Some firsts for Will

Well here we are, days and days, it seems, since my last post. How does time pass so fast?? I must be getting old. That, and these kids just take up a lot of time! I have trouble completing a thought these days, let alone a whole blog post. But, I digress. We're still here, doing just dandy. Will is as jolly as always, and had a couple of first yesterday. He ate pasta, the verdict seeming to be that it was good (he's yet to dislike anything yet!) And he went in the backpack. I use "went" loosely as we "went" to the kitchen to make dinner, but it made cooking much easier for me and he seemed to like "helping." Actually, what he really liked was yanking on my hair so that he could laugh when I said "ouch!" I think I'll be using the backpack more though (hair-pulling and all) because 20-pound Will is becoming harder to carry in the front-pack! Perhaps next time we'll actually get the backpack outside--we hear there's a sunshine out there somewhere and keep hoping it might visit us at some point. As for Kate, she's Kate-to-the-maximum all the time! She keeps us entertained, for sure. Right now, she loves to run around the house doing things with her tools, saying "there is just so much to do in this house." Sometimes she adds "it's ridiculous how much there is to do in this house." Now, I don't THINK I say this (at least the ridiculous part) but perhaps it has slipped out before. Come to think of it, I suppose that's why I can't seem to post too often. Yes, I'll blame this "ridiculous house!" Thanks for the excuse, Kate. :)

The moments that make parenting worth it....

...are always the small ones. Like when Kate kisses Will, and Will smiles like his life couldn't get any better. And, at that moment, my life is just about perfect as well. I love you two with all of my heart!

Soccer Tots

Soccer is still a HUGE hit with Kate. When we went yesterday, we were in the bathroom when Kate heard them start running from one goal to the other. She literally looked panic-stricken as she screamed, "LET ME OUT THERE RIGHT NOW!" When I opened the door, she went flying, looking around wildly for the entrance to the field. I think she couldn't handle the thought of missing "Red Light, Green Light," which is her new favorite game. We play it all the time at home, although it has morphed into "Red Light, Yellow Light (go slow)," "Red Light, Blue Light (whisper)," and whatever other color strikes her fancy at game-time. I'm not sure she's learned a thing about actual soccer (she still picks the ball up to position it in front of the goal), but she loves it so, naturally, I love it too!

Morning conversation

I haven't posted one of Kate's morning musings in awhile, so here goes:

Kate: How do people get to be princesses like Cinderella?

Me: I think you have to meet a prince and then get married.

Kate: Can I marry a prince or daddy? How do you find princes?

Me: I'm not sure but I think a lot of ladies probably ask that....

Kate: But I'm not a lot of ladies, I'm Kate!

The "Big Daddy Man" Song

Kate has been asking for the "big daddy man song" whenever we're listening to music lately. We've pretty much just been saying "yeah, okay, sure..." since we had no idea what she was talking about. This weekend, however, Ryan solved the mystery: the "big daddy man song" is Metallica's "Enter Sandman." She claims this is "one of her favorite songs ever" which, I'm sure, pleases Ryan to no end. Quite a fast progression from "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes," I'd say! I think the main reason she likes it so much is that Ryan dances with her to it--they've choreographed the whole thing, complete with headbanging, air guitaring and more! It's her first dance number--how "sweet".....:)

Way to go, Kate!

I must start this post by saying that unless you are Kate's grandparent or, possibly, a parent of a toddler, you probably (a) won't care about the following and (b) shouldn't care about the following....but I sure do! So, I was upstairs doing laundry while Kate was downstairs. It had been all of about 5 minutes when she called up, "mommy, I had a little accident." I started rushing down thinking very frustrated thoughts since she had JUST gone, but when I got downstairs Kate was giggling. She then said, "ha, I tricked you, mommy. I did it myself." I thought she was just being silly until she showed me that she did indeed go all by herself. And, unless you've potty trained a toddler, you're likely thinking "why is she telling me this?" (rightly so). But if you HAVE potty trained a wee (pun intended!) one, I bet you understand why I am very happy at her independence!!

Fun in the sun...finally!

Yesterday was the perfect spring day (70 degrees!!) and we spent almost all of it outside. We played at the park and then headed up to the mountain for some spring sledding!! We met some friends from the valley who have an 8-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son. Kate was completely enamored with them, especially Ella. She kept saying "I want to do what Ella's doing!" One thing Ella was doing was hiking up the steep (actually, very steep) hill and sledding down on her belly. Ryan intended to take Kate part way up and sled down with her, but I soon heard screaming coming from halfway up the hill. I thought she was scared to go down because she was shrieking "NO!" Of course, Ryan had no choice but to pile her in and sled down. When they got to the bottom, I found out that Kate was not scared. She was MAD as could be because daddy didn't let her do to the top and slide down on her belly, face first ALL BY HERSELF. We eventually had to compromise and let her go on her belly, face first, by herself, but from only about halfway up. Luckily, Ella decided to build a snowman after awhile, so Kate got distracted. Otherwise we'd probably still be there! :)