The Weekend

I had the B-E-S-T day with Katelyn on Friday. We got up around 7:45 and started our day with breakfast (including coffee, which Katelyn now insists on sharing with mama). Then, we watched Barney and got ready to go check out some daycare centers. I just loved the first one we went to. It was a Kindercare, and while the building wasn't as impressive as the Tutor Time we visited, I fell in love with the people. It was just so evident that the teachers loved the kids. And that was what I was looking for to feel like it is okay to leave her at daycare because she is being truly cared for. And she loved it... she got right down and started playing with the kids and the toys. She didn't seem to care that she was the only girl in a room full of little boys. And I am not worried, as I know one shrill scream and they will back off :) The second daycare was one of those impressive on paper, but definitely had more of a school feeling -- and at the age of 1 1/2 I really don't feel like my child needs a curriculum. I will put her in preschool when she is 3, but not before. After checking out the daycare centers, we headed to the Loop for pizza and "minade" (lemonade) for Katelyn, a coke for me.

We were headed home when I looked in the rear view mirror to find my baby sound asleep. Well, she does NOT transfer well, so I decided we had better keep driving in order to have a nap. And where better to drive than the beach. She slept for a little over an hour. Then we did a little shopping at Target, since I was wearing jeans and it was 86 degrees outside. Next we headed for "One Hot Cookie" -- it is the coolest place where you pick out your dough (brownie, sugar or chocolate chip) and as many toppings as you want and they bake it and give it to you right out of the oven. And you can have it plane or topped with ice cream (which apparently you can also have toppings mixed in). I choose to enjoy the cookie by itself, and my personal favorite is brownie dough with m&m's and thin mints... it is to die for. Katelyn was in heaven as she is my little cookie monster -- she even has a tee shirt that says "I did it all for the cookie."

Finally, we headed for the beach with our towels, bucket, shovels and the diaper bag. At first she did not like walking on the sand. But once I got her to the more flat sand, she was fine. She saw a seagull and started running after it saying "buh." Next I took her to put her feet in the ocean. She enjoyed feeling the wet sand between her toes, and when the water came up over her feet she got really excited. But, I guess I should have thought ahead because the next thing you know she had plopped herself right down on her tushy... in her clothes. Oops. So, I figured, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em... and I plopped right down in back of her. Then we waded further in, and she tried to just keep walking in over her head. Every time the waves crashed into her, she thought it was hilarious. I admit that I was a little nervous, so I held onto her with both hands the entire time we were in the water. Next we went back to our towel, I stripped her down to her diaper and let her play in the sand with her bucket and shovels. She had fun filling it up and dumping it out. I had to keep moving our stuff because the tide was coming in. At about the fourth move, I decided it was time to head out. And, since we were at the beach, we went to visit Dr. O'Reilly. Of course Katelyn was wearing only a diaper, since her clothes were wet and sandy. But she didn't seem to care. She made herself at home in the waiting room, playing with all of the toys. We waited for Dr. O and she invited us back to her house for dinner.

On the way to Dr. O'Reilly's house Katelyn said "Josh" ("shosh") and "Tori" for the first time. She was excited to see them and the kitties. She loves going to their house to play. She makes herself right at home since she knows where all the good things are. We put Katelyn in one of Josh's Spiderman t-shirts. She looked so cute. It had stripes on the sleeves and with her hair still up in a pom-pom, she looked like a little cheerleader wearing a jersey. On the way home she conked out, and she barely woke up as I changed her diaper and put her into bed. It really was the perfect day. I only wish I had gotten some good pictures from the day.

Here is an example of the "pompom" hairdo

Saturday was not too exciting. We ran a few errands and did stop at the mall to play at the indoor playground. It was raining outside and Katelyn kept saying "rain... uh oh... oh dear" -- it was so sweet. We had lunch at the mall and went home for a nap. When she woke up we watched her Barney zoo movie. Then I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner; meatballs are the one thing containing meat that Katelyn will always eat. And today was another day of "adventures in babysitting." Katelyn was a little better, but still acts like a little bit of a brute. Hopefully she will learn to share at daycare. The day was fairly easy, though, because Luca slept for 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, since he still wasn't feeling the greatest, and Katelyn slept for 2 hours; 30 minutes were overlapping, so I got a little time to myself even.