Ode to Raffi

Raffi was a rockstar to me when I was young. Seriously. One of my earliest memories is of being at a Raffi concert, jumping around, doing a four-year-old's version of a headbang. I grew up and moved on, but Raffi has now returned to my life. And he's a rockstar to me again, but for a different reason now: his music makes Kate an angel on long car rides. All we have to do is turn his CD on and Kate goes into a Raffi-induced coma. Oh, the lovely sound of silence, apart from the Raffi singing part, of course. So, because Ryan and I love Raffi's baby-soothing ability so much, I've written a (very poor) ode to Raffi.....

Raffi, in our house, you're worshipped like a God,

Let me tell you why, since I know it's rather odd,

We listen to you in the car,

when we have to travel far,

We put your CD on and it's like a baby-sedative,

Or, perhaps, it's really meditative?

Whatever the reason, she loves to listen,

So you're mildly annoying lyrics we're really not dissin',

Sure, we're sick of "She came from France,"

but we keep listening since it makes Kate dance,

Over and over, WHY are your CDs so short?

We do look forward to the day Kate likes music of a different sort,

But, really, thank you dearly for making Kate quiet,

Our CD's nearly broken, I guess I'll go re-buy it!

So, there you have it, obviously the rainy day is making me crazy.....

PS The photo was taken over Christmas, Kate didn't have a bottle-relapse! :)

Happy New Year!

December 2008

December 2009

It's so hard to believe another year has passed....and to believe that our baby has turned into a toddler. She doesn't even look like the same kid anymore! As for our New Year's Eve day and eve, well, I guess Ryan and I are truly grown-ups because we spent the day doing projects around the house and had no desire to actually stay up until midnight (nor, I must admit, the ability!) Kate showed signs of growing up, too, by eating (gnawing) her first hard apple and by finally giving up bottles altogether. She'd taken to just holding the nipple in her mouth while she walked around, so she could be hands-free while still taking sips whenever she wanted. Not the best habit to get into, so we went cold turkey on the bottles yesterday. To my surprise, she didn't seem to mind a bit, and is now saying "cup" all the time. So, although none of us saw the clock strike midnight, we're happy to say we rang in 2010 just how we wanted--together (and asleep!) We're hoping for a healthy, prosperous, FUN year for ourselves, and for all our friends and family. May we see a more peaceful world this year, and may we all be able to enjoy the simple pleasures in life, just as we see Kate do each day!

Kaboom!

Kate discovered a new game to play with Gumpa, and she's been saying "Kaboom!" ever since. We showed her that football players do a Kaboom-like chest bump after scoring touchdowns, so now it's all tied together in her head. She's been saying "foot-ba" and "touch" while doing the touchdown signal, and then saying "kaboom!" She's definitely Ryan's daughter, all she needs now is his Chargers helmet. Kate also knows that Gumpa does the best kabooms because she's been saying "Gumpa?" all day!

Gumpa & Ga Ga

As close as we could get to a family photo!

The whipped cream bandit strikes again!

Kate added two new favorite words to her vocabulary while we've been away--Gumpa (Grandpa) and Ga Ga (Grandma). We got home this afternoon and Kate spent the next few hours wandering the house, saying "Gumpa?" "Ga Ga?" I'm pretty sure she misses them. It was a whirlwind Christmas trip, but we had a great time with Ga Ga, two Gumpas, Aunt Courtney, Uncle John and Amanda. We stopped at Gumpa Mac's house first, where Kate got her first fabulous (if noisy!) Christmas present: a keyboard! She definitely likes banging away on it, especially since it has extra buttons to add in more rhythms and sounds. Her dancing is progressing along with her piano playing! In addition to playing the piano and keyboard, we visited OMSI (AMAZING place!!) where Kate especially enjoyed dismantling lego sculptures as fast as Gumpa could make them. We also went to McMenamin's where we discovered that Kate REALLY likes french fries and REI where she showed us that her obsession with "bik-as" (bikes) is still going strong. The bikes were in the same department as the strollers and I'm seriously considering calling up BOB to see if they give commissions because I sold one while we were there! Even the REI salesperson thanked me, although he may have thought I was half crazy the way I was enthusing about a stroller. But, I digress.....from Portland, we went to Bend and, since it was very crowded at my mom and Bill's house, we stayed in Sisters at our very generous friend Nancie's beautiful home. What a fantastic woman to trust a couple with a toddler to take over her house while she's away!! As far as we know, it was still standing when we left. Since we were in Sisters and Ga Ga was nice enough to stay with us some nights, Ryan and I went out one night to the Sisters brewery. I mention this because it was one of the single most momentous nights of Ryan's life. We sat next to his childhood idol, Dan Fouts, who was the quarterback for the San Diego Chargers when Ryan was younger. Lest you think this is not such a big deal, let me just say that Ryan did have a Chargers helmet, Fouts jersey and a subscription to Charger Football Weekly. I'm pretty sure that our wedding day and Kate's birth are now distant seconds on Ryan's list of most amazing days! :) I digress again....aside from the Fouts sighting, we did have a great time on Christmas. Although she repeated "Santa" over and over again all week, Kate had no idea what was going on. The first thing she pulled out of her stocking was Hello Kitty band-aids, so she proceeded to spend the rest of the morning playing with those and drawing on post-its with a pencil. Ah, the simple pleasures. She did get some wonderful presents from Santa, though. Now that we're home she's really taking to them, especially a truck which you hit with a hammer. Why am I not surprised that my delicate little flower likes a toy she can beat and crash into things?? Ga Ga had so many fun things for Kate to play with that she was never lacking for things to do, but somehow her favorite was to open the refrigerator and "help" Ga Ga cook. Just this evening we opened a present from Ga Ga Starla and Gumpa Bob and it was an instant hit: a Radio Flyer scoot bike!! Kate knew what it was immediately and couldn't wait for Ryan to put it together. She took a screwdriver and helped him, too. She figured out how to ride it right away, but she seemed to like fixing it as well. She kept putting her screwdriver in it, saying "fix bika, fix bika." Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you're looking for the humor angle), "fix" comes out like another choice "F" word. Ryan said she showing great mechanical signs already, swearing with a tool in her hand! Yes, it was definitely a Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

The countdown to road trip time has begun! We're off for a weekend in Portland and then a week in Bend, and will be lucky enough to see lots of family. We'll greatly miss all those we aren't with this holiday, and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas! We love you!!

The strangest thing that anyone has bought a child?

Yes, probably. Kate likes Hickory's collar so much that I got her a pink camo collar of her very own. I figured I was almost doing a good deed, as no dog should be subjected to wearing a collar covered in pink camouflage! Kate enjoys wearing it around so much it's almost like a fashion statement. Remember in the 90s when the hip hop/rap community started wearing pick combs sticking out of their hair and pulling one sweat pant leg up? I think Kate's expressing her unique sense of style in a similar way....how progressive of her, right? :) Oh well, at least it's some cheap entertainment. And speaking of cheap entertainment, yesterday Kate got some free entertainment watching a dump truck and a backhoe (I think??) work in the alley behind our house. Ah yes, just more evidence of how girly she is. Kevin came over to play with her and all she could keep saying to him was "tuck, tuck!!" He may be the boy in their friendship, but Kate was way more into the "tuck" than he was. She got mad when it got dark and they stopped working, and she immediately went to the window this morning to see if they were at it yet. When she discovered it was still dark, she looked at me like it was my fault, saying "TUCK!" I'm hoping they come back today. As it's supposed to be a very mild 50 degrees out today, I may just take her back their to get an up close look. I used to do that when I'd babysit David and John, but I never imagined I'd be doing it with my own little girl one day!

Ba-cooo!

Kate loves "ba-coos" (vacuums) so much that I got her one of her very own from Pottery Barn Kids. It's the first toy we've gotten her that she really liked right away. She chants "ba-coo, ba-coo" as she pushes it around. It's quite fun because it has little beads that whir around inside and it even picks up stuff with the suction hose! Now, if only I could get her to do ALL the vacuuming, we'd really be onto something! We had a nice, relaxing weekend and got lots of chores done around the house (mostly Ryan, of course!) Ryan and I spend a lot of time just chuckling at all Kate's antics around the house, and we're really enjoying watching her learn to talk. She has a running conversation going all the time now, and we can actually understand some of it now. "Ba-coo" is definitely one of my favorite words right now; I also like "hotter" (heater) and that she says "sit, mama"!! As all mommies and daddies know, we hardly ever sit down, so I like that she's actually commanding me to do it now! What a joy to watch her learn new things everyday. We're now on the countdown to Christmas, and visits to Grandpa Mac's house and then to Grandma Connie and Grandpa Bill's. Can't wait!!