7:00am – I just put Katie to bed.  She was still wimpering a bit when I put her in her crib so I decided that I would tell her a story.  It went something like this…  Little bear and his friends cat and owl always had loads of fun playing together.  They would fish and hike and fly kites but today little bear was rather hungry.  When cat and owl asked him what he wanted to eat he said “Honey”, but there was a bit of a problem…bees guard their honey and will sting you.  Cat and owl said that they had a deep sea diving friend who could help them out so they borrowed his deep sea diving outfit.  Little bear put on this outfit and climbed a tree and got some honey.  This outfit was so thick that the bees could not sting through it…

As soon as I said that little bear climbed the tree and got the honey in a deep sea diving out fit little Katie’s eyes rolled back in her head and she fell backwards sound asleep.  I’m sure that she just got too tired to stay awake but it sure looked like she was saying “Oh dad…that’s the craziest story ever”…

This evening I was trying to fill out some forms for our real estate agent so that she could list our house in Cary.  Katie sensed that I was into something serious…so she wanted more than anything to bother daddy.  First she tried to run off with the forms.  Once I got them back she started crawling on my back and tried to make her way to my head.  Once I was done I chased her around the house and gave her a good tickle!

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Katie.

4:15am – Katie has been in bed for about 5 minutes now but I hear that she turned the waterfall soother on. Oh oh…let’s hope that she will go back to bed…

4:45am – That didn’t last long. Katie is up again. When I picked her up at her crib she said “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” so guess what we are doing now? I gave her a banana and some warm milk…hopefully that will do the trick…

5:05am – Katie is back to bed. Let’s hope it sticks this time…

I was so tired at work today. Late last night with Katie and up early with her this morning as well. In an ideal world I would have gone right to bed when I got home but this is not an ideal world. When Katie is up she makes such noise that it travels through the house like made. Might as well stay up til Katie goes to bed was the thought…but I crashed around 8pm. Wife’s turn to deal with Katie…

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
——————————
1) Katie.

For dinner tonight Katie turned around quickly and accidentally knocked a plate off the living room table. She said “I’m sorry daddy”. Such a polite little chipmunk…

9am and my wife couldn’t take it any more…she was up early this morning and was exhausted so I took over managing Katie. One of Katie’s favorite activity these days is to share a grapefruit with daddy…so we did…twice. I cut a grapefruit into eight equal squares and have one or two while Katie “sucks” on the other six. With one down she said “More grapefruit please” so daddy cut up another one. She loves the faces that daddy makes while he sucks on the sour and tasty fruit and will laugh hysterically out loud.

With only Katie and one other person up it is easier for her to realize that it is bedtime. It seems that if there are two or more up with her she views it as: “The party is still on”…

9:55pm and Katie is out…daddy too…

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
——————————
1) Katie.

While my wife and I were watching the news in the living room this evening Katie raced across the floor grabbed me by the chin and made a comment about my moustache? Well, I don’t have a moustache! Wonder what she was referring to.

We made banana smoothies this evening…one for my wife and I and one for Katie. Katie likes to drink out of the clear glass mugs. When she was done her smoothie Katie wanted a cup of ketchup. Yeech!

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
——————————
1) Katie.

My wife took Katie to the park this morning so I had a nice long sleep. I’m thinking that we should do this more often…tag team up on Katie for when she won’t sleep. Sometimes both my wife and I are up late trying to put Katie to sleep. If one of us goes to bed for a nap he/she will be well rested if Katie decides that she is going to stay up even later…

I had a Skype session with my mother so she could see Katie and I could wish her Happy Mother’s Day. My wife was too tired to stay up so she went to bed for a nap. Katie was supposed to be going to bed for a nap too but, well, that’s Katie for you! The only way that I could get her into the bedroom to say hi to grandma was to bring in the nylon deer fence that was bundled up in our front doorway. Of course that is an absolute necessity if you are going to Skype…

2012-05-13 - Kitchen Drawers

While my wife and child slept I finished putting the safety latches on the kitchen drawers…at least the ones that house the cutlery (see photo to the left). I will have to ask my wife which ones we should put safety latches on next. There are so many drawers and cabinets that Katie likes to get into and throw things onto the floor…it will take time to put latches on them all.

I was so tired this evening that I just collapsed on the bed. I happened to mention to Katie “Why don’t you go to bed as well?” Well, she tucked me in, put two of her sleeping sacks on me, said “good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bug bites”, then ran to her mother to put her to bed. Gotta remember this trick…

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
——————————
1) Katie tucked me in this evening.

2012-05-12 - Old Fireplace

• The fans and lights have been changed.
• The marble surrounding the fireplace has been changed from ugly pink to a nice charcoal color (see photo to the right).
• They painted the walls in a beige color rather than the vanilla white it was originally

On the drive back to Chapel Hill I dropped my wife and Katie off at Bond Park and went to KFC to get a bucket of chicken so that we would not need to cook when we got home. Katie loved it…which is good as she will be ready to sleep when we get back to Chapel Hill (or so we thought).

When we arrived in Chapel Hill the guys were there taking away the branches and logs. They had already cut down the ivy and will be returning next Saturday to finish up. They found a couple of copperhead snakes in the ivy so now that it is gone hopefully the snakes will be as well.

I figured out how to put the safety latches on the drawers in the kitchen.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
——————————
1) Katie got to see her old house today.

Katie and I kicked the ball around on the patio for a while this evening.

2012-05-12 - Katie's New Chair

This evening I gave Katie the red plastic piggy bank that I got at the Dollar Store the other day.  We enjoyed taking turns putting coins into it and then taking them out again.

8:05pm – Katie is sitting in her new chair and enjoying “Ruby And Max” (see photo to the right).  She sure loves that chair…  Thanks friends in Charlotte!

Katie is still getting into the kitchen drawers and throwing the various utensils on the floor so that is my next project…how to secure them. They are old fashioned drawers so I can’t take them apart to screw the various pieces in place.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Katie just loves her new chair from Charlotte.

2012-05-10 - Baby Gate

This evening my wife and I were watching the news when we heard Katie scream. We thought she was in the kitchen playing but she had wandered downstairs into the basement. Once we recovered her I promptly put up the gate on the top of the stairway (see photo to the left). We don’t want her to go wander off on us again. Just after I put in the last screw Katie ran up to me and asked me what I was doing. Just in time…

This evening I also put up the middle hook for the curtain rod in Katie’s room. Now it will no longer bend in the middle.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) I put the baby gate up this evening so Katie cannot wander downstairs.

So, my wife brought the Little People toys from the basement so that Ramona and Katie could play with those. It was like a new toy to Katie since she hasn’t seem them in so long. It’s funny, with all those components the thing that Katie really liked was the two little plastic imitation food stands. We think that Katie likes them because they are of the same size and she can connect them together and organize them.

2012-05-09 - Toy Snake

This evening when I came home from work I brought Katie a toy that I got from the Dollar Store the other day…a plastic red snake (see photo to the left) that moves like the real thing when you hold it by the tail.

Katie went into the nursery to have her diaper changed screaming “Diaper, Diaper, Where are you?” After my wife changed her Katie said “Thank you mommy…I’m happy to see you”.

Katie was playing with a porcelain cat and bunny in the kitchen this evening. The cat is drawing with the chalk (according to Katie at least).

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
——————————
1) I gave Katie a red plastic snake this evening.

2012-05-08 - Strawberries

We gave Katie some strawberries and she decided that she would take a bite out of each of them.  You can see a photo of them to the right.

This evening my wife took Katie for a walk and they met a new dog called “Derby”. Katie said that “It’s my favorite Derby”. My wife responded yes, this is the only Derby that you know.

Katie used her sidewalk chalk on the mats in the kitchen area this evening. Hope this practice will not continue once we have our new kitchen floor tiles laid down.

We are keeping the windows in the living room closed as Katie likes to press against the screens and we are afraid that she will fall out.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Katie has a favorite dog…Derby.