Cate is Two!

I heard someone say the other day that when you have little kids, the days go slowly but the years go by fast. The good news is that after 9 months, we no longer have two kids under 2! Cate turned two on Thursday, the 24th and we had a really fun together.

In the morning she had her "shorty sporties" class at the park district. Tim took the day off (or most of it) to come to her class and play basketball, soccer and hula hoop with us. Then we went home to pick up little brother T and headed to the Choo Choo restaurant with Mimi and Bee Bee (aka Mrs. Benesh). Cate loves all things train at the moment and she had a blast. This tiny little diner has been around since the 50s and we got to sit at the counter, listen to oldies and have our food brought to us on the train. Cate kept yelling, "Choo choo has meeyum meeyum!" Cate shared Mimi's oreo milkshake with her and would hardly let go of the straw to come up for air. There were so many fun things for her to look at and talk about but the best part came at the end when a special birthday cupcake arrived on the train with a candle. They played happy birthday and everyone in the restaurant sang along and the waitress tooted the train whistle which Cate loved. Between the sugar and the excitement, Cate was squealing in her chair.

After naptime we got ready and went to the pool which Cate is getting used to and Timmy loved. It was his first time being in the water and he was just laughing and talking the whole time. Finally, Uncle Rusty came out on the train and went with Tim and Cate for some quick Mexican food which is her favorite. She must have had a fun day because she slept until 8 this morning and is still talking about how the choo choo brought her food. Happy Birthday, Cate!

Going to the pool with Daddy

We are so excited to go to the pool with Cate and Timmy this summer, but actually getting there can be a bit of a challenge. The "free swim" hours aren't the best for naptime/eating time and I am not sure that I can handle Cate and Timmy at the pool alone when neither of them is at all self sufficient.

So tonight, Tim raced home from Milwaukee so that he could take Cate on a special late night (until 7:30) swim. She took a great 3 hour nap today so she was up for a little extra activity. Having been briefly to the pool on Fathers' Day, Cate was more than happy to get her swimsuit on and knew that she had to wear her crocs because her feet would be "ackies" from the water afterwards. I hope that the four of us will get a chance to go this weekend!

First Day

I was going to title this post, "First Day of Summer Vacation," which it is but since I am not going back to work in the Fall, that seems kind of odd. Friday was my last day of work and even though I was sad about leaving the people that I work with and (some of) the students, today I just feel relieved that the decision is made and I am lucky enough to spend my days with Cate and Timmy.

Of course my mental to do list is out of control. I want to make homemade play-doh, walk to the library to work on my summer reading list and get some new books for the kids, organize for the millionth time every closet in the house but then I remember that 1. I have Cate and Timmy and 2. This is Chicago, so of course, on the the first day of summer vacation, it is raining. I don't think Cate and T minded though. We had our customary Taylor Swift dance party in the morning. Cate danced around and Timmy just stood at the couch and laughed at her. Then Cate kept insisting, "I want TT to sit!" This means that she wants to hold him which is always interesting but today Timmy didn't seem to mind!

A Boy

Cate always loved her exersaucer but I really don't remember her ever doing this...

Timmy no longer likes to be confined to the inside of the exersaucer; he now prefers to climb around the outside and underneath the seat. I think that this might be his favorite time of day. Cate was still taking her afternoon nap (Timmy really needs to stretch his out b/c he is ready for bed at about 5) and Timmy had free reign of the playroom. Cate is not telling him, "No T, this is my sit (chair), this is my hi (phone), this is my cook (kitchen/tools)." It's funny because as much as she is having trouble adjusting to sharing "her" toys, the first thing that she said this morning at 6:30 am was, "Hi mommy. I wanna see T...peeeeease."