but any boy animal, too. She thought this was a little ridiculous, because, as she told me, boy monkeys didn’t have penises; they had tails.

Then on Tuesday, Kate was talking about Dave, whose middle name (to his dismay) is Enos. I was pretending I didn’t know who she was talking about, so she clarified it was, “Dave Penis.” I told her, after I stopped laughing long enough to talk again, that his middle name was actually Enos.

I think she missed my correction, because today she came up with a doozy.

She was talking about Dora's monkey Boots. She told me that Boots' middle name was “Penis Tail.” I had thought she was being vulgar, but she explained that it’s like Daddy’s middle name but he's a monkey.

I suppose that makes perfect sense. Dave has a penis, so his middle name is penis. Monkey’s have tails instead of penises, so Boot’s middle name is “Penis Tail.”

Oh, Kate.

Our Girls

The girls get along so well. Anna thinks Kate is the coolest big sister in the world, and Kate thinks Anna is pretty cute and finds her antics amusing.

Just as I was writing this, here is what I heard coming from the playroom:

Clink, clank, clink...

Kate: "Woh, Daddy, Annie is making a mess over there!"

Dave: "She is."

Kate: "She's a crazy baby!"

Kate's thoughts

In the check out line at Pick 'N Save, there were some Packer beer cozies for sale. They had them displayed around cardboard beer bottles. Kate said, “Mommy, look! Why are those beers dressed like Packers!?”

Kate commented the other day when Anna was being silly at breakfast, “Anna is so weird.” I subtly corrected her saying, “She is silly isn’t she?” “Yeah,” Kate replied, “and she’s weird, too!”

Self Portrait, by Kate

Kate drew a self-portrait yesterday that was both specific and imaginative. Here's how she described it to Dave and me. "This is a picture of me, but I have a trunk, because I'm dressed up like an elephant, and I have a penis, because I'm dressed up like Daddy!"

Bath time

I love bath time. It's such a wonderful feeling to wrap a freshly cleaned baby in a towel and snuggle her close.

Hilarious big sister

I was feeding Anna at the table, and Kate was having a snack next to her.

Kate was holding a stuffed dog. She’d move her dog toward Anna and say, “Woof, woof,” and Anna would laugh harder than I've ever seen her laugh before.

Anna never got sick of it. Each time it was like the best joke Anna had ever heard. It was the funniest thing to watch them interacting.

I didn't get the camera until they'd been at it for quite some time. Anna was hardly able to stop laughing, even in between Kate's "woofs."

I thought it was impossible to watch this without laughing myself, so I thought I'd share it.

Happy Birthday, Kate!

This posting was delayed by what can best be described as a plague that hit our house, and, very unfortunately, the houses of all our guests who came to celebrate Kate's birthday. Kate was a real trooper, surviving a bad stomach flu with much more grace and patience than either of her parents. But, enough about that!

Kate's birthday celebration was a lot of fun. It was a small gathering, designed by Kate herself. Kate had tons of fun playing with her friends at her pajama party, complete with cupcakes and pinata.

Have her cake and eat it, too!

We were at the grocery store today. It had been a long day shopping, so when I saw samples of cake, I gave Kate a piece. After a while, I saw Anna putting something in her mouth. It looked like cake. I asked, “Kate, is Anna eating your cake?” “No,” she replied, “it’s all gone.” When I watched closer, Anna was carefully picking some of the many crumbs off of Kate’s coat and eating them. I walked to the front of the stroller and saw that she’d found so many good crumbs that she had chocolate cake all over her own face! She must have thought, “Just try to deny me cake!”

Fant'sy Football

The other day, Dave was working on updating his fantasy football team roster and Kate was with him. She asked him, “Daddy, can you tell me who’s on your Fant’sy Football team?” He was excited at her interest, because he began to tell her his players and their position. After listening for a while, she thoughtfully replied, “Which one’s the prettiest?”

"Dere!"

Anna has started pointing to things on request and declaring, "Dere!" [There!] in answer to our questions. It's adorable. She's getting so big!

Kate gets the floor...or, uh, keyboard?

Yesterday Kate got a digital camera from her Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday. She wanted to share some of the photos she's taken and write about them, just like her Mommy does.

So, here's a little post from Kate:

"Thank you, Grandma, for a nice Dora for Kate."
"Thank you, Kate, for sharing Dora with Mommy."
"Mommy is helping Dora stand."

"This is Kate's Boots pinata."
"The snow fell on the ground."
"I already told Mommy what to write about the table!"

Grandma, if you read this, can you call me?!

That's all from my little Blogger!

Big sister

Kate got a balloon at Trader Joes. Anna saw it and desperately wanted one of her own. Her unsuccessful attempt at crawling up Kate's arm in an attempt to grab it was followed by disappointed sobbing.

As I got the girls into the car, I explained to Kate just how much Anna wanted her balloon, and she said Annie could hold it on the ride home. I told her she was the best big sister ever, and handed the balloon to Anna in her carseat.

When I came back to strap Kate in, she told me that she'd even taken the balloon off her wrist so Anna could hold the string, too. I said, "Honey, I can't even tell you how nice that was!"

She responded, "Please, Mommy..."

I looked at her for a second, confused.

Kate finished, "Please, tell me how nice it was."

That dog...

Well, if anyone was wondering what a diarrhea filled diaper looks like after being shredded all over the carpet by an 80 pound idiot of a golden retriever, you can ask me.

Don't worry, I won't post a picture.

Everytime I start to think, "Mason's really not that much trouble," he proves me wrong.

Now, let's just hope Mason doesn't give himself diarrhea from his morning snack.