A state of innocence? Naaahh...

This is her Halloween costume - compliments of Grandma! Katherine chose the fuzzy pink sparkly crocs herself...
Since she took a 3 hour nap following church, Katherine was finally her relaxed, playful, intelligent self. Tonight we read books, danced, played her toy piano and watched one of her little movies. She instructed me how to draw Cinderella (though I'm still pretty pathetic). Her coloring is getting good as she tries to stay within the lines. She taught me songs she made up about her birthday. She taught me the words to an Alice in Wonderland song. This girl is quick and learning so fast. We laughed a lot tonight... and I needed it.

This recent development of independent thinking has been accompanied by a fierce sense of entitlement. Constant demands. Endless whining. Tantrums. Hitting (mostly her mom). Hysterics... followed by many time outs and a locked bedroom door. I start her time out once she is done with her come apart. Bath time is the worst and I'm taking my friend Mandy's advice to just let her go to bed dirty and let her shower in the morning because it's been so bad. It has never been more important for us to keep a straight face and keep a "Don't Mess With Me" voice. She gets away with a lot and I'm not ashamed to say that we're still figuring out what motivates this girl to behave... I mean, in sacrament meeting today even people around us were trying to bribe her to behave! On top of that, I think she's also going through a growth spurt which should mean that she's sleeping more, but she's not (she's even waking up earlier) so I think she's just really cranky. This has been one of the hardest weeks for parenting. As Genet said, she's not old enough to reason with to really understand why she can't do certain things I attempt to explain, but when it comes down to it, she just needs to learn how to obey because Mom said so... End of discussion.

We made it to Prescott last week for a much needed break even if it was only 24 hrs. We had perfect weather and we made good use of it!
I bought her some new clothes in the next size up since she doesn't have anything for the cold weather. In her current pant size they are an inch above the ankle and the next size up she is she is swimming in them! What's a girl to do?
I overheard a conversation Katherine had with her friend the other day. Her friend asked her mom if she could go to Taco Bell. Katherine immediately got inflamed and said, "No! I want to talk to Belle!" An argument ensued... and I laughed so hard.
Some of Geoff's coworkers came up for a barbecue. They are really great guys. They dote on Katherine so it makes me happy. It will be fun when they are married and have kids of their own.

We also went to Autumn Fest at Anthem park this week. Katherine spent most of the time jumping on the blow up bouncy houses & slides. My video of it won't post. She went up to every dog, tried to convince the ducks to come to her, and convinced me to go down the big two-story slides with her several times.

Some things I am ready for her to be able to do by herself... Other times I'm still grateful that she's little. I'm in no hurry for her to grow up. It's all happening too quickly.

I love our family.

- Katherine loves her daddy. Lately she has been very concerned about where to find him when she wants him. When he leaves for work, she walks him to the garage and then runs to the front door to watch him drive away.

- On September 3o, Katherine finally learned how to swim! At first she would let go only if I was directly underneath her so she could grab my neck when she got scared... I felt like a mother dolphin with her baby! But her confidence grew quickly and soon she progressed to swim beside me, in a circle, to swim to me from 5 ft away. We met a retired couple in the pool who had just moved here and (because Katherine makes friends SO easily) they joined us and Katherine swam to each one of us, swimming in a triangle! I was amazed! A detail I don't want to forget: Katherine arches up her arms and legs just like Spiderman when she jumps off the side of the pool.

- We go to the book store and the library every week. I am constantly trying to increase her interest in her books and last week we hit a break through: At Barnes & Noble after story time, Katherine pulled a book of the shelf, sat in my lap and asked me to read it to her... the entire book! and then reached for another and another and didn't try to take over the reading once! We read for two hours! Geoff took her and had the same experience. Now at bedtime, she is actually letting us read to her! I'm so excited I can't stand it!

- We listened to General Conference on the radio this year since we don't have cable and it's uncomfortable to sit for so many hours at the stake center. It was WONDERFUL! Katherine and I just worked on crafts and building blocks as we listened to the speakers. Geoff had to work and joined us when he could. The messages this session seemed to focus on how to be happy, how to heal from addiction, why we are blessed to have a prophet. It answered so many prayers. I have been going back to the church website to read them and I can't wait for the Conference edition of the Ensign.

- Last week was B-I-Z-Z-Y! I got to teach the Family Life Merit Badge to the scouts, the letter "F" to Katherine's joy school and how to make rolls for our Relief Society Super Saturday activity. The scouts were a lot of fun. I was amazed at how quickly we flew through all my "F" activities with the joy schoolers - Flag, Fishing, Five Little Speckled Frogs song with a flannel board, Family, Facial Expressions, making cut out Faces to paste onto to popsicle sticks... (My friend teaches pre-school and let me raid her closet!) The rolls turned out well, but earlier I had forgotten two things: milk needed in the recipe and the keys to get into the church... We sat outside for 30 minutes waiting for someone to bail us out because we all live 20 minutes from the church... Ugh, why am I so absent minded?? Even if I put a post-it note on my forehead to remind myself of something I need to bring, I wouldn't remember it if I didn't walk by a mirror!!

- Tonight I did something bold! I decided to cut Katherine's hair. I know it was impulsive, but I invented all these safety measures for myself (i.e. I will only take an inch off so in case I mess up, it won't be too hard for the stylist to fix it). It didn't turn out half bad considering that she didn't stop moving once! Don't most kids behave better for other adults? She did not do that when I took her to my salon last time, but I really wanted to save $10... I will take a picture when I'm confident it's the best I can do. But I think it looks good!

_ I finished the Hunger Games series if anyone wants to talk about it??

- I picked her up from nursery after church one Sunday and her teacher told me that Katherine convinced a boy, Brandon, in their class to dance with her. He had his hand at her waist and her hand on his shoulder and they were pretty good! So the teacher decided to teach them how to turn under holding hands and Katherine was in heaven, kept calling Brandon her prince.. !

So today we had Jess come over to play and I turned on the radio and the two of them go to town! Now, I know my daughter and I know what's going through her dreamy little mind. As you watch her, you can see that she is trying to lift her leg in an arabesque like Barbie does in the Nutcracker and she has a gooey-eyed look like Belle in Beauty in the Beast and then she tries to do the turn that her nursery leader showed her... and Jess is just having a merry old time! Such a good sport!