Photo Update

I decided to sit down tonight and write some hilarious commentary to accompany a few recent pictures of the kids. I gave up about 7 seconds later and decided just to post the pictures. Some of them are funny enough.

As you can see from his wardrobe, Davis just came back from The "Toddlers Tee-Off" fundraiser golf tournament. He shot 4 under. He's still struggling with his short game, but is long off the tee. Chip off the old block, eh?

Kate recently played the role of a mutant child on the straight-to-video X-Kids: Wolverine's Brood (see pic above). I think she held her own in her dramatic father-daughter scene with Hugh Jackman. But Davis had to learn the hard way not to tussle with her when she was wearing her steel knife-blade apparatus gloves. We're ALL a bit tired of her method acting.

Kate and Davis at Duck Park

Kate turned two years old on October 8. My parents decided a few weeks before that they wanted to come visit for her birthday since they don't get to see her very often. For weeks before they arrived Kate repeatedly asked "Grandma and Grandpa come see me?" When we assured her that they were still coming, she always responded with "Go to the zoo!" They arrived a few days before her birthday and for the next four days, they did what grandparents everywhere live to do: they spoiled her rotten! She must have thought it was Kate Week -- they took her to the pumpkin patch, the Santa Barabara Zoo and a Fall Festival held at a local farm. She did two "bounce houses," two petting zoos, watched pig races, had pony rides and train rides and absolutely loved every minute with Grandma and Grandpa - she couldn't get enough of them. Some of that may have to do with the fact that she now thinks that "tickets" for just about every fun activity appear magically in Grandpa's pocket. But you could tell how much she just enjoyed being with Grandma and Grandpa.

That Saturday, she had a birthday party and loved having both sets of grandparents and several aunts and uncles and cousins in attendance.

Kate and her cousin Sydney

We all had a great time, but I've decided that a birthday party sets back a child's ability to share with others by at least a year. Once a child experiences the feeling of having everyone in the room focused on her, with everyone handing her presents that are all for her, you might as well just tell her that's she's the Queen of All Humanity. But I guess reality will set in when she starts going to other children's birthday parties and learns that now she's just a serf in the fuedal society of Partyland.

The highlight of Kate's birthday party was the pinata. Jaime bought a hollow one and stuffed it with candy (I was hoping for those suckers that are dipped in chili powder, but it was not to be). Kate and Sydney each got about three swings with the stick before Jaime took over to show us all how it was done.

The poor pinata didn't stand a chance. Jaime cleanly decapitated it (after some serious Vlad Guerrero swings) and the kids feasted on the sweet insides.

Kate has developed a fascination for trains and cars. So for her birthday we looked at some motorized cars. But most of the cars were for ages 3-5. So we found a little Power Wheels quad that she could ride around on.

I opted to get the Power Kawasaki version rather than the Barbie version figuring that Davis would also be riding it in a few short months. I think he's already eyeing it to use as a golf cart - he hates lugging his golf bag around the course.

Sundays are hard for Kate. Because of our church schedule, she doesn't get her normal afternoon nap. By the time we get home and have dinner, it just makes sense for her to stay awake for a bit longer before its time for bath and bed. But by that time she gets a bit slap happy.

Tonight as bedtime approached she was jumping back and forth from the sofa to the ottoman, and as she got more tired each jump was weaker and weaker. Not wanting to rob my daughter of a good life lesson, I waited until her jump to the sofa was short of the mark and she caught the front of the sofa in the ribs (ouch!) before insisting that she head upstairs for her bath (I'm that kind of dad). When we got up to our bedroom, I went and started to fill the tub in the master bathroom with water. From the bedroom I heard a soft thud, followed by giggles, and then another thud, and then more giggles. Then I heard one very loud bang, immediately followed by the kind of crying that every parent immediately knows means "I'm really hurt". Running into the bedroom, I saw a pile of throw pillows at the foot of the bed and Kate lying next to them, crying loudly. While I'm not sure, my keenly-trained eye tells me that she had been jumping or falling into the pile of pillows. The first few times she landed softly in the pillows but the last time she caught her forehead on the foot board of the bed. Because she was crying so hard, she wasn't able to tell me what had happened. But once she stopped crying I brushed back her hair and saw a nasty discolored lump on her forehead. Poor little one!

Kate's Battle Wounds -- click for a better look

When she settled down, she liked looking at her forehead in the mirror -- she seemed proud of her war wound.

While it started with tears, bathtime ended with laughter. As I was getting Kate's hair washed, Jaime plopped Davis in the tub and commented to Kate that she was getting "lathered up." Kate turned to me and said loudly what sounded like "Knock her up!" When I laughed at this, she said "Knock her up!" again. And again. And again! Each time, as I laughed harder, Kate said "KNOCK HER UP!" even louder. Jaime started laughing at the sight of me laughing almost uncontrollably, which just egged Kate on more. Finally Jaime tried repeating "LATHER UP!" to try to change the phrase. This time, Kate came out with "LIQUOR UP! LIQUOR UP! LIQUOR UP!" So we decided we liked "Knock her up!" better and all said it together a couple of more times.

Hopefully the next time she decides to yell this, I'll be at work and Jaime can deal with the stares from the people in the grocery store or the post office.