a vocabulary lesson

mele kalikimaka

friday night videos: count by fours

Just listen how fast he goes from 28 to 32.

Amazing.

I'm so proud.

puppy love

I'm not a dog lover. Sure, they're cute as puppies but then some of them get big. And I'm pretty sure all they want to do is poop and slobber and possibly eat me. And eat my cats. And maybe eat my children. And they bark. And have sharp teeth. The better to eat me.



But my neighbor brought over this cutie pup last night for us to see. Cate just sat there holding her so quietly. For the first time all day she didn't have words to say. Seriously. That's amazing for this kid. She talks and talks and talks and talks. Maybe we should get a puppy. Heehee.



That little pup was just fine too. Looks like Cate's strangling her but she wasn't. Neither one of them made a peep. Quietest puppy I've ever seen.



This one's spoken for but she's got siblings who aren't (talking about the puppy here, not Cate).

last friday night video of the year

I saved the best for last.

Cate singing an original piece.

She's quite the songwriter.

All about bugs and monsters...or is it?

She cracks me up.

friday night videos: patriotic

Dan used to read (but mostly sing since it's a song of course) this book to Danny when he was a wee one. Now he sings it to Cate at bedtime. She's gotten pretty good at it. She'll gladly perform it if she's in the mood. The dramatic ending is all thanks to Dan. He likes to ham it up.

I figured tonight would be a good time to share her version. You can see Danny's here. Man, he was an adorable toddler.





Oh, she can be such a stinker sometimes.

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Here's our attempt at a group picture on the elevens this morning.




Some day they'll be sitting around chatting with their friends, reminiscing about where they were at 11:11 on 11/11/11. It could happen. My kids (and their cousin) will get to say that they were being tortured by their mother with a photo shoot in a pile of slightly damp dead leaves. They'll pretend that it was so annoying that I made them pose with me but secretly they'll be thankful to have this picture of me and my wrinkles, Ray Ray eating something that's probably not edible, Cate staring off into the distance and faceless Danny. I try. Really I do.

* * * * * *

Other pictures from the morning (just not at 11:11). I'm pretty sure it's a requirement to take oodles of pictures of little kids playing in dead leaves. They had fun. I did too until they started to toss leaves at each other onto the section of lawn that I had already raked.

friday night videos: a walk in the snow

January 20, 2010

Cate turned 19 months old the next day. She'd only been walking for about 6 weeks.

A late bloomer.

I love watching that new walk. A little bit bow legged. Like she still has to think about each step.

Those boots. I loved those boots.

That hat. Grandma made it. It fit her for a long time.

I love hearing the crunch crunch of the snow.

I miss the snow.

I don't like summer.

I know most people love summer.

I don't.

The heat. The dread of wearing a swimsuit. The sun. The looooooooong days.

Did I already mention the heat?

We're heading into the hottest days of the year right now.

Some people lament the fact that summer is just flying by so quickly.

Not me.

I miss the snow.

friday night videos

July 2007 on our trip to visit Dan's good friend Eve in Santa Cruz, California

Stinkin' adorable Baby Danny

Dan in a goofy hat

Good friend Eve trying to make Danny laugh

One of my favorites

friday night videos

February 2010, The Great Light Saber Battle

Danny won.

Cate cried.

Dan died.

Just pretend though.

friday night videos

Remember when we used to stay up late on Friday nights to watch Friday Night Videos on MTV?

And we were so excited when Thriller came on?

That was my favorite.

Dan took Cate to see Gnomeo and Juliet at the dollar theater tonight.

It's her first trip to the movies.

I'm tending kidlets at Aunt Judy's house and worrying about how Cate is doing at the movies (since I remember all too well Danny's first trip to the theater).

And since I'm missing her and worrying about her, here's a Friday night video to help me feel better.

Please excuse my lousy singing voice.

I never pretended to be anything above average in that department (or even slightly average for that matter).

Cate, on the other hand, is a musical genius.

War Eagle and Go Cougars!

who do you love?

Dan had a little chat about love with his baby girl last night.

It went a little something like this:


Who do you love, Catie Bug?

My wuvs Mommy.

You love Mommy?

Yeah.

Who else do you love?

My wuvs Danny.

You love Danny?

Yeah.

Who else do you love?

My wuvs Aunt Doodee.

You love Aunt Judy?

Yeah.

Who else do you love?

My wuvs Bama Bama.

You love Grama Bama?

Yeah.

Who else do you love?

My wuvs Bampa.

You love Grandpa?

Yeah.

Who else do you love?

My wuvs Dah-det.

{At this point, Dan turned to me with the puzzled look that means "Translate, please." So I did.}

You love Target?

Yeah.


{Now that's a little girl who knows what she loves...quite possibly in that order.}

because I could really use a good laugh right about now

...and I figured one of you might be feeling the same way.

Please enjoy.






And here's Cate dancing to that same annoying music back in March. She loves that book, Grama Bama. Just looooooves it.

Thanks a lot.

I, on the other hand, am just sitting around waiting for the ding-dang battery to run out.






And yes, I asked Dan if I could post that first video. He said yes. How could he not?

potpourri

This is part of the birthday card Grama Bama sent to her favorite son-in-law last week. Truer words were never spoken.

* * * * * * *

Cate has been quite chatty lately. She sings songs to her babies. The songs usually go a little something like this: mama mama mama daddy daddy daddy baby baby baby. She can say her own name now too. She pronounces it Date, just like Danny does. I'm pretty sure her favorite thing to say is help followed by no, don't (if, heaven forbid, you actually try to help her) and then me (because what she really wanted was to do it all by herself). Oh, how I love this age.

* * * * * * *

Uncle Tony and Aunt Diane came by for a visit. Danny was treated to a healthy serving of whisker pie.

* * * * * * *

After opening his birthday gift (the Star Wars legos) from Danny last week, Dan asked, "Can I open it or do I have to go poo poo first?" Danny said, "Silly! You don't have to earn it!"

* * * * * * *

Kris and Danny were playing one afternoon. I heard Danny say, "It's finders keepers, Kris." I have no idea what he had found but apparently it was something Kris wanted. He replied, "No, Danny. It's finders givers." Nice try, Kris.

* * * * * * *

Sometimes when I exercise, I enjoy flipping through a magazine. Especially when it's Saturday evening and there's nothing good on t.v. Yesterday I picked up a copy of Vanity Fair as I headed over to my favorite elliptical machine. What a waste. It was filled with ads, ads and more ads. I saw a naked butt and a whole bunch of political mumbo jumbo. Who buys that magazine anyway? Bor-ing. It really made me wish I hadn't left my Reader's Digest at home.

* * * * * * *

We got new backyard neighbors on Friday and I'm not happy about it.


This one and another one just like him (or her or whatever). Please tell me that horse is not going to put his head right over that fence and eat my babies' fingers off. Please. Because that's what I'm afraid is going to happen. They have really big teeth (the horses, not my babies). I'm sad that my "let the kids play in the backyard without me" time has come to an end. And I'm really thinking the time has come to build an 8 foot high fence to prevent some kind of tragedy from occurring. I like my babies and I don't want any of their body parts to be eaten by our neighbors. Can you tell I'm afraid of horses?

As of this morning, they're gone. Are they on a vacation? Were the neighbors just horse-sitting for a few days? I just hope they're gone for good. I like my kids to have fingers.

* * * * * * *

I came across a comment this week that could be added to my facebook funnies.

"I do needless acupuncture for headaches and it works like a charm!"

I was kind of under the impression that acupuncture was needless, so it's good to know it actually works. Maybe the commenter meant to say needleless? Who knows. Needless to say, I got a little chuckle out of it.

* * * * * * *

I'm excited to give Grandma Olds her birthday present. It arrived this week.


It was supposed to be her Mother's Day present. I knew it might be late getting here because of the volcano so I had a back-up gift ready. Too bad we're going to have to wait until July to see if she likes it.

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And last but not least, a little video (because it's been a while since I shared one).

twenty-one months

Cate reached the ripe old age of 21 months on Sunday. There was no trip to the doctor to check her stats. I'm pretty sure she's still somewhere close to that 50th percentile. I think she might weigh around 25 pounds (with her clothes on...and possibly her boots). That's what the digital bathroom scale read once when she stayed on it long enough to register something.

Her language explosion continues to amaze and thrill me.

She's still going strong with the sign for more. Now she's added the sound muh when she bumps her fists together. The only problem with the whole muh thing is that sometimes we have no idea what she wants more of. It becomes a guessing game. More cheese? More milk? More tickles? It's a good thing she knows how to say nooooo.

She can say yes too. It comes out as yeah and I think it's the cutest word she says.

She says something that sounds like cheese (more like deeesssss but I know what she means since she's pointing to the cheese in the fridge when she says it).

Cate says hi and bye a lot, usually accompanied by a wave of her hand. She likes to put a little purse on her arm and then come over to me and say bye (with the hand wave). Then I try to guess where she's going. Are you going to church? Noooo. Are you going to school? Noooo. Are you going to the store? Yeah.

If Dan tries to change her diaper or get her dressed or put her shoes on (or any other thing she'd rather have me do instead) she tells him nooooo. Then she comes over to me, pokes me with her little finger and says, "Ma ma ma ma."

She won't say daddy. When he comes in the door from work, many times she runs over to him and says ba ba ba ba ba. She doesn't say Danny yet. When I try to get her to say his name, she just points to him.

If I ask her how old she is, she puts up all 10 fingers. She knows her age has something to do with her fingers but she's not quite there yet. (If you ask Danny how old he is, he'll say he's 5.)

When Cate hears a sound (dog barking, train, loud truck, sirens, Danny yelling) she puts her hand over her ear and says, "Huh?"

When she eats a bite of something she likes, she says Mmmmmm. Of course, she doesn't say that when I try to get her to eat vegetables.

She says peeeees for please (and uses the sign for it too). Sometimes it just sounds like psssss.

When she can't find something, she'll wiggle both hands in the air (kind of a modified sign for all done) and say, "Go?" with a puzzled look on her face.

Sometimes I can get her to say I love you. It sounds more like wuh wuh wooo but it's adorable. Listen for yourself.

She knows lots of other words. They don't always come out sounding like the real word, but close enough. It's all about the context clues. Here's a few:

coat
shoes (sounds like zoooose)
boots
shirt
socks
eyes
water (sounds like wa wa)
truck, duck, stuck, yuck (all sound like uck)
locked (sounds like ock, says it when she can't open something)
cat
hot (sounds like ot, also says it when something is cold)
up
out
help (sounds like elp...she says this one a lot)
ouch
uh-oh
stop (sounds like bop and says it when I'm singing to her)
woah
baby (sounds like bee bee)

Her little lip pucker to get ready for a kiss is simply adorable.

I think I see a tooth poking through on her bottom right side.

She puked again last night. She's had a few really good puke-free weeks so I wasn't very happy about it. I never am.

As per her request, I rocked her for a good 20 minutes (maybe more). She loves to be rocked to sleep (or sometimes a semi-sleep with suffice). She was still awake but rubbing her eyes when I put her in bed. She cried for about 3 seconds and then up came the puke. She didn't even gag herself this time. Quite a talent.

And last, but not least, Cate can tell you the sounds for several animals, point to body parts when asked (most recently cheek and chin), sing the ABC's, write the numbers 1 through 10, and recite Pi to 14 digits.

My little girl is growing up. I'm so proud.



And just for funzies, here's a little video of Cate and Danny when he was 21 months old. It's one of my favorites.

name that tune

*a little hint: his current movie obsession

the language explosion

When Danny was around 18 months old, his Uncle Tim informed me that my son was entering into the phase of a language explosion. He'd be learning to say lots of new words. And that's what happened.

Cate has experienced a small explosion lately and it's quite fun to see (and hear). I've been trying to teach her to say please in sign language. That's why she's rubbing her tummy when she attempts to say it. She's already got the sign for "more" down pat.

Enjoy.

a little unsolicited help

I figured out how to get Danny to help with the daily cleaning around here.

Don't ask.

Just leave a sink full of water, bubbles and dirty dishes within his reach.

(If it wasn't hazardous to small children, I'd leave the bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towels within his reach too.)

If you can't whistle while you work, you might as well hum.

and now they're gone

Grama Bama and Grandpa are on the road again. They left early this morning. We said our goodbyes last night, but Cate had a few kisses left for them this morning.

We miss you already!

better late than never

It's not perfection, but it's a step in the right direction.

oh my goodness

Danny's had three birthday celebrations so far, one Saturday, one Sunday and one last night. According to him, after the festivities on Saturday night, he was two. After coming home from the family party at Grandma's on Sunday, he was two. I asked him again last night after the cousins and their parents left. That was the first time he had shown me three fingers.

The poor kid is going to be either confused, happy or downright mad on Friday when I tell him it's his birthday for real. We'll see. If I had to guess, I'd say mad. He'll protest that he already had his birthday. Maybe he'll be so exhausted from the traveling the day before that he'll just give in and be calm and agreeable. That would be nice. Especially since he'll be done with the terrible twos.

It's all smooth sailing after Friday, right? hee hee hee