Midweek Amusements

When we woke yesterday morning, it was pouring. Now, this sometimes happens here -- it'll be raining at 5:30 or 6 in the morning, and it'll clear up by 8 or so. But such was not the case yesterday. It just kept on raining. I should have known it would happen, because the commanding general was set to change command yesterday morning on the parade field. The girls and I were looking forward to attending and watching the band and all the battalions in the division. We'd even stopped by the rehearsal to check it out the day before. But the rain was enough to keep us away. Unfortunately the soldiers didn't get that choice. There wasn't a rain plan, so hundreds and hundreds of soldiers had to stand in the rain for several hours. Jim, of course, was one. Poor Jim.

We skipped the ceremony and visited the library's story hour instead, which is our usual Wednesday activity. Kathleen isn't very good at listening to the story. I'm not sure she even realizes that the woman in the front of the room is reading a story... But Kathleen loves the library. She spent our time there dashing around, looking at the shelves of books, repeating, "Library! New books! Library! New books!" Madeline must have been equally excited about being at the library, because she kept babbling all through story time. And we managed to log another first at the library (this one's for you, Krissy Toth): our first successful public pottying. I'm just glad it was at the children's library and not, say, Walmart.

We left the library and made a quick trip to the commissary. As we arrived at the commissary, the soldiers were marching off the parade field, and they crossed the street right next to the commissary parking lot. The girls and I took advantage of a break in the rain and walked over to watch them. Kathleen starting running in little circles and dancing when she saw the troops, yelling, "My Daddy! My Daddy! Soldiers marching! My Daddy! My Daddy!" The soldiers detailed to direct traffic thought she was hysterical. It was too bad her daddy didn't get to see her. (His battalion had been the first off the field, so they were long gone by then.) But he had a good laugh when he got home!

Keeping Busy

So, blogging has been a bit of a challenge lately. Generally the girls have napped at the same time in the afternoon, giving me (even on a bad day) at least 90 minutes to get things done. But for some reason, that just hasn't been happening lately. Instead the girls are tag-teaming -- I'll get one down just moments before her sister awakes. That arrangement is good for one-on-one time with each of the girls, which is precious, but not so good for overall productivity. So, things that can only be done when I've got two free hands and a clear head have beeen slightly neglected around here. Blogging, mopping the floors, the list goes on and on...

In an attempt to catch up, I got up early this morning. I did manage to get a little accomplished. I set two pots on the stove to simmer, one of apples and one of carrots. (We haven't started feeding Madeline fruits and veggies quite yet, but I've begun preparing some food for her so there will be plenty ready when she is.) I sat at the computer and, just as I began this entry, Madeline woke. It was about an hour earlier than I'd been expecting her, and I let her cry for a moment to see if she'd fall back to sleep. Her cries only became more insistent, so I went into her. The poor girl had gotten her leg stuck in the crib! Madeline's been rolling all over, making use of all the space in her crib, prefering to sleep on her stomach. This time her travelling didn't work out so well for her. I freed her, and tried to calm her, but no amount of soothing would convince her to go back to sleep, so she came out to work with me in the kitchen. So much for blogging!

And when the girls aren't sleeping (which is a lot!), they're busy! Kathleen is particularly busy. Lately I've found that it's best to have Kathleen very involved in whatever I'm trying to do, because a few unsupervised moments can lead to a big mess. Over the weekend we washed our cars, which was a fantastic chore for Kathleen. (Even a mess is clean, in that case!) She loved to help.

Kathleen has been helping me water flowers, sweep, plant cuttings, move laundry, do dishes, and cook. But chaos can ensue even when we're only a few feet apart. For example, a few days ago the girls and I were putting away clean laundry when Kathleen disappeared for a moment. By the time I crossed the hall and found her in Madeline's room, she'd covered her face in diaper cream. (Channeling her inner mime, perhaps?) When I stepped away from the sink yesterday while Kathleen was washing her hands, she emptied an entire bottle of lavender baby wash. Last week we were in the kitchen, cooking chili and corn muffins for our celebration of "If You Give a Moose a Muffin." (We've already eaten buckwheat pancakes for "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" and cookies for "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," so we've about exhausted that game.) I was standing at the sink rinsing the beans for chili, and when I turned around, Kathleen had emptied the bottle of chili powder across the floor, and was making her own art exhibit in the middle of the kitchen. By some miracle the amount I needed for the chili was still in the bottom of the jar!

I like to remind myself that Kathleen's busyness isn't an attempt to kill me or drive me crazy. (Some days that's easier than others.) It's simply her way of exploring her world, and (hopefully) a sign of curiosity and intelligence. And although it may give me a headache some days, I really wouldn't have it any other way!

Adventure!

"Adventure" is currently one of Kathleen's favorite words. We use "adventure" frequently, to convince Kathleen that an otherwise less-than-exciting outing is just what she wanted. The commissary? An adventure! The NEX (Navy Exchange)? An adventure! Schlepping around on a hundred errands when we'd all rather go to the park? An adventure!

However, we took advantage of Friday's "training holiday" to take a more legitimate adventure and visit the Honolulu Zoo. We hadn't been in ages -- the last time we'd gone was in March, I think. We spent the ride into town talking all about the different animals we'd see. By the time we arrived, Kathleen was very excited. Madeline, a little less so.

She rode in the stroller for the beginning of our tour of the zoo, but eventually moved to the Beco. Despite her laidback posture, we think Madeline really enjoyed the morning. Even if she didn't love the animals, she was amazingly well-behaved.

We traipsed all over the zoo. Fortunately for us, the Honolulu Zoo isn't all that big, so Kathleen was fine walking most of the time. She didn't want to sit in the stroller. When she did need a bit of a ride, she elected to sit on Daddy's shoulders.

Kathleen was mesmerized by the animals, particularly by the monkeys.

She was extremely impressed by them once they started moving around. To be honest, I found it pretty impressive, too. Those guys can move! Another highlight was the giant tortoise habitat. The turtles were out, slowly crawling around their exhibit. Of course, the thing that made the turtles exciting for Kathleen (and the preschool class that showed up while we were there) wasn't so much the turtles -- it was that a sprinkler was running to keep the turtles cool in the heat, and the kids got wet, too!

And just in case walking all over the zoo wasn't enough exercise, Kathleen stopped and tested out the playground next to the Keiki Zoo. (Keiki means "child," or in this case, "children's." The Keiki Zoo is the petting zoo.) The playground is set beneath some gorgeous old trees, so it's shady and cool, even in the heat of the day. Kathleen loved it!

Eventually, we called it a day and headed for home. Not that it was a whole day -- it was more like a long morning. Although we felt sure that Kathleen would fall asleep on the car ride home, she stayed awake for some Jamba Juice. That meant we got a whole nap in the afternoon. That, in my opinion, is a perfect adventure!

Checking up on Madeline

Big smiles
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Our littlest girl is giving us plenty to smile about these days. Madeline is amazingly social and has accumulated an array of crowd-pleasing skills -- she coos and gurgles, blows raspberries, and giggles. She'll watch until she's sure she has caught your eye, and then flash her biggest grin. She's quite the little flirt!

I can already see that our days of a stationary Madeline are numbered. We've still got a ways to go before I'll be chasing after her, but this little girl can hardly wait to get on the move! She's mastered rolling. I hadn't realized how adept she'd become until the other day, when I laid her on her back on a blanket to play while I folded laundry. I'd just straightened up when I noticed Madeline was already on her tummy, pushing herself up with one arm and reaching for a toy with the other!

And although I don't remember starting Kathleen this early, we've recently given Madeline her first couple tastes of rice cereal. So far, so good. She has taken a few tentative bites, and seems happy to be a part of meal time. I think watching all of us eat was making her a little jealous!

We took her in for her four month check up last week. (A little late, but she's still four months old!) Madeline weighed in at 14 pounds, 15 ounces, and she's 24 inches long. According to her pediatrician, those numbers put Madeline a touch above the 75th percentile. Madeline again charmed everyone in the office, and weathered her vaccinations like the little trooper she is.

And one more important thing about sweet Madeline: no one can make her laugh like her sister. Madeline laughs a lot, but she laughs most consistently for Kathleen. Honestly, half the time I can't even figure out what the two of them are laughing about. (Of course, I am well aware that in a few years time they'll be laughing about me!) Here's just one of example of our two giggling girls in action:

Surprise, Mama!

This afternoon Kathleen woke a little early from her nap. I was still nursing Madeline, so I didn't go to get her right away. Normally, if that happens, Kathleen sits in the rocking chair reading books, so I wasn't particularly concerned. Additionally, I was listening to her on the baby monitor (which we've begun doing since Kathleen's been sleeping in a toddler bed), so I felt confident that there wasn't much going on. Ah, how wrong I was!

After a few minutes, when a fully-fed Madeline had been placed in her crib, I went to get Kathleen from her nap. She had just begun fussing when I opened the door.

"What's the matter, sweetheart?" I began. And then stopped, dumbstruck.

Kathleen sat on her bed, literally covered in baby powder. Her face was white like a mime's. Her bedsheets looked as though they'd been given a liberal dusting of powdered sugar. The floor was covered in powder, too, complete with toddler footprints. The air in the room was hazy with it.

My brain kicked in a few seconds later, when I told Kathleen not to move and that I'd be right back. I ran to the diaper bag, fished out the camera, and captured this moment of toddler mayhem:

After snapping two quick photos, I grabbed Kathleen and began (cautiously) to dust the powder off her. In a matter of seconds, I too, looked like I'd been rolling in powdered sugar. I tried to take stock of the damage, inspecting the linens and floor. Oddly enough, there wasn't any container of powder lying around the room.

Kathleen must have sensed my confusion, because she wriggled out of my arms and went straight to the dresser. She opened the top drawer, pulled out the now-empty bottle of baby powder, and handed it to me.

"Mama, this!" she explained.

All I could do was laugh. How could I be upset? After all, she did pick up after herself!

Soldiers Marching!

Watching the band march...

Daddy's battalion got a new commander this week, so on Monday the girls and I attended the girls' first change of command ceremony. This is a pretty impressive place to have a change of command -- from the parade field you can see the mountains, which are gorgeous. The day was sunny and warm, and the ceremony went beautifully.

We watched from a shady spot a little ways from the seating (since we're not always reliably quiet, so being right by the podium seemed a dangerous idea). To my delight, the girls were very well behaved. Madeline didn't fuss a bit. Kathleen even managed to stand with her hand over her heart for the entire national anthem. She loved the band's music and the marching soldiers. In fact, she'd say, "Soldiers marching!" every time they moved. She looked for Daddy, and I think she saw him as his company passed us. At least, she smiled like she'd seen him!

New Tricks for a New Year

Have you seen all these toys?
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

The girls are growing at a rate I find truly astonishing! Every day the two of them find new ways to entertain (and occasionally exasperate)each other (and their parents).

We recently rearranged some furniture and rediscovered the exersaucer, which had been stored in its box under Kathleen's crib. Even though we figured Madeline would be too small to use it, we decided to set it up, knowing that "too small" turns into "too big" all too quickly. Good thing we did, because Madeline took to it immediately. In fact, she seems to have been ruined for any other distracting device -- she's had enough of the bouncer and the swing. Only the exersaucer will do. She's surprisingly strong, able to hold herself up and turn herself around, looking at and testing out all the toys. And Madeline loves to have Kathleen play with her, manipulating the little puppet or demonstrating the gadgets. Madeline smiles and laughs as her big sister points out new things. The two really do get along famously.

Kathleen has also been busy trying out new things. We're so grateful for the warm weather here, because playing outside is one of our favorite things. Friends gave her a bubble-blowing lawnmower for her birthday, and she pushes it around the yard in little spurts, pausing to run after the bubbles. Kathleen's quite the little runner, and we have lots of fun playing tag and racing to the park. The other day we were playing outside when she began to use her Superman ball as a bouncer. (I'd say that she'd been inspired by Dwight Schrute, but she hasn't seen a moment of "The Office"! )

She took a number of tumbles off the ball as she bounced, but that only made her laugh harder. I wish I'd thought to take some video of it. It was hysterical!

Happy New Year! (At least in New York)

We celebrated New Year's on New York time, so that bedtime happened right on time!



We wish you and yours all the best in 2008!

Christmas Joy

Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice
Now ye hear of endless bliss
Joy! Joy!
Jesus Christ was born for this
He hath ope'd the heav'nly door
And man is blessed evermore
Christ was born for this
Christ was born for this

Our Christmas was full of celebration. We quite literally celebrated for days, savoring the joy of our Savior's birth and the joy of being together.

The celebrating began on the 23rd, when Kathleen was invited to a birthday party for Jesus. Our friends the Farmers hosted the event, and they did a fantastic job. The children made a nativity craft out of popsicles and clothespins. They also enjoyed an enormous bounce-house! Kathleen's not quite as good at jumping as some of the other children, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. Before the party, Daddy had been telling Kathleen how to make new friends: you walk up, you say hi, and you tell them your name. Kathleen tested out this approach at the party, racing by the other little girls on the bounce-house, calling out, "Hi!" and then patting herself on the chest and saying, "Neenie!" (That's Kathleen's version of her nickname, Leenie.) The other children didn't quite understand what she was doing, but Mama did! (And it reminded Mama that Kathleen is her own person and, at some point, will venture out into the world on her own. It was a particularly scary realization for Mama, and prompted some conversing with Jesus. Good thing it was His party.)

After lots of bouncing, the children took turns blowing out the candles for Jesus' birthday. Kathleen has been singing Happy Birthday to Jesus ever since.

On Christmas Eve our family had a splendid little dinner. We have our own (relatively young -- but we've only been married 5 years!) tradition of cooking a German feast on Christmas Eve. Now, we're not claiming that this is what Germans eat on Christmas Eve, but it's some of the foods we miss from when we lived in Germany -- bratwurst, brotchen (rolls), kasespaetzle (cheese noodles), and gurkensalat (cucumber salad). Although we weren't able to find Gluhwein this year, we toasted with some Erdinger weissbier instead! And we finished off our meal with some lebkuchen (we'll admit it's much better if you buy it fresh at a Christmas market) and some Rittersport chocolate. Yum!

After supper we went to our Christmas eve service, where a friend snapped the above photo of us. And after our beautiful, candle-lit service, we captured a very tired Kathleen wishing everyone a merry Christmas:

We enjoyed a leisurely Christmas morning, slowly emptying our stockings and opening our gifts to one another.

Because Kathleen is too small to read nametags (even our genius has her limits!) we tagged everyone's gifts with shapes: Mama was a green circle, Daddy an orange triangle, Kathleen a red heart, and Madeline a yellow star. Kathleen did a very good job of making sure everyone got the right presents!

We opened some gifts, took a break for breakfast, and then opened some more gifts. Kathleen then decided to press her new water toys into immediate service, and took a bath. By the time we finished the bath and some lunch, it was naptime. Present-opening continued in that meandering fashion for days!

After naptime friends joined us for Christmas dinner. Altogether there were eight adults, two toddlers, and four infants. It was a wonderful, slightly crazy, joyful gathering, and just as Christmas should be! We are grateful to have good friends when family is so far.

After supper, Kathleen and her friend Addie participated in a long-standing Christmas tradition: ignoring new presents and playing with the box!

We hope that your celebrations were just as joyful. Merry Christmas!

A Child at Christmastime

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.
--Laura Ingalls Wilder

My heart has indeed grown tender this year as I've watched Kathleen delight in Christmas preparations. Her joy and enthusiasm in cooking, her wonder at the beauty of decorations, and her growing understanding of the gift of the Christ Child have made this season truly special.

We've given (or will give) sugared pecans to many of our friends for Christmas this year, and Kathleen was very helpful in preparing the nuts. She's not so good a measuring yet, but she's awfully good at putting measured amounts into the mixing bowl. And she loves to stir. Not everything she stirs stays in the bowl, but she's improving.

Look at me! I'm helping!

Kathleen loves our tree, which she calls a "Crissen Treat." We've had many discussions about that fact that it is a tree -- like the trees in our yard, for example -- but she insists that it's a treat. I suppose she's right, in a way. Kathleen was a big help in decorating the lower parts of our tree. It's a far cry from last year, when she pulled off the ornaments every day! The post tree-lighting ceremony was held at General's Loop (where -- you guessed it! -- the generals live), and our family walked over for the festivities. Kathleen's face when they lit the giant tree was priceless. "Oh!" she whispered, "Pretty lights!" (The fire engine was the other highlight of the tree lighting ceremony. Santa arrived on it, but since Kathleen doesn't really know who Santa is, he wasn't nearly as interesting as the fire engine itself.)

A few weeks ago we visited Ala Moana mall (the one the tourists visit, too) to have dinner and do some Christmas shopping. Although a trip to the mall happens for most people at Christmastime, a trip to Ala Moana actually qualifies as an event. There's a stage show in the center of the mall, based on the local Christmas favorite The Christmas Gift of Aloha. We hadn't thought that Kathleen would be too interested in the show; I guess we figured it would be over her head. We were absolutely wrong. We wandered over after dinner, and Kathleen watched from her Daddy's shoulders. She was transfixed. The singing, the dancing, the lights -- she loved all of it. I actually cried in the middle of the mall, overcome by the joy of watching my child transported by Christmas magic.

Kathleen has taken to singing lately. She's mastered "Happy Birthday" -- between Kathleen, Mama, and Jesus, that song gets quite a bit of use this week. Her holiday favorite, though, is "Jingle Bells." She sings it all the time. She has no interest in learning the "jingle all the way" part, however, so she simply sings "jingle bells" over and over again. We recently put her down for the night and listened to her sing "jingle bells" for nearly five minutes before she decided sleeping wasn't a bad idea after all. Another favorite is "Deck the Halls." Despite my attempts, "Silent Night'' and "Away in a Manger" haven't been nearly so popular.

And, best of all, Kathleen is learning about the real meaning of Christmas. We have a little magnet nativity set that I picked up one of the times we visited Prague, long before Kathleen was born. Kathleen loves to play with the set. (In fact, we've found the pieces all over the house, although the Holy Family seems to travel together.) She can identify Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus, and she knows that Christmas is Baby Jesus's birthday. Hearing her sweet little voice as she talks about Baby Jesus is truly precious.

Terrific at Two Years Old

Hooray, I'm two!

We know it's cliche to even mention, but it's hard to believe that it has been two years since Kathleen was born. And it's somehow harder to believe that the tiny baby we met in a hospital in Kentucky is now our energetic, talkative toddler.

We celebrated Kathleen's birthday with her favorite dinner -- a pizza picnic! We even let her have a little soda in her sippy cup. But the pizza paled in comparison to the excitement of presents. Kathleen deftly opened her gifts, cheerfully inspecting everything. It's amazing to me that last year she hardly understood the concept of presents, because she was all over it this year!

Kathleen tried on her new dress with matching purse, flipped through her new books, and took her new animal toys for spin. She also opened up her "Whose Baby Is It?" puzzle and promptly set to work, wowing us with her ability to identify animals and put together pieces.

After dinner and some playtime, we brought out the cake. Kathleen understood about the cake and candles, too. We'd barely told her to blow the candles out, and she'd done it. In fact, she was so quick that we almost missed the photo altogether, settling for this shot of extinguished candles and closed eyes.

We hope her wish comes true!

Kathleen's arrival was the answer to our prayers, and our lives with her have been a blessing beyond words. In the past two years this little girl has taught us more about joy and patience and persistence and love than we'd ever known. Hearing her say, "I luff you," watching her hug her baby sister, seeing her grow and learn and become the person she was created to be is humbling and harrowing and delightful. We love you, little girl, and we thank our God for you each and every day -- but today especially. Happy Birthday, Kathleen!

Playing Tourist

This past weekend we played tourist, and we stayed down on that small but very famous stretch of sand -- Waikiki Beach. Although many tourists who come to the island never leave Waikiki, we've found that we hardly ever go, since we live here. There are more than a few reasons: the traffic into "town" is almost always horrific, parking is a hassle, it is, after all, packed with tourists, and we live closer to the famed (and yet more laidback) North Shore. But Jim's unit had a formal ball for a welcome home celebration at a swanky hotel on Monday night, so we decided we'd take the opportunity to be tourists ourselves!

We learned an important lesson, though: our little family isn't really at the stage where staying in one room is a very good idea. Because we were worried that Madeline might wake Kathleen, I picked her up for almost every little peep, and so she was up a lot at night. And Kathleen is so inquisitive and so busy that it's a little challenging to put her down to sleep in a hotel room. She's just convinced that she'll miss something fun, so she can't really be bothered to try to sleep. At home we hardly ever have trouble getting Kathleen to bed. We have a little routine with some stories, some milk, and some singing, we say a little prayer, put her in her crib, kiss her good night and walk out the door. Since we couldn't walk out the door at the hotel, we settled for hanging out in the bathroom! We sat on the edge of the bathtub until we thought she'd be asleep, and then we'd (quietly) reclaim our hotel room. We thought we were a little crazy until we ran into the parents of another toddler at breakfast. They'd done almost the same thing! So, if we're crazy, at least we're the kind of crazy brought on by parenthood!

Despite our sleep challenges, we had a great weekend. We all got a chance to relax a bit.

Kathleen loves to swim, and she had a ball testing out the hotel's different swimming pools.

Another highlight for Kathleen: the penguins and turtles living right at the hotel. I don't know how a hotel comes to have penguins and turtles, but we sure loved visited them. We stopped by a couple times a day each day we were there!

And a random first for Madeline: her first stroller ride. Normally Madeline rides around in a sling or the beco baby carrier, but that can get a little challenging with wet swimsuits and such. We'd brought the stroller more for Kathleen, but discovered that Madeline was quite happy to lounge in it, watching her sister play.

(And, as a side note, although I've complained for months about not being able to figure out how to recline that little stroller, Jim looked at it for about two seconds and figured it out. Honestly, how did we survive without him?)

Mama and Daddy had lots of fun at the ball, and the girls had lots of fun staying up in the room with our friend Sarah while Mama and Daddy ate and danced and enjoyed grown-up conversations. We owe a HUGE thank you to Sarah for a truly stress-free night. And, for the record, friends, I'm not holding out on you -- although I took my camera to the ball, I failed to take even one photo! So, no pictures of the grown-ups. Sorry.

On Tuesday we headed home. Our adventure was fun, but exhausting. I think this picture says it all:

Short and Sweet

What a pretty girl!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

A few days ago I scheduled our little car for an oil change. Fortunately, the dealership is right across the street from Costco, so I figured the girls and I would kill the hour-and-a-half wait time by doing some shopping. Unfortunately, I forgot that Costco wouldn't be open at 9am! After about 10 minutes of hanging out in the dealership's waiting room, I realized that the three of us absolutely had to do something, so we headed out for a little walk. We hit Starbucks for a coffee for Mama and a treat for Kathleen,and still had more than an hour to go. And then inspiration struck!

Kathleen's hair had gotten quite long, so we popped into Fantastic Sam's, intending to trim up her bangs. But she was so good that it turned into a full haircut! After a bit of discussion, the stylist and I agreed to trim her hair into a sweet little bob. (Her scraggly hair had sort of grown into a baby mullet, and I wasn't sad to see that go!) At first I was sad that I wouldn't be able to put her hair into little pigtails anymore, but now I'm pretty happy with just pinning her hair back with little clips. There's a lot less struggle, and she's still darling. The hardest thing to get accustomed to is that she just looks so grown-up now...

Tape?

So much for the shed...
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

A couple of weeks ago, a big storm blew through here in the middle of the night. The wind blew, the rain poured down in buckets, and the thunder shook everything. I was even a little scared by it, although the girls never woke up. The force of the storm knocked out the power, and it stayed off for about 18 hours. We were lucky, though -- there were parts of the island that were out of power for days.

In the morning we were able to see a bit of the damage that the storm had done. Trees were down all over post -- not to mention on the house next door. Again, we were fortunate. Aside from the inconvenience of being without power, our only storm casualty was the Army-issued shed in our backyard. It was first thing Kathleen noticed when she wandered out onto the lanai.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed. "Mama, house broken!"
I explained that, yes, the shed had fallen down in the night, because of the wind and the storm.
"Oh, no!" she repeated. "Mama, fix it! Mama, fix house!"
I told her that we'd all go out -- Mama and Daddy and Kathleen and Madeline -- and we'd look at the shed and try to fix it, but that I wasn't sure that it was something we could fix.
"Mama, Daddy fix it!" she exclaimed. And then she looked at us, perturbed that she had to explain such thing to us:
"Fix it! TAPE!"

What did you say, honey?

Everyday Kathleen speaks more and more and we get more of a glimpse into her little world. She can effectively (if not always politely) convey what she wants or what she thinks. She still often needs to be prompted to say please, but generally remembers to say thank you or "danks." She'll call, "Mommy check Mah-lin, Mah-lin crying," when she hears her sister wake up. She yells "knock" as she pounds on a door and then immediately enters a room. When she can't find something or someone, she walks around the house calling, "Where are you?" And if all's right in her little world, she looks up at us, beaming, and says, "Happy!"

Kathleen still enjoys commanding us to sing, and now will sometimes sing along. She does a pretty decent rendition of portions of "The Wheels on the Bus" -- she knows "round and round," "wah, wah, wah" and "shh, shh, shh," among others. My personal favorite is her bus driver, who says "moof on back." (She makes a little fist and moves it as she sings, only she mostly moves it forward, rather than back.) The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald (e-i-e-i-o) and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star are also on her repetoire.

Lately I'm particularly grateful that I don't have a problem with cursing, since living with Kathleen is a bit like living with a parrot. Fortunately "Rats!" is the only exclamation she's repeated. There's something rather comical about watching her chatter "Rats! Rats! Rats!" after I've exploded at some minor home catastrophe.

And it's a good thing I don't have many secrets, because Kathleen certainly has enough vocabulary to blow my cover. A few weeks back I had one of those worst days of mothering, when Madeline fell out of the bouncer onto the floor. Madeline was fine, thank heavens, but we took her to the ER just to make sure. Kathleen can recount the whole thing for you, "Madeline fall bouncer. Hurt. Car go doctor." There's no predicting what will inspire a retelling of my truly low points, but she can do it with gusto. Of course, Kathleen also thinks that any bump now warrants a trip to the doctor, so we wind up saying, "No, honey, we don't need to go to the doctor today for that," more than I'd have imagined.

Kathleen is constantly picking up new words and putting them into use, sometimes before she's even sure of what they mean. One of Kathleen's newest words is "favorite" and she uses it all the time. She obviously knows that it means she likes something, but as often as she uses it, we're pretty sure she doesn't know how much she likes it. This week hot dogs, pork chops, cereal, yogurt, grapes, strawberries, water, milk, the christmas tree, playdough, the church nursery, a collection of books, throwing a ball, coloring, and playing "ring around the rosies" (which she calls "pocket," as in a "pocketful of posies") have all been favorites.

We had a bit of mystery last week when Kathleen kept saying, "Summin open doken." She'd say it rapidly, and a few times in succession, and she'd do it at various times throughout the day. Jim and I were at a loss as to what it meant. We'd ask Kathleen about it, but she'd just repeat it again and laugh, looking at us as though we were complete idiots for not being able to understand. Jim finally figured it out as we were waiting at the ID card section on Thursday to get me a new ID card. (Kathleen had slid mine down the window of the car and into the car door, where it landed with a thunk, taunting me with its irretrievability. We've replaced it now, though, and I can once again go grocery shopping on my own. Well, as on my own as you can be with two children.) In a flash of brilliance Jim asked, "Do the hokey pokey?" And Kathleen shouted,"YEAH!" (Which, to be perfectly honest, sounds a lot more like "deah.") Mystery solved, the four of us wound up doing the hokey pokey in the waiting room at the ID card section, to the great amusement of the crowds of people also waiting...

And as much as Kathleen talks now, I think Madeline will talk even more. She's cooing and babbling and smiling all the time lately. We have entire (unintelligible) conversations with her. Madeline also has begun laughing, and her laugh is so sweet and happy it always makes me teary. She'll laugh outright for her daddy -- big, long laughs that are like a conversation themselves. The only way I can get her laughs is to steal them. But at least we know she's ticklish!

Getting Away from it All

If you're wondering why we haven't posted lately, it's because we escaped for a little family vacation. One of the beauties of living on our little island is that other islands are so close. The flights (about 35 minutes to Kauai or to Maui) are a perfect length for our plane-loving but very active toddler. Having visited Kauai just before Jim deployed to Iraq, we decided to spend a little time on Maui now that he has returned.

We stayed in a condo on Ka'anapali Beach -- and when we say on, we mean on! This was the view from our lanai at sunset:

We couldn't have asked for a better location. We stayed in a garden unit, so there was a nice, green lawn just off our lanai. And a few feet beyond that, the beach! Not only did we enjoy amazing sunsets, but because we were so close to the beach, we could take turns playing with Kathleen, even when Madeline needed to nap in the room. Madeline came down to the beach, too, and she seemed to enjoy it, although not as loudly or enthusiastically as Kathleen.

When Madeline wasn't enjoying the view from my lap, or having her feet dipped in the ocean, she was napping in her tent, so she didn't get too much sun. She's the only one of us who didn't get even a hint of tan on Maui!

Kathleen loved every minute of the beach time. She jumped over the waves as they rolled up the beach, and she kicked around in the water when she'd venture in further with Mommy or Daddy. It's hard to remember that as a little baby she didn't like sand, because Kathleen is crazy about sand. She has discovered sand castles, and she insisted on building them on every trip to the beach. Well, she insisted that we build them. She's much more interested in knocking over the sand castles than actually building them! Daddy buried Kathleen, which amused pretty much everyone -- Daddy, Mommy, Kathleen, Madeline, a number of on-lookers at the beach!

In the above photo, you might be able to see Kathleen's bracelets. Her cousin Ali made them for her, and sent them with her mom, Margaret. Kathleen loves those bracelets! Once she put them on, we simply couldn't get them off her. She left them on, day and night, for more than four days. And then we only managed to take them off for a few moments... Thanks, Ali; you made Kathleen very happy!

We didn't do much sight-seeing. (Somehow, trapping the girls in the car so we could drive the road to Hana didn't seem like it'd be much of a vacation for any of us.) But even if we didn't see a lot of tourist attractions, we saw lots of truly breath-taking scenery. Some of that was the location, and some of that was the company...

And we hardly even noticed that, while we were gone, November ended and December began! It still seems like summer to us!

Awed by the Island

We've finally recovered from our colds, and we've been enjoying life on our little island. It's hard to believe, but (because Jim had been gone, and then we'd been sick, and then we'd been traveling, and then we'd been sick again) Madeline hadn't ever been to the beach! We rectified that situation last Friday, driving to the North Shore and spending some time on a deserted bit of gorgeous shoreline. Winter isn't the best time for swimming on the North Shore, so we played in the sand and at the water's edge.

Kathleen and Daddy had a great time running around, and Madeline and I had a lovely quiet time, sitting on the sand and nursing. After we were all tuckered out, we hopped back into the Jeep and headed home. It was only after we were driving back that I realized: because I'd been holding Madeline and taking photos, we didn't have any photographs of her first visit to the beach!

I did the same thing this Tuesday, when we climbed Diamond Head with Jim's sister Margaret and her husband Craig, who are visiting from Illinois. I've got photos of Jim and photos of Kathleen, but Madeline and I are completely missing. I've really got to get better about that! Fortunately for us, Margaret is a much more responsible photographer, and chronicled our journey up and down -- even capturing our family all together, not only at the top, but on the way down:

Both girls did great on the trip up Diamond Head. Even though she's not crazy about the Baby Bjorn, Madeline played along and slept on the way up the mountain. She did howl for part of the trip down, but by then she was pretty hungry. Kathleen took the trip in a few different stages. She rode in the Baby Jogger until the path got really rocky, when she hopped out and walked along with us. (We stashed the folded up jogger on the side of the trail, and picked it up again on the way back down. It worked perfectly!) And when it got too steep or her little legs got too tired, Daddy carried her. By the time we reached the glorious view at the top, Kathleen was more than ready for a break and some water.

Even though all the tourists around us were complaining about the steep stairs (a set of 99 steps, and a set of 74 steps, and a bunch more random stairs), Kathleen loved them. Here's a snapshot of her and Daddy on the way down:

So, we've been all over the island, enjoying the beautiful weather and admiring the magnificence of the creation around us. There's so much to inspire here -- the lush, green mountains, the crashing surf, the sparkling rainbows, the watercolor sunset. I find myself constantly amazed that we're able to live in a place with such beauty. And when I take the time to think about the creation, I can't help but think about the Creator. This island is but a small reflection of His own beauty and His power...

For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In his hands are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hand formed the dry land. -- Psalm 95

Colds in California

Last week we flew to California and spent a week with Nan and Grandpa O'Connor. Kathleen was literally beside herself with excitement. We made the mistake of telling her about the trip two days in advance, and that night she was so worked up that she couldn't sleep. She stood in her crib yelling, "Plane! Nana! Gampa! Plane! Me! Carseat! Plane! Nana!" We endured a lot more of the same until we finally arrived at the airport (two days later, people!) and boarded a plane.

The girls did remarkably well on the flight. Madeline basically nursed and slept the entire time. She only cried for a few moments. Kathleen wasn't quite as quiet or quite as still, but she was really good, all things considered. She sat in her carseat because even though we could technically take her onboard as a lap child, that would never work in reality. She'd last maybe five minutes on a lap! Five hours is just a long time to try to confine a toddler -- or to entertain one, for that matter. Still, we all survived the flight there. (And the flight back was even better, as we had an extra seat and a little more room for Kathleen to move around.)

The bad news about the trip was that we all got sick. Kathleen came down with a cold virus the weekend before we left. She had a horrible, hacking cough, a runny nose, and one night of a bad fever. She then shared it with her sister the day before we left. Daddy started showing symptoms the day we flew. I caught it a few days after we arrived in San Francisco. Yuck! Because of our contagious, snotty state, we didn't get to do nearly as much visiting with friends and family as we'd have liked. We did manage to visit Uncle Kevin and Aunt Marie's new flat in the City and watch football and eat fantastic pizza. And we even snuck out (sans children for almost 2 hours!) to meet Uncle Kevin, Aunt Marie, Uncle Craig, and Aunt Caroline for a drink at the Marin Brewing Company one evening. But otherwise, we mostly kept to ourselves, since we wouldn't have wished the misery of the colds on our worst enemies.

Cold or no, Kathleen made the most of staying with Nan and Grandpa. They gave her all her favorite foods, and made sure to have a dvd of her favorite television show, and surprised her with all sorts of little treats. You can tell that life at the O'Connors' is tough for her:

I know that Madeline loved being with her grandparents (and meeting her grandpa!), too.

While we were hanging out with family, we also managed to visit graduate schools -- namely Stanford and Cal Berkeley. Those are two of the schools on Jim's application list for PhD programs, and we thought a visit would be good for some face-to-face meetings with professors for Jim, and for the girls and I to get a feel for both places.

We loved Stanford's Spanish-style architecture, manicured lawns, and wide-open feel. And Kathleen particularly loved the fountain!

Stanford has an exception reputation and many distinguished scholars, which had made it a front-runner in the Golby grad school rankings. But Berkeley surprised us! I'd only really ever thought of it as crazy, liberal "Beserk-ly," which is what Grandpa O'Connor is fond of calling the university and its little city. And while it certainly doesn't have the grand scope of Stanford, we loved the architecture and found many gorgeous little nooks while we explored the campus. Plus, and perhaps most compellingly, Berkeley had amazingly helpful faculty. They absolutely went out of their way to meet with Jim -- one even spent several hours with him, talking about the program and Jim's research interests. We also learned that the university isn't nearly as crazy as the longtime residents of Berkeley. According to one source, the College Republicans are the largest student group on campus. Who'd have guessed that?

We haven't come to any decisions about grad school, which is probably wise, since Jim hasn't finished the applications, much less been accepted. But we're encouraged that we'll be happy wherever we wind up, and we're confident that God is preparing a place for us. Maybe it'll be in California. We'll see!

Growing and Growing

So Smiley!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Madeline had her two-month doctor's appointment last week. We've known our smiley little girl wasn't all that little, really, but the check-up proved it. Madeline measured 23.5 inches long and weighed in at a whopping 11 pounds, 15 ounces. She's been doing a lot of growing!

Madeline charmed her way through the appointment. She smiled and cooed at the doctor, who pronounced her "fantastic." (Needless to say, we think pretty highly of the doctor!) She howled in indignation when she got her shots, but that's completely understandable, at least in my opinion. A little snuggling and a little Tylenol, and our girl was back to her sweet, smiley self.

We've been getting a lot of enjoyment out of Madeline's smiles these past few weeks. She's very responsive, so it's not difficult to coax a smile out of her. Her grin lights up her face. It's amazing to watch her sweet little personality emerge.

Madeline's doctor's appointment was a highlight for Kathleen. Kathleen chatted the entire drive to Tripler, reminding us that we were driving in the car to go see the doctor for "baby sister" and that the doctor would listen to baby sister's heart. She loved watching the doctor examine her sister -- it was like watching her favorite page in Richard Scarry's "Best First Word Book Ever" in real life! Hopefully Kathleen will be just as enthusiastic when it's her turn for shots in December!

No Tricks, Just Treats

We had a lot of fun this Halloween... we love any excuse for pumpkins, costumes, and candy. Regardless of any of the holiday's history, that's what we focus on, and that's what we enjoy. And boy, do we enjoy it!

In the afternoon, Daddy and Kathleen carved our pumpkin. Kathleen was particularly excited about this activity because she loves pumpkins. She has her own little pumpkin collection -- the big pumpkin for carving, two smaller pumpkins (for carrying around, I suppose), and four miniature pumpkins. And still, each time we cruise past the pumpkin display in the commissary, she cries out, "Pumpkin me!" I remind her that we already have seven spectacular pumpkins at home ("Gosh, Kathleen, I'm not even sure there are any pumpkins here that are as great as the ones we have at home."), and that generally satisfies her.

Anyway, back to the festivities. Kathleen took her pumpkin carving role very seriously and dug right in, scooping away with a spoon.

She helped sort out the seeds and very carefully sprinkled them with garlic salt before we popped them in the oven. Kathleen also made the important decisions about the jack o' lantern's face; he needed to be happy, and would have two eyes, no nose, and one tooth. She seemed to know what she was doing, because I think the pumpkin is pretty cute! (Of course, not as cute as the other two faces in the photo!)

After pumpkin-carving, we worked on trick-or-treating skills. Daddy ran through the whole scenario with Kathleen countless times: you say, "trick or treat," you hold up your pumpkin bucket, they give you candy, and you say, "thank you." Despite the thorough briefing, Kathleen had her own take on the tradition. The candy part made a lot of sense to her, but not much else. She didn't see the point of saying, "trick," so merely said, "treat." And why would she let someone put the candy in the bucket? She wanted it in her hand, so it could get to her mouth most quickly! Fortunately, she was willing to say thank you!

Later on in the evening, we got the girls dressed in their costumes. Kathleen dressed first, and debated the relative merits of her princess hat and a tiara.

The tiara won out over the hat... Unimpressed by the glue gun-weilding abilities that created the hat, Kathleen absolutely refused to wear it. The above photograph is literally the only one we managed to snap of her in the hat, which accounts for the less than ideal expression she's sporting! Not surprisingly, Madeline was a lot easier to dress.

Once we had everyone dressed, the weather foiled our trick-or-treating plans. It was pouring out, so we stayed home to greet those who did brave the weather. We hosted some friends for dinner, and they helped us "trick-or-treat" with Kathleen in our living room! That, combined with the candy, was more than enough excitement for our girls.

Our Halloween photo shoot wasn't as successful as we might have hoped (it was a challenge to work around the dueling nap schedule), but we did eventually manage to capture the princess and the pea together on film...