Kit and School

This was the actual first day--Tuesday, January 4, 2010--Kit can be found crying in the doorway refusing to pose.

This is Thursday, January 6th--Kit's technical second day of school and her first day of posing.

 

Kit is not so sure about school.  Elsie started school at age 2--weeks before her 2nd birthday in fact.  She eagerly entered the classroom ready to go, ready for kids, ready for diversions and entertainments of any sort.  Kit started days after her 2nd birthday and, while she talks a big game, wants nothing to do with mommy leaving.  Even getting an opportunity to wash her hands at a little sink (this girl LOOOOVES to wash her hand--baby OCD) will not distract her from the academic reality, the parental abandonment, the agony of it all....

We had thought she might enjoy the kids, enjoy having her sister there in the same big classroom, just across the way... We learned from Ms. Mary that she is fine after a few minutes after we leave and she gets teary with transitions from one activity to the next but does fine.  She boycotts participating in circle time, but my friend Ginger reminds that Elsie did too--it is true... I checked the blog!

 Then we missed a day with the potential of snow and then a week with an ear infection and now Kit has only attended school for a total of four days.  She hasn't gotten used to the routine as Ms. Mary says she will and she hasn't gotten into a rhythm.  I was fully prepared to pull her after Tuesday, but less rash voices have prevailed and I'll try her again tomorrow.... Ultimately, though, if she doesn't go, she can do Oatland Island on Tuesday and the library on Thursday with Elaine.... plenty of interaction and a lot less maternal angst.  We'll see... We'll see...

I TWO!

So the night we got back from Atlanta--January 2nd--two nights after my epic ailing, one night after Elsie's, AND just before David's pain kicked in, we had just a few neighbors down to partake in the birthday cake for the party that wasn't.  Here are a few shots of Kit getting to blow out some candles--better than the cake itself for her.... She doesn't have a sweet tooth like her dad her sister!

The next morning with Daddy home in bed, we visited Dr. Stone and got Kit's stats:

36.3 inches tall 96%
30 lb 85%
47.5 head 51%

Physically, she is developing nicely--on track with her sister... She's a big un....  And she is a fast runner and happy swimmer.  She's enjoying the Mommy and Me gymnastics and is great with walking her legs up the wall to do a handstand!  She can count to ten and can get on a roll with her ABCs.  She understands just about everything we say and has some wonderful phrases:

Frosty the MoMan
Rudolph the Nose Dear
I'm Dit. ("I'm Kit" while pointing to her nose--her response if you ask her name!)
Dit do it, Mommy.  ("Kit do it"--happening more and more now that she is 2!)
Watch this... See.... or Watch Dit.... see....
I 2! (with some form of two fingers/thumb pointed--I'm two!)
I UH Yew.  (My favorite--I love you!)

And her first sentence longer than an imperative statement may have been a few weeks ago when she opened the shower door while I was showering to tell me "Elsie spit at me."  Beyond the obvious lack of concern with her mother's privacy, this also reveals Kit's propensity for lying and projecting.  Most likely, she spit at Elsie.

Fortunately, this troublemaker is very funny when not making trouble.

Pink Pig

 

We had many big city adventures over the holidays with Grammy's assistance--when we weren't running errands for holiday meals or visiting family and friends, we went to parks, play areas (like Sensations Therafun --thanks Kiery--way cool!), malls, etc.  Between Christmas and New Year's, we visited Lenox Square Mall, which brought back vivid memories for me of bad hair, worse fashion, and Hello Kitty grab bags, but is now high fashion and much too hip for country mice like us.  However, the Pink Pig was not a part of our holiday memories.  A tradition for some, the pink train ride through a holiday vignette was not something we had ventured forth to witness and mark the season.  Since the line was short and the price was right ($3 a ride), we did it.  Clearly, the experience will resonate nostalgically for some with its two loops through display boards of Rich's department store's Pink Pig history.  But for us, I can say that I did not deprive my own children of the experience and can check it off our list guilt-free...  We can say we have done it and that is all about that...

1.1.11: Happy New Year/ Happy #2!

what was....

what wasn't...

We spent this week preparing for a weekend that really wasn't.... We had planned to crash my parents' annual New Years' Eve festivities, which includes their dear friends the Wards, the Davis, and the Donaldsons, with my siblings and their spouses for a tapas feast.  Unfortunately, David arrived to town just as I had become violently and debilitatingly ill.  But the show went on without me and the food, friends, and fun created a soothing sound from the vantage point of my sick bed at the back of the house.

This morning, I awoke feeling better though weak but strengthened as the day went on and as we geared up for Kit's 2nd Birthday Hokey Pokey Party, a small party for a few family and friends here in Atlanta.  Unfortunately, this same bug--that Kit may have had earlier this week and I certainly had the day before--struck Elsie down in a bad way and we couldn't expose children and more people to it.  The poor thing... We were heartbroken for her and heartbroken to call the family and friends and cancel Kit's party.

The thing is though... it wasn't sad for Kit... She reminded me as she sat in her PJs this evening (PJs we never got her out of on this rainy sicky day) and we served her leftover dessert from last night with two candles in it that her needs are simple and delights are many.  Because of her glee, we lit candles over and over again so she could blow them out over and over again and she ate her carrot cake trifle that Aunt Barbara had made with her Toy Story (her new favorite movie) BooBA (her word for spoon) and she grinned joyfully and reminded us that she was missing out on nothing at all and teaching us a better way to approach the new year in terms of what is, not what isn't, in all her glorious youthful wisdom.  Happy happy birthday and happy new year to our beautiful darling charming quirky wacky Kit!

So tomorrow we return to Savannah, like Grinches in reverse, with birthday cake, feast, not birthday beast, but birthday sentiments at heart...

Smooth as a Baby's Bottom

 

Just in time... as I am on the verge of turning 39, Kit may have discovered the secret to everlasting youth... Just as I turned my head for a moment, with a jar of Boudreaux's Butt Paste barely in reach, and here she is.... ready for infomercials and advertising....  A snow day, with possibilities of cozy times by the fire, has a decidedly different tenor when toddlers are involved.....

White Christmas: Could it be any more magical?

Christmas Christmas Dinner: Fondue Style

 

After the children fed themselves dinner fondue-style, we had them read themselves to bed with Elsie's new tag reader.

Christmas Crafts

 

So Santa has many magical qualities but may lack foresight.  Therefore, one of his gifts necessitated immediate gratification in ways not as immediately anticipated by participating parents and grandparents.  A snowy Christmas day meant post-nap finger painting.  We noticed that while Elsie demonstrated restraint and precision in gingerbread housing, Kit exacted attention to detail when painting digitally.... we attempted to better anticipate future realities and personality idiosyncrasies to no great effect.

Licensed to Drive

Christmas Morn

Upon seeing the Dora Jeep!

Freedom is another word for a Dora Jeep!

And it has a radio!

Investigating the Stocking!

Attempting to force a hat upon her....yet again!

not much luck

Awwigatoooor

Please don't interrupt me while I'm reading.

Mommy, doggy, and baby in the shower...

Big Girl Panties!