Goats?

Kate thinks her bike needs an engine....

This morning when Kate woke up, we were talking and I told her that "mommy loved her." Then I asked her "who does Kate love?" clearly assuming my sweet angel would say "mommy." But, no. She just looked at me thoughtfully and said "goats." Oh well. Better luck next time! Well, today we had a VERY exciting morning. I took Kate to the Y Playcare because I haven't tried her in it for quite some time and I'm subbing a class on Monday, so I had to make sure she would be okay with it. She did like it, and just called it "diff (different) daycare." Smart, I thought! After that, I took her to Live-Yers which is a playgroup we haven't been to in awhile. We were definitely in luck because the Y just bought a huge bouncy castle/obstacle course type thing. It is HUGE. Literally, it is as long as the baskeball gym. You go in one side and crawl through all these obstacles and then reach a really tall slide at the end. Best of all, it's filled with air so the kids can't get hurt!! I thought Kate's eyes were going to pop out of her head when she saw it. All the kids were looking at it in awe, not sure if they could actually go in it. Once Kate learned she could indeed go into it, she was a wild woman. It was hilarious to watch all the kids be really cautious at first, and then just go nuts when they'd been through it once. The kids would get to the end and then just sprint back to the beginning (Kate included). I think all the parents enjoyed it as much as the kids. Who doesn't want to jump around in a big bouncy castle??!!

Juggling your toddler's social calendar....

is no easy feat! Kate's only 18 months and she's already got multiple play dates and classes every week. I can only imagine what it will be like when she hits school-age! It's good preparation, I'm sure. She's way busier than I am! :) We had a play date at the park with her buddy Kevin yesterday. They always want to switch back and forth on the swings, in case the one they're not using is better. Early lessons in wanting what we don't have! They also love racing down the slides, although one of them always goes before we say "go" anyway. I'm just glad that we're able to get them outside to play....I'm so thankful we're not in the Northeast blizzard right now!! People could actually be envious of the Port Angeles weather this winter, and that's not something we can say very often! The sun's peeking out right now, so I think we'll go out in the stroller. Oh, and Kate had a second very great day (hour) at daycare, so the first time wasn't a fluke--she loves it!

First day of daycare!

Kate went to daycare on her own for the first time today, and she had no trouble at all adjusting to it. She didn't cry when I left; in fact, she immediately started playing and didn't even look at me! I really, really like the daycare and the women who run it, so I felt completely comfortable leaving her there. When I came back, she was playing and told me "no" when I said it was time to go. The toddler teacher remarked that Kate "talks A LOT"...tell me about it! Usually, she clams up when we're out of the house, so she must be quite comfortable there. It did feel strange to leave her and actually have a whole hour to myself (!) but I can definitely get used to it.... For now, she's going to go two times a week for an hour, but I'm already thinking she might rather stay two hours! At any rate, it's a great step in her becoming more independent and confident when I'm not around. Other than the big daycare news, we did have a fun weekend. Saturday was gorgeous, so Ryan and I took Kate to a park in Sequim that has a whole bunch of slides. Naturally, she tried every one of them multiple times. They also have a zipline, which Kate was enthralled with, but couldn't quite get the concept of actually holding on to it. Perhaps that's for the best because I don't think I'm quite ready to watch her come whizzing by!! Yesterday, we celebrated Superbowl Sunday by having a few friends over. My, how times change once you have kids, don't they? There were two 18 month olds and one 5 month old, so the grown-ups' conversation drifted toward getting infants to sleep and how horrid childbirth is!! We did manage to see some of the game or, at least, we saw who won!! It was nice to have friends over, though, and even nicer to have found friends with kids who know the need to end the party by 7 pm!!

The track....

...was a hit! Kate loved it. She went all the way around a couple times, which I thought was pretty far for a person with such little legs. Her favorites were the football pads and the hurdles. Mommy regreted showing her how to "jump" over the hurdles because my arms were aching after all that "jumping." Not surprisingly, her legs were still fresh. Kate does love racing and didn't cut mom any slack at all. She seemed to relish beating me each time!

Much better....

Kate had her second Music Together class today, and I'm pleased to say that it went MUCH better than the first. Last week, she threw an epic tantrum when she had to give back the egg shakers she was using, and she never recovered after that (too bad egg shakers came at the beginning of class....) There were about 15 other kids in the class, seemingly enjoying themselves or, at least, not crying, and then there was Kate who was giving them all a great lesson in lung-power usage. Despite many of the other parents telling me their kids did just the same thing the first time, I still felt mighty embarrassed!! There's no way not to feel that way because you just know you'd be thinking "I'm glad that's not my child" if it were someone else's kid stomping and screaming! Anyway, Kate seemed fairly indifferent to the whole class today, but at least she didn't have a fit. She's already done two rounds of Kindermusic, so this is the third music class she's attended. If she never gets into this one, I may just wait before doing it again. She LOVES any class that's physical, and actually likes the parts of music class where she gets to jump around, so I think she's just more into the gross motor skills right now. She's already trying to hit stuff with rackets, so I'm counting the days (months, years?) until she can start tennis. I hope she'll at least tolerate this class because it's 8 more weeks and the gymnastics room is not open anymore. You may have heard my screams of horror when I heard this news. My go-to activity is gone. Oh, I moaned about it quite a bit (ask Ryan) but easy come, easy go and don't cry over spilled milk and all those other cliches....we'll search out other activities. This afternoon we're taking some balls and trucks to the high school track. I don't know if Kate will like it, but at least she'll run off some energy! Wish us luck.

Mama's a masseuse

Yesterday, Kate came up to me and said "mama 'sage." I just smiled and nodded because I hadn't a clue what she was trying to tell me. She kept grabbing my hands and saying "mama 'sage." Finally, in exasperation, she got down on the floor and started rubbing her chest with her hands. I figured out that she wanted a massage! What a little diva. There was a massage time in her Kindermusic class, so that's where she picked up on it. All afternoon, she asked me for 'sages. Hmmmm, I thought, perhaps this will work to MY advantage. I asked her for one of my own and she obliged--for about 3 seconds. Oh well, something's better than nothing, right? :)

Vashon Island & spaghetti!

My little yogi!

Is the weekend over already?? We had a great one, and we're always sorry to see it over, especially since daddy has to go back to work. Kate says "daddy vork (work)" like it is something that leaves a disgusting taste in her mouth. I agree! So, how did we spend this nice weekend? We started it off with a bang (note the sarcasm here) by taking a Friday night trip to Costco. We didn't even end up buying anything, but Kate really liked sampling some yogurt and toast. Ryan and I remarked that we must be getting old if our wild Friday night is a trip to Costco!! Saturday proved much more exciting since we took a trip to Vashon Island to see some friends who have a two-month-old baby. We've never been to Vashon Island, and we're always up for seeing new parts of Washington. Our friends, Zach and Ellen, have a house right on the water that can only be reached by a pedestrian boardwalk. Everyone has big wheelbarrows for hauling in groceries and such. It was very peaceful, but I was just thinking it must be quite an ordeal when you're trying to lug a baby in a carseat along with your shopping! Their baby, Delia, slept most of the time and Kate just kept saying "sleeping" as if she's already learned that babies don't actually DO much. We went out for a nice lunch, and then hopped the ferry back to the mainland. Kate was asleep before we'd even reached the ferry, so I think she had a nice time. Yesterday, we had a relaxing day and then went to a spaghetti dinner benefit for a friend of ours who has cancer. It's such a horribly sad situation, but it was heartening to see so many people there supporting her. Kate sat nicely all the way through dinner, and then really hit her stride at the silent auction, where she started running around like she owned the place. Overall, a very nice weekend and very successful in our opinion: two meals in restaurants during which Kate sat quietly and Ryan and I actually ate our food!! This is a major milestone for us (and, no, I'm not being sarcastic this time!)