Autumn Afternoon

Thanks to newlyweds Tom and Wendy Watson for inviting us to Mt. Pleasant Winery this past weekend (and for fulfilling Clara's lifelong dream of riding in a Mini Cooper.) We had a great time. Clara and Kate enjoyed throwing the leaves, rolling down the big hill, and dancing with lots grown-ups who were beaming at them the whole time.

Is it just me, or do those seats look like roller coaster seats?

Tom and Kate relaxing on the blanket

Happy girl

Throwing leaves

Two sisters enjoying the view

Two sisters enjoying each other

Long Weekend with Daddy

Megan was out of town for several days last week, so the girls and I got to have a long weekend together. I stocked up with new art supplies for them and Netflix'd some nerdy movies for me. It could have been a tough weekend, but they decided to be little angels. On Saturday morning, Clara and Kate got up, dressed themselves in their princess costumes, and perched themselves with some books and good light. I snuck up on them and took this picture with my cell phone:



It has become one of my favorite pictures of the two. There's so much to love about it. Hard to believe it's from a cell phone.

Later in the afternoon, after I put Cecilia, who is teaching herself to walk, down for a nap, I gave Clara and Kate a new art project so I could go in the office and see if last year's Star Wars: Clone Wars animated movie was any good. Not far into it, Kate came around the corner to see what I was doing. I didn't expect her to like it. It had too much talking, too much military for Kate's taste - or so I thought. Her eyes widened the more she watched, and she looked up at me and said, "I love this movie!" Soon Clara joined us and echoed her sentiment. Since the movie was made for kids and featured a strong female character I decided to let them watch it. They especially liked Yoda and Stinky, the baby of Jabba the Hut. Of course I was more than a little proud that my daughters like Star Wars.

Some Kate quotes:

Kate: I like everyone in this movie, but not the mean guys

Kate: Look, there are two moons. But one of them is a lower case moon.

Kate: What's a Skywalker?
Me: It's that boy's name.
Kate: I like Skywalker.

Kate: That girl is the only girl in this movie.
Clara: No, there's a queen.
Kate: But that girl is the only girl saving the day.

In Praise of Fat Babies

Clara calls Cecilia, "The fattest baby in Missouri." While she'd give other chubby babies a run for their money, I'm not sure Clara and Kate weren't just as fat. A retrospective:

Clara:





Kate:





Cecilia:

You're Mine, Marshmallow

While "Uncle" Marty was over for dinner the other night, I went into the kitchen to get the girls some dessert. Kate followed me in and peeked her eyes over the counter to watch me scoop rocky road ice cream into their bowls.

Kate: What kind of ice cream is it?

I tipped the carton up so she could see inside.

Kate: Mmmmmm, chocolate. What's the white stuff?

Me: That's marshmallow.

Kate. Mmmmmm, marshmallow.

With the bowls full, I placed a spoon in each one and handed Kate's to her. She licked her lips (she actually does this - you'll see in a picture below) and started to walk out of the kitchen. She spoke to her bowl as she was leaving.

Kate: You're mine, Marshmallow.

It's my new favorite phrase.

On another note, Clara celebrated her fifth birthday this weekend with a special date for tea with Jen on Saturday and a pool party with her friends on Sunday. Picture party:

Clara and Jen dressed for their tea

Lucy looks on as Clara savors the moment

Miles' lips are blue because it was a cool day and our pool is not heated

"I'll take that"

Clara claims she's going to marry Miles. She chose well.

Clara's been talking about this day since her 4th birthday

Cecilia would like some cake, please

"You're mine, birthday cake"

Why I'm doing the dishes

Words

Once a baby starts to show any inclination towards speech, we parents hover over them and repeat "dada" or "mama" in a completely non-embarrassing attempt to influence the baby's first word. I honestly can't remember...

Kate (spinning): Daddy, look at me!
Me: Wow, Kate, that's great. Now, can you play quietly by yourself? Daddy's trying to write something.

Anyway, I honestly can't remember what Clara or Kate's first words were, but I'm willing to bet they were either "dada" or "mama."

Kate: Daddy...

A few weeks ago, Cecilia started to play with sounds. After several days of having "dada" and "mama" repeated at her, Megan won out when Cecilia clearly said, "Mamamamama."

Kate: Daddy!

Since then, Cecilia has been playing with her voice, alternating between "mamama," "dadadada," "lalalala," "babababa," and other similar combinations.

Kate: Daddy!!!
Me: What?!? I'm trying to do something.
Kate: I have my shoe on my ear!
Me: Lovely.

So anyway, Cecilia had yet to assign regular words to anything, and certainly wouldn't repeat words on command. This morning Cecilia was quiet in the back of the car as I drove to an ATM. I didn't want her to fall asleep and mess up her nap, so I started calling her name. Quietly from the back seat came a sweet, "dada."

Kate: Daddy, you know what I want to be for Halloween?
Me: A Butterfly?
Kate: No, a spider!
Me: Kate, can you go play with your toys on the third floor?
Kate: I don't want to.

Needless to say, I was very proud that Cecilia heard my voice, recognized me as her daddy, and verbalized it in such a sweet way. It made me look forward to all the things she's going to say one day.

Kate (evidently thinking about The Incredibles): The mean guy is really, really angry. But not the little guy. He's fast. His name is Dash. I don't like the mean guy. Can we watch The Incredibles? Please? My baby wants to watch it, too.
Me: Kate, can you just stop talking? Just for a few minutes.
Clara: No.

I guess I should be careful what I wish for.

Suburban Journal Article

A big thank you to the St. Louis Suburban Journal, which highlighted stay-at-home dads this week. Not only did Suburban Journal writer Shawn Clubb come over for an interview, he included sections of this blog in the piece. The girls were on their best behavior during the interview - I acted like it is always that way.

You can read the article here: Daddy's home -- all the time