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?