Happy Valentine's Day!

New Rocking Chair
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Since it's already Valentine's Day in Iraq, this evening Kathleen tested out her Valentine's Day present from Mommy and Daddy, a Kathleen-sized rocking chair. Kathleen loves the rocking chair in her bedroom, which we use to rock her before she goes to sleep. She often asks for help to sit in the chair by herself and rock. But, a full-sized rocker is difficult (if not dangerous) for a toddler to navigate. So, we thought that perhaps a smaller rocking chair was in order.

Kathleen still has a little bit of difficulty getting into the little rocking chair on her own, but she really likes to try! She particularly likes sliding out of it... She also enjoys moving the chair all over the living room and putting her stuffed animals in and out of it. (She even dragged Olivia over to give her a turn.)

Another reason we thought that a small chair might be a good Valentine's Day present has to do with Kathleen's preferred method of viewing "Signing Time." Unless she's really pretty tired, in which case she'll sit on your lap on the sofa, here's how Kathleen watches the television:

With the new chair, we're hoping to see more of this:

It didn't work tonight, exactly. Kathleen was in and out of the chair and ultimately wound up hanging on the edge of the television as she normally does. But perhaps she'll improve. We live in hope!

Hugs and kisses to Daddy for Valentine's Day. We miss you!