Wild for Water

Our local town square has water fountains for kids to run around in.

I've never seen anyone love water so much. Except me. And John. Wonder where she got it from? :-)

Happy Three-Month Birthday, Joshua!

On Monday he started lifting his head entirely up during tummy time. He's a big, strong boy!

Why We Annoyed an Entire Restaurant

We were at the Silver Diner a few weeks ago, trying to keep our kids happy as long as possible so we could spend a few more precious minutes with our dear friends (and mentor couple) Dave and Gloria, who were moving to Dallas.

As you know, the Silver Diner has a jukebox at every table, and song selections are played throughout the restaurant. We realized that the Sesame Street theme song was one of the jukebox options, and yes, we were the annoying people who played the song THREE TIMES IN A ROW because Katie was so funny everytime it played. Below is the third time it played, and you can hear another restaurant patron trying not to complain in the background. :-)

As Katie says at the end of the song, "Again?"

Katie's Flipping Out

Katie's flipping out!

First with my mom:

And now by herself:

SOOOOO Big!

Yesterday we had a joint pediatrician appointment for Katie and Joshua. When did Katie no longer get "well baby visits"? At her age they now call them physicals (I hate physicals!). Anyway, this was Katie's 2-year physical and Joshua's 2-month well baby visit.

Here are their measurements.

Kathryn Lucia
Weight: 25 lbs., 14 oz. (47th percentile)

Height: 35 inches (almost 3 feet! 76th percentile)
Head circumference: 49 1/2 cm

Joshua Roger
Weight: 12 lbs., 8 oz. (almost half of Katie's weight, 75th percentile)
Length: 24 inches (2/3 of Katie's height, 80th percentile)
Head circumference: 41 cm (75th percentile)

This is the first and last time their physical/well baby visits will coincide until they both are getting only annual visits.

Happy 2nd birthday, Katie!!!

Kathryn Lucia Biddison turned two today! Happy birthday, Katie!!

Of course, we've been celebrating for weeks now. :-) Since we were having a family-only celebration this weekend, we celebrated with her friends when I hosted our playgroup a few weeks ago:

Yesterday we had John's family and my family over for a cookout and casual celebration. I had specified no gifts, but there were still a few fun things that showed up, such as a swimming pool with a slide, a teepee and tent connected by tunnels, and a magnifying glass:

Here Katie tries on her new hat from Oma and JPa. Note the "Kiss Me; It's My Birthday" pin. That of course is Mommy's doing. :-)

Along with Katie, we were celebrating my brother Mike's birthday. Happy birthday, Mike!

Video of Katie blowing out her candles:

And just in case you were worried about Joshua being ignored during the festivities, you needn't have feared. John's sister Laura flew up from Florida to meet her nephew for the first time:

and my mother also took a turn trading coos and smiles with her grandson:

I had a wacky idea for a fun party activity, and many in our families were crazy enough to try it. We decorated balloons for Katie! I won't name who did each one, especially since there's a glaring misspelling by the English major in our family. *grin*

We continued to make a big deal out of Katie today as well. First we dressed her in her favorite dress, hat, and purse for church:

Then we took her to Mamma Lucia tonight for a spaghetti dinner with my parents and brother Daniel.

Happy birthday, Katie! You bring delight, joy, and endless laughter to our hearts.

Could You, Would You, on a Train?

Being the mother of two under two for a few more days, I hereby give myself permission to post events terribly out of order. Otherwise I'll never catch up. So you'll have to wait longer to hear about our trip to Seattle, my brother's wedding, our trip to the beach, etc. Tonight I want to tell you about our trip to the National Aquarium on Tuesday.

My friend Betsy organized a trip to the National Aquarium in D.C., and the "easiest" way to get there was by Metro. I doubted that sincerely, but decided we'd give it a go. Neither of my kids had ever been on the Metro before, so I recruited the best mothers helper ever, 11-year-old Anna, and the four of us went on an adventure.

Here are photos of my kids on their first train ride:

The aquarium was pretty fun, and an added bonus is that the place was completely dark except for the exhibits, so Katie actually paid attention to some of the fish and animals. Then she completely melted down (did I mention she gets jealous sometimes when I'm holding Joshua?). Still, we were there a solid hour before we had to leave.

This was my favorite fish because it reminded me of an American flag:

Located between the Metro and the Aquarium is the National Museum of American History, which our architect friend Mike recently helped to redesign, so we made a brief stop there on our way home. From what I could see, the redesign is modern and gorgeous, and Katie was especially excited at the one exhibit we visited: Oscar the Grouch (aka "Ah-juice") and Kermit the Frog (aka "Frog")!

By the time we got back to the car, we had been on FIFTEEN elevator rides (it would have been 16 except I got impatient one time and just took Katie's stroller on the escalator instead) and all of us were totally wiped out. I lined up my exhausted kids in the back of the SUV for a joint diaper change:

and we headed home. That afternoon Katie slept for more than 3 1/2 hours, and even then I had to wake her up for dinner. That's double her normal nap. :-)