Headlights in the Fog

Being 3

Kitty is an amazing being. She is funny and smart and loving and, well, vibrant. She also challenges me in ways that Jack never has... or at least I don't remember. I told my mother-in-law the other day that Kitty's motto is "Ask for forgiveness, not permission." She is very sure and determined about how she goes about her daily life. She thinks nothing of taking the pepperoni out of the fridge and eating half the bag, or cutting a Curious George book up in to squares. The other day I had set her up with paper and watercolors and the next thing I knew she had painted a great deal of our wooden dollhouse. I posted on facebook about that one and my friend Tom, who went to RISD with me, posted that he remembered a woman pasting words all over her sofa. THAT made me laugh in recognition. Today Kitty came downstairs and said, "Sorry Mommy." I said, "Sorry for what?" She replied, "I didn't mean to hurt the cats (plural.)" I said, "But you did?" She nodded in the affirmative. The other night I was lying with her in bed trying to get her to sleep. She was really keyed up for some reason. She was making all of her stuffed puppies (there are many) talk. She would say, "Oh puppy... not now it's time for sleeping. Oh puppy, you are being naughty. OH PUPPY, not again!" The was a bit of silence and then a small voice said, "Kitty's mommy! Kitty's mommy!" I turned over and saw it was Stan the rabbit (her original lovey) calling me. "Yes Stan?" I said. "I love you Kitty's mommy." came the small rabbit voice. Moments like that are just joy personified.

Lessons learned

Before we had kids, Thom and I used to go out quite frequently with our friends Alan and Jennifer. One time, we had dinner in the city at some small and artsy feeling place. When the waitress listed our dessert choices, I was stunned to hear Thom pass up the 'Chocolate Pot of Creme' for rice pudding. Thom loves chocolate. I ordered the CPofC which was weird for me, as I am not really a chocolate person. When the desserts came, I took a bite and knew I had found nirvana. I gave Thom a bite and upon seeing the look of utter bliss that took over his face, I gave him the rest. That dessert has become the stuff of legend. Recently, Thom found a youtube video of someone making CPoC and showed it to the kids. For some reason, the kids love this video and have watched it again and again and again. Thom decided to make CPoC this past weekend. You can see in the above picture that the kids were very involved with the cooking process. We had Alan and Jennifer over to relive our sweet CPoC experience. We all thought it was really yummy... but Thom refused to say which was better... the original or the recreation... how can you compete with such a treasured memory?

Kitty has become quite the character. She loves 'helping,' 'cooking' and bandaides. The other day I was helping Jack with one of his lego projects when Kitty came up to me and started laughing. I looked up and saw she had a bandaid spanning her chin and another one on her bangs. She was so pleased with herself that I decided that it was not the proper time to explain to Kitty that bandaides and hair are not a good combination. She discovered that all on her own... needless to say, she now has much shorter bangs (the above picture is a 'before' photo.) I guess you can chalk that one up to 'experience is the best teacher.'

We had a photo shoot of sorts yesterday to use on Jack's class Valentine. He set up his legos so I could take a picture. Solomon came and stole the show. He kept walking through the set and knocking things over and apart making Jack have to rebuild before we could take any more pictures. In the end, though, Solomon sat still and ended up in the final photo.

paparazzi

Yesterday I was taking a shower when the curtain was pulled back and a flash of light exploded in my eyes. "Say Cheese Mommy!" said Kitty, after the photo was taken. I said, "No pictures of me naked!!! You can take a picture of me in my towel!" She did, and the photo is above. Very artsy, I must say. She was using a digital camera designed for kids that I bought for Jack when he was 2. He's never been very interested in it. Kitty's interest is in fits and starts. I definitely think the joy is in the taking of the picture for her... not the actual picture. Here is some more of her work... I think this one looks like early Robert Frank photos:

Kitty has managed to take some of the most unflattering pictures of me ever taken. I think it has something to do with her camera view being the same height as my bottom. Above is one of the more flattering ones, but I am wearing a dishtowel on my head. I do that a lot in the summer... just never outside the house or in front of people who are not Jack, Kitty and Thom. Oh... and Thom always makes fun of me.

Daily Life

Daily life here on the ranch is quiet and chaotic at the same time. I think nothing illustrates that better than the picture above of our kitchen table. Thom and I are voracious readers, so there are always piles of books and magazines to be read. Mail that isn't junk and needs to be dealt with in some way ends up in these piles as well. Papers that have come home from school occasionally are here too. I knew recently, though, that things had come to critical mass when a shoe ended up on the table. It was there for 2 days before I became aware of it enough to have Kitty put it away in it's proper home. Sometimes it is hard to eat a meal because of the state of the kitchen table. We have a new rule: no legos on the table at mealtimes.
One of Jack's friends, Julien, wrote a paper about Jack.

"My Friend Jack
by Julien

Jack is one of my best friends.
Whenever he sees us he starts
jumping. He loves lego, playmobil
and trains. He loves striped t-shirts.
Even his voice is jumpy! He also
loves bionical. He is always ready
to play. He always loves to play
attack. He is a great runner, climber
and hiker. He has a sister named
Kitty. He got legos very recently.
He is always smiling. Now you
know why I like Jack!"

Isn't that awesome?

This morning Kitty was helping me wash the kitchen cabinets. She said, "Mommy, when we're done can I watch Super Why?" I said, "Yes." Kitty replied, "Great! I can watch it with Jack and when I say "Poopy" he can say "Poopy!"" I said, "I do not like that word." To which she replied, "You don't have to be there."
I organized Jack's school papers recently from being strewn all over the counter (do you see a theme here?) to being in one decorative box. The day after that happened, Kitty opened an animal hospital in the box and on the surfaces next to the box. The animals are covered in bandaids and swaddled in kitchen towels. She has also set up her room as a sort of animal flophouse... they are all spread across the floor with towels and blankets on them 'sleeping.' This morning, she set up a bed for Stan, her spotted stuffed bunny, in the middle of the hallway outside of the master bedroom door. I explained that that was a bad place for a bed. She said, "No it isn't, you just jump over him like this!" She then jumped over him to illustrate just how easy it was.
Thom and I met with Kitty's preschool teachers to get an idea of how she's doing. In a nutshell they said: "She's independent and self-sufficent." They said one of the very few times she will ask for help is when she needs to put on her bike helmet. We're in week 3 of her speech therapy. It's hard to tell if there is any improvement. When we go, Jack and sit in a big waiting room with all of the other families waiting for a child in therapy. The first week Jack and I read a book... last week we played 'War' with a double deck of cards. We were having so much fun that the time flew by. The fact that Jack can now compentently play a card game makes me very happy. I come from a very skilled card playing family. I look forward to many games of rummy and hearts in the future.