I'm going to make an attempt to answer questions I get alot, by incorporating them into various posts. Today, we shall focus on Miss Katie-Mei. She will officially be 3 in June and we're planning a rip-roaring birthday with some of her previous room-mates :) from the Taihe, SWI. We can't wait!! Right now...Katie stretching t-a-l-l stands 34 3/4 inches and weighs in at 27 lbs.This is about the 5-6% for American kids and only about the 25th for Chinese Girls. This is the same poundage that Leni weighed in at her first birthday!! and more than Jason weighed at age 3! She also wears a size 7 N shoe and size 2t clothes. Sometimes she wears 3t shirts, but no way in shorts/pants. Getting shoes for this one is hard because her foot is incredibly narrow. Good thing we live in the land of "flip-bops" (her term for flip-flops)! She's incredibly coordinated and can wicked fast in her fav glitterfied flip-bops. Her loves are her blankies, her mommy, shoes...especially sparkly ones (Lately I've been referring to her as Imelda Marcos VanLue), and 'choc-mil' (chocolate milk)AND heaven forbid we forget the ultimate toddler fashion ...her 'babyshoo' (bathing suit!). Are we potty trained?? A clear NOPEY,NO,NO,NOT!...because this child has a serious love affair with princess pull-ups, and because she is such a creature of habit...just thinks they are a part of her. We'll tackle this area later in the summer. So far it's NOWAY to princess panties...YEA to princess pull-ups. Go figure. She HATES (with a capital H) having her hair combed...and begs for 'hair-up'! We're letting it grow out because it's drop-dead gorgeous and easy to 'do'. The first thing she does in the morning....is SHOUT 'KATIEUPMOMCHOCMIL!' Did you get that? Then asks for 'Toooojeeeerron' (Tom and Jerry on). All 3 are addicted to the old 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons since I found this nifty little free on-demand channel with no commercials and loads of Tom and Jerry. I caved. Most 2 year olds participate in parallel play...which we've observed all this year...but now she's increasingly becoming more social with pretend play with her peers and sisters.She rides a tricycle like a champ and loves the battery-operated Barbie-car. Her fine motor/gross motor is extraordinary for her age!! Another favorite activity is 'namping' (stamping) as she will sit for up to an hour listening to music ...even Mozart!! and doing her stamp-kit!! Sometimes the ya-ya sisterhood can get a little ugly :)(as it is as I'm typing this....I hear LOUD screeching and arguing from 2 of the princesses...and uproarious laughter from the 3rd....sigh! Don't you dare mess with 'Taitee-Mey-loo's namp dit (Katie-Mei Lue's stamp kit)) but there are windows of sweet interactions that would make even Grumpy smile. To Katie, Kristin is 'Yin-Yin' and Leni is 'LEEEEEEENEEEE'. The greatest competition is between Kristin and Katie (big suprise...HA!) but again...the sun seems to be rising in this area!! :) We joke and say that Katie would have been the perfect only child because well...she can be a little demanding and ok... A LOT demanding.(snort, snort...I hear you people laughing!!) Very, very set in her ways and everything has to be the same...or perfect... for it to be acceptable. She has gone to preschool 2 half days this year...and we have laughed because as much as she talks at home...once she gets to school, she refuses to talk. The teachers remark about it frequently. We just laugh....and say. Yep...a control freak. That's our girl. At home she is without question winning the current LOUD award. Face it...she's at the bottom of the food-chain here...and frankly LOUD is how you make yourself known!:) I think most of the questions we get come from perfect strangers....but always the same questions. Katie definitely attracts the attention....especially when we have Cade too.He and Katie are about the same size. You can tell when people are watching you and counting. 1....2....3...4...and older ones...who is who?? You can see the wheels spinning in their heads!! Then the brave ones ask....usually tentatively but dying to know..."Are they all yours??" Sometimes I give an explaination...varying in degree of info according to the situation and my read of the person asking....and sometimes we just skeedaddle out of there because..well, duty calls! I get a quiet satisfaction at leaving people scratching their heads. Call it my mean streak if you want.:) I actually had a distant neighbor ask one day....as all were wallering, running, hopping, yelling in the front yard with the neighbor kids...." Do you work.. or are you a lady-of-leisure?" At first I thought she was kidding...but no...she wasn't. As much as my mouth was hanging wide open for the flies....Heh.Heh...I quickly realized this woman was middle-aged....unmarried with no children. How could she possibly know what a SAH mommy's days were like?? So I shut my trap...and gave some sort of polite, polished answer...but have not stopped thinking that this lady needs some serious time with kids...and their laundry. Can you say clueless?? Ok...back to Katie. We think she's going to be a lawyer...she likes to argue....or a musician...she absolutely loves music and we still have to sing "Frosty the Hoe-man" everynight before bed. She swims like a fishy, and will conquer the most daring roller-coaster available. She is also a serious lover of Ba-day (ballet) still...and as this mommy has dragged her feet at enrolling little princesses in too many activities...Me thinks ba-day is in the near future for this little one. That is if she can separate from the Mommy long enough to attend class. And her blankie.:) Mommy's little peanut was hand-picked by God just for us! And for Kristin's sanctification....and ours as we participate in Kristin's. We think our Katie's marvelous!!.....and as a rousing finale to this long-winded post. The most frequently asked question we get is......(drumroll)...."Do you ever get any sleep?" To which we answer. Not really. A standing joke at our house is "someone here is always up--24 hrs of the live-long day." We'll sleep in heaven. Life's too short. Much to be done here on this earth!! Right now it involves cute little girls!....and more:)for the glory of God!!
