funny girl

Stephen and I were talking the other night about all of the things Kate does that make us laugh and realized that we need to leave some sort of record of it all. So, since it turns out that I'm an absolute failure at scrap books, we're using this particular post to help us remember those adorable quirks of our baby girl years down the road. It's a little late, and our brains are a little fried from the paint fumes, so this will be a work in progress. Enjoy!

• Rather than answering "yes" or "okay" to a question, Kate opts for the more formal "I do." For example: "Kate, do you want to eat dinner?" "I do."
• We've probably mentioned Kate's attachment to bear and blankie somewhere on this blog, but now that she's in her big girl bed, her love for bear is even clearer. Every night (and I seriously mean every night), this is the conversation we have with Kate:

after reading, singing, and praying:

Kate: (whispers) Bed!

Dad: Okay, you want to get in the bed?

Kate: Cov? (in Kate-language, this means "Please cover me.")

Dad: Yeah, I'll cover you.

Kate: Bear cov?

Dad: Yeah, I'll cover bear, too.

Kate: giggle, giggle

Ammendment: Stephen just reminded me that Kate asks to sing every night, but never asks to pray.

• Kate's one and only dance move: to run in circles until she's too dizzy to stand up.
• I think this one is adorable. Kate truly believes that her daddy can fix anything. Yesterday, for example, one of the kitchen drawers was sticking and I couldn't close it. As soon as Kate noticed it she said, "Uh oh....daddy fix?"
• No matter where we're going, Kate announces (not always at the appropriate time), "We're here!"
• I'm not sure which side of the family she takes this from, but our girl has a healthy appetite. We'll eat breakfast, and not 20 minutes later, she's pulling at my PJ's. "Mommy, I eat again!"
• Kate always insists on "five mints" (five minutes) when we tell her it's time to do something, anything, really. What makes it adorable and really difficult to argue with is the way she says it. She holds up all five fingers and says "fiiiiiiiiive mints." How can you say no to that?
• Lately, Kate has started responding to most of what we say with "Huh?" and a confused look on her face. We've noticed that she's especially prone to do this when we're asking her to do something she'd rather not do. For example, I might say "Kate, pick up your crayons please," and she'll look at me with a look of complete confusion and say "HUH?"
• The last few weeks have been especially trying at bed time. Not sure what happened there, but it's not at all unusual these days for Kate to get up and knock on her door in the middle of the night. There's not much cute about that, except that when she knocks, she groggily (a word?) says "knock, knock, knock."
• I hesitate to share this one because I know that teenage Kate will be mortified, but...what the heck. The other day as we were out and about, Kate started pooting. We all found it to be a little amusing and starting laughing. Apparently, Kate thought it best to make the most of the moment and began singing what we now call "The Pootin' Song." It's pretty simple: "I pootin', I pootin', I pootin'." Hilarious.

look who's two!

Although we celebrated Kate's 2nd birthday with a party in North Carolina, her actual birthday was a somewhat small affair right here at home. It started with pancakes on "baya plate" (her favorite) and ended with dinner at Chuck E. Cheese. (Stephen and I have since developed some strong opinions toward Mr. Cheese...more about that later).

Okay, so watching Kate turn two has made me a little sentimental these days (I mean more than usual), and I keep thinking about the lullaby that I've been singing to her since the first night we brought her home from the hospital. Here's the first verse:

Where are you going, my little one, little one?
Where are you going, my baby, my own?
Turn around and you're two. Turn around and you're four.
Turn around and you're the young girl runnin' out of my door.

When I sang that song to my newborn baby girl, I couldn't imagine her turning two. It seemed so very far away. And now it's here. My baby is growing up. And now I sometimes tear up when I sing the second verse:

Where are you going, my little one, little one?
Where are you going, my baby, my own?
Turn around and you're tiny, turn around and you're grown.
Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own.

a princess's party!

my babies

Okay, ladies. Here's the long awaited belly pic!

giddy up!

Kate had a great time riding the pony at the North Georgia fair, and it's a good thing, too. A 2-minute pony ride cost over $5! Geez!

dinner for two

Kate and cousin Lincoln enjoy a delicious NC meal...mmmmm!

a few of my favorite things

A few weeks ago, we spent some time with Mamaw and Papaw Burton at Dan Nicholas Park. Kate enjoyed sitting on Papaw's lap for a choo choo ride through the woods. She's just soakin' it all in.