Couch Potato + Couch Spud

Mike once claimed that he could get sucked into ANYTHING as long as it is on TV. Well, here's your proof that he wasn't lying. At left, we see Katie and Daddy totally engaged in the latest episode of....Dora the Explorer! I don't know who looks more entranced, the Spud or the Potato. At least Traci knows where to put both of them when she's trying to get stuff done around the house! As Swiper would say, "Awwww, maaan!"

Easy Does It

Lord only knows whether Katie will inherit the "jock" gene that seems to run in her family (case in point, check out her cousins!), so it's always interesting to see what she does when she has access to an open gym. To beat the heat, Katie and Traci went to an area sports rec center where the gymnasium was set up with all kinds of balls, bats, and hoops. Ever the resourceful girl (who needs to save her energies for other things like tantrums), Katie spent a lot of her time plopped down on the ground putting the tiniest ball she could find into the shortest hoop possible. Hmmmm.....so maybe we don't have the next Michael Jordan on our hands....

Evil Smile

You ask a kid to smile at the camera, and this is what you get... At least she's looking at the camera, right?

Endangered Species

Continuing to take advantage of the gorgeous weekend, we went to the National Zoo this morning to meet up with good friends, Barry and Jane (along with son, Patrick), who were in visiting from Ann Arbor. Mutual friends, Will and Karen (along with kids, Libby and Charlie), also met us out. Early on, an emboldened orangutan tight-roping across an elevated cable caught Katie's eye. However, she spent most of the morning more interested in pushing her stroller around while the adults cowered in the shade. The outing ended with a nice (air conditioned) lunch in Shirlington, which allowed for this quick photo of two old college buddies and the new generation. Great to see old friends...

April Showers...

We don't know about the rest of you, but we're getting pretty sick of the non-stop rainy weather we've had all April. But with the showers comes beautiful flowers, right? On one of the first gorgeous weekends of the year, the family trekked down to Old Town Alexandria to people-watch, play, and stop to smell the flowers. Katie especially loved these orange ones that matched her (hidden) bright-orange skirt.

The Joy of Bubbles

The kiddo discovers the joys of a bubble bath...even the epicurean joys!!
Tonight we practiced splashing the bubbles everywhere, blowing the bubbles all over the bath tub, and entirely covering our bodies in bubbles (including supposedly "dry" mommies). Just look at the sheer thrill on her face...

Bye-Bye, Class!

Katie had her last official Tumbles class this morning. We're going to take a break, at least for the summer, so that we can play outside more (for FREE). We couldn't leave class without getting a picture with the kiddo's two favorite instructors, Ms. Megan (l) and Ms. Allison (r). Thank goodness Katie bonded with the adults in the class because she is going through a weird, frustrating "personal space" phase with other kids. She is basically afraid of any other kids (except for a few really familiar ones) coming within a few feet of her. She won't even approach her favorite neighborhood playground if other kids are on it. Obviously, this behavior made our last few classes less than pleasant. The whole phase can probably be pinpointed back to a few instances where she was bitten by younger kids, but we hope it blows over soon. This kind of extreme fear can be just as frustrating and sad for a parent as the other extremes (bullying, pushing, biting, etc.)

Water...Paint...Paper

Katie has never shown a strong interest in arts-and-crafts stuff, but that changed today when we introduced the watercolor paints! At first, she was fascinated as to how the paints mixed together in the water cup. (Who wouldn't be?) But then she realized that she could also put the brush to paper and come up with something cool. We kept chanting (in Dora the Explorer style) "Water...Paint...Paper!" An hour and a half later, we only had two major disasters (a tipped cup of water and fallen set of watery paints), but a very satisfied artiste.

Katherine du Lac

Not much to post this weekend, as Katie is once again fighting off an ear infection. It was a pretty low key couple of days, especially in light of the gorgeous weather! This afternoon, however, we did take a nice walk to the Lake Barcroft neighborhood beach down the street. Katie had a blast running around in the sand and throwing everything she could get her paws on into the lake. Mom and Dad were encouraged at the sight, given our upcoming vacation to the Outer Banks, NC...

Before the Trouble

After visiting another great pre-school, Katie and Traci headed over to her buddy Patrick's (2.5 years) house for some fun in the sun and sand. As you can see, Patrick has a sweet sand table filled with the coolest green sand! Katie and Patrick had fun shoveling and trucking and building until Katie started to get into some trouble. She tried to test her mommy's rules by scooping the green sand out of the box and dumping it all over Patrick's nice deck. Her mommy gave her two warnings and then finally had to banish her from the sandbox. Her punishment? She got to watch Patrick have a blast in the sand from behind the patio screen door. She was such a pathetic sight to behold...I should have taken a picture of that. We're thinking time-outs might be in her VERY near future!!

'Nutha One!

Patience and care are not exactly the virtues of a 2-year-old... Behold Katie's incessant use of "'Nutha One!" while coloring her Easter eggs. Also, note how she slam-dunks her eggs. Oh well, we all had fun. And, don't miss the cameo by Zeke the dog!

Katie's First Big Easter

Katie celebrated a pretty momentous Easter weekend in PA! Not only did she get to color (and eat!) her first Easter eggs, but she also got her first visit from the Easter bunny. We don't know which event she enjoyed more... She got into the egg-coloring more than we thought she would. Unfortunately, she didn't care that the eggs were relatively fragile when she basically slam-dunked them into each cup. But the cracks and crevices made them all the more fancy when she (ironically) took them out of the cups with great care - see picture above.

The next morning, she awoke to a great surprise. The so-called Easter Bunny, which her parents had been hyping for weeks, actually did stop by and leave a basket of goodies! The bunny went mostly with an arts-and-crafts theme this year, with a little bit of candy sprinkled in for good measure. Katie has especially enjoyed her first chocolate bunny...although she has been sharing it with Daddy. Thanks again to all of our relatives in Pennsylvania...Katie had a blast with everybody! Please take a minute to check out our Easter pictures in the album to the right!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Katie joined up with some of her girlfriends (l-r: Elena, Gabi, and Lyla) for some pre-Easter fun this morning. Thanks to good friend Lena for hosting us and allowing everybody to make quite a mess... Speaking of Easter, Katie is thrilled to be visiting Brockway for the weekend. She keeps saying "Papa's House" and then goes through a roll call of all the people she can't wait to see: Papa, Grammy, Zeke, Greg, Tabby, Zeke, Julian, Nico, Krystina, Dave, ZEKE!! We're excited to do some egg coloring, play some Wii, eat some home-cooking, and watch Katie as she discovers the Easter Bunny for the first time. Should be fun! Have a wonderful Easter weekend, everybody!

Patience is the Key

Anybody who has ever tried to potty-train a toddler knows that patience is the key to success. Sometimes you have to persuade your child to sit on the toilet for 10-15 minutes, even if success is not a guarantee. In order to keep her sitting, we've used books, TV, even Youtube videos on the computer! Katie got a little taste of her own medicine when she tried to get her doll Wendy to "go on the toilet." For some reason, all of her cajoling couldn't persuade Wendy to go!! :)

Toddler, Love Thyself

After an already busy morning (more on that later), Katie and Traci visited their buddies Connor (21 months) and Maureen. As always, the kids loved chasing each other around the house. But the real fun began when we pulled out some of Connor's hats. The kids thought they looked so dapper in their stylish caps that they wouldn't stop looking at themselves in the mirror. Katie, our vain little fashionista, even proceeded to kiss the mirror over and over again. Should we be worried?

In other news, Katie toured her very first preschool this morning! Even though we don't plan on enrolling Katie until September 2010 (when she is 3), we are getting the tours over with this spring before we have another baby to tow around. (Unfortunately, admission applications are all due this winter, when we'll be smack-dab in newborn hell.) Traci didn't know what to expect dragging Katie through an entirely new environment, but the kiddo couldn't get enough of observing the older kids, the teachers, the colorful play areas, and (best of all) the playgrounds. She traded lots of smiles with everybody she saw and even stopped for awhile to watch a class sing a song. Traci was mighty impressed by the facilities, teachers, and the fact that they were incorporating lots of cool science things into the 3-year-old class...YAY! Well, at least we've seen one good potential place for Katie to grow.

Formerly Insurmountable

Yes, we are blessed with a community playground within a few hundred yards of our condo. However, in order to get to the playground, one must climb a set of LITERALLY 50 steep steps. We can't count how many times we have lugged Katie up and down those steps, sometimes several times a day. We never thought that we would get to the day when she would scale "the mountain" on her own. Well, she's a big girl now, and she can go up and down on her own at will. Phew...just in time for the aching backs of a pregnant woman and old man (hee!).

Determination

Potty training started in earnest this weekend. Step one, get Katie comfortable with sitting on her toilet. So far so good. She seems to like reading books for 5 minutes after her bath and doesn't seem to be frightened by her new throne. She definitely takes after her dad in this picture. Note the reading material in hand and the determined look. We'll spare everybody the comparison photos!

Fort McPlayground

This morning, Kate discovered the wonderful world of couch cushions. We don't have too much to work with (i.e., not like the forts that Mike used to make as a kid), but she had a blast setting up tunnels to crawl through and houses (or "playgrounds" according to Kate) for Big Bear to sit in.

Don't worry, it's a gorgeous day and we will get outside, eventually...

Calling all Health Professionals!

We think that Katie is trying to send out a subtle message to all health professionals and emergency personnel....SHE'S SO SICK OF BEING SICK!! It's been a pretty rough week, even for a house with a toddler, as Katie has simultaneous upper respiratory afflictions, pink eye, and diaper rash. The nights of incessant coughing and tissue wiping are getting old for all of us. Seriously, when does cold and flu season ever end? Hopefully, this will all be gone in time for our Easter vacation next week.

Fools and Showers

I came home from work a couple of hours early today and was treated to a 34th birthday celebration. It started with a fresh batch of cupcakes. I understand that Miss Katie was responsible for picking out the fluorescent purple frosting. Yikes. Hard to look at, but still tasted great. Then we headed out to finally take a look at one of D.C.'s newest memorials, the U.S. Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. As it was drizzling most of the afternoon, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Very underated. We'll definitely go back in nicer conditions. Finally, Mom and Kate treated me to dinner at Lebanese Taverna. What can I say? My girls know how to treat a guy right. Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone!