Brain development

Sometimes I wonder if these children I incubated for 9 months ever got around to the brain development part of their gestation! It seems like my kids are the ones that have to touch the hot stove just to make sure you weren't lying, then after the unavoidable burn and tears they have to go back and touch it AGAIN... just to make sure! Katie is proving so far to be much worse than Melody, which if you had asked me 2 years ago I would have told you was impossible!

Example #1: Today I took the kids swimming because its about the only out door thing I can do with them after 8 AM. Our pool is right across the street from our building so I just carry Katie over there rather than wrestle with shoes. The pool is surrounded by stone instead of concrete and it seems to conduct heat considerably better. When you get out of the pool it literally steams the water off your feet and you then have 2.5 seconds to get your shoes on before the blisters begin to form. When we go swimming I usually let Katie stand on the stairs and play while Mellie does her thing. Inevitably I have to pull Katie back in the pool several times since the palm trees surrounding the pool hold more interest than the pool itself! Today I let her put her foot out and gave her a second to realize that it was really hot, then pulled her back in. She cried for a second and kept saying 'oweeee, oweeee' I figured she understood.

I turned to the nice older lady sharing the pool with us that day and started talking to her, while keeping half an eye on Katie. The next thing I know Katie is half way across the walkway staring at me with panic stricken eyes and what I can tell is scream preparing to be released. So then of course I have to run across the walkway, blistering my feet as I go, and rescue her. She didn't actually cry until I got her back in the pool. While I was trying to calm the heat in my feet Katie was screeching 'OWEEE!' at the top of her lungs and shoving her feet in my face so I could kiss them better, all while I was trying to prevent her from drowning herself in the process. Two seconds after I had finally calmed her down Melody finished our trip to the pool for the day by smacking Katie right in the face with a koosh ball water bomb! I guess at least the positive note would be Melody's aim is improving!

Example #2: As previous videos have shown Katie is rather adept at getting in and out of her high chair and up on the table. Nothing I do or say even slows her down. The other day I was making lunch, Melody was busy working on a project at her desk, and Katie was playing in her room. Before long Melody loudly announces that Katie needs help. I just looked at her wondering how she knew this from her desk in the kitchen while Katie was in her her room. Then she started pointing at the table saying, 'MOM Katie is STUCK!' I looked across the room to see my darling toddler dangling from the edge of our kitchen table. You need to understand that our kitchen table is little more than a frame with a large piece of glass on top so if she fell she it's somewhat likely that she could take the glass table top with her. After seeing that she had a pretty good grip and was in no danger of falling right away I gazed longingly at my camera knowing I'd never make it, so instead I sat down next to her wondering how long I should leave her there to get the point across. After about a minute I pulled her down and told her to stay off the table and sent her on her way.

Less than 5 minutes passed before Melody again announced, 'Mom, Katie's stuck again!' That little turd had done it again! This time I let her hang there until she got upset, staying out of sight so she wouldn't get the idea that mom was always going to save her. After getting her down for a second time I stuck her in her highchair since lunch was almost done. I didn't even get half way to the kitchen before she was attempting to get back on the table!

Somedays I'm not sure if I should, laugh, cry or just tear my hair out! Durring the writing of this post I had to get up 4 seperate times to pull Katie out of one thing or another. Where on earth did this child come from!