We went camping at Warren Dunes and just got home today. It was cold and rainy but we had a mini-cabin and we did have a great time. We saw a couple of museums, went to the beach a couple of times, saw the Dunes National Lakeshore in Indiana, talked with a National Parks Ranger, ate at McDonald’s and Wendy’s and a godawful place named Perkin’s.
The first night we were there Andrew would not sleep. I knew Katie was going to sleep as soon as it was quiet enough but Andrew was going strong. So, I told Pete that one of us was going to have to take him out while Katie fell asleep. Pete didn’t want to go and thought it would be the easier job to stay by the campfire while Katie fell asleep. So, off we went on a stroller ride. That didn’t work in the least, so I put him in the car and drove him up and down the camp road for a half hour. He finally passed out and I got him into bed in the cabin around 9:30. Then the story of what happened at camp while we were gone comes out.
Katie threw up.
Everywhere.
Pete had to clean it and her up.
Karma strikes again!
Poor Pete and poor Katie. I felt for them both but really I didn’t want to be the one to drive Andrew up and down the same stretch of road for a half hour so there is only so sorry for him I can be. 
Minus the puke (Katie bounced back really quick. Must have been the hot dog not agreeing with her. I told Pete to get the kosher!!!) we had a great time and can’t wait to go camping again next year!
Today Katie got in trouble for disobedience. It was a sad scene. She had just come inside from being in the pool and I asked her to get dressed. Gave her some time and she didn’t. Asked her again. Gave her more time and she didn’t. Asked her a third time as I was passing by her. (She was in the bathroom playing in the sink.) A minute later I heard the sound of a lot of water spilling. A lot. A lot. A lot.
The girl had filled a beach bucket with water and then accidentally spilled it on the bathroom floor. Probably two gallons of water. She did not get in trouble for spilling the water, that was an accident, but she did get in trouble for not listening to me. If she had put on her clothes when I had asked I would not have had to use 5 bath towels to soak up the water on my (newly cleaned!!!) bathroom floor.
Her punishment? She didn’t get to go to the party a couple of doors down. They invited us yesterday and she has been really excited about it. We probably wouldn’t have been so harsh if she had been doing a better job listening to us throughout the day but it was a rough day here. 
After that she begged and pleaded and even tried to trick us into letting her go. (Mommy, are we going to take cookies to the party tonight?)
I hope that this big punishment sticks with her for a while and that she does a better job of listening to us. Poor baby! Poor mommy and daddy too, it’s no fun being the heavies.
Katie has been doing this thing where she wails, “Iiiii Cannnnn’tttt reeeee-aaaddd.” (I can’t read.) She’s pitiful but we remind her that she is only 4 and that she has the rest of her life to read.
Yesterday I put her in her room for a nap and went to lay down in my bed. After a few minutes I hear her telling the story that I told her last night for the first time. Either she has an excellent memory and can retain an entire telling of a book after hearing it once or she is an excellent actor pretending that she can’t read.
In the past few days I’ve noticed a change in Katie. She has gone back to being really inquisitive-she has a million questions…
“Mommy, why are there ladybugs?”
“God made them for us to enjoy.”
“No, what do they do?”
“Do you want me to get a book on it?”
“Yes.”
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“Mommy, what kind of organ is playing?”
(Looking at album notes really quickly!) It’s a harpsichord. (The Beach Boys “God Only Knows” was playing.)
“How does a harpsi-card work? What does it look like?”
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“Does blood go everywhere in the body?”
“Yes, the blood takes oxygen to all of our organs?”
*goofy grin on her face* We have ORGANS in our body? (Thinking about the instruments, I assume.)
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She was like this before we sent her to preschool and now that she is out of preschool she is like this again. It is exhausting and it is making me wonder if Montessori is stiffling her…or something…or I don’t know. What I do know is I’m really tired of answering questions by the end of the day.
“Mommy, if I plant this will we have a cherry tree later?”
“I think so.”
*Katie scurries off to put her cherry pit in a safe place. *Mommy notes to self that she will need to research how to properly grow a cherry tree…
On Sunday I decided to bite the bullet and take down Andrew’s crib. He’s been climbing out of it for months now and the other night when I looked in on him I noticed that he is almost filling the crib, he’s getting so tall.
Pete and I got Katie and Andrew busy with an activity then went into his room for the great dismantle. I was so sad as we took down the crib. No more babies at our house. Not that we want anymore babies, just that the babies we have are growing so fast.
Pete brought up the toddler bed and we set it up. I then brought Andrew into his room to see his new bed. He was THRILLED! So happy, in fact, that it was hard to feel sad about the crib going away.
Katie was excited about the big boy bed too. She immediately identified it as her old bed but said she was happy to share it with Buddy. They played on it and then Katie tried to talk us into letting her spend the night with Buddy. (we weren’t born yesterday, kids! There would be no sleep if we allowed that!)
I tucked Andrew in and he played in his new bed for over an hour before giving in to sleep.
Two days later and he still grins every time he sees that bed. So cute! Now to redecorate the nursery to be a big boy room!
Yesterday Katie was singing a song she made up. After she was done she gave me an impish smile and said, “That song was produced and directed by Cheryl.”
Too funny!
Andrew is growing up by leaps and bounds. He mimics just about everything we say and is currently obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine We now have a train table in our family room filled with tracks, trains and other railroad ephemera.
This morning I was getting ready to go to work and walked away from Andrew. I had to run into my bedroom to grab something and when I came out Andrew was standing at the window crying, “Mommmy, mommmmmyy!” Poor little guy! I still had to leave him but he did better with my departure the second time.
Andrew’s new favorite past time is finding letters and announcing them like guests at a ball. “The letter…W!” or “The letter…C!” One of the funnier “tricks” he’s been doing is taking the foam bath letters and numbers we have and flipping them around repeatedly saying, “W…M…W…M” or “6…9…6…9″ He’s been doing that one for a few months but everytime he does it, my heart swells.
He’s such an earnest little guy and so cute to look at! We’re contemplating taking down his crib this weekend too. He fills up more than 3/4 of it and climbs in and out. Might as well bite the bullet and get it done with…
Yesterday Katie had another allergic reaction. The only thing that was similar to the last incident is that she was outside for quite a while before it happened.
I noticed her face swelling, gave her Benedryl and called the doctor. The receptionist said that she would have the doctor call me back. Then Katie started clawing at her throat. I grabbed her, ran out the door, foisted Andrew on the neighbors, and drove up to the hospital. By the time we got there the Benedryl had done its job. PHEW!
The doctor said we did the exact right thing by bringing her in. The clawing at the throat was really scary but the ER doc said that it was likely just hives on her neck itching.
Kudos to St. Mary’s. We got there at 5:09 and were home by 6.
Poor Andrew was so sad that I handed him over to the neighbor and drove off. I felt so badly for him but he was much better off at home.
Yesterday was the big day! Katie was the flower girl in Julie’s wedding, she actually wasn’t sure if she wanted to just be the flower girl or if she wanted to be the bride. We finally convinced her that it would be better to be the flower girl since she’d have to move out of our house if she got married.
We talked for a couple of weeks beforehand about how a flower girl acts and what she does. I showed her some flower girl videos on YouTube, I showed her how to dance the YMCA, we tried on her dress, we read some books. The girl was prepared.
On Friday we went to the wedding rehearsal and she practiced walking up and down the aisle 20-some times.
The day of the wedding we went to get her hair done in a salon. Sadly, the hairdresser didn’t do any better at making her hair hold a curl that I could do. But she looked great to start! (She also looked cute at the end with her ragamuffin hair.) We got dressed at the church and Katie proclaimed herself to be the prettiest girl there with the prettiest dress. (Oh the shame, I really don’t like this developmental stage she is in where she is the GREATEST at everything. Let it pass soon!)
The bridesmaids took quite a shine to our Katie and played with her while we were waiting for the wedding to begin.
We lined up to process down the aisle of the church and Katie had her game face on. She kept practicing dropping flower petals and then putting them back in the basket. After all of the bridesmaids had gone down the aisle I sent her on her way. She was so solemn and so intent on spreading her petals. The girl managed to spread her petals evenly down the entire aisle, even while the congregation was oohing and ahhing over her. She was so intent and took so long that the organist had to add a few more bars onto the processional song to get her to the end of the aisle. At the end of the aisle she took a princess bow and sat back down with Pete and I.
At the reception the girl danced until 10pm when she promptly crashed and turned into a ball of tears. We left pretty quickly and she was thrilled to get into bed once we finally got home.
Katie was the life of the party.
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About the wedding itself. It was fabulous!!! The church was gorgeous, the hall was incredible, the bride was stunning! Everyone was happy to be there, the music was beautiful and entertaining. It was one of the nicest weddings we had ever been to!