Catherineisms

I thought Catherine looked particularly cute this day and tried to snap some pictures of her:

This one turned out pretty well (other than the strange lighting).

But for some reason she looks much older in this picture.

I don't like it!

The rest of my attempts ended with things like this: 

Or this: 

Not exactly magazine-cover material, but VERY true to life.

Catherine has LOVED participating in Seth's kindergarten activities. She's actually much more willing and happy about the whole thing than Seth is (boys vs. girls, I assume). 

Sorting glass gems into ice trays

Playing ABC Bingo with Mom & Seth

(please don't mind the lack of pants--for some reason it's a frequent occurrence right now)

When I was prepping the nursery before Catherine was born, I was terrified by the piles of pink clothing and blankets. I had no idea what I was going to do with a little girl. Apparently I've learned to embrace the pink: 

Pink shirt, pink shorts, pink lollipop.

Can she get any cuter??

Some of our favorite Catherineisms right now:

*When she really likes something you just did/said/sang, she'll laugh her deep little laugh and then command, "Do dit a-gain!"

*Potty-training is still iffy. She rarely has a full-on accident, but she has trouble keeping her panties dry--they'll be a little damp before she actually heads to the bathroom (any tips would be greatly appreciated!). If her panties are dry, she gets a potty treat (currently a gummy bear), if not, no potty treat. But it's just so heartbreaking when you say, "Sorry, no potty treat," and she just looks at you and says, "Okay. No potty treat." 

*She has a very strange obsession with bars of soap. I have to keep them where she can't find them or else she'll climb almost anywhere to retrieve one. Then she walks around very softly rubbing it across her chin and lips. Weird, weird child.

Her favorite bar of laundry soap

*Other current obsession? American flags. It actually started as an obsession with our neighbor, who the kids call Mr. Matt. Any time she heard his truck backing into his spot, she would insist on running outside and yelling, "HI MR. MATT!" at the top of her lungs. Then things got a little creepy--we'd be driving somewhere or out shopping and she would randomly point and yell, "Mr. Matt!" We had no idea what was inspiring this and were a bit concerned with how often she was looking for Mr. Matt.

And then one day I realized what she was pointing at--an American flag. Matt had recently put up a flagpole in his front yard (and by that I mean he pounded a metal pipe into the ground and hoisted a flag on it. It's really very lovely), and apparently Catherine associated the flag with Mr. Matt. She's now progressed to referring to them as "Mr. Matt flags" and will still shout excitedly EVERY SINGLE TIME she sees one (and she sees them all, trust me). The 4th of July is going to be heaven for this girl.

*She's finally tall enough to open doorknobs. Most of them anyway. Not the bathroom door (which would be helpful), but she can get out the front door if we leave it unlocked...

*She loves picking things from the garden, even if they're not ripe. We've lost several strawberries and at least one grape tomato this way.

*The other night she had a bit of a hysterical meltdown. It started with her yelling at me for some offense that I was completely ignorant of. After much questioning, I realized she didn't actually know why she was mad either. From there it escalated into tears, and her running up the stairs to sob in her bed. Jon & I just sat there wondering how we had missed her the transition from age 2 to 14...

There is never, ever a dull day with Catherine around. Wouldn't trade it for the world.