Welcome to the Place Where Words Come Alive

So, I have a brilliant child. There's no denying it. Katherine is fabulously smart and I have PBS to thank for it. She loves those "learn to read" shows like "Super Why!" and "Word World." Word World is actually one of her favorites. The premise is that all the characters in the show are built out of letters and all the props--trees, fences, houses, you name it--are also built of letters. Each episode they teach a reading principle, e.g. S-H makes the sound "Shhh." And at some point during the episode they build a word with letters they acquire from somewhere (the post office? letters...post office, get it? haha I'm SO funny!) and the letters magically become whatever it is that they spelled.

The other night, Katherine saw a bug flying around the house and decided she wanted to catch it. She said she needed a net and a few minutes later came up to me with her bucket full of foam letters which we have been using to teach her the alphabet and phoenics. We spelled the word "net" together and Katherine began squishing the letters together. It took me a minute before I realized that she was trying to build a word the way they do on "Word World." She was getting so frustrated that her little foam letters wouldn't turn into an actual net. It was really funny watching her annoyance and confusion and I earned myself lots of mommy bonus points for not laughing at her. What a funny kid!

Fun with Uncle Brent

My sister and her husband came for a visit this weekend. Katherine absolutely adores them and this is a video of her and Brent playing some sort of weird toddler game that Katherine calls "Doink." On a side note, Katherine voluntarily sat on the potty TWICE and without a diaper while they were here. Still no pee though.......

My Halfway-through-the-year Resolution

Lately I have been feeling kind of unhappy with my appearance. I never really worried about what I looked like until after Katherine was born. I gained a few pounds after she was born and then I gained a few more and a few more. Now, I have a distinctive "muffin top" when I wear certain clingy shirts and I feel generally bloopy.

Several months ago, I decided I would quit eating junk food of any kind and that would help me get back to where I was 3-ish years ago. Ha ha.....that so did not work. Because I was restricting myself, I wanted the junk food that much more and many packages of Oreos disappeared as a result. I should have known that it is impossible for me to survive without some sort of refined sugar every day. Anyway, this led to the purchase of a recumbent bike last week and now is part of our overly-crowded bedroom decor.

For the last week and a half I have been "biking" every day--except Sunday--for about 20 minutes. "Biking" is in quotes because real biking involves the outdoors and moving along the ground. I do not pretend to be involved in any sort of sport here, just an attempt to avoid high cholesterol, high blood pressure and big pants. The 20 minutes is because that is the approximate length of an episode of Scrubs or the Simpsons or some other sitcom that I check out from the library and watch while I "bike."

It's oddly fun. I get to be gross and sweaty in my own house, so no one else is burdened with my stinky moistness. I get to pedal this thing and watch the calories add up on the little computer dealie, like some sort of weird game. Just 5 more minutes and I get 200 points! Woo! I get to catch up on old shows I never watched when they were on. Incidentally, King of Queens is actually funny. Go figure.

So, I am sharing this with you all so that I have some sort of accountability. I have a bad habit of not starting good habits very easily. There was one time that I wanted to get into jogging, which lasted all of three days. Now, I am posting my attempts at physical fitness for all the cyber-world to see and I have invested some money on this bike. Hopefully these two things will keep me going so that I don't end up with a very expensive clothing rack that looks suspiciously like exercise equipment in the bedroom. So, if you know me and trust that I won't punch you if you examine my midsection, please feel free to ask me (or Casey, since he's doing this too, but he doesn't have a blog) how it's going. But please none of that Pillsbury Doughboy tummy poking. I seriously will punch you.

Pottygate Update

Katherine voluntarily sat on her potty today, without a diaper! She did sit on the very edge of the seat so only the tiniest possible bit of her bottom was on the thing, and she didn't use the potty, but still I will count that as a victory. Potty Training: 1 Katherine: 800

Move Over Susan Boyle...

For those of you who don't speak Two Year Old, she is singing "Once Upon a Dream" from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. Her repertoire also includes a number of selections from Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and other Disney animated films. If Katherine cooperates, some of those may make it on here too.

A side note about the state of the background. When Katherine was born, Casey kindly donated his office to her so she could have a bedroom. Now, all his math stuff and the old unclaimed tests of past students (which he is required by law to keep for some number of years) is crammed into a corner of our bedroom. Like Hermione Granger's hair, this portion of the house will not yield to any amount of grooming, cleaning or organizing. But hopefully in a year or so, he'll graduate and find a wonderful job. Then with all the wonderful money from the wonderful job, we can buy a bigger wonderful place so I can have my bedroom back.

Pottygate

There comes a time in the life of every parent when they stop and think, "You know, I am REALLY tired of changing diapers. Let's get this kid potty trained." For me, that day came shortly after I got home from the hospital.

So, I waited 2 1/2 years and then I went out and bought the arsenal of potty training supplies: the Disney Princess step stool, the Sesame Street potty seat toilet insert, the potty itself, and the stickers....lots and lots of stickers. The idea was that I would bribe Katherine to sit on the potty and give her a sticker. Gradually, I'd become stricter about sticker distribution and require her to sit on the potty without a diaper and eventually get her to go to the bathroom. I had this whole thing planned out in my head, but of course, things never go according to plan.

First of all, Katherine was terrified of the potty seat and wouldn't sit on it, no matter how many prismatic fishy stickers I offered her. Then, a week or so later she tried to go potty on the step stool. Luckily she forgot to remove her diaper, so I was saved from cleaning up an icky mess. Then, a few days after that she decided that the potty was doing nobody any good in the bathroom and tried to move it to the living room and go potty while she watched TV.

It is now two months later and Katherine still has not successfully used the potty. She will not voluntarily sit on any toilet-related items in our house unless she is fully clothed. However, the potty is her favorite conversational subject. Whenever Grandma calls and talks to Katherine, it's all about mommy and daddy's bathroom habits or about how Elmo uses the potty (we've also been checking out potty movies and books from the library). She even tricked her nursery leader into thinking she had to use the bathroom. They got to the bathroom only to have Katherine balk at the sight of the toilets.

So, I have decided to wait. The potty is in the bathroom; the stickers are sitting in the kitchen, and eventually Katherine will decide that she wants to use them. I just hope I have it in me to wait with her.

Sesame Street has two new characters

Katherine enjoys Sesame Street and pointed out two of her favorite muppets to me the other day: Burps and Hernie. Only time will tell if the Sesame Street creators add any more characters to their "Digestion is Neat!" line.