Katie loves her “shows” and What we did last night

Last night when I got home from work, our conversation went something like this:

“Mommy! I got ropes too!” As she was holding and swinging the belt times on her dress. “Yes, you do!” I said once I finally understood that "ropes" meant a belt. And normally I don't wear anything that pulls the fabric in near my tummy but I bought some maternity shirts while pregnant with Katie and Jake and yes, I am still wearing my maternity shirts even though Jake is what, 5 months old now? Even though it’s obviously maternity. Even though it makes me look pregnant NOW (and I'm not, in case anyone wondered). It’s comfy and looks pretty and, well, it was clean.

So while I’m still feeling pretty impressed that she noticed something as tiny our similar belt style, Katie asks/tells me “You don’t change the channel, okay? I watching my shows.” Now we get to the real point. The "ropes" thing was just something that caught her attention but NOW we're onto the real focus. She loves her shows and I guess the talking dog show was coming on… Kittson or something? So I told her that was fine and I walked into the bathroom. And called Katie over, interrupting her show. I saw not one, not two, but three pairs of pants on the floor. And since she’ll help reallllly good when her shows are at stake, I asked her to put them in the laundry basket and I asked Daddy what happened and his answer was that she changed her clothes a lot. I kind of got that idea from the variety of outfits strewn about the bathroom and living room. It looks like she started out in pants and a tank top, then moved to warmer pants and a shirt (she must have gotten cold), decided she didn’t want those on and changed again to other warmer-er pants and then finally her dress.

She is definitely a dress girl. And she’s very impressed when a dress is twirly. That’s a whole category I consider when buying her a skirt/dress. Machine washable? Check. Warm wash? Check. Twirly? Check. Cause if it’s not twirly, she doesn’t want to wear it. I’ve come home to find her in one of her many winter dresses – long sleeves, heavy fabric, high collar – that I’ve put on the top rack of the closet but that she wants to wear because they are... yep, you guessed it. Twirly. I don’t mind if she wears them, but they are sooooo hot that I come home and I’m hot just looking at her!

She also wants her nightgowns to be twirly. We were at Walmart last weekend and she found a cute nightgown and pulled it down and asked me if she could have it. I told her no, that we hadn’t budgeted for it, and she was not happy. She held it until we left that aisle and then, at the last moment, she put it back. I told her she could earn money to buy it herself and explained that she could make her bed and pick up her toys and maybe have enough for it next weekend… She made her bed once and earned a bright shiny nickle... and then I asked if she wanted to pick up her toys to earn not one, not two, but THREE shiney pennies, she told me "tomorrow mama. I too tired today."

So after Kittson was over, we were still picking up the many toys she pulled out during the day. I don’t know how many toys she has but I'm thinking that there might be a tiny bit too many. I asked her to please put X away and she did, then X away and she did, then X away and … “mama, you help. I too tired” To which I have to reply “You got them all out here, you can help put them away.” She did for a bit until a very odd show with a very odd cartoon boy came on (looks like pinnochio, has clothes like a jester from the Renesance Fair, and pushes the vocal abilities of the guy/lady doing his voice). After that, she was done. She sat down in front of the TV on top of one of the parts from Jakes floor mat and stared at this show like it was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen. I wasn’t as impressed. The kid and a friend, they both look about 5 or 6, were driving in a car to a festival. Helloooo? Driving a car? I’m just relieved our keys are still out of her reach after seeing that episode! The kid didn’t know where he was going and they got lost. Saw an elephant walking with severe breathing issues. Went to an adult friends house for a visit and directions. She loves it. We've been having a talk about strangers. I finally figured out that she calls them "rangers". Here I thought she had a strange facination with Yogi Bear. I didn't comment on any of these points because I didn't want to be "shushed" by a three year old.

Finally, after the funny boy show, Caillou, AND the birthday show (don’t ask…) it was my turn. While I was enjoying some quality programming, Katie kept up a continuous commentary about everything and then started to “skate” on the kitchen floor by standing on her “cool phone” and pushing off with her non-skate foot. After a turn through the kitchen and dining room (wood floors) I realized that the phone rubbing the floor with the weight of a 3-year old might not be best for the future quality of our flooring and I asked her to please not scratch the floors. If I had more energy, I might have gotten up to check but I was tired and it had been a long day so I felt that my mommy requirement had been fulfilled at that point. Katie did something else for a little bit then she was back in the kitchen. I looked over to see if I needed to get up to check for scratches because she was “skating” again and I saw that she had one of Jakes bibs on the floor and the cool phone on top of that and she was trying to skate again. She’s so resourceful! I kept my mouth shut.

Once she was over that, she picked up the part from Jakes floor mat that she had been sitting on earlier. (It’s cloth covered and kind of shaped like a pool noodle.) And she referred to it as “Honey’s dad”. If you recall from earlier posts, Honey is Katie’s imaginary friend. So I guess if imaginary Honey had an imaginary dad, who am I to say he’s not 3” thick with no arms and legs, neck, ears, or any other discernable features? She ran around with that for awhile and had a great time till we ate our pizza. Then I guess Honey’s dad went to sleep cause I spotted him under the kitchen table. Poor guy must have been exhausted from all of the exertion.

Katie had her eye on my last piece of pizza which was technically her last piece since I gave her 3 and I took 5 (little pieces). I told her that she should save room for CAKE with gramma after we had our pizze and she told me “mama, I not save room, I want pizza not cake” So she ate 3 and a half pieces and I finished her last little bit. She told me very seriously “Be careful mama, don’t get sick, okay?” I answered her very seriously “Okay.”

After dinner we went to gramma and grampas (okay, we walked downstairs) for some CAKE! I told her we were going to have CAKE (can you tell I’m excited for cake?) and she said, “I full from my pizza, I no want cake.” Is this my kid? How can you ever not want cake? Is that even possible? THEN I remembered… that’s just the kind of thing John would do. Is this a sign of “like father like daughter”? If so, good for her. That’s so much better than “I’ll just unbutton my pants to make a tiny bit more room”.

So later, once we were back upstairs, Katie was chatting with me. Telling me that Lola, or is it Goga?... I don’t remember, but one of them was mean. There was a long explanation about the situation which, of course, I can’t remember any of right now!

Oh, Jake has two perfect little teeth (he got them a few weeks ago) and he shows them off any chance he gets. He sits in his walker and stands up. He took actual steps forward while in it last night. One minute the stove was blocking him from view, the next minute I could fully see him! He also rolls from back to front, and back again. Very quickly. And when he’s on his tummy, he looks around for something to chew on. He also pulls hair and grabs glasses. He’s got a very good grip.

Katie entertains him. He sits in his walker or his little chair and she plays around him and does her thing and he smiles and watches her. While we ate our pizza she would look over, smile at Jake and he would smile back. She said “Mama, look, Jake smiles at me!”

This weekend we’re going back to the lake with one of our friends. It should be fun! Katie never did earn enough for the nightgown so I’ll have to steer clear of that section of Walmart – since we go there EVERY time we’re at the lake!