A Kate update

Kate is edging ever closer to the 3 1/2 year mark (next month). She's still very tall and very skinny. All of her pants require an adjustment around the waist--there's just nothing there to hold them up.

She looks like a genuine kid lately, not a baby anymore! She is turning into a really beautiful little girl.

She loves playing games on the computer, namely pbskids.org. I have felt guilty letting her spend so much time on the computer as I rest, but a lot of good has come from it...she knows more dinosaur names than I do, and she has actually taught herself how to spell! She can spell quite a few words now: horn, guitar, drum, tuba, stop, truck, Kate, and balloons are words she can spell without even thinking about it. One day she just spelled "horn" for me. I was blown away! A minute later she spelled guitar, and I almost fell over (I would have if I hadn't already been laying down). She is a real smartie. She is always asking about letters and what this or that spells when we're out and about.

Kate still loves everything princess. The other day Andrew suggested buying her some GI Joes just to balance her out a little. I'm pretty sure they would just end up as princes, though.

She loves Sunbeams and had no problem at all transitioning from nursery. The teachers tell us she's great. There's a little girl in her class named "Rella," but Kate told me after the very first week that her name was "Aurora" -- like Sleeping Beauty. She talks about this girl's name every week, as if it's the greatest thing ever to be named after a princess. I only recently found out that's not her name at all, but I'm not going to be the bearer of bad news.

She is quite feisty these days and wants what she wants when she wants it. Some days everything will be a struggle. Other days, she'll sweetly do anything I ask. I'm not sure what the difference is, only that she's just trying to figure things out. Her most common reply to me when asking her to do something is, "I can't. It's too hard." This is very frustrating to hear, especially because usually all I'm asking is for her to bend down and pick up something she dropped. She'll say things like, "It's too hard for me. You do it. It's not too hard for you!"

Her favorite story right now is Goldilocks. She loves to tell it over and over. It is really cute how she tells it.

She is still very affectionate--when she wants to be. Yesterday, Andrew went in her room where she was playing and asked if she wanted to give him a hug. She replied, "No, thank you." At least she's polite about it?? Of course, she's still very shy with strangers and other kids. She becomes a mute around other kids -- even though she LOVES being around them (especially her five year old cousin, Cambria. She names all of her stuffed animals after her). Kids will ask her questions and try to talk to her, and she'll just sit uncomfortably and stare at them. She's in a playgroup now, so hopefully things will get better.

I have been trying to get her potty trained for what feels like forever now. She's been in pull-ups for a long time. She generally tells me when she has to go pee (probably 90% of the time), but not always. Sometimes she just really detests sitting on the potty and doesn't want to. She can hold her pee like you wouldn't believe. I've never seen anything like it. After a whole night's sleep (10-12 hours), she'll wake up and refuse to go pee until she has breakfast and changes her clothes. THEN, she will go. Every time, it's like a flood coming out --I don't know how she can hold it! Then she won't go again for HOURS, no matter how many times I ask her.

She WILL NOT go poo in the potty. I finally decided to buy her a reward to motivate her. I got her an Ariel Barbie doll and put it on top of the fridge. I explained, a million different times, in a million different ways that all she has to do is go poo in the potty (not in her PANTS!), and she can open up Ariel. The first day, she sat on the potty and tried and tried to go poo. Nothing. She lost interest in trying so hard after that. This was a few weeks ago now, and she has never successfully gone poo in the potty. I have no idea what to do about it! Ariel was my last, best hope. Kate still looks longingly at Ariel every once in a while, saying, "She doesn't want to come down." I try to tell her that Ariel REALLY wants to come down -- all she has to do is go POO in the POTTY. She then replies, "It's too hard for me." Ahh!!

I have her signed up to start pre-school in September, but the kids are supposed to be completely potty-trained by then. I REALLY hope that can happen, because I know she would love it. She has never had an accident in Sunbeams, which is just as long as pre-school would be, so if all else fails, I'll probably just stick her in panties and send her to school and hope she doesn't have to go -- since she can hold it like nobody's business anyway. They would never know!

Just recently she started something where every time she hurts herself (falling down or whatever), she will do a fake sneeze. She'll be bawling her head off, and then out of nowhere go, "Ah-Choo!" I am completely puzzled as to why she does this. Somehow it makes her feel better??

It's really difficult to put Kate's cuteness into words. Just the way she talks is the most precious thing ever. She has such a soft heart and still gets very concerned whenever she sees someone crying. She's excited to share a room with Christian when he comes, and I know she will be the best big sister ever. I'm sure she will have a hard adjustment to sharing us, since she's had us to herself for so long, but ultimately, I know she will be great. The other day we were at Old Navy, and I was browsing the little baby boy clothes. Kate would pick up the clothes and hold them to my stomach, leaning close to my belly and asking, "Does it match, Christian?" I'm not sure what it's supposed to match exactly, but it was cute.

I've been thinking of things that I need to write down that she says, but I know I am forgetting most of them. We love our little Kate, though, that is for sure. We can't imagine our lives without her!