Are We at the Circus? (posted 9/14/2008)

This past week has witnessed huge milestones for Katy Rose.  For some reason, they are not mentioned in the typical child/baby care books.  The books talk about milestones like first steps, first words, first time using the potty, etc.  But they don't mention the ones I'm going to talk about here.

First Boo-Boo

Last Sunday, Katy and I were off to go shopping while Mike was at work.  We were walking out to the car, hand in hand.  Katy tripped in the parking lot and fell on her knee.  She started to cry, and I could tell this was more than the typical fall-down because she doesn't usually cry right away unless it really hurt or she's really tired.  I picked her up and took a look at her little knee (which was her featured named-body-part-of-the-week), and sure enough, she was bleeding.  So we went back inside, and I got to do the band-aid routine for the first time.  Surprisingly, she actually sat there on the toilet lid and let me clean her up with a soapy washcloth and put on a band-aid.  Someone gave me Hello Kitty band-aids in my Christmas stocking, but I couldn't find them on such short notice.  I settled for the ones that Mike got in his stocking—Spongebob Squarepants.  The cutest thing was the way she would periodically point to her knee and say either "Boo-boo?" or "Bob" for Spongebob.  That routine went on for about two days, although the band-aids were only on for about 24 hours.  I put antibiotic ointment on it too, and even though it was just a little scrape, I do think it helped it heal faster.  Those Neosporin commercials were right!

First Lunar Sighting

Katy and I walked down the street to talk to some neighbors the other day.  It was after I got home from work, so it was almost sunset. All of a sudden, out of the clear blue sky, Katy points and says, "Moo!"  Of course, I'm thinking, there's no way she sees a cow up there… So I looked to where she was pointing and I saw the slice of a moon.  I was flabbergasted.  Since when did she learn about the moon and I didn't even know it?  My neighbor then asked her where the sun was, and Katy looked around and then pointed toward the west, where the sun was hidden behind trees and buildings.  Holy cow!  I mean, moon!

First Fruit Naming

Yesterday, Mike was home with Katy when he had to go into work unexpectedly.  He called me when he realized the situation (they were having meetings about layoffs), and asked if I could come and get Katy for a little while.  It was about lunchtime, and I went to pick her up (Mike's office is about a mile away from mine in Phoenix).  I brought her back to my office to hang out for a little while.  We went into my coworker's office next door, and Marina had an apple sitting on her desk.  Katy pointed up to it and said "ah-puhw" and Marina and I looked at each other… Did she just say apple?  I guess I should stop being amazed, but it was déjà vu—when the heck did she learn to spot Golden Delicious apples and I didn't even know it?  She doesn't even eat apples.  Applesauce, yes, but not real, whole apples yet.  Marina gave it to her and told me she hadn't washed it yet.  For the next 20 minutes, I was very busy keeping Katy from trying to take a big bite out of Marina's apple.  There was a meeting in the conference room, so I didn't have any place to wash it, but Katy insisted on holding it (sometimes succeeding in holding it with one hand so she could play with something else at the same time).  She referred to it often, and when I did finally distract her enough to take it from her and hide it, it only took her a minute or two before she started asking for it and looking around for it.  I played dumb.  (I know, not a big stretch.)

Well, that's about it as far as the milestones.  These days she loves shoes, and especially trying to wear Mommy & Daddy's shoes.  She also loves to dance, play with tennis and bouncy balls, go outside, play with water, color, and play with her toy animals (particularly her dogs and horses).

Oh, and I must apologize for using an inside joke in my title.  But since it is my blog, I don't have to explain.  Let me just say that I think we are at the circus.  And for those of you that have never lived in Arizona, here's an example of why I'm now considering myself a Phoenician.  You know you're a Phoenician when… it's 94 degrees and cloudy when you walk outside after work in September, and you think to yourself, "wow, it's really cooled down!" and drive home without air conditioning, not even breaking a sweat.  **See, I moved my tangent to the end of the Story Hour, so it didn't break up the flow of the Milestones discussion.  I write real good.  J  Enjoy the circus.