Mama Catherine

If ever there was a mini-mom, it's Catherine. She wants to help, all the time. She does the dishes, sweeps the floor, helps with the cooking, watches "the kids", tricks Mary into using the potty, unloads the dishwasher, sweeps the rocks outside, brings in the recycling bins, and even straightens up now and then. This isn't to say she doesn't have many many moments of being a precocious, messy, obstinate, strong-willed, independent four-year-old, but for the most part, she tries to be good. She even has a song she wrote about trying to do good.

Here she is helping me make Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner. If that's the only thing I manage to teach her, I will consider her childhood a success.

She's also a budding photographer. (She made a habit of absconding with Monica's camera when she was visiting.)

She wants to use my good camera all the time, but seeing her walk around with it gives me an irregular heart beat and a twitch in my eye. Early one Saturday morning she posed Daddy and Mary with a group of stuffed animals then bolted down the stairs yelling that she needed to use my camera quick.

Then she decided she didn't like the arrangement and moved the stuffed animals around a bit so the taller ones were in the back and all could be seen.

Catherine often has a hard time deciding if she wants to be in front of the camera or behind it.

Have I mentioned most of her clothes are now of a size that requires regular old adult hangers? When I put them on the cute kid hangers, they slide off. [Sorry - I'm having a "they grow up so darn fast" moment.]

Random other side notes:

1) Some of you have already been asking about (and purchasing from... ahem, early birds) the Amazon wish lists. I'm working to build them up a bit more for Christmas - you should have more options in a week or two.

2) Please, for the love of my limited storage space, refrain from purchasing any random clothes, particularly for Mary. If it wasn't midnight right now, I'd take a picture of the kids' closet for illustration (the three of them share one closet). We are operating on a "one in, one out" policy from here on out, so really only buy clothes for them if you see them in something you want me to give/throw away. I can't say enough times how thankful we are for the generosity that surrounds us, but figuring out where to stash any more items of clothing in the house is going to send me back into the realm of eye twitches - I might as well just let Catherine run headlong down a hill in high heels with my camera in her hands.

3) If you were making any plans to come into the city Sunday morning for the half marathon, don't (at least not on my account). After much consideration I've decided against limping 13 miles, so I will most likely be there in a cheering capacity only. And if you happen to know anyone who would like to run an impromptu half marathon, I'd probably consider illegally "loaning" them my race number instead of wasting the registration fee.

4) We went to the Magic House with friends today. Our ranks totalled 2 adults and 6 children under the age of 5. I did not even attempt to take my camera with me.