Phone#4LIFE

Ha.

Okay so a few amazing things happened this past week. Caty can recall our phone number and she can (sort of) pedal a bike! Her legs are still so short but it was the mechanics that she wasn't grasping for some reason so I'm sure we are on to bigger and better things! With her phone number she and I were working on it for a while and I was repeating it while she was in the bath. Then after her bath I was brushing her hair reciting our phone number and she said, "No WAY, mama. I do it my self. 603 828 2629... see?" I guess she told me. I purposely taught her my cell phone because it is the only constant phone number in our lives, and Ritter's cell number is 30 instead of 29 at the end. I don't know if that will be more or less confusing, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

First the video of her workin the tricycle:



And Caty with her phone number. She was straight out of the bath and only has rain boots on... don't judge. I sound stuffy because I was dying and sick at the time. But now I'm not. Thanks for caring.







This is from today. Caty is clearly getting taller but this is my first physical evidence of that other than the fact that her 24 month pants are starting to look like high waters. And- AND Caty is now in size EIGHT shoes!!! crazy. I'm pretty sure it's big for her age but Ritter is sort of a giant.

The Rochester Fair!!

Let me just tell you I have not been to the Rochester fair in... I don't know in a LONG time. Ritter and I have been married for almost 5 years... so longer than that... high school... maybe? Anyway it hasn't changed much. The animals were still there, and that's all we cared about. My Mom and I took the ladies and we had so much fun. I have been chronically motion sick ever since I had morning sickness with Caty, (I can't even swing on a swingset without feeling woozy,) and my Mom wasn't feeling the greatest so we told Caty that she could ride the rides when Daddy comes home. There are a few short snippets of video, because it the rochester fair... how much more would you need.

It was all about this baby goat for a long time...

Sad?

Sometimes I feel like such a great Mom, and other times... I don't know. You're supposed to pick your battles, but I picked wrong today.

Caty watches 3 half hour shows a day. We have started watching in the morning while she eats breakfast because she seems to emerge from breakfast time a person as opposed to a cranky beast. One before nap and one before bed to wind down and it is an easy routine that lets me get things done with the parent to child ratio down, as it is.

I usually let her pick from 3 options that I give her, but clearly she is a very smart girl and know what shows we have DVR-ed. Today I gave her three choices and then:

Caty: But I want to watch CAILLOU!!!
Me: That was not one of your options.

Back and forth for a bit, but I had made a decision and I was sticking to it.

Caty: [with tears streaming down her face she was pleading] But Mom, I so tired, I suppose-a go bed after Caillou.

She was completely right for the past like week Caillou has been her choice before nap time. That, and this seemed like such a silly thing for her to get all worked up about. I wish I had just said Caillou in the first place.

Me: Okay, Caillou is fine. And after your show it's nap time.

Her tears dry INSTANTLY like she was never even crying.

Caty: Mom, See? I show you sad, and I get Caillou.

WHAT DID I DO!?!?! I was shocked, but clearly the child is smarted that I am. Someone please call Child Protective Services, or my husband to come home quickly because I'm pretty sure she could also talk me out of my car keys and the liqueur cabinet... if we had a liqueur cabinet...

Bug Bites!!

While we were at Fort Knox, Ollie acquired a few bug bites on her face!! Neither picture looks as bad as it does in person, but the blurry picture at the bottom starts to show how swollen it is. Poor baby.

Fort Knox, Maine

Did you even know there was such a place? I, for one, am glad Fort Knox, Maine and I are now acquainted. It is such a cozy little place with so much history packed in! Caty had a great day running around being crazy, and holding Brooke's hand. Oh how she loves Brooke. She is officially obsessed with Brooke, our 9 year old neighbor who is so kind and patient with my little girl. Here are some pictures and videos from our trip!

Timothy, Caty, Brooke and Raymond. They are our neighbors!

It was like there was built in A/C because it was so damp and dark... at least there was that...

"What's that guy doing?"

"He's reading, or writing or somthing...very still"

"Is he thinking about it?"

"YES! He's thinking about it."

What a nut. I wish I could edit my out of control voice of everything. I am SO LOUD... but I didn't need to tell you that.

Just to prove that, yes indeed, she made it down the stairs alive.

Extreme Sorting

I feel like this is proof that my list making is genetic. I told her to completely have at the stickers while I did laundry for a bit. I figured that I would come back to a huge foam sticker clump, which I was completely ready for. She apparently had other ideas... I mean even down to the animals with no black are at the top and the animals with color definition are at the bottom. And the trees, oh the trees. She and I are probably related.

In other sorting news:

I don't know if it's fake or not, but either way it's pretty cool.

Art work!

Anyone who is or has had a smart creative daughter knows how much work they can be, above and beyond the normal amount of work you have with a child. Caty is shaping up to ba a handful in the best way possible. Everytime Caty makes a piece of art I have her name it, here is a sampling of her painting:

"A Butterfly"

"A Tiger, RAAWR!"

"A Puppy!"

Frustrating...

Caty's list of food that she likes is getting shorter all the time. In the past week cucumbers were cut because they are "gross and slimy" and tuna is just "gross" with a smells bad face. I did make a great discovery: soy chips. Not great for you and I but she likes them just fine. Anyway I have to get back to being a mom! 

Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Fair!

We had tons of fun at the fair, although, we didn't see anything except the animals. Most of my pictures are of the back of Caty's head because she couldn't stop looking and talking to smile... what was I thinking! She has important work to do!

Okay I lied, she did look and smile once, but it was a hot, sweaty, "take my picture, because it's the last picture you're ever going to get" type of smile.

Baby cow born 12 or so hours prior... aww.

The animals had a strong attraction to Caty. Seriously, so many came right up to her in a crowd.

This bull kept trying to lick her pony tail when she wasn't looking... Which was bull-ogna.

This pig was the entire length of the fence.

Caty telling me, "It's HUGE!"

The day ended with food and lemonade, TONS of lemonade. What a fun day, things like this make me so excited that Caty is getting older.

Our Vacation So Far!

Okay so my Aunt has a MacBook and I can't figure out how to move pictures on my blog so you're stuck with an unorganized mess. I apologize, but you can get the gist. 

Ollie decided she knows how to climb the stairs. I'm sure Caty knew how to earlier, but Ollie hasn't had any practice time because we have no stairs at our house, thank The Good Lord.

The Goyles playing outside! 

Caty was having a bad day today, so we went to the beach and I decided to take some video.

The other little girl is a girl we met at the beach named Shoshie she is almost five. She was very cute and so nice to Caty and loved to teach her how to do things.

Caty and Shoshie also went swimming and Caty went all the way up to her neck!! Which, was my limit because my plan was not to go swimming and that was as far as I could go without getting my underwears wet. Enjoy!