The Cherry on Top: Many Updates and a Massive Photo Dump

Kateri has been really enjoying reading lately. She loves all books, but her absolute favorites are the ones with animals. Recently, she has started finding her own special little 'nooks' and curling up with a book. I absolutely love seeing this!

She has two favorite places. One is in the back of her closet, hidden away (if everything is quiet and I haven't seen her for a couple minutes, the closet is always the first place to look!). The other is near our sliding glass door as the sunlight pours in. She will bring a book or two and settle in to read. Even though she is just a year and a half, she is very careful to not to tear any pages!

This looks so posed! But it isn't!

Kateri is at that stage where she is perfectly content to hear the same book read over and over and over (There are only so many times I can handle 'Are You My Mother?' Spare me!). And one time, she wanted to read to Sebastian and picked one of her favorite books (one of the ones from Aunt Ann)!

It didn't last long! But it did happen :)

We are absolutely in the throes of toddler pushing/shoving/hitting. Thankfully we haven't had biting yet (knocking on wood here!!!). We are definitely in a constant state of vigilance and Sebastian pretty much only gets put down on the ground when Kateri is napping.

BUT, despite Kateri's constant efforts to make sure Sebastian is TOUGH, she can occasionally be very kind. The other day, both of the were sitting in my lap, and Sebastian grabbed a chunk of Kateri's hair. He grabs mine all. the. time. so I can verify that it HURTS. After I finally finished untangled her hair from his fingers, she smiled and leaned over to give him a kiss! I couldn't believe it. But it happened. Maybe, just maybe, we are making some progress!

We have been using the bumbo for Sebastian.

He likes it and as soon as she saw him in it, Kateri started eyeing it.

"It's OK, little brother, I just want you to understand that EVERYTHING IS MINE."

Yep. Not long before Kateri claimed sole ownership of the bumbo.

So we are also working on sharing. So far there is very little (ahem. none) progress in that regard. Maybe one day. However! We do have evidence of Kateri and Charlotte playing with the same toy and not fighting. Maybe we can count this as sharing??

Cutie pies!

So, the other day, I wanted to run something (a lamp Kateri had knocked over and broken beyond repair) out to the trash. Kateri was eating in her highchair, and I put Sebastian down on the carpet thinking, 'I will sprint outside and sprint back before K-bear can get to him'.

So I ran out and back, and as I came running up every other stair, I KNEW that she had slid out of the highchair and was again schooling Sebastian in the School of Tough. So as I rounded the stairs, I wasn't too surprised to see her on top of him, and I said, "NO!".

My shout surprised Sebastian and he immediately started crying (of course). It also must have surprised Kateri because she came over and spit up on me! haha, I had no idea that 18 month olds still did that! As I looked down on the spit up that was now all over me, I heard Kateri running off. A few seconds later, she came running toward me with a huge smile on her face and a washcloth to clean off the spit-up! She wanted to help and immediately ran to get a washcloth without any prompting! This impressed me so much!

Unrelated (but adorable) photo with a super cute hat my mom gave him!

Kateri is always very concerned if Sebastian is upset. If he is crying, she will immediately run around to find a pacifier and rush it to his side, shoving it in his mouth. He doesn't seem to mind and this always seems to calm him down!

Last weekend, Pat and I went on our first date sans both kiddos (thanks to my mom and Jeanne for watching them!). We went to see Brad Paisley!

We had a blast. How can you not have a blast when you go with these awesome people?

Brad Paisley does not disappoint. It was such a treat to go!!

After a night of (not) sleeping, we had a very lazy day and I let Kateri watch a movie.