what's up with cate?

She's three. That's what's up with Cate. Here she is bright and early on her birthday morning. This is the second bright and early of that morning. The first one was at 12:47 (not so bright though) when she woke up and pitched a fit of massive proportions. We're not sure what she wanted because all she did was scream. Dan got her calmed down and read her a story. What a lovey way to ring in her third birthday.

She enjoys wearing the "gobbles" she gave me for my birthday 2 days earlier.

She loves her new Dora ball house from Grandma. I love picking up the balls and putting them back in the Dora ball house 56 kajillion times a day. Just in case you think that's a pretty cool looking Dora ball house and you want to have a turn sitting inside and throwing all the balls out, forget it. Well, unless you're a three-year-old girl or her almost one-year-old cousin. That's all that's allowed inside. We made that rule pretty quickly. Dora ball houses are not to be shared with older boy cousins or older brothers.



I came through with my promise of a polka dot cake. I didn't actually make the cake. I never promised that. She didn't care anyway. I used my birthday gift certificate to a cute little cake/cupcake/cookie shop and bought this mini cake for Cate and a dozen cupcakes for everyone else. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

I squeezed on the polka dots and made the little sign and she was happy as can be. She didn't even eat that cake. She wanted a cupcake instead.

More pictures from the birthday:





















I just love Cousin Ray Ray's hair. I'm hoping he doesn't get a hair cut for a few years.



Other stuff about Cate:

She's really good at making the silly face for the camera.

And the pouty face too.



Dan took her to the doctor for her three year check up. No shots. Thank heavens.

She weighed in at 39 pounds. I think she might pass up her big brother soon. Who would've known when she was born weighing 4 1/2 pounds that she'd be in the 83rd percentile 3 years later? The kid likes to eat.

Her tonsils are big. We have an appointment with the ENT next month. Ear tubes have fallen out. One's in the ear canal still. I wish Dan had told the doctor to fish it out for me so I could save it. I saved one of Danny's too.

Know what else I saved? Danny's shriveled up cord thingee that fell off his belly button. I would have saved Cate's too but she was still in the hospital when it fell off and those nurses didn't even tell me when it happened. Seriously. That's a momentous occasion right? It's probably for the best that I don't have 2 shriveled up cord thingees in my house. One is probably enough.



Cate loves to play hide and seek. She never asks me to play, just her daddy. She considers putting a blanket over her head and standing still in the middle of the room "hiding."

Dan told her to count from one to ten. She went over to the wall (their counting spot), covered her face with her hands and said, "One, two, ten!"

Cate requested Dan get her a banana one day. He asked if she wanted to eat the whole thing (because sometimes she just wants half). She said, "No, just the inside." Well, duh. She must think her parents are a bunch of dummies sometimes. They don't even know that you only eat the inside.



Last night Dan made Danny obey and Danny didn't want to obey so he went to his room and cried. No yelling. No spanking. Just Danny not obeying. Cate told Dan he needed to go to work because he's a mean guy and the rest of us are nice guys.

Cate got hurt one day. She came to me with her "owie" and I kissed it. She said, "Hey! That doesn't make it feel better! Need a band-aid!" Imagine that. My kiss didn't make it feel better. She's figured me out.



Here's one I hear a lot.

her: I want something to eat.

me: What do you want?

her: Tell me.

Right. Like I'm a mind reader or something? So I list some choices and we usually end up with her eating cheese.

One day she decided on almonds. I asked her if she was done when I found them sprinkled all over the floor. She told me yes, because the almonds were freaking her out.



Cate likes to twist her hair. I don't like it when Cate twists her hair.

She calls her ankle her hippo. Sometimes she calls it her wrinkle.



This kid has more stainless steel (or some kind of play version of it) pots and pans than I do. And she's even got 2 pink ones. I want pink ones too.

According to Cate, a rooster says dock-a-dock-a-doo. A gun goes wa-hoo (a toy gun made from legos of course). A rocket ship goes woooooo. And the wheels on the bus go wa-wa-wa.



She's into knock knock jokes now too. This is my stand-by. Knock-knock. Who's there? Lettuce. Lettuce who? Lettuce in, it's cold outside.

Here's her version. Knock-knock. Who's there? Salad. Salad who? Salad it's raining outside! And then she laughs and laughs like that's the funniest joke you've ever heard.

She also enjoys a good game of I Spy when we're in the car. She makes up her own rules and we let her.

She's a cute kid with a good sense of humor already. I think she's pretty funny. We'll keep her.

the end

A Little Update: I was wrong. She's in the 97th percentile for weight. 83rd is height. Carry on.