Darn Technology

Once again, our digital camera seems to be having some problems synching with the computer....SIGH! This is exactly what happened before, so we know how to fix it. Unfortunately, it's like a 20-step process, so we won't be dealing with it until we have some more time later this week. We promise we'll have some great photos then!

In the meantime, we just wanted to give you an update on our wild and fun weekend with Uncle David, Aunt Krystina, and cousins Julian (4.5 years-old) and Nicholas (3.5). (Papa Town was too sick to come :( .......) The family arrived on Friday afternoon to have a nice homecooked meal and some cousin-bonding time. The boys are so sweet to Katie, telling her that they love her and giving her lots of kisses. She couldn't really respond, but she showed her love by trying to crawl after them as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, Dave was tied up in training the next two days, so we were without him for the rest of the weekend.

On Saturday, Aunt Krystina, Traci, and the boys ventured into the city to check out the mall and some museums. The boys were thrilled to take their first-ever subway train ride. And they loved seeing their beloved planets at Air & Space and dinosaurs at Natural History. The only downer to the day was trying to get back out to the suburbs. The line for our subway stop was over TWO HOURS long!! (Combine the Cherry Blossom Festival, a kite festival, a marathon, and a walk for epilepsy on the mall, and that's what you get!) Thankfully, everybody agreed to trudge into the city to find another Metro stop. Julian said, "I've never walked a gazillion miles before!" The boys did great and were real TROOPERS! We treated them to chocolate ice cream that night as a reward.

We were caught a little off-guard on Sunday when Mike and I were asked to babysit Julian and Nicholas by ourselves all day. (Poor Krystina had come down with the flu.) We all had so much fun building puzzles inside and a great Dinosaur Valley outside. (The valley consisted of dirt, sawdust, sticks, stones, dandelions, pine cones, etc.) Katie loved having her cousins all day. On the other hand, we also had to very quickly learn the delicate arts of dealing with sibling scuffles, temper tantrums, and potty-training. We also learned what the saying "Boys will be boys" means. PHEW!

On the Katie development front: She is now comfortably crawling everywhere on all-fours. She will willingly take 4-5 steps only holding on with one hand. She's pulling up to her knees and thinking about getting up to a standing position. And she's into EVERYTHING! (Poor Geno wonders why Katie is trying to eat his food and drink his water.) It should only be a matter of a month or so until the first steps come.

Another Day...Another Playground

Ahhh...the life of a toddler... Each day just brings new adventures, hugs, kisses, and, in Kate's case, playgrounds. It seems that we find a new one everyday. She especially liked these old-school animal coily-thingies that swayed back and forth. Katie and Traci were catching some alone time before some more family comes for the long weekend. We can't wait to play with Uncle David, Aunt Krystina, cousins Julian and Nicholas, and Papa Town. Hopefully our tiny apartment can handle such activity!

Bye Bye Grandma!

Alas, Grandma M. left us today, but not before Katie had a fantastic 6 days with her. We think she even attempted to say "Grandma", although it often sounded a lot like "Mama." Anyway, thanks for making the trip, Grandma (not to mention all the help). We hope that you'll come back soon!

Pictures from Grandma's visit are posted in the photo album to the right...

A Hair-Raising Experience

Kate, Traci, and Grandma M. went to a neighborhood playground today to enjoy the sunny weather. Traci drove the crew about 25 minutes out of their way to a normally kid-filled playground so that Katie could watch everybody. Alas, when they got there, it was empty. Oh well...they had everything to themselves. Kate thoroughly enjoyed watching the trucks and cars drive by and LOVED going down the slides. She slid so much that her hair started to stand on end from the static electricity. We're so glad that Grandma got to see Katie in one of her favorite elements.

Goo-Goo Rah!

Kate's Grandma M. went off to visit a high school friend today, so Katie had time to play with her good buddy Connor (almost 9 months). Connor has just started his own version of the army crawl (mainly dragging himself across the floor using only his right arm!), so he and Katie had fun getting around the living room. He also does something that cracks the heck out of Traci: he gets up into a push-up pose (as in picture) and just stays there. He's literally on the tips of his toes. It's like he's a mini-Marine at boot camp, daring his superior to give him 50 more. We're sure his parents are proud of their little strong man.

Here are Connor and Katie crawling toward trouble, for sure.

Happy Easter

We had a nice holiday today, complete with Mass, a delicious ham dinner, an egg hunt (for Katie), and a trip to the dog park (for Geno). Katie also got her first taste of Easter candy (jelly beans and half of a Hershey's kiss), but Traci won't authorize the messy face photos for public viewing.

It will be hard going back to work tomorrow, but at least we have Grandma for two more days...

Monument March

We took Grandma M. into the District today to take in the monuments on the Mall. The weather was perfect. High 50s and sunny. Much better strolling weather than the 90 degree day with Mike's brother's family. We even hit some new monuments that Grandma hadn't seen before (e.g., WWII, Korean).

Unbelievably, today was Katie's first visit to the Mall.

Rookie.

She seemed to love all the people watching. We were all quite jealous of her stroller once we got tired out and began the long walk back to the car. Here, Katie pays her respects at the Vietnam War Memorial.

Waiting for Grandma

Mike and Kate take their hoops seriously! Mike was lucky enough to work a half day today, so he came home, parked himself in his chair, and watched hours of the NCAA tourney with his little protege. Katie had her milk bottle...where's Daddy's beer? Of course, the biggest game of all - ND vs. George Mason - starts well after Katie's bedtime. Perhaps that's good for the Irish - our teams have never really won "the big game" since she's been able to watch.

But, the big news for today is that Grandma M. has flown in for the week! She just made it in before Katie went to bed and got to see the little one crawl and cruise. We can't wait for this week's adventures - stay tuned for pictures!

The Kat's Meow (Short Video Clip)

Leprekate

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! We did our best to celebrate today, despite it being a Monday. Mike sported...what else...a green tie to work (hey, people in his line of work dress conservatively, okay?). Traci wore a green sweater and, as you can see, Kate modeled her new "daddy's lady luck" t-shirt. Cool shirt, Aunt Krystina. Thanks for sending it...

Girl Genius

Mike started painting the master bedroom this afternoon. Before he knew it, Katie had picked up a brush and started a little painting of her own. That girl is smart!

Babysitters for Bono

Awesome. For those of you that have not seen U2's new 3-D movie in theaters, we highly recommend it. A must see for U2 fans, but we're sure any concert-goer would enjoy it. For Traci's birthday, Mike got tickets for Friday night's showing at the Natural History Museum's IMAX theater (which made the experience even better). The occasion also marked Katie's first night with a babysitter. We took it easy on her and didn't really even leave until she was asleep (more like housesitting), but it was still nice to have a night out!

Back Together Again

Katie met back up with her Prince Charming dude Patrick (21 months) at their coffee shop hang-out. Patrick taught Katie how to play with toy trucks, airplanes, alligators, and other cool boy stuff. Katie reminded Patrick how to cruise along tables, chairs, and people's legs. Meanwhile, Traci and Patrick's mom Kim chatted about perhaps someday getting back to work. The moms agreed that they are in no hurry!

Katherine the Great

In yesterday's blog entry, we never even mentioned how much Katie enjoyed her first art museum! Of course, as a new parent, you are always a little nervous about taking a toddler into such a naturally silent place as a Smithsonian gallery. Kate did magnificently! She happily sucked on her pacifier for a couple of hours, just intently staring at passers-by or interesting works of art. We think she enjoyed the bright colors and designs of the contemporary art section the best. Here she is with Dad in the museum's atrium.

Of course, that's not to say that Kate is the perfect angel. We did have one embarrassing moment with her. In her daily life, she always screams "BABY" whenever she sees a little one in a stroller. Yesterday, she yelled it at the top of her lungs at an old lady in a wheelchair. Mike managed to stifle his laughter, but Traci unfortunately let out a guffaw. Luckily, the sweet older woman also saw the humor in the situation.

411.33.MCG

Happy 33rd birthday, Traci! Mike took the day off to help celebrate. After a relaxing morning, we headed to D.C. for lunch at Potbelly and a visit to the remodeled National Portrait Gallery. Can anyone name the bust that Traci chose to take her picture with? Today's title caption is a hint (but commonly mistaken as attributable to the man). He is also her pedagogical mentor. Anyway, the museum was quite interesting and well designed. Very manageable as well...a nice change from the enormous collections on the mall.

More to come on the birthday front when Mike gives her his present on Friday night...

Adventures in Mall-Land

Traci let Katie go crazy at the mall this afternoon. No, she didn't have her Dad's credit card yet... We visited the playland, where the little one had so much fun crawling all over, under, and through the cool props. It was good practice for the summer playgrounds, without all the sand and dirt.

She made a buddy (the 13-month-old crawling girl in the background of the first picture) who proceeded to hug and kiss her over and over again. She also got to taste her first-ever Auntie Anne's pretzel. Of course, she loved it! Hey, if Mom is going to hand down any bad eating habits, let them be ones that should live forever!

Final Destination: Geno

Now that she is a pretty proficient crawler, Kate can really get to where she wants in a hurry. Just ask Geno...the poor pup has started to sleep with one eye open and one ear up in anticipation of the Kate-Monster coming his way. You can see in the picture how she hones in on her target.

In order to smooth child-dog relations, we have begun to teach Katie the concept of "gentle" (as opposed to "poke," "pull," or "grab"). We pulled the Tigger doll out of the closet to demonstrate how to pet Geno "nice and gentle." She does really well with the doll, but she gets a tad bit excited when around the real thing.

Why So Serious?

The serious little one looks like she is contemplating the meaning of life at the playground. I think she was actually just concentrating on all of the airplanes flying overhead. None of my usual foolish tricks were enough to make her smile for the camera. Perhaps that's why the high school kids on the bench next to us were staring and laughing...

Engineer + Artist = Mt. Babemore

You have to be wondering what the heck we've posted today. This is Kate's creation called "Mt. Babemore." She's finally moving into the constructive (rather than destructive) phase of putting things together and stacking things up. This is no surprise since she has so much engineering ability in her genes (Papa T. and Uncle David to name a few). However, she definitely also has a bit of her dad's and grandfather's artistic flair as she decides what she's going to stack. Who knows what was going through her mind when she grabbed Baby to go on this sculpture. She also loves to stack her milk cup, shoes, and other creative things for dramatic effect.

Another Nice Day, Another Nice Outing

We had another warm day in the area, so we met our buddies Patrick (3.5 years), Ryan (20 months) and Kristina at a great neighborhood park. Katie LOVED watching Patrick kick the soccer ball around and Ryan dig up sand. You just know that she can't wait to join them this summer. Only a quick thunderstorm shortened our time there. We got out of the rain at the nearest Starbucks, where Katie tried to share her graham crackers with Patrick (above).

Not to be left out, here is Ryan with his trusty sand shovel. Just look at the little tough guy. Hey Eric, at least his mommy remembered to diaper him before coming to the park!

Look, Ma, No Jacket!

Kate and Traci enjoyed today's extraordinary weather with a few long Geno walks. Katie was thrilled that she didn't have to put a jacket on...she's never really liked all the fuss. And, who can go wrong when you have a cup full of Cheerios? As usual, she loved pointing out everything on the walk including: BIR (birds), BAIR-BA (airplanes), TAY (trees), DAU-DEE (doggies), DAR (cars), and DA (trucks).

Interior Decorator

Kate explored a new shelf on her cruising route this afternoon. Apparently she did not care for her mom's organizational scheme and decided to do a little rearranging. Mom was not thrilled when she came back from walking Geno...do you think Kate's "little Miss Innocent" face got her off the hook?