Catherine at 18 months

Catherine's first day of Nursery

(notice she's trying to rip her flower out of her hair, as usual?)

Catherine turned 18 months old this month. I was over at a friend's house visiting when I happened to look over and see Catherine playing in the other room.  It was like I was seeing her for the first time, and the girl I saw was not a baby anymore.  How did that happen?

Catherine is so different from Seth that sometimes I wonder where she came from.  She knows what she wants and how to get it.  If you won't get it for her, then by golly, she'll climb/crawl/pull a chair three times her weight over and get it herself.  

We like to recite the poem about the little girl with the little curl to her:  "And when she was good, she was very, very good.  But when she was bad, she was HORRID."  Other than the fact that she doesn't have any curls on her forehead (just her neck), this poem is about Catherine.  

Here's what Catherine is up to at 18 months:

*9 month clothing (mostly), size 3 shoes and diapers, weighs a bit less that 20 pounds and is the shortest kid in nursery. (official height and weight after her appointment next week).

*down to one nap a day.  Unfortunately, it's still usually only an hour.  Sigh...

*loves, loves, LOVES to help me clean & cook.  She has her own little broom that she uses to push old Cheerios (hers) around the kitchen.  This is a new one for us--Seth had no interest in anything like this.

*she dances when she's happy.  Give her a handful of marshmallows and she'll stomp and prance around until they're gone.

(loving on me at breakfast)

*words: "guh" (gum), "Seeehhth" (she says his name better than he does), "uh-DAA-DAA" (Dad), "duh-sayer" (downstairs), "buh" (blanket), "cah" (car, of course), "NO!" (often said while shaking her finger), "miow" (cat), "M-ma" (Emma), "boo!" (ghost).  And, finally, "MAA-MAA" (but not very often).  She picks up new words every day.

*anything she loves/thinks is fun is a "woof."  Usually Seth and Daddy are woofs, along with all animals.  She also uses "woof" to ask for a Baby Einstein video after her nap (which she will only watch if she is seated on the couch with her snowman blanket wrapped around her).

*she refers to me & Jon as "da da" most of the time, and she and Seth are "Seth."  She will point to herself if you ask her where Catherine is (usually pokes herself right in the eyeball).

*she's working on body parts (know belly, hair, eyes, teeth and head really well) and will not repeat any animal noises (although she loves to hear you make them).

Princess with a water gun

* she will drape her blanket over her head and wander around like a ghost.  She'll even walk down the stairs like that.  Usually it ends in tears when she runs into a wall/chair/table:

The Pink Ghost

*you know she's ready to get up from her nap when she throws EVERY SINGLE ITEM out of her crib (and considering how many blankets & stuff animals she's collected, this is quite an accomplishment).

*she climbs on EVERYTHING.  She's like a lizard--she MUST go to the highest possible space.

(this is her favorite combo--climb, then stomp)

*if you offer her something she doesn't want to eat, she has a tremendous meltdown.  "How DARE you offer me that chip!  I have never been so insulted in my life!"

*lately she's taken to picking her nose and handing me little tiny boogers, for which I am expected to thank her.

*she also went through a phase where she shoved various food items in her nose and/or ears.  Luckily we're mostly past that, but there were a few traumatic meals with rice grains up her nose...

(putting blue playdough in her ear)

*she's better at helping clean up than Seth has ever been.

*she is always, always, ALWAYS getting in my purse looking for gum.  

*she also enjoys taking everything out of my wallet.  Or Jon's, when she can get ahold of it:

"Dad's totally not paying attention!  Score!"

"On to the good stuff."

*she is so independent.  She wants to buckle herself in her car seat.  She wants to put on her own shoes.  She wants to take off her own diaper.  Feed herself (with utensils). Wash her own face, brush her own teeth...

"Mmm...delicious doughnut..."

She can't get her own shoes on, but Seth's boots are super easy!

*really into balls, and the whole "put something in, take something back out" game

*finally has hair long enough for a ponytail!  She hates them, so I only put them in on Sundays, usually.

First ponytail

So darn cute!

*if she even SEES the camera in my purse, she insists that I pull it out so that she can make this face:

Or this one:

She even says "cheese!", which blows my mind because I never use that phrase when I take pictures.

*Still prefers to be held whenever possible (especially during walks).  Good thing she's still tiny.

*my favorite Catherine time is right after she wakes up in the morning.  I can only approach the crib if I am bearing her chocolate milk, which she grabs out of my hands and starts guzzling immediately.  Then I pick her up, sit down in her glider, and we read books for about ten minutes.  Her favorites are "Five Little Pumpkins", "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", and a book about trucks (thanks to Seth).

Her first day of Nursery went fairly well.  Jon stayed in with her for about 40 minutes (she just sat on his lap & watched the entire time).  Then he left and she did pretty well.  A few Princess moments, but not too bad. The next week was a disaster, but maybe third time's a charm?

We love this little girl, in all her adorable, stubborn, demanding Princess ways.  

Philly

For a year now we've been planning a beach day with some of our best friends.

We got all the details worked out, picked a lovely beach, and were ready to go.

Until the weather called for 75 degrees and a 60% chance of rain/thunderstorms.

No more beach.

Our backup plan was a day trip to Philadelphia!

We began with lunch at Reading Terminal, where Seth was very excited to see the pig statue again:

We LOVE Reading Terminal, but doing it with kids (especially in a stroller) is not a task for the weak.

After lunch it was on to more kid-friendly activities.

Seth & Ian, discussing pigeons while their dads try to figure out which direction we need to walk

First up, Franklin Square:

I swear my kids would swing 24/7 if I would keep pushing them.

Catherine & Henry take on the climbing wall together (they're 3 months apart).

Handsome Jonny & Princess by the fountain (thanks for the picture, Kellie!)

We couldn't leave the park without a ride on the carousel, of course!

All moms & kids got to ride (under 2 were free, otherwise the babies would have been ditched).

And here is where Seth chose to ride:

Seriously.

I could NOT get him on a horse.

Catherine was a bit more cooperative & rode on a cat.

Until about halfway through, at which point she jumped into my arms.

Basically, I paid $5 for Seth to sit and me to stand on a rotating platform while holding a baby.

Whatever.

I didn't get a picture of Audrey, but at least 2 of Kellie's 3 stayed on their rides!

Then it was off to the Please Touch Museum!

Okay, easier said than done.

This first involved getting our cars from the parking garage, which ended up taking an hour.

Which meant Kellie & I had a chance to catch up while the kids played in a grassy area.

It sounds nice, except for the part where the kids were READY TO LEAVE at the end.

Oh, and the part where Catherine, Seth & I stepped in dog poop and didn't notice until we were on the freeway.  We spent 20 minutes scraping it off our shoes when we got there.

Then it was off to the Museum!

Okay, this place was AWESOME.

There was so much for the kids to do, and it was all interactive.

If it hadn't cost $64 for all four of us to go, I would highly recommend it.

Seth, looking a little nervous to be stuck in a house with a giant Alice.

Can't blame him.

(from now on, all pictures are of Catherine.  We had to split--I took her, Jon took Seth, and I didn't see Scott, Kellie or kids AT ALL while we were there!)

Child prodigy, perhaps?

"Ooh!  A balance beam!  I got this."

"Totally got this."

Happy Princess in a tunnel.

The kids were in heaven and were not happy to leave when it was closing time.  

We had great plans for dinner together, but those fell through when we realized the restaurant was in the city and had no parking.  We said a very unceremonious goodbye over the phone before heading for home in opposite directions.

Thank you, Scott & Kellie, for a lovely day.

We WILL get to the beach next year!

PS--Can we please live closer to each other?  Our kids play so well together...

Just Seth

Seth has been working a lot lately on being kind.  

Every night before he goes to bed he has to tell us something kind he did that day.

On this day he helped feed Catherine some noodles while I got the rest of their lunch ready.

And on this day he let Catherine watch him play on the Kindle, even though all she wants to do is push the buttons and mess up his game.  That's true love.

My favorite is when he picks a flower and brings it to me.  

Or when he runs upstairs to give a screaming-because-she-just-woke-up Catherine a gumball.

I love this little man.

Biking Babies

We had a good rain the other day and the kids decided to take advantage of the remaining puddles.

Some of us splashed in them:

While some of us rode our bikes through them: 

Then it was off for a bike ride: 

(possibly, she's not even close to reaching the pedals.

But she doesn't care one bit).

Love those faces.

WV Finale

On Thursday we decided to take advantage of sweet Claudia and leave her with our kids while we went to see the new Batman movie.  I'm not sure she wants to have more children after the mess they made...

Claudia was doing her very best to earn the title of 'Favorite Aunt'.

First, she let Seth watch Youtube videos of car crashes for as long as he wanted to:

Then she gave him candy:

Catherine got some, too:

Catherine & Brianna had a great time destroying what they could reach:

And Seth, of course, acted as management, telling them where to make the messes:

Three babies in Brianna's crib:

Thank you, Claudia, for the date!  We owe you!

We got to see Brianna again when they came to spend the night on Friday 

(so we could play games, of course!).

Two cousins, headed upstairs to make mischief.

Sadly, we had to pack up Saturday morning and head for home.  

It was a very, very traumatic experience for Seth: 

He loves his Grandma, Grandpa, aunts & uncles.  Home is just so boring without them!

Thank you for letting us invade your home for a week!  

Can't wait until Christmas!

WV, part 2

Most of our time was spent hanging around the house and eating all the tomatoes, corn & green beans from the garden that we could consume.  But we did try to get the kids out a little bit.  

Mom Blood told us about a local splash pad and I thought the kids would love it.  So off we went!

It wasn't quite the hit that I was expecting.  Both kids were hesitant to get water in their faces, so they mostly stayed along the edges and forced their aunt & uncles to fill cups and buckets for them.

Aunt Joanna slave:

Uncle James slave:

"My water appears to be empty, Uncle James!  Snap, snap!"

Uncle Jacob was too busy with other things.  

Like throwing water on Jon:

Or getting glamour shots taken:

Or pretending that the water was blood, and laying on the ground in agony:

I think Jacob had more fun that the babies did.

Catherine steals my sunglasses.