August 23-30

Kaitlyn is in 6-9 month clothes.  It doesn't matter as much now that she wears dresses and skirts every day, but her sleepers were getting a bit snug.  They may have been snugger than I realized, because she doesn't even look like the 6-9 month clothes are too big.

I found an idea for a growth chart that is not a permanent part of the door frame.  I bought supplies at the beginning of the summer and then finally got around to making it a few days before Olivia's birthday so that I could measure her close to the four year mark.  It's a burlap strip with yarn woven through at (roughly) one foot intervals.  I use safety pins and colored cardstock to mark heights and indicate different children.  Picture below.

I mentioned this in a video, but I wanted to make a note of it in my blog, too: When Kaitlyn hears my voice in the morning, she starts flapping her arms and kicking her feet.  Often she'll also crane her head over her shoulder to see me coming into the room.  Olivia used to have the same wild limb flailing response when she heard the door to her room open.  Gretchen was never a limb flailer, preferring to crane her head or just roll over.

There are a lot of disagreements over who gets to be the mommy and who gets to be the mother during the day.  I've told the girls that they can BOTH be the mommy (or mother), but they don't tend to like that very much since it puts them on the same level.  I'm not sure at this point whether the mommy or the mother is a higher authority, but I do know that neither girl wants to spend much time as the daughter when they play together.

Gretchen is very interested in solo play right now.  She will spend hours happily playing in a corner if we let her.  In fact, Bryan has noticed her playing alone and tried to get some quality Gretchen time in, only to be kicked out of her game.  :)  Now if I could only convince Olivia to ignore Gretchen...

We've developed an interesting phrase in our house: my sorry.  I can see where it came from, because I'll tell the girls, "Say you're sorry."  Except they hear it as, "Say YOUR sorry," so they will tell me, "I said my sorry."  The actual apology is still rendered properly.

I got a basket full of apples from a friend's backyard apple tree, so I've been chipping away at that.  So far I've gotten three pies and seven quarts of applesauce.  Bryan thinks I've only gotten about a sixth of the way through the basket, so it would seem that we're in for a lot more pie and applesauce!  Olivia helped me with the pies, making two little ones while I made two big ones.  The only step she didn't help with was the actual cutting of apples.  Gretchen helped a little, but then saw that I had pinto beans that needed to be released from their pods, so she did that instead.  :)

Pictures and Video:
Vimeo video (password BarhorstBrewed):
Happy Kaitlyn

The apples and the applesauce:

My little "cookers" making pie crust:

Kaitlyn playing in her flying saucer:

Kaitlyn plays with Daddy:

The growth chart:

Gretchen is hiding in these first two pictures. and then I found her in the third one: