Kate 4.5

(I'm a bit late with this, but the picture was taken on June 27th.)

Kate at four-and-a-half:

Likes her hot dog with ketchup, mustard, and sauerkraut. And then extra ketchup and more extra ketchup.

Can be persuaded to eat green beans or peas with a little bribery, but will eat broccoli with no urging at all.

Likes to pretend to be a dog (usually Clifford) and do tricks and beg for a cookie.

She's strong-willed and opinionated, as usual, though her arguing technique mostly consists of insisting loudly and repeatedly that things are other than they are. ("I don't know how to do that, dear." "Nooo! You do! You DO!")

Lately we've been playing some two-player games like Square Meal on nitrome.com. She likes being able to play with someone. Square Meal is right about her speed.

She's finding that playing with other kids is different from playing with Mom and Dad, where she pretty much gets to tell us what to do ("Let's play shark and octopus. Okay, you be the shark.") There's a bit more give-and-take required with people closer to her own age.

We've introduced her to some fun songs lately, like "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly," and "On top of spaghetti," and "It's been a looooooong winter." Sometimes she asks for one or two of these along with her bedtime books and stories. She also likes me to sing "Stay Awake" once she's all tucked in and ready to go to sleep.

She still has trouble with "sh" and "ch" sounds--they both come out as hard S's.

She's discovered the hilarity of playing with words--like reading Danny and the Dinosaur and changing it to "Banny and the Binosaur". (This is, apparently, a real crack-up when you're four.)

She's reading quite a bit. My mom got her a subscription to Highlights High Five magazine, which she loves. It's so exciting when a new one comes. She'll sit down and look through it and sound things out all by herself.

Kate is an enthusiastic and expressive artist!



Here's a shark that she drew a few weeks ago. I love it. (I'm thinking I should have her draw a bunch of sea creatures for me and then I can get them made into vinyl wall decals for the bathroom.)

She's also getting a little more critical of her own drawing. One day when she was having trouble getting something just the way she wanted it, she called, "Mom! I need help! I can't draw a triceratops!"

So I looked at what she had and said, "Oh! That's a great triceratops!"

"Nooooo!" She wailed, "It looks like a BUG!"

Kate is learning to be a good big sister. I hope she and Andy will enjoy playing together as they grow up.

We love you sweetie!

Eight Things (tag)

I have added Mary to the list of blogs that I stalk, for her gorgeous photography, beautiful children, and her stunning wit. (And for some reason her updates don't show up on my Bloglines, so I have to actually check her blog regularly to see if there's anything new.) I checked the other day and was aghast to see that she had tagged me.

Eight things I did yesterday:

1. Played two games of Go Fish with Kate, while keeping one leg in barrier position to keep Andy from eating the cards.

2. Edited a couple of photos for Scott, of the mural on one of the buildings downtown that he manages (which I am not helping to restore--the mural, that is).

3. Dropped off a small box of clothes at the consignment store and then ran down to Trader Joe's for a few things.

4. Crocheted a bit (I think that was yesterday?)

5. Fielded questions from the neighbor kids, like, "Can Kate come outside?" ("If she wants to.") "Can Andy come outside?" ("Ummmmm.....")

6. Tried on three shirts that arrived from Kohls and decided they were all keepers.

7. Warmed up bacon lentil soup for dinner. I love having leftovers. I make leftovers on purpose.

8. I was going to give Kate a bath, but she was feeling a bit peaky. We'll have to do that tonight.

Eight favorite shows:

(Of the shows that I actually watch...)

1. Chuck

2. Monk

3. Psych

(and for the rest I guess I'll have to go to shows that aren't actually on anymore)

4. Firefly, of course.

5. Stargate SG-1 (though I'd have to say I didn't enjoy the later seasons quite as much).

6. Highlander

7. Farscape (we came to it late and missed out on large chunks).

8. I have a big soft spot for The Greatest American Hero, though I fear it may not have aged too well.

Eight favorite restaurants:

I don't know if I've even been to eight different restaurants here. Let me think....

1. My very favorite restaurant will always be Bruno's in St. John's, Newfoundland, where I painted my first mural. It was such a great experience, and the food and hospitality were fabulous. Bruno died suddenly right after we left. I hear the restaurant is still there, but it's called Cioppino's now.

2. I Love Bento

3. I'm still mourning the loss of Federico's, which was a great little Mexican place that had the best carne asada and carnitas. So good. We used to go there about once a week.

4. Vien Dong (which we first heard about from one of Doug's students)

5. Chevy's, just because we end up going there every couple of months. Kate likes to play with their dough balls.

6. Bombay Bistro (a bit more expensive than the typical Indian lunch buffet, but really yummy).

7. Cerello's pizza (local, run by Koreans, and they're closed on Sunday! And the pizza is quite tasty).

8. O Bok Jip or Chung Ki Wa, down in Lakewood (they're right across the street from each other and we pretty much just alternate. Today we went to O Bok Jip).

Eight things I look forward to:

1. Fall, because I love fall!

2. A new Miles Vorkosigan book (Yay!)

3. Having a house of our own. Some day.

4. Painting more murals.

5. Going back to Korea some day.

6. I've been doing some de-junking and rearranging, and I'm looking forward to making my space a space that I'm pleased with and happy to be in. I'm even planning some decorating.

7. I have some more crocheting ideas that I'm eager to try out.

8. When Kate turns five, I'm going to read her No Flying in the House. That was the first book I read to my brother, when he was five.

Eight people I tag:

1. Heather T.

2. Ida

3. Laura Call

4. Amy B.

5. Bronwyn

6. You!

7. Jeanette

8. Jessica (You can do this on Facebook. You know, if you want.)

Crochet sweater, red

Finished another sweater!



I took this along to the hospital when Andy was born and worked on it there, and then got busy doing those myriad other things and left it unfinished for a while. The yarn I got was supposed to be burgundy. It's quite a bit redder than I expected. But I suppose this is okay. I like the way it turned out!

I got this one from one of the Japanese books that I ordered.  Somebody has posted the pattern here.  (The pictures should get big enough if you enlarge them all the way.)  I used Sinfonia yarn.  It's different but it hangs nicely.  Can't remember what hook size now... maybe F?  I usually wear a size 12, and this turned out to be a good fit for me. 



(Though I must say I prefer the photo from the back.)



Here's what it looked like blocking on a towel. The pineapple motif is pretty common in these Japanese patterns.

I have another sweater that's about 80% finished, too. Maybe when the weather cools down I can actually wear them!

Six Months Photo Shoot(s)

The day Andy was 26 weeks old coincided with his six-month birthday. I remember the same thing happened with Kate--seems there are just the right number of days in the months between December and June for them to fall on the same day of the week.

When Kate was six months old, Rebecca came over after work and took some pictures for us outside our apartment. (This was the old old apartment.)





I wanted to do the same thing for Andy. I asked Larry Golden from church if he could come over and take some pictures with my camera. I thought the evening light would be best, so around 7:00 we went over to a little strip of trees on the other side of the Seventh-day Adventist church behind our complex.

We had some technical difficulties, in the form of too-low shutter speeds. The pictures were mostly pretty sharp, in spite of this--Larry must have amazingly steady hands--but I, unfortunately, do not have amazingly steady kids.



Andy's got a case of Blurry-Eye. (It's a new thing. Not usually contagious.)



Yikes!



This one would almost be okay--if Andy had his eyes open, and if Kate weren't sucking on her bottom lip (and if Andy's fingers weren't blurry).



My mom wants a vertical photo for her wall. We haven't had much luck with this.



No dear, that's not attractive.

After surveying the damage, we rescheduled. We got together again a few days later on July 1. The shutter speed problem was solved, but the kids were less than thrilled. Andy was getting tired and hungry, and Kate was just thoroughly camera-ed out.



Another attempt at the vertical photo. (Did I mention it was windy?)



Kate is supremely bored.



"Oh--Andy! Let me wipe that up for you."



"Will this madness never end?"



"Ahh! Feel the wind!"



These two I like!



I wanted to try a standing pose and asked Doug to pick Kate up. This was not what I had in mind.




I think this one needs to go on a Christmas card. With a caption like, "Wishing your family much joy and happiness."

So I didn't get that one perfect photo. But the collection is priceless. Thanks Larry!

Andy at 26 weeks

Well, it took me over a month to blog about a two-week trip, and now I have several weeks of Andy to catch up on. These were taken on June 27th.





(Still not liking tummy time much at this point.)

Ohio Evening

Our last night in Ohio (June 23rd), with Betsey on my camera.

See, my hair looks exactly the same, just shorter.




"Look, I made a sand ball!"



Grandma joins the fun.






Angie the Chiwhatwhat.



It's all fun and games till somebody loses a nose.




"I love you, Mom! I want to hug your head!"



Cute Andy!



Cute Betsey! (who, hopefully, will not hurt me too much for posting this picture.)

That's the end of our Ohio visit! (And I have so many other things to catch up on!) My mom has a really nice blog post about everyone's contributions to our get-together.

And--I don't think I got any pictures of it, but Barb was working on a quilt while we were there--she just found out that she won Best in Show for machine-quilted baby quilts at the Weber County Fair. Yay, Barb!

Fireflies!

While in Ohio we developed a nighttime ritual: we'd get Kate into her pajamas, then put her shoes back on and run around in the front yard catching fireflies for a while before bed. She didn't actually manage to catch any herself till our second-to-last night there, but she had a great time chasing them around.



Aren't those watermelon pajamas cute?





There are a lot of things to learn about catching fireflies--like, the best time is right as it's getting dark, so you can still see them between blinks. And the way they always seem to go straight up and hover for a second, and then zoom off sideways.



Doug shows one to Andy.



It takes off...



... and lights up! (Lucky shot!)



Here's another lucky shot that I got of one in flight. I think it was either just starting to glow or had just finished. You could go through a lot of pixels, chasing these little guys around with a camera!