Katherine and Angela

When we brought Angela home from the hospital last week, we weren’t quite sure how Katherine would react.  So far, I’d say she has handled it really well.  She seems to love her new role as big sister and genuinely seems to adore Angela. I am still waiting to hear her say something along the lines of “Take her back to the hospital!”  That hasn’t happened yet.

So far, she has three basic statements/reactions to Angela crying:

• “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you”
• The stranger version: “Don’t worry, we’ll find your mommy and daddy.” ( Like many things, I am blaming Dora for this)
• Laughing and saying, “The baby is silly.”

I know this will likely change as Angela becomes more demanding. But this is one picture I can use as evidence that they did indeed get along early on

At a recent birthday party, Katherine was playing on a slide. Over and over again she climbed up and slid back down. At one point, she dropped her sippy-cup just as she started down the slide. I happened to be recording and thought it was hilarious. It reminded me of something between Indiana Jones always going back for his hat and Ralphie from ‘A Christmas Story’ trying to get back up the slide after he realized he hadn’t told Santa he wanted a Red Ryder BB Gun.

Ralphie stops sliding down the slide.

Recreation of the Indiana Jones hat grab stunt by joshua1878

Barney: Butter Doctor

We have a Barney the Dinosaur book that Katherine likes to read. In the book, ‘Barney What Will I Be When I Grow Up‘, Barney encourages the kids about them being good in various professions. I guess it is important for Katherine to think about that now that she is almost 2

In this picture, Barney encourages Mimi that she’d be a ‘dandy doctor’. I think it is fantastic how encouraging Barney is, but I do wonder how much I can trust his opinion since it looks like he would have treated the patient’s scrape with a stick of butter.

Katherine was taking care of her Winnie the Pooh doll today and even decided to read him a story. I think she did a nice job.

• Rebecca and Katherine have another option to get out and explore. Unlike the zoo, this will be good during winter months as well. I think this is as beneficial for Rebecca as it is Katherine.
• The toddler play area is apparently phenomenal
• Currently, there is a Dinosaur exhibit. Katherine loves dinosaurs. I recall when she was about 10 months old and we were at a toy store and I found a toy unicorn and a menacing T-rex toy and I held them up to her to choose which she liked better.  She chose the T-rex.

What I wasn’t immediately aware of were the reciprocal benefits conferred upon members. COSI is part of the ASTC Passport program, which grants you free access to other ASTC Passport museums and facilities. The list of participating museums is fairly large and if you travel a little bit, you can really extend the benefits and see some new things as well.

We were able to visit both the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Great Lakes Science Center with free admission and they were both fantastic facilities.  This turns out to be a great way to encourage both local membership of these museums and further exploration in other cities.

Perspective of a fish about to become lunch

I took this picture from the bottom portion of the Polar Bear exhibit at the Columbus Zoo looking at the fish. In the background you can see one of the Polar Bears looking at the fish as well. Or, is he looking at me?

I didn't mind the Gator fan taking a picture behind me.

The Alligators were in full view today and I was in a good enough mood to not mind the Florida Gator fans enjoying the view.

Come and knock on our door, we've been waiting for you ...

Every time  I see Flamingoes at the zoo I think of the opening bit to the Three’s Company television show. There definitely weren’t this many the last time I was at the zoo.

Okapi - It's pronounced 'Oh-Copy'

The Okapi had a lot of room to roam today and seemed very happy.   I am always impressed that when Katherine sees one, she calls it by name.

Katherine in her shades

Katherine was having a great time with the animals and grandparents to chaperone her trip.

Rebecca, Bea, David and Katherine: a photogenic bunch

Lion Roars

We had such a great view of the Lion marching back and forth in front of us roaring and bearing his teeth.  Katherine loves to roar like a lion, but she was somewhat intimidated today.  This was up close and personal.

• When we landed in LAX to visit the Swanson side of the family, the attendants said, ‘Welcome to Seattle’. It was a joke due to all of the rain that was falling there — which was actually far more damaging than we realized.  Huntington Beach, our destination, was spared.
• Katherine, at just over a year old actually responded enthusiastically to her gifts. The craziest was when she announced ‘I love it’, while opening a Fisher Price Little People toy. She really does love these toys of characters and people she can hold in her hand.
• Southwest Airlines – Sometimes it is wonderful to have unassigned seating and this is true when having infants. It means for the most part that if someone sits with you, they know what they are getting in for. We met a wonderful woman on the way out who was a saint in the way she treated sitting next to Katherine who was not having a good flight for the most part. It made us feel a lot better. Also, on three of the four flights we made, we didn’t have to share our row with anyone.
• Time with family. It really doesn’t matter how much or how little we get with one another, but that we cherish the time we have. I feel like I have always had this appreciation, but this year was much different. It was the first time seeing it through my daughter’s eyes and the way she lights up getting to see her family.  It was also the first time seeing it through the eyes of an expecting wife, making the effort to visit even though I know she is exhausted. We all do it because it is important.
• Fortunate to get home.  With all of the bad weather, we are really glad we didn’t fly through Chicago.  Otherwise, we might still be there. We feel lucky.
• Family Pictures. I made an effort this year to attempt to get group pictures of the families from both sides as we got together. They didn’t all turn out great visually, but content wise, I am happy. I have below the pics from the Swanson and Jacobs crew respectively.
• Sometimes, bad pictures are great. I found a few pics that I took were just noisy, blurry or otherwise ‘wrong’, but still captured a great moment.  Therefore, in my mind, they are great pictures. A few are included below.

Swanson Crew - (Back to front) David, Monique, Chris, Rebecca, Ryan, Linnea, Katherine, Bea, Luke

Jacobs Crew - (Back to front) David, Katherine, Steve, Ryan, Rebecca, Jen, Mark, Allison, Diane, Abigail, Grandma Curler, Greg, Cindy

Content trumps photo quality example #1 - Motion is everywhere. This is the way it is on Christmas Eve with kids opening gifts.

Content trumps photo quality example #2 - There are so many technical problems with this photo. However, I love the way it captures Rebecca's contentment with Katherine's joy.