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We haven't had the best luck lately, health-wise. After recovering from whatever virus caused her sore throat and high temperature last weekend, this weekend Kathleen contracted some sort of stomach bug. Fortunately for us, we still managed to see Daddy on a VTC (video-teleconference) before we realized that Kathleen was really sick. A day's worth of nearly unmitigated crankiness all became clear Saturday evening in a serious bit of post-dinner messiness. Rats!
Anyway, so we missed church for the second week in a row. (Listen, dark forces conspiring again the Golby girls' attendance at church: we are non-negotiable on Easter. We're going!) We spent Sunday at home, carefully sipping white grape juice and nibbling on toast and dry cereal. The subdued, ill version of Kathleen seemed okay with that.
By Monday morning, though, my normal, busy toddler was back! We pulled out every trick in the book (before morning nap, even), and nothing was entertaining enough for Kathleen. She made her desire perfectly clear by running to the front door and slamming her little hands against it; Kathleen had had enough of being cooped up!
After morning nap we promptly headed out the door. Kathleen's been watching (more than I'd like, since she's been sick) a "Leah's Farm" Signing Time lately, and she's been picking up the signs for a number of farm animals. However, when she sees pictures of these animals, she uses the correct sign and "dog" interchangeably. She sees a cow, she signs "dog." Hoping to clear up some of that confusion, we visited the zoo, with an emphasis on the petting zoo.
We had a great time! The petting zoo portion of the local zoo isn't all that big, but there was enough to interest Kathleen for a while. She was extremely excited to see the goats:
She is dancing AND signing "goat" here. Well, actually, she'd just finished signing "goat," which is one of her favorite signs. Kathleen was more excited about the goats from a distance (she's not a stupid kid) than she was up-close in the goat pen. But she was still pretty interested in them. She was also very interested in the chickens, and signed about them continuously.
Kathleen was not as impressed with the cow, the miniature horse, or the llamas. She called them all "dogs" and no amount of explaining would deter her. On our way out, we also stopped to see the giant tortoises, but I'm not sure whether she could tell they were animals and not just big rocks. She liked the elephants, and used that sign correctly, but signed "dog" while being amused by the monkeys' antics. I guess we'll have to go back!
This weekend we girls used our sugar and spice to bake up something to mail to Daddy. Kathleen donned an apron of Mama's (folded and rigged so she wouldn't trip on it -- perhaps it's time I made her one of her own!) and set about making her first batch of oatmeal scotchies to send to Iraq.
The dry measuring cups and the measuring spoons are favorite toys of Kathleen's on a regular day. Getting to use them to actually scoop something (besides water in the sink) was pretty exciting for her. She dove right in, dumping out the sugars and other dry ingredients. She very competently whisked the flour mixture. She discovered a taste for the butterscotch morsels and seemed slightly disappointed that I couldn't give more of them to her. And despite her little spill on the stairs earlier in the weekend, Kathleen managed the chair at the kitchen counter just fine.
The only part of the endeavor that Kathleen didn't really like was the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Of course, the mixer is rather loud, and it was close to Kathleen, so she eyed it suspiciously as it whipped up our cookie dough. No tears, just some glares. I think that's progress.
As soon as the cookies cooled, Kathleen tested one out. She's not completely sold on the cookies, I'll admit. She prefers the butterscotch morsels. Fortunately for us, Daddy prefers the cookies, and we boxed them up and sent them on their way that very afternoon. We hope you enjoy them, Daddy! They're baked with love!
We haven't had a particularly lucky weekend, Irish or not. Kathleen and I had grand plans to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with her darling "kiss me, I'm Irish" t-shirt and some green Jello jigglers. But, alas, that was not to be.
First, on Friday afternoon, Kathleen fell coming up the stairs to our apartment. She didn't fall down a terrible ways; it was only a step or two. But the steps are cement, and she caught her little cheek bone on them. She has a nasty little bruise and scrape just below her left eye. Kathleen howled indignantly when she fell, but calmed down in about two minutes when plied with an ice cube and the boo-boo bunny. (Thank heavens for the boo-boo bunny!) I, on the other hand, spent an hour on the phone with my mom before I was convinced that everything would be okay.
We spent Saturday morning making cookies to mail to Daddy (more about that adventure another time), and then ran out to the post office to get the cookies on their way. On Saturday afternoon, just before naptime, I noticed that Kathleen seemed awfully warm. When I took her temperature (an undertaking -- she HATES the ear-thermometer) I discovered it was almost 102 degrees. So, after frantically calling my mom for the second time in less than 24 hours, Kathleen and I headed for the acute care clinic on post. As it turns out (after hours of waiting and a not-so-cooperative examination), Kathleen has a virus that has given her a sore throat and the fever. Poor little girl! It's just not her weekend!
Kathleen's still a little subdued today, but she's enjoying the treat of juice, instead of water, and has been granted unlimited "Signing Time" access. (Mommy will surely go crazy before Kathleen.) As you can see, she's weathering her illness well on the sofa, surrounded by her entourage of stuffed animals. (For the record, she sleeps with that whole crew, plus Indiana the dog.)
We know these are little traumas. We've had friends who've had to endure real medical crises; this doesn't even come close. But it was rougher weekend than we expected, and we really missed Daddy. Still, though, we survived. Perhaps we'll celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Observed later this week!
While these aren't great photographs, I couldn't resist the opportunity to show you Kathleen in action on a regular day at the Golbys'.
There's almost always laundry to do at our house. I'm not exactly sure how that is -- can one baby and one mom really create that much laundry? But between clothes and washcloths and towels and a generally messy life, somehow we do!
Kathleen has apparently noticed our little laundry routine and has decided that it's time she start helping out around the house. Our washer and dryer are stacked in a tiny closet just outside Kathleen's bedroom. The washer, which is on the bottom, is just the right height for Kathleen. Consequently, she insists on emptying the wet laundry. She leans her whole little body into the washer (which, I admit, makes me slightly nervous), pulls out the laundry, and hands it to me to put up in the dryer. She's very thorough -- she has never left any clothes behind. When she has unloaded the last of the laundry, she slams the washer door shut and runs off. It cracks me up every time. I'm so blessed to have such a happy little helper!
Kathleen and I go to a playgroup once a week, where we meet up with two other moms and two other children. Our babies range in age from three and a half months to two and a half years. (Kathleen, of course, falls nicely in the middle.) It's been a great time for Kathleen to play with her friends Joshua (she'd follow Joshua to the end of the earth) and baby James (mostly she likes to sign about how James is a baby), and an even better time for Mommy to talk to other moms. Playgroup is probably less for Kathleen than it is for Mommy; I won't deny it. We moms get to chatter and the kids get to run around, so everyone goes home happy and ready for naptime.
This week we went to the park, where Kathleen's energy seemed positively unflagging. It's hard to believe that a few months ago I was worried because she seemed so timid, and wouldn't even try to climb the play structures. Ha! Kathleen climbed the stairs, tested out the slides, and walked right up to the edges of everything without any fear at all!
Complicating Kathleen's lack of fear was her frequent lack of sight. I hadn't realized until we'd gotten to the park that the sun hat I brought was too big for Kathleen. The hat would slip down over her eyes, and she'd wander back towards me, hands out, saying, "Mama? Mama?" I'd pull the hat out of her face, and then she'd run off again. Eventually, despite the sunny Hawaiian day, I decided that lack of sight was a bigger risk than sunburn and ditched the hat -- but not before we got some amusing pictures of Kathleen and her too-big hat!
On Sunday afternoon we joined friends for an "only-on-Oahu" adventure -- we took a pontoon boat out on Kaneohe Bay. I'd been more than a little nervous about taking Kathleen out on a boat, but the afternoon was an enormous success. We had so much fun!
We met up with our friends on the Marine Corps Base in Kaneohe, loaded all the people, the two toddlers, and Great Dane onto the boat, and headed out! Per regulations (and good sense, probably), Kathleen had to wear a life vest while the boat was moving. She didn't much like the vest, since it restricted her movement a little, but between the water, the dog (picture her signing furiously, excited about both those things), and the movement of the boat, she was pretty distracted.
We cruised through the gorgeous bay, got amazing views of the Ko'olau mountains, and eventually anchored the boat in very shallow, very aqua-colored water. There were lots of boats anchored out there, on the sandbar that keeps the water so shallow. People were swimming and walking around in the water, listening to music, and enjoying the day. We ate lunch and hung out on the boat for a bit, and Kathleen got a big kick out of seeing the dog go swimming.
Eventually we decided to test out the water ourselves. That's how we spent the rest of the afternoon -- in the water. Our friends lent us a Kathleen-sized raft that their son had used when he was Kathleen's age. It enabled Kathleen to float around and play in the water. She splashed, she threw a ball around, she watched everyone else playing. She could even walk where the water was that shallow! She absolutely loved it. And I got to hang out in the water, watching Kathleen and talking to friends. Honestly, it was one of the most relaxing afternoons in recent history!
After a full afternoon we decided to pack it up and head back in. Kathleen was so tired she took a bottle as we cruised back, and she was asleep by the time we were driving off the base. What a great day! Thanks, everybody!
While navigating the perils that accompany a pay-day Saturday trip to the commissary, Kathleen and I stalled by the freezer section. She seemed intrigued by the tubs and tubs of ice cream, and when I told her what they were, she dutifully made the sign for ice cream. Bearing in mind that at my OB appointment a few weeks ago the doctor recommended ice cream as a good source of calcium (seriously, the doctor said I should eat ice cream -- so much for the low fat pregnancy diet I'd been keeping!), Kathleen and I splurged on a half-gallon of (low fat) mint-chocolate chip. Kathleen tested it out last night and gave it high marks. It must have liked her just as much, because it was all over her!
The departure of our house guests meant a distinct decrease in entertainment for Kathleen. To try to distract from the 75 percent reduction in fun (people, at least), we've been trying a lot of new things lately. I'm not sure that our activities have been a satisfactory substitute for doting grandparents (what could be, though?), but we've certainly been keeping busy.
To begin with, Kathleen now eats with a spoon without assistance. I won't lie -- it's a pretty messy affair. But she wouldn't have it any other way. We do better with things that really stick to the spoon, but even if the food is pretty slippery (think: applesauce), Kathleen still manages to get a fair amount to her mouth.
In case you're wondering, that mess on Kathleen's tray is breakfast. In addition to the yogurt, that's a chunk of banana, some mangoes, and multi-grain cheerios. We've been offering plenty of variety at the Golby breakfast buffet lately.
Having mastered the spoon, Kathleen quickly advanced to using a fork. I didn't even have to offer her a fork. One afternoon Kathleen managed to open the top drawer in the kitchen, withdraw a salad fork, and spear the cubes of cheese she'd been offered as a snack. We negotiated a trade -- toddler fork for salad fork -- and the successful use of utensils continues.
We've begun drawing lately, too. Kathleen mailed off her first work of art to her Daddy just this week.
Fortunately Crayola washable markers are, in fact, very washable. That was good news for us, as Kathleen had marker on her hands, face, and belly! Although we were quite proud of Kathleen's marker masterpiece, we're now working on using crayons. We've been told they're better for developing hand strength...
We also attended a "support the troops day" at a local high school last weekend. Of all the activities, Kathleen's favorite was the basketball toss. She marched right up to a group of teenagers who were using it, and stuck her hands up, confident they'd give her a ball. They did. And she ran with it!
We'll keep you posted as we keep busy! We've almost made it through one month...
