Happy 3rd Birthday "Monkey" Katherine!

My baby is 3! I can hardly believe it. How does it go so fast? She has added sunshine, fun, laughs, spunk and many shades of purple to our lives. We had a great day. It started with sprinkled donuts and a couple small gifts. She and I went to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). A Christian based group that I belong to and attend twice a month. Katherine comes as well and plays with other children her age in a separate area with caretakers. After MOPS it was home for a quick lunch as well as frosting our purple cupcakes and putting sprinkles on. Katherine did a great job helping Mom with the sprinkles. Then it was on to the zoo to see the monkeys (of course!), feed the goats and the giraffes, see "Bucky" the badger, the prairie dogs were talking, the lions were sleeping as was the porcupine, raccoon, and red pandas. The river otters and black bear were hiding. We saw the pelican being fed lunch and watched the little monkeys run, climb and "monkey" around. After the zoo we headed to Emma's school so Mom could volunteer selling scrip after school. Finally back to home to see Daddy and decide on dinner. Katherine chose Red Robin for dinner but before we could go she couldn't wait any longer and had to enjoy a purple cupcake with sprinkles! See a theme here? Katherine loves sprinkles on anything! Last but not least before bedtime she opened her presents and was especially happy to see a "walking puppy!" I believe the words were "oh my goodness!" Katherine's top three favorite words. Oh, if you could hear her say them. It was a fun-filled day. I still can't believe she is three. I still remember the day she was born like yesterday. This morning she was cute when she first woke up. The conversation went something like this..Emma: "Katherine, you're 3!" Katherine: "What did you say? I'm 3?" Emma: "yes" Katherine: "You can still pick me up Mommy"....long pause "because I am not eating cake". Such a goof. She did tell me again later today that even though she is big I can "still pick her up". One other cute part of today was when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her she had to sing too. Tomorrow we will find out just how big she really is.

Was still sleepy this morning after getting up...

Stubborn and Independent

Those are the two traits of Katherine that stand out the most from even before she was out of the womb. She was originally due on this date, February 7, three years ago...but she waited nine more days until she was ready to come out. She talked about going on the potty and knew what to do for months....but she waited until one day in January when she decided "okay now I will do it." Now she doesn't like me telling her when to go potty. Oh boy! She has been dressing herself for months...now she has to brush her hair by herself, put on her bib by herself, open her own milk, banana, etc...she has her times when she feels like having help but boy she will let you know if "she can do it!" She was definitely worth the wait and has filled our lives with joy. In the past two days though I know 3 is coming. "Terrible Twos" are no such thing. "Challenging 3's" are more like it. She has had two unbelievable tantrums in the past two days and has become even more defiant in the past week, and I know its all because that little number 3 birthday is coming up fast. The traits will do her well in life but at age 2 1/2 to 3 they can be frustrating for parents.....but I love her all the same.

Super Beasts!

Katherine was in a "jumping class" as she likes to call it from September until the middle of January. It was at The Little Gym in Appleton and she loved it. If it wasn't for me getting tired of the drive - 30 minutes each way every Tuesday, she would still be doing it. Who knows...I may still decide to go back...she loves it. It is a class in which they teach them tumbling skills, practice listening, following directions, throwing a ball, colors, you name it and they probably teach it one way or another from one class to the next. If she continues she will be a Funny Bug and be on her own in class! Anyways...for this session she was a Super Beast which meant that Mom and/or Dad had to be with her each week. We made some great friends in this class who Katherine really enjoyed seeing each week. In fact the one little girl, CiCi, is who Katherine named her new doll after. She is very sad that this class is over and has asked that I find a new one. Her other favorite part was the Big Apple Bagel in the same strip mall. At least half of the class always ended up there afterwards. Katherine's favorite parts of the class were the bells in the beginning, the exploration time when she could swing on the bars (she can swing her feet up to the bar and stay there; in fact her last class she figured out how to completely flip herself over a parallel bar), the balls, and the stamps at the end.

These photos are taken from Show week the second to last class of the semester. Daddy was able to be there for Show week. Yeah! Katherine always loved it when both of us could be with her. Enjoy!

Notice the color of the hula hoop. She was quite obsessive about always having the purple hoop, purple dot, purple ball, etc.

It was so much fun to watch her! Yeah Katherine! We love you.

Purple

Purple, Purple, and more purple. Katherine loves purple. She cannot have enough of it. Her jacket is purple, her boots are purple, she has purple shoes, and there is a little bit of purple on her running shoes. Many of her clothes are purple. She adores the color. So you may have noticed I changed the colors on the blog for this month to what else but purple! She even has a book called "Too Purpley". If I ask her what she wants to wear most responses are "purple". Here she is modeling just a few of her purple clothes, oh yeah, purple crocs too!

Notice she is wearing different purple socks, pants, and shirts in these photos. The second two are both from today. But I bet if you look back at some photos on this blog you will see more purple. She also has purple dishes...there is never too much purple for this little girl. It reminds me of myself when I was little. I remember being in elementary school and receiving an entire purple outfit from my Aunt/Godmother for my birthday.  I was so excited. I also remember my Dad singing the Purple People Eater song to me.

A big helper

Katherine loves to help! A couple weeks ago I decided it was time to clean the kitchen floor that evening while Ethan played a game with Emma. The family room of toys looked like a tornado had gone through as well, and it was on my to do list but not urgent. Katherine decided she was going to clean it up while I mopped the kitchen floor. Boy did she ever! I wish I would have taken before and after photos. She was amazing...putting things back where they belong and moving along from one toy to another. She will admit she had a little help from me once I was done with the floor but she did the majority. She also likes to help me sweep the floor. But I think what she enjoys the most is helping to shovel in the winter. She does a good job and she sticks with it from the top to the end of the drive way. These two photos show her near the end of the drive way before Ethan even had a chance to start.

Not sure why she had her mitten off but it didn't deter her from the job.

Purple dolly and new friends...

Katherine really wanted a doll with a popsicle for Christmas but instead Santa brought her brown-haired bitty twins. She has named them Zach and CiCi. She still loves and sleeps with "purple dolly" and her crazy hair. I will have to take a picture to show you but many people comment on it when they see her. You can tell Katherine has grown a bit because she was able to name these new dolls. Purple dolly had a purple dress on when Katherine received her at or around age 1. Zach and CiCi were named after some of her favorite people. Zach is our next door neighbor who both girls adore. CiCi was the name of a little girl in Katherine's jumping class who she really seemed to taking a liking for. She was able to take Zach and CiCi to have their hair brushed and made nice at The American Girl store at Mall of America last weekend. She was so mesmerized by watching the girls do the dolls hair. Today she had a birthday party for CiCi who just turned 3.

A recent afternoon this winter when all was quiet this is what I found in the living room.You can kind of see "purple dolly's" crazy hair but not too well.

That is "purple dolly" right next to Katherine plus some of Emma's dolls who from time to time are also adopted by Katherine.

She was patting/rubbing Zach's hair after he was done being styled. So cute.

She is watching CiCi have her hair done and is chattering away to the girl taking care of CiCi's beauty.

All done and looking fabulous!

My Monkey

At some point in Katherine's short life we started to call her monkey. A lot of it came from her silly personality. She's goofy, she likes to climb, and did I mention she's goofy. She can go from crying one minute to "Mommy, I got your shirt wet with my tears." the next minute. Goofy, I tell you. So, many times Ethan and I call her monkey. I didn't think much of it until a few months ago during gym class when they asked her name in warm-ups. At the beginning of jumping class (September) she actually couldn't say "Katherine". A couple months into gym class she said Katherine once but then one day her teacher asked her name and she said "Monkey!" That didn't end with just that one day...it continued most weeks at jumping class. Then we were at Emma's school and someone asked her name and her response was "Monkey". The most recent was at swimming lessons. She had a substitute teacher. I asked her name and told it to Katherine but never thought to tell the teacher Katherine's name. As I was walking away I heard something...the sub was asking the other teacher in the pool what Katherine's name was because when she asked Katherine responded with "Monkey". She is a goof. Not sure what will happen next year in preschool she may be Katherine or she may be Monkey. Either way she will always be our monkey!

Modeling her new Monkey hat from her Godmother Patty

An unusual warmer day in January before the snow fell...Monkey went outside and tried to go in the sandbox. I told you she is goofy!

A mid-winter sunny run!

The Monkey fits in a bag!

Oh wait! I forgot it goes one step further and she really confuses people on this one. She will tell the workers at Kids Korner, babysitters, or anyone else caring for her that she is waiting for Mama Monkey. Yes, she means me. I have been surprised at how many times people are not sure who she is talking about.

Where did January go?

I am not entirely sure where January went. We cheered on the Badgers in the Rose Bowl. This time from the comfort of our home with great friends but they still lost. Boo. Then we celebrated Ethan's birthday in Madison with his college friends and some new friends. We had dinner at the Nitty Gritty, so birthday boy could drink free all night. After dinner we headed to the Kohl Center to watch the Badger men's hockey team play RIT. They won! Afterwards we enjoyed more drinks, laughs, basketball and darts at State Street Brats. After Ethan's birthday I thought things were going to start to slow down but they didn't seem to.

Go Badgers! Rose Bowl Party

Birthday Morning with Dad

I may be a stay at home Mom but I am not at home much until its nap time. Training runs have started for the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon and Half-Marathon on Saturday mornings. Emma has basketball on Saturday mornings. Katherine has swimming and gym class (although that ended on Jan. 17, so sad). I go to a bible study twice a month, a group called MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers - a christian based group) twice a month, a book club meeting once a month, a school parent meeting once a month (I am the secretary), volunteer at school at least once or twice a month not including every Thursday after school selling scrip. Plus, other appointments filled in throughout the weeks. And not to forget the Emma started selling Girl Scout cookies in the last two weeks of the month.

Oh yes, another highlight of the month was another football game. I was able to go to the Packers/Giants Playoff game at Lambeau Field on January 15 with my best friend, Liz. Another bad ending. I was there four years ago when these two teams played with the same result. I don't think I am going to anymore Packers/Giants playoff football games at Lambeau Field. In addition to all of this I have still been running, cycling, swimming, and doing yoga. Now I just need to fit in weightlifting.

Intently watching the Gamblers

We also fit in taking the girls to a Green Bay Gamblers hockey game the second to last Saturday of the month. They enjoyed it.
The end of the month finished with us traveling to Minnesota to run the Securian Half-Marathon winter run, visit with family, and for the girls to go to The American Girl store at MOA with their new dolls. For being early in the year and in my marathon training I ran a great half on Saturday. 2:01.35. I am hoping this is the spring/summer I can PR and break 2 hours by a few minutes.

In addition to all of this going on there is more great news from January! Katherine aka Monkey decided on January 11 that she was going to go potty - all the time on the big potty. We weren't so sure she was serious because she has teased us before. But no way, this time she seemed a bit more serious and kept telling us "I am going to do this all the time." The first and second day she pooped many, many times on that big girl potty. I reminded her you have to pee too. "I know Mom." So finally on Friday the 13th she also peed on the potty. We started wearing pull-ups everyday and just like that diapers (except at night although she has been keeping them dry most nights) are just about gone from our house. Then yesterday the last day of January she asked to wear underwear because we were down to 1 pull-up and I agreed. So for two days Katherine has been wearing underwear! She loves it and we love it. We still have to remind her to go but she goes plenty on her own as well. In two weeks my little girl is going to be 3 and potty-trained. She is going to go to preschool next year (twice a week for 2 hours), and I can't believe it! I need another kid. Mine are growing way too fast. So I am hoping in honor of February being Katherine's month that I can post some fun facts about Katherine and her growing personality (oh boy, does she have one!) Stay tuned...

The girls enjoying some mild January weather before the snow came.