Category Archives: katie

08.17.07
by

What’s one more load of laundry anyway?

Although she was doing well before our move, since we’ve been here, it has been necessary to scoop sleeping Jenny out of bed and take her for another trip to the bathroom before we go to bed to prevent accidents. Even then, there are some nights where this still doesn’t work. Wednesday night was one, and so I had an additional load of laundry to do yesterday.

By the late afternoon, I had freshly laundered her sheets, her comforter and even the mattress pad and replaced them on her bed. She helped by neatly and ceremoniously placing her various stuffed animals, My Little Ponies, and throw pillows in their proper and exact spots around the perimeter of her sleeping area.

After dinner, Pete was walking around half naked, as usual. He usually does really well with making it to the potty when he’s naked. I sent the girls upstairs to put their jammies on, and he went up too. I usually do him later, but I guess he wanted to get ready for bed, too. Katie helped him change into his night clothes – everything except a diaper. And that’s fine. He came downstairs for stories, and she told me he needed a diaper, but I knew he could wait a bit. He is only about 50% successful at remembering the potty when he has clothing on, but since we were in the living room, not doing much, and the potty is right there (gotta love potty training decorating techniques…Good Housekeeping should do a spread on ideas for incorporating kid potties in your living spaces, perhaps someone could invent an under-the-kitchen-counter pull out shelf that drops down with a stable platform to fit most designs), I thought he’d be fine. And he was…during story time.

OK, you have to see the the impending train wreck, right?

After prayers, the girls and Pete are sent upstairs to brush teeth. I linger for a few minutes to chat with Bill. By the time I get up there, my good children have in fact brushed their teeth, but Pete is standing there uncomfortably wet. Of all the places in the world, he climbed up on Jenny’s bed and had an accident.

{big sigh}

05.30.07
by

Today’s agenda

More vomiting, so more laundry and hair holding and the spraying of Lysol. I feel like I’m blogging about vomiting a lot. (I’d link, but that’s too much work.) I feel like everybody else is blogging about vomiting too. (Again, I’d link, but that’s work, and you know who you are anyway.)

It’s Katie this time. In her bed. I pulled everything out and half of it is in the washing machine right now. Her room still stinks, and I want to faint when I walk by it. I don’t know what I missed, but it will have to wait until Jenny wakes up.

I don’t know why, but my kids seems compelled to wake me up between the hours of 3 and 4 am recently. I can’t get back to sleep after that. Today, unlike yesterday, my afternoon is clear, so my top priority for later just may be taking a nap. No, I mean my top priority definitely is taking a nap.

05.14.07
by

Mother’s Day

My mom doesn’t remember the bracelet I gave her once. I had gone on a field trip to the aquarium and used my souvenir money to buy her a bracelet made from sea shells. I’m sure it looked stunning on her!

She does remember the time my brother gave her a pin with a raccoon on it. My dad couldn’t believe it when she wore it to church. It’s a mom thing.

Yesterday morning, my husband and my son, Fritz, were the first (after me) out of bed. They gave me the usual good morning hugs and kisses. Bill picked up the paper, and Fritz turned on Disney. The TV reminded viewers that it was Mother’s Day, so my two men dutifully wished me a happy mother’s day. Several minutes passed and down came Katie. She immediately came up to me, gave me a big hug, and wished me a happy mother’s day. Bill was astonished that she could think of that first thing in the morning. “She’s a girl,” I said. Yes, I knew there was a good reason to have daughters.

Katie had a present for me, too. Dangly angel earrings she had made herself at a friend’s house under the tutelage of the friend’s older sister. In blue – my favorite color. Aren’t they lovely?

Of course, she asked if I would be wearing them to church, and of course I did. It’s a mom thing.

On a related note, my sister sent me this e-card. I laughed so hard, I cried. And it kept the kids amused for at least 15 minutes or so – long enough for me to slip away for a short nap.

03.15.07
by

Kindergarten biology

Some of the best conversations happen in the car.

Katie: Mom, we need to get another baby.

Me: OK.

Katie: Hooray! {pause} When?

Me: October? I hope that’s OK. It’s takes a while, honey.

Jenny: How do you get another baby?

Me: Well…I need Daddy and some help from God…

Katie: She and Daddy have to hold hands or something, right, Mommy?

Me: Uh…

Katie: You and Daddy hold hands and then God puts a baby in your tummy, right?

Me: Uh…something like that…

Thank goodness, for once, Fritz sat silently in the back of the van.

01.17.07
by

Teasing and Tears

Last night, Katie undressed for bed. Wearing nothing but her underwear, she gathered her dirty laundry and took it to the crowded bathroom to properly deposit it in the hamper. Fritz greets her by singing, “I see London; I see France; I see Katie’s underpants.” Katie dissolves into tears and comes into the room where I am directing bedtime traffic from the rocking chair.

“Go put your pajamas on, Katie,” was all I replied.

Honestly, what does she expect? Yes, I also chastised Fritz for teasing – his current raison d’etre. But 99 times out of 100 Katie leaves her dirty clothes on the floor of her bedroom. It seems to be the natural instinct of little girls to do precisely what is right at exactly the wrong moment to achieve the greatest grief and consternation for everyone, including themselves. And then she plays the role of victim, when really it was all her own doing. I don’t think that I do this, but every other person I’ve known to behave this way was female.

I believe God gives every child to exactly the right parents. Sometimes it is that a parent who struggled with some issue – like socks that must be on just so – is the only sort of person who could tolerate a child’s obsession with that issue. Sometimes it’s that a parent who despises a certain behavior is the only sort of person who could work to weed that behavior out of a child, lovingly of course. The former seems to be the case most between my son, Billy, and me. The latter seems to be the way it is with me and Katie.

It is my hope that by her adulthood, Katie will learn to foresee the consequences of her actions and choose to avoid roiling the pot instead of reveling in the mayhem. And, definitely, I hope she stops prancing around in her panties, too!

11.20.06
by

It’s in the DNA…

…it must be. How else to explain my 5 year old staring at a closet full of clothes and wailing, “I have nothing to wear!”

Today’s big event: sitting around the house relaxing. What’s a girl to do? Why is this mother so very unsympathetic with her plight? After all, one must be properly attired. You never know what the day may bring.

Ah, she’s settled on her Green Bay Packers cheerleading uniform. Perfect.