"Cute Kid"

You never know exactly what your kids are saying when you're not around. If you're lucky, you have friends that can let you know if it's something particularly good or particularly bad. And while 'particularly bad' is good for realizing you need to do some work with them, 'particularly good' is much more fun.

Today I got just such an email from my friend Charlotte, recounting what Kaitlyn had been telling Abbi, her oldest daughter:

Hello! Abbi told me a cute Kaitlyn story. We were chatting about AWANA this am & Abbi told us that our little Kaitlyn friend got a new hairstyle, to this Abbi complimented her & she responded, "Thank you, I love my mommy & I want to look like her." How sweet...

Just thought you would like to know that your wee one is watching & evidently she likes what she sees.

A big "awww!" and a moment to reflect and make sure she always likes what she sees, or more importantly, that it's always worth emulating. Thanks for the email, Charlotte!

Kaitlyn's Haircut

Just before, and right after. Even though this wasn't technically her first haircut, it was the first drastic cut, and mom wanted to save a locke. Luckily for us, they have great certificates with a baggie for the hair that sticks right on it. No loose hair! And I can stick this right in the baby book.

Kaitlyn with Jennifer F., or "Ms. Jenny", as Kaitlyn calls her!

We Are... Penn State!

On the first full day of our Pennsylvania trip, we trekked out to Happy Valley to visit Keith's alma matter, The Pennsylvania State University. This was a first visit for all of the other Dohls, and very close to ten years since Keith last visited campus after his 1999 graduation. While there was no football going on, we still manage to have a good part of the quintessential Penn State experience.
You have to go to the Lion Shrine. We also have pictures of the girls sitting on the lion, but they are crying in those! Kaitlyn was disappointed once we got to the lion; she thought it was a real lion we were going to go see. So we stopped by Patee Library to see the stuffed (as in, taxidermist preserved, not plush) Nittany lion on display. This placated her, although she did want to know where the lion's mommy and daddy were.

After hearing Kaitlyn say "This isn't Penn State, this is just [a store, a sidewalk, a restaurant, etc]" all day, we found out what Kaitlyn considers Penn State... Beaver Stadium. She was very disappointed there was no football game going on, but really enjoyed playing in the field that would have been filled with tailgaters if there had been a game!

One of our first stops on campus was The Creamery, but apparently there has been an entirely new and swankier creamery built since Keith was in school. Kaitlyn and Kourey enjoyed the flavor of the week, Chocolate Pretzel, while Keith indulged in Peanut Butter Swirl and Katherine tried out Peachy Paterno. Four days from cow to our spoon... yum.

For those of you who know what this means . . .

Kaitlyn. Target. Popcorn. Juice box. Napkin.

You do the math. We're very proud!

The Games We Play

Kaitlyn is going through a phase where she could play "I Spy" for hours at a time. And since it's quasi-educational, we like it. We've spied blue things, brown things, fluffy things, flat things, messy things, tall things, short things, old things, silly things...

What's best is when Kaitlyn gives the clues. Here's how it goes:

"I spy with my little eye something I spy.... this (running over and pointing at something)!"
"Is it that?" we 'guess'.
"YES!" she gleefully acknowledges.

Lately she's been getting better... "I spy this blue towel!" "I spy this green wall!" and today an actual clue "I spy something Auntie gave back to Mommy!" (In case you're wondering, that's my exercise bike that I loaned to Kris when I was too pregnant to use, since it's recumbent).

Kourey is a big fan of games, too. Her game of choice is Peek-a-Boo. She could be in the middle of a crying jag and you can briefly cover your eyes and say "peek-a-boo!" and she'll switch to laughter. She's gotten to the point where she tries to play, too. She'll take her pants while getting dressed and cover her face and then pull it off and giggle. This is an especially great game, because Kaitlyn can play with Kourey. Kaitlyn loves that she can make Kourey laugh, and I love that it doesn't involve physical contact between the two (since Kaitlyn sometimes reminds me of Elmyra from the vintage Animaniacs cartoons).

The Nerdy Acorn Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

Kaitlyn had her second night at Cubbies last night.

When I picked her up I asked her if she had fun.

"YES!"

"What was your favorite part?" I asked her, expecting snack, or Cubbie the puppet, or coloring...

"When the lady helped me learn."

I gave her an extra big hug and was amazed once again at this little person I call my daughter.

Symphony at the Park

I wanted to go. I wrote it on the calendar waaaay back in the spring. Three dates - one spring symphony performance, one fall Ft. Lee Army Band performance, one fall symphony performance. All free. All near(ish) my house at Pocahontas State Park.

The spring concert was great! We (and since it was a night Keith was working "we" meant then 6-month-old Kourey, Kaitlyn, and Auntie Kris) took a picnic dinner and relaxed to a program of music including lively Sousa marches that got Kaitlyn marching around while enjoying a serendipitous reunion with some good friends from Grove Avenue Baptist Church.

The Ft. Lee Army Band performance - the only one Keith could have made - was rained out last week.

Which brought us to this week. The humidity was oppressive, my kids didn't go down for a nap until it was almost time to get up, and I really considered not going. But go we did and we really had a great time!

Four months older than her last concert, Kourey was very into the music! Kaitlyn danced around and even finagled a popsicle out of Auntie Kris (disclaimer: Auntie actually wanted a popsicle for herself, and got Kaitlyn one, too).

Kaitlyn's First Day at Cubbies!

Ever since she started Little Treble Makers choir in January, Kaitlyn has wanted to go to Cubbies, but while she could start choir after she turned 3, Cubbies had the same birthday cutoffs as the school year and her December birthday made her ineligible.

How did she know she wanted Cubbies? The very first night of her choir Keith was supposed to pick her up at 6:30. He got there at 6:31. By that time she had already been whisked to Cubbies where the Cubbie Bear puppet was talking to a room full of excited 3- and 4- year-olds clad in bright blue vests with patches and clutching colorful books with stickers.

They had her at puppet.

After a long wait, Kaitlyn was so excited for her first night at Cubbies on September 10! We waved and hugged her friends from Sunday School, waited in line to try on vests, ordered a tote bag, filled out a flurry of forms, and collected a bevy of handouts.

How can you tell she loved Cubbies? Maybe by how the Cubbie's Hopper book was enough to enthrall her and keep her quiet and seated during my choir practice afterwards (if you have or have ever met a three-year-old, you get the miracle here). Maybe by the fact she wore the vest all night (not just at church... all the way to bedtime - she tried to convince me she could wear it with PJs). Maybe by the fact she's already learned both of her verses and is telling them to Kourey and Baby Becky.

Or you could just take my word for it.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July! We had planned an evening of picnic and fireworks (well, pizza in the Home Depot parking lot overlooking the Colonial Heights and Ft. Lee displays), but God had other plans and the deluge drove us indoors where we watched the Washington DC and NYC Macy's displays on tv. Clearly it's not the same, but Kaitlyn still got her popcorn so she was happy!

Inja Foyer

"Nooo, I can't want to take a nap! I need to be inja foyer!"

It's not uncommon for Kaitlyn to protest... well, anything, really. She's really very contrary. And very creative. You should hear some of her plans for swapping toys with Kourey, and Kourey getting Kaitlyn's detained toys back, and then swapping back. But today it was naptime being protested, and the reason was "inja foyer".

"You need to be in the foyer?" I asked, continuing as she nodded her head solemnly, "No, you need to be in bed sleeping."

"I need to be seeing inja foyer like Daddy does!"

Seeing "inja foyer"? Daddy?

Lightbulb moment: she was talking about Ninja Warrior, a Japanese competition show that apparently she and Keith watch much more than I realized.

She wants to be "a inja foyer".

Sigh.

Metro Richmond Zoo

Click the x on the song box to minimize it; cut the music by clicking the volume button. Click on the picture to scroll through manually.

Yesterday Kaitlyn, Kourey and Katherine met up with Kaitlyn's best friend from church, her mom and baby brother, and jaunted up to the Metro Richmond Zoo.

As much as I love the zoo, I've never been to this one, as I am a zoo snob. I have high standards because I grew up with the NC Zoo so close - it may not a big name, national level zoo, but I think in many ways it's better than others I've been to.

So a private zoo a block off of Hull Street - behind an elementary school at that - and named Metro Richmond Zoo, well... let's say my expectations were low. But I really enjoyed it! The smallness of the zoo made it feel really accessible for the kids, and I think I enjoyed hand-feeding the giraffes even more than they did (especially since they didn't hand feed the giraffe, they just held out cups for the giraffes to eat out of with their purple, prehensile tongues).

Kaitlyn stayed true to her peculiar predilections by being most entranced by the two sloths that hung alongside of scarily big bats in the nocturnal house. She refers to them as "two monkeys in a tunnel." It took me a while to figure out that's what she meant. She loved all of the primates (and all of them, from gibbon to chimpanzee to spider monkey, were just plain "MOWN-keys!"), in no small part because "monkeys are daddy's favorite."

We'll definitely be going back - anyone want to come with us?

Mommy, why...?

"Mommy, why are the gentlemen naked?"

I thought it would be years before such a question came up. And, if I had thought about it, I would expect it to be in a situation like when men wear too small bathing suits at King's Dominion (and really, would expect her to ask it about "ladies", strong on the quotation marks) or... actually, I can't even think of anything else. It's just that far off the radar.

Which is why I was fully unprepared for it as we were leaving the house to go to the grocery store. We weren't even out of the door yet! And she asked it in typical three-year-old fashion, loudly and repetitively.

"Why, Mommy? Where are there clothes? Why can't they wear any clothes? Why are the gentlemen naked?"

Before you worry about streakers run rampant in the neighborhood, let me explain. Our next door neighbors are getting their house resided. The construction crew all decided to work shirtless. Shirtless isn't a word Kaitlyn uses. Lack of clothes = naked. No questions. She doesn't go barefoot; she has naked feet. Sleeveless shirts mean naked arms. She's very single minded about it.

And her mind wasn't going to be changed by my whispered "shhh! They're not naked! They're just not wearing shirts!"

"Yes they are naked!," she exclaimed in her "Auntie voice", "And why aren't they wearing shirts? Ohhh, do they need shirts? Goodbye, gentlemen! Goodbye!"

Kaitlyn's Dance

In our house the backside is referred to as the "tushie". At least usually. A few days ago I used the word "derrier", and Kaitlyn latched onto it immediately. Just hours later she was doing her usual Kaitlyn dance of hands in the air and shaking her little hips while bouncing a little. "Mommy!" she said, "I'm doing a dairy-air dance!"

It is impossible to not laugh at that, though God knows I tried!

And she proved she knows to what a "dairy air" is referring.

Kaitlyn's Blessing

In case you didn't hear her, she said:
"God is great,
God is good.
Let us thank Him for our food.
By His hands
We all are fed.
Give us, Lord, our daily bread.
A-MEN!



Cheese."

Because a camera requires a cheese.

Kaitlyn Starts PT

Today was Kaitlyn's first day of Physical Therapy with Ms. Margaret.

To refresh your memory:
January - Kaitlyn breaks her leg by falling down the stairs with Keith
mid-February - Kaitlyn gets her cast off
last Wednesday - Kaitlyn has a 6 week post-cast appointment, where the doctor thought her gait wasn't quite up to par yet

Which brings us to today and the first of at least 8 appointments (assuming Southern Health does right by us, which could be a rather large assumption).

We talked about the appointment ahead of time, so Kaitlyn was really excited about going to "do some fun exercises!" with Ms. Margaret. She was even more excited (in her timid "I'm around new people" way) when we got there and she could see the mini-tramp and a slide and some other "gym" equipment.

She did basic PT evaluation stuff - standing on one leg, kneeling, going up and down steps, doing relevés ... all that jazz. She really didn't want to leave when the hour was up! The therapist has recommended some shoe inserts for her, so we'll get her measured for those at her next appointment.

The biggest excitement of the day came when we saw what was in the strip mall facing the office building... the new Don José! If we keep having 1 o'clock appointments, surely one of these days we can indulge in some delicious Mexican food at highly reasonable prices, no?

Happy Easter!

Click either picture for larger size!

Princess Pink Cast

I'm so slack at posting. But in my defense, I have a three-year-old in a cast and a three-month-old with colic.

Yeah, I hear you thinking, this we know. You posted that A MONTH AGO. Then no more. Slacker.

OK, well, you want some pictures? Will that make things a little better?

Check out that model! She likes showing off her cast, actually. She quickly figured out that it got her a little extra attention, and a little extra leeway.

And we can't make a trip to the photographer without a shot of the rapidly-changing Kourey. She looks soooo much like Kaitlyn did at this age.

And here they are together. Kaitlyn just adores Kourey - the two hardest bits of getting pictures made were catching Kourey looking pleasant and not slumping (clearly not always accomplished), and getting Kaitlyn to look at the camera and not at Kourey!!!

Life with the immobile

Do you remember word problems in school? There was this one about a man with a boat that could only hold two things at a time - him and one other item. He had a fox, a chicken, and a basket of grain. He had to get everything to the other side, but he couldn't leave the fox with the chicken or the chicken with the grain (in either case because the former would eat the latter). So you had to figure out that he took the chicken, went back, took the fox, brought the chicken back, took the grain (leaving the chicken on the first shore, again), went back, and finally brought the chicken, again.

I feel like I'm doing that puzzle all day long! I can only carry one armload at a time - Kourey, Kaitlyn, or stuff. What order do you take them to the car, so that each child is left alone for the least amount of time (and in the cold for the least amount of time)? How about bringing them in? Going up and down stairs (which, obviously, has an added element of anxiety for Kaitlyn)? Well, Kourey's carrier can sit right on the floor inside the door, but Kaitlyn has to be carried all the way to the couch (or similar location wherever you're going). Can I unlock and open the doors while holding whoever I'm carrying first? Is it time to wake Keith up, yet?

And when did Kaitlyn get so big?!

And how am I going to do this for 4 - 6 more weeks?

Actually, Kaitlyn has an appointment Wednesday morning to get her permanent cast, and then she should be able to get around a lot more. And Kourey has a follow up that afternoon regarding her colic (which: a white noise machine in the crib has helped, but last night was still a 2 hours of sleep before Keith came home night; bleh).

News Break

This just in... no, wait, it's not that kind of news break. I mean, this is the latest in Dohlchester news - when's the last time I updated within 8-hours of something happening?

But the "break" is the news. While getting ready for church this morning, Keith and Kaitlyn tumbled down the stairs. Keith was fine, except for some bruising on his hip, but Kaitlyn was quite upset. And understandably so - falling is always scary!

She kept holding her right knee and wouldn't put weight on it. While there didn't appear to be any bruising, we raised it and iced it and checked with the doctor - it was ER time.

The doctor talked to Kaitlyn and asked her if her ankle hurt, if her knee felt fine, if it hurt when he did this and if it felt fine when he did that. She nodded to everything. I wanted to point this out to him when he decided to x-ray her ankle. It's her knee she's grabbing and won't let us touch!

But there is a reason he's the doctor and I am not - after a less-than-happy x-ray, the results showed a fracture of the tibia right above the ankle. Kaitlyn got a splint and we're taking her to a pediatric orthapedist this week (amazingly, the office wasn't open this morning) for a hard cast for about 4-6 weeks.

She can't play and walk around on the splint (and has shown no interest in doing so, so far) but once she gets the cast she probably will be able to. Like our Sunday School teacher pointed out, at least she just broke the tibia, so she still has the fibula to give some stability (the bone hadn't shifted at all, but was broken all the way through).

Kaitly also seems to have broken her appetite - even tempting PBJs and Sister Schubert's rolls haven't gotten her to eat more than a few cheerios and two bites of a popsicle all day. But I'm sure that will mend without a cast in far less than 4-6 weeks!

Happy 2 Month Birthday, Kourey!

Yesterday Kourey turned two months old - can you believe it?!

According to the doctor, she is 13 lbs 5 oz (nearly a stone!) and 24 inches long. Since she's been on Maalox (and now Zantac), she's a pretty even tempered baby that loves looking around and hugging her snugglies. She seems to smile the most when she's pulled something over on us (can babies this young have a sarcastic sense of humor?).

In honor of her 2 month birthday, we broke out the Hop N Pop. It's hard to say who likes it more - Kourey, so she can sit up and see the world, or Kaitlyn, who wants to show Kourey how to press all of the buttons and such (note to self: take out batteries).