March 29, 2005
Easter Weekend
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Anyway, this was a weekend of many firsts for Kate. She enjoyed her first sleep over trip as well as her first Easter Egg hunt.
On Saturday, Omi's community hosted Breakfast with the Bunny followed by some fun indoor activities and the big outdoor Easter Egg Hunt. Kate really couldn't have had much more fun.
After meeting the bunny at the mall for the first time, Kate was too excited to see him again for breakfast. She wanted to be where the bunny went. She couldn't wait to finish her meal, so she could jump out of her seat and follow him around. And unlike the meeting at the mall, she was all to happy to be held and hugged by the bunny. And she couldn't stop blowing kisses to him. I believe she may now be the Easter bunny's biggest fan.
I was surprised to see how well Kate did at the Easter Egg hunt, with my help of course. Kate and I did do a few practice hunts around the house a few days before, but it was still pretty remarkable how well she understood the concept of picking up eggs and putting them in her basket after I hunted them.
Last year at Easter, right about the time Kate had just learned how to sit up on her own, I predicted Kate would be hunting eggs in 2005. What a difference a year makes!
March 20, 2005
Kate Meets The Easter Bunny
Finally when it was our turn to see the bunny she was really curious. She wanted be near him but wouldn't touch him or sit on his lap. The best we could do was have her sit next to him for a picture.
The photographer used a big yellow daisy as well as silly movements and noises to make the small children smile for the picture. She gave it to Ken to use but it didn't quite work. Instead Kate got up from the bench, took the daisy from Ken and handed it to the bunny. This is why the bunny has a big silly daisy in his hands for the final "mall" picture (left).
The bunny was cute but not very friendly or photogenic. He sat in the same pose the whole time. Ken saw his head nodding off to sleep and jerking back up several times. The bunny must've been up all night...getting his eggs dyed and decorated for the big egg hunt on Easter Day, right?
March 14, 2005
More Pool Pictures
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March 13, 2005
Kate's First Trip To The Zoo
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Kate had a few favorite animal exhibits. The birds were a big hit because they made so much noise. Kate had fun imitating them. We were all mesmerized by the Bengal tiger that strolled back and forth right in front of us. The new black bear exhibit had just opened and Kate was ready to jump in and play with them. She kept trying to climb out of dad's arms and over the railing. Although they were huge, she wasn't the least bit frightened by them.
The other really memorable times were watching the peacocks and roosters roam freely among the zoo guests. Kate and I stopped to watched a rooster peck the ground for food. When the rooster let out a BIG "cock a doodle doo" Kate jumped in my arms. The sound alarmed her at first but then she thought it was pretty cool.
We didn't get any pictures of the animal exhibits but we got tons of Kate playing in the fountain. Unless Kate is in a contained safe area it's pretty hard to take pictures of her anymore. She gets faster and more inquisitive with each day.
Kate befriended one little boy that was born only a few days before her. She really liked his Mardi Gras beads...and his cookie. She tried to take his cookie away. After I ran over to give her her own cookie, she tried to feed it to the little boy. They were very cute!
Kate thought the fountain was great...to watch. She would stand there, watch it, then quickly run away from it. She never purposely got wet. Ken took a video with his phone of her running away. Too funny!
On Top of Spaghetti...
One of Kate's new favorite foods is spaghetti. She loves to suck it up strand by strand. In the first picture you can see the tail end of a piece of spaghetti just barely sticking out of her mouth. I've never seen a better dinner-table multi-tasker...a spaghetti in one hand a fork in the other with a piece of chicken between her fingers and every once in a while smiling for the camera.
Oh! And I shouldn't fail to mention that this was the first time Kate sat in a booster seat at the table for any real length of time. She sat next to dad long enough to fill her tummy. Then she was off to toddle around again.
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures
I bought a new camera phone in January and since then I've been taking a few pictures and videos of Kate here and there.Having buckets of fun with daddy at bathtime...
I never want to ride in my stroller anymore. I just want to walk and jump and climb and play.
Mom handed me a mirror while she was getting her hair cut, and there was a picture of an incredibly cute toddler in there.
Remember my first trip to the pool?
March 12, 2005
Kate's First Movie
On Wednesday, February 23 ( I know, Joey. I'm a little behind on posts.) I took Kate to see her first "movie theatre" movie: Pooh's Heffalump. Ken and I had tried to tag Kate along for Shrek 2 last August but it was a movie more for us than for our 10 month old. Anyway, the Heffalump was a pretty big hit. Kate hadn't been a big Pooh fan before this, but now she definitely recognizes Pooh and all of his 100 Acre Wood friends.
It was 68 minutes long and just right for a 16 1/2 month old. The big screen, the child-like voices of Roo and Lumpy and the Carly Simon soundtrack kept Kate riveted in her stroller for the first half of the movie. She also snacked on some cheerios and water. But by the second half, she was ready to get up and move a little. It's crazy to think a toddler could sit still that long.
She continued to watch the second half of the movie but sometimes it was in my lap or in the seat next to me or standing in the aisle. It got a little tricky when she wanted to sit next to me. The seats were typical movie seats that sprung close when you stood up. Kate's weight wasn't enough to keep it open, so I had to hold the seat down while she was in it. Every once in a while when she would try to stand up in the seat I would have to reach to spot her from falling. Then all of a sudden I would loose grip of her seat. It would spring up, and she would slide down the crack. Once, she lost a shoe. Luckily there was only a set of grandparents and a preschooler in the theatre with us at 5:50p on a Wednesday.
It seems like a lot of activity for a pleasurable viewing but we really did have a good time. Kate was fascinated by the big screen movie, and I really enjoyed watching her.
The picture is of Kate watching the movie in her stroller. Can you see the focus and interest? I know. You can't see much of anything. It's an awful picture that I took with my Sony Erikson z500 phone. You can't expect too much in the pitch black movie theatre though. I figured it, along with theatre ticket, was a fun memento to post anyway.
