Catherine Needs To See People

Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Tommy and Aunt Jena have all returned to their homes and lives sans crazy Catherine and merry Mary. Catherine does very well with the good-byes, yelling Bye-Bye and blowing kisses and giving very energetic waves, but it's always when she wakes up the next morning that the farewell sinks in. Thursday morning she woke up and told me she was going to be quiet because Grandma was still sleeping, and of course I reminded her how we had said goodbye to everyone the day before and they had taken their big planes back home so they weren't sleeping in the basement anymore, and she started crying "But I need to see people!" It makes sense that she misses them already. Grandpa was always ready with early morning story hours, wagon rides, and outings with the tricycle. Grandma braved several trips to the park, let Catherine help her with her makeup, and lead at least one expedition to the mall. And Aunt Jena and Uncle Tommy not only tasted ALL of the meals Catherine cooked for them (repeatedly), but they were willing participants in Catherine's dance parties, and that can be hard to come by (most people have a limit on the number of times they can endure the hokie-pokie).





(Sorry, videos of the hokie-pokie were vetoed.)

Catherine apparently has fond memories of the 5K and marathon in Boston as well. For the last two mornings when we have been out on our walks, every time Catherine hears a motorcycle she tells me "Here come the runners..." because the motorcycle policemen always preceded the runners in the marathon (and we thought she was just playing in the dirt the whole time).

Luckily the beautiful weather is distracting all of us. In addition to our morning walks (which are possible again since it is actually light when we wake up and usually above 40) we took an afternoon trip to the park with Robert yesterday and then did some digging in the garden when we got home. Maybe I'll actually get my plants in the garden before Memorial Day this year! And the weekend is supposed to be even warmer - our first trip to the beach might be in our near future...

Meanwhile Mary has turned nine months. It is slightly terrifying to think that when Catherine was nine months I was pregnant with Mary. (Don't get your hopes up - that was simply an observation and not a preface to any big announcements.) Mary still has walking on the top of her "to-do" list. She routinely pulls herself up to standing with the table, chairs, doll house, and book shelves, and has even tried to attempt it using Catherine. She also will let go of things and stand on her own for a few seconds at a time. The problem with all of this is that she is absolutely terrible at falling down. Whether she falls sideways, backwards, forwards, or anywhere in between, it looks like a tree being felled. She does not bend at all, but just tips over like a log and lands on her head. So we still have to hover around behind her when she decides it is time to stand up, which is always.

Here are some remaining photos of last week (courtesy of Grandma, of course).

I was going to let Grandpa have this one for his blog, but they are just too cute.


Grandma's Girls:


(Mary with her tongue sticking out, like usual):

Catherine modeling her Easter hat and purse:


Queen of the hotel:



Is there any resemblance?