Kitty is now 3 years old.
Kitty, who is all of 25 lbs, is as verbal as ever, and loves to make up words and names for things. She can be very outgoing at times: she is almost always ready to tell a waiter what she wants for dinner when all the poor waiter was thinking about was drinks. She is also shy at other times: most people in the ward get a bit of a scowl when they greet her. She still loves to read and be read to and our weekly trips to the library are basically mandatory.
Ever since Christmas, a little doll (previously known as The Brown Baby) she loves, has been named The Baby Jesus. And Kitty is the mommy, Mary. She is a very dedicated mother who nurses her baby, dresses her, helps her walk, and even bought her (The Baby Jesus is a girl) a stroller and a car seat so The Baby Jesus can come with us just about any place we go. Kitty also has a huge bear who is known as Joseph, and they sleep in the same bed (sometimes Jesus is with them) and are married.
As well as being a good mommy, Kitty is a great big sister. She has always wanted to be involved with Lily and does a great job sharing her toys and her parent’s attention.
Kitty loves cats, princesses, squirt guns, fixing things, swings, Lily, and cooking. For her birthday party, I’d initially figured she’d want a princess party, but when I talked to her about it she wasn’t all that interested in that idea. Instead, she loved the idea of having a cooking birthday party!
We started by letting the kids prepare their own pizzas, then while they cooked we moved on to activities.
We had several games of running around to put ingredients in a pot, which culminated in a team effort to make (pretend) turtle soup.
Kitty loves hearing about her Mellor ancestors who found a turtle while they were taking their handcarts across the plains to Utah. When the family tried to cook the turtle, the turtle made it clear he had other ideas by repeatedly crawling out of the pot. The undaunted father sits on the pot to ensure the fleeing turtle becomes their dinner.
In recreation of this great family saga, we had the kids put the turtle in the pot and then run away to collect sticks for a fire or other ingredients while an adult helped the turtle escape. After several rounds of this (always with a chorus of “Get back in the pot, turtle!”) we let the girls take turns sitting on the pot to keep the turtle in.
Then it was time to eat the pizza! Everyone seemed to enjoy their creations, and the party was a resounding success!
Year 3-here we come!
As of this writing, Lily is 10 months old.
She is almost 18 lbs, and has a smile for everyone. She will put anything in her mouth, and eats almost as many things. She zooms around crawling, and looks like she’ll take her first step any day. She babbles when the mood strikes her, always wants to do what Kitty is doing, and is overall a very copacetic kid.
Lily adores bath time, and has learned how to tickle Court’s belly button. When she was sick this last week, she had a few days where she only smiled a handful of times–it was one of her most worrying symptoms! We’re happy the smile is back on our little sunshine girl.
Kitty catching some Zs after church today–a rare occurrence these days.
A True Life Adventure 