One more picture from the National Building Museum. Katie thought that this column looked a little unsturdy, so she inspected it for herself. It passed inspection, but she made a note to have Papa give her a second opinion when he next visits in November.
To beat the rainy day blues, Kate enjoyed another adventure at the National Building Museum. Here she is teaching all of the other little kids, moms, and dads about how you should always wear safety goggles in construction areas. Papa would be proud, but he would also probably ask where the hard hat is!
Not too long ago, we blogged about Katie's amazing eating abilities. Perhaps we spoke too soon... Just a few short weeks later, she has entered into "Not-gonna-eat-anything" toddler territory. Since returning from our travels, she has refused even her old standbys like chicken nuggets and fruit. It makes us feel guilty to throw so much food away after her meals. Last night, she didn't touch a single thing on her dinner plate; and she only had a slice of cheese for lunch today. Oh well, could be the travel hangover, her three new teeth, or just the start of a phase...
Katie loved her visit to Millennium Park on our recent visit to Chicago. After seeing several JackBlog postings of the park's large fountain over the past two years, she had to give it a try herself.
Finally tiring of the water, Katie decided to put on a little street performance of her own. After all, how many people can actually do a headstand? Or maybe it's a butt-raise? Either way, she was obviously inspired by the gymnastics tumbling.
Seeing the performance's obvious popularity with the crowd, Kate then recruited an acquaintance to get in on the action.
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Yesterday, we returned from a week's vacation back in Chicago! We flew into Indianapolis to have a quick visit with friends Pat and Andrea, and their kids, Luke (Mike's God son) and Max. Then it was onto Bolingbrook for three days with Bill, Maggie, Ben and Tom. Grandma M., Kathy and Jim also trained in from Grand Rapids, which made for a lively household. Finally, we took Katie into the city for the last three days. We were able to show her a few sights, as well as catch up with old friends. We've posted a photo album of the trip to the right and will likely post a few highlights over the next couple of days. Katie was an excellent flyer, but is excited to be home!
Look out - those two crazy kids are at it again! This time Connor and Katie chose to just chill out on the Elmo couch while their moms watched the Olympics. Tough life being a 1-year-old.
We are certainly into the Olympics this week, tuning in whenever we can to watch some of the action. Here is Katie watching Michael Phelps and company at yet another medals ceremony. Pretty amazing. With as much time as Katie has spent in the pools this summer, we figure that she should be good for about 10 gold medals at the 2028 summer games. We're not sure if two ND grads could stomach sending her to Club Wolverine, however.
We once thought that Katie was a "cautious" or "timid" child, what with her late development and all. We're starting to rethink that position. This little daredevil loves to climb to the top of playground towers by herself so that she can slide down the big-kid slides. Mom only helps when there are no Katie-sized steps up to the slide area. Once she's at the top, she does a hilarious thing: She understands that she needs to sit to slide, but she usually plops down at least a couple feet from the slide and then scoots over on her behind. Maybe she's still a little scared about sitting down right at the edge... 
Kate got a surprise visit from her Uncle Bill last night, who happened to be in D.C. on business. As you can see from the photo, she had no trouble warming up to him and was lounging in his lap after only 20 minutes! Anyway, we all had a nice Friday night dinner in Shirlington and settled back in to watch the opening ceremonies.
Congratulations to Katie's playgroup buddy, Lyla (19 months)! She is a brand-new big sister to Anamarie Jean, pictured left with mommy Angela. (Doesn't Ang look so put together already?) Katie was so excited to meet the new baby that she had to hold Lyla's baby doll for the whole visit. She didn't get jealous when Traci was holding the baby...she just wanted to make sure we paid attention to her "baby" as well. We can't wait to have Lyla and Anamarie back at playgroups!
Uh-oh...has the CuddyCam paparazzi caught Katie in a compromising position, hanging out with a boy only in his skivvies??
Kate and Traci had some time to pass before her doctor's appointment today, so they stopped by PetSmart. (Katie loves to look at the animals there.) The little one decided to perform a homage to her big brother Geno by walking around the entire store with her beloved Bear hanging from her mouth. (This is not normal for her.) She even decided to drop down and crawl for a bit. Mom did not capture that on film as she was too busy trying to get her daughter up off the disgusting pet store ground.
We're running out of things to write about all of Katie's swimming adventures this summer. But we didn't want to leave out today's story, because it was the first time we swam with buddies Allison (18 months) and Cristina. They live in an area we are heavily scoping out for our next home move. This neighborhood pool definitely adds points in Katie's book.
No obstacle is going to keep Kate from her playground! Frequently, after her morning or evening swing session, she is quite upset on the walk home and often turns back toward the 50 stairs leading up to the park in protest. Tonight, she was determined to return and started heading up "her Everest" on her own.
