Kate's Baptism

We've been preparing Kate to be baptized when she turned eight. It was a lovely evening.  Friends and family came (Grandma Mary was up in Everett visiting Aunt Erika, so she was able to be there). The water was very cold but Kate was brave.




Family picture! (And there's Grandma in the back.)

I asked Jill Tracy if she could play "Each Life That Touches Ours For Good" for me, in the prelude music.  In my mission we sang that at every single baptism.  (I remember singing it at a mission reunion and getting all choked up... and singing it in Relief Society when I was pregnant and pretty much bawling... darn hormones.) It wasn't part of the program, but I wanted to include it, just for me.  It was just a small, sweet moment--a brief surge of emotion, the echo of Korean lyrics, and then getting back to the matter  at hand, getting my daughter ready for her own baptism.  Nobody else knew.  But I appreciated Jill doing that for me. 

Grandma Mary gave the talk on baptism, and Sister Campbell (who's been sitting with on Sundays to help me out with the kids, since Doug's on the stand) gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  Scott gave the opening prayer and Rebecca gave the closing prayer.  It was a nice way to include everybody.  And when we got home we skyped with my parents in Ohio.  Thanks for sharing our special evening with us!

My Two Front Teeth

Kate lost her other front tooth at school yesterday.  The new one is already poking through, so it was definitely ready to come out.  Now she's got a great gap-toothed grin. 



She's been wanting to lose a tooth at school so she could get one of these tooth keeper necklaces.    (Apparently she was working hard on getting it out before the weekend.  Success!)

I asked Kate what it's like trying to talk with no front teeth.  She said, "It's kind of weird."  

Toothless

Kate lost her first tooth! She told me it was wiggly on Thursday, and it came out today at church, in the middle of her Primary class.




When Kate was a baby her first tooth didn't come in till she was over a year old. I hear the late teethers also tend to lose them later. Most of Kate's friends at school have already lost quite a few.

Kate's first Primary talk

Kate gave her first talk in Primary on the first Sunday of the year. I wrote out the talk for her and she wowed everyone with her mad reading skills. Here she is with her "Happy Birthday" sticker and her "I gave a talk in Primary" sticker. Big grin!

First Day!

Kate decorated her lunch bag the night before. I packed her a lunch in the morning, and wrote her a little note (since she's reading so well!) "I love you! Have a great day!"



All ready to go, and so excited!



Doug picked out this wheeled backpack for Kate. He thought it would be easier.



Since Doug's home right now (between quarters) we made a family event of it and all walked to the school together!

We arrived a little bit early, so Kate got to play on the playground for a few minutes before going in.



Doug whipped up this tag for Kate's backpack while we were getting ready to go. He's so resourceful.

Doug stayed with Andy out on the playground while I went with Kate into her classroom.



Putting her things in her cubby.



She looks so grown up!



In front of each child's place was a sheet to color, with a teddy bear and the words "Welcome to Kindergarten!" Kate immediately turned hers over and started drawing a picture of Toothless the dragon on the back.



When we stopped by the classroom the previous evening, the things with Kate's name on them all said "Katherine." When we got there for school her teacher had changed them to say "Kate."



She had a good first day! I think she will like her class and her teacher, and she said she made friends with the girl who sits next to her.

When I picked Kate up at the end of the day, she said, "Let's go home and play school!" and that's what we did. I guess that was her way of processing everything. (We used to play school with her stuffed animals a lot, but it had been quite a while since she wanted to do that.)

She only ate a quarter of her peanut butter sandwich, so today I sent home hummus and lavash rolls. Maybe those will go over better. (They have lunch only two hours after school starts.) We had a little mishap yesterday because we neglected to tell Kate not to put her not-quite-empty juice box back into her backpack. Oops.

So now Kate's at school for her second day. Andy's napping, and the house is quiet.

Kate's haircut, mark 2

We got Kate's hair cut right before I went to Utah (mostly so Doug wouldn't have to deal with all the brushing trauma). It had been over a year since her first haircut, so it was getting pretty long again. Doug took her to Wild Child and she came home with this cute little braid.



I can't braid her hair for swimming and gymnastics anymore. She finished her first swimming lessons at the YMCA, and yesterday she started another session of gymnastics. Andy and I went along and had fun kicking balls around during Kate's class. In the drop-in zone I ran into some of the kids from my photography class, and some of the leaders who helped me out. That was kind of fun. (The photography class seems like a long time ago, already!)

Kate 5.5

"No, Mom, I don't want to stop what I'm doing and pose for you--just go ahead and take a picture of me now while I'm cutting this dinosaur out of felt with my safety scissors."



At five-and-a-half, Kate is creative and imaginative and has the typical variable attention span, depending on whether it's something she wants to do or something we want her to do. She'll spend quite a while drawing, or playing with Play-Doh, or making things with her scissors and tape. An empty yogurt container and two toilet paper tubes turn into a robot. A plastic clip becomes an alligator.

She's reading quite well, likes to play games on the computer, and especially enjoys reading Calvin and Hobbes with Daddy or Mom at bedtime. The fascination with creepy-crawly things continues, though she's wary of bees after being stung last summer.

She also tends to be strong-willed and melodramatic, which makes things interesting. Her current response for when she doesn't want to do something is "I'm not available to do that!" She has been doing a lot better lately at saying please and thank you. We're looking forward to seeing how she does in school.

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!

Kate's haircut

Kate got her first haircut! I was planning to get her hair cut anyway, before going to Ohio, and then while we were down at the farmer's market we won a gift certificate for a free child's haircut at a place downtown called Embellish. Great timing!



My attempt at a "before" picture.




The girl who cut her hair did a great job. She put it in a little ponytail first and cut that off, and gave us the ponytail to take home.





Everyone kept commenting on how mature she was. (I think mostly she was just kind of stiff because she didn't know what to expect.)



She thought the towel was fun. ("It's like a hat!")



Dad watches.









This one just made me laugh, the way she's kicking back in the chair with her legs crossed.




"Is that my hair?"





The new 'do!



We went over to the Learning Sprout for a while, and got her a special treat. She was so good getting her hair cut!

I guess I won't be able to braid Kate's hair again for a while. But it sure is easier to brush now. Yay!