Catriona had her two year well baby exam yesterday.  She is doing fantastic.  She now weighs 27 pounds and is 34 inches tall - 50% for both on the growth charts.  Her language development is off the charts and she chatted up both the nurse and the doctors.  She had to get two injections to get caught up and that didn’t go over too well.  But, she did spend the rest of the evening showing us her ouchies which was entertaining.  We have to take her to a pediatric allergist for a follow-up becuase of a possible peanut allergy.  Fingers crossed that it is nothing!

Yesterday we set up Catriona’s new big girl bed.  I redecorated her room with “Mallory” bedding from Pottery Barn kids and Andrew assembled the twin sized bed we bought at Ikea.  We showed Catriona her bedroom after we returned from her two-year well baby exam.  She was so excited!  She could not stop talking about her “big girl Cat Baby bed” and how mommy was going to sleep with her. 

When bedtime rolled around, she was a bit hesitant.  She wanted both Mommy and Daddy to put her to bed, which we did.  After snuggle time and books, I put her in bed.  She was a bit resistant - for about 3 seconds - but I told her that I would put on my pajamas and then go check back to check on her.  She was asleep before I left the room. 

Right now it is 6:13 a.m. and she is still snoring - I cannot wait to see her when she gets up!

Since vacation, which was spent June 28 - July 5 at the beach with all three grandparents and my sister and her son, Catriona was requested to be addressed as Cat Baby.  She was a bit jealous of the attention that her 8 week old cousin received so she’s decided to be a baby, too.  It’s quite cute - and a bit frustrating.

All clothes are baby clothes.  She wants to wear the same three or four “baby shirts” over and over - her purple t-shirts, a blue shirt from the Children’s Place, and a pink/white long sleeve blouse that she outgrew probably nine months ago.  Everyone else is trying to fight this, but I find it cute and frankly easier to deal with by ignoring.

Catriona now officially knows her colors.  I’m impressed.

Last night, Catriona was a riot at the swimming pool. A few antecdotes worth highlighting:

• Last night was not the first time she has done this, but certainly the most energetic and entertaining: Catriona has learned to “swim.” While in the water, she squats down, does a basic swimming stroke motion with her arms, and walks through the pool shouting: “I swimming! I swimming! I swimming!” It is very cute to watch and absolutely hilarious! I must get this on video before she really does learn to swim.
• The local swimming pool has a large turtle water sprinkler. The turtle is large enough that a couple adults could sit on it. Last night, Catriona asked me to help her climb up on it. As she righted herself, she put one hand on the turtle and raised the other over her head. With that, she started chanting: “I ride turtles. I ride turtles. I ride turtles.”
• Catriona’s quickly overcome any hesitation in going down the water slides. After watching a bigger girl go down the slide on her stomach, Catriona gave it a try last night - successfully. She wanted to continue sliding that way, but I told her that it was not allowed. She could go down on her bottom or we could go home - she went down on her bottom.
• A 3 - 4 year old boy was fearful of going down a particular water slide. Catriona climbed the stairs and started shouting, “go, go, go!” The little boy got upset because the “baby” was rushing him.

Last night, Catriona and I snuggled on the chair in her bedroom.  She was fighting sleep and fighting to get comfortable in my arms.  I wanted to comfort her, distract her from the fidgeting.  So I asked her to help me count.  I thought I would count and have her repeat the numbers after me.  But, before I could start, she bolted up right, held up her hands and shouted, “1. 2. 3. 4. 5.” And, she help up the correct number of fingers appropriately.

My girl can count.  Wow! 

Wednesday morning as I was getting ready to leave for my Uncle Michael’s funeral, you informed me that you are no longer to be called Nona.  You are now Canona!  It is so cute, but I already miss hearing you saying “Nona wants…

You are growing up too fast!

Today was a lousy day - overcast, raining off and on, cold (which seemed even worse given the 80s of the past few days), too much time to dwell on the past, and some fairly bad back pain.  Given that, Catriona still managed to bring some light to the day.

In the late afternoon, around 4:30, I took Catriona outside for some fresh air.  We couldn’t stay long becuase of the temperature.  As we were returning to the house (she had ridden her tricycle to the neighbor’s driveway) she spied a large pile of a white substance. 

“What’s that,” she asked”

“It’s bird poo,” I said.  “We don’t touch that.”

“Ooh!”

Catriona climbed off her tricycle, bent to her knees and came down to her palms, bent directly over the bird poo.  What the heck is she doing, I thought to myself. 

The answer became evident quickly as I could hear taking in long deep inhalations through her nose.  She was trying to smell the bird poo!  After a few seconds of that, she rotated approximately 180 degrees so that she was facing the poo from the opposite direction.  Again, she smelled the poo, this time lowering her face until she was about an inch from the white mess.

She slowly stood and wiped her hands.  What was she thinking?  Is she going to try to touch it? 

She turned to face me and said, “Eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww, mummy.  Bird poo.  No, no!”

That’s my girl!

Catriona:

Where has the time gone?  It seems like yesterday you were our little “Old Man Turtle” and now you are a walking, talking little person.  Today you turn 21 months old and I wanted to remember some of the highlights of the the past month:

• Sentences.  Oh my gosh!  You now speak in sentences.  This morning you said, “I want Nick Nick.”  And when I asked if you wanted a pancake for breakfast, you said, “No, I want waffle.”  Your first full sentence that I heard was on March 29 when you said, “I love you, Mummy.”  My heart melted.  Your speaking really took off this past weekend though.  When I asked if you had slept well, you said “Nona went night-night in my bed!”
• Jumping.  You’ve learned to jump.  Your feet actually leave the ground.  You have endless energy to jump, jump, jump.  And I love it!
• Singing. Your favorite song to sing right now is “Twinkle, Twinkle” even though you think the name of the song is “Sky!”  You know a majority of the words, but when you don’t you hum along anyway. 
• Hide and Seek.  This is by far your favorite game right now.  Your favorite place to hide is between the entertainment center and the wall in the family room alcove.  Your back-up hiding spot is in the formal living room between the large vase and the red chair.  You’ll cover your eyes and then come out stomping and yelling “Ta Da!” as you uncover your eyes.
• Marching Like a Dinosaur.  Laurie Berkner’s We Are the Dinosaurs is the be-all, end-all of your life right now.  The first thing you do every morning is roar, which lets us know that you want to hear the song immediately.  In the car, you want to listen to the song on repeat from the time we leave the house until we arrive at our destination.  It gets old, but it makes you happy and cuts down the screaming so we reluctantly oblige.

Motherhood did not come easily to me.  We struggled, I struggled, for the first part of your life and I never quite felt competent or confident as your mother.  But, you know what? We’re getting there.  I love motherhood now.  I love being your mother - every day is such a fun day with you.  And, I finally have confidence in my ability to mother you.

It’s been a while since I last posted.  I was so afraid of “breaking” my site that I didn’t do the last two WordPress upgrades.  But, I figured it was time so I went for it today.  And, voila!  I successfully managed the upgrade - as evidenced by the fact that my site still works.  So, yay me!