Painting, Elephants, Shoes, and Daddy's Girl

Katelyn's teachers say she is doing very well at school. Her favorite activity?  Painting. Am I surprised? No. She is all smiles when her hand is being painted, too. Her teacher said she is one of the only ones in her class who can correctly grip a paintbrush to make brush strokes. And when it's announced that painting time is over, she becomes silent and glares at the teacher.

She also likes markers and immediately colors her little arm before marking the paper. And why not? It's within reach, it's a smooth surface... makes sense to me.

As mentioned in previous blog posts, it's safe to assume that at any given time, Katelyn is walking around pretending to be one animal or another. Lately it has been an elephant. Her teacher told me that other kids in the class have noticed and are following suit... all walking around doing Katelyn's arm-behind-her-head-and-say-aaaah elephant imitation. Not sure if the other kids know what they're doing, but Katelyn is leading a herd of elephants. 

On our last trip to buy groceries, I looked in the cart and saw Katelyn's sock... which meant one of her expensive Stride Rite shoes was not on her foot. I exclaimed, "Where is your shoe?!" and Katelyn grinned from ear to ear. Using the items already in the shopping cart as my guide, I retraced my steps until I found the lonely shoe in the middle of an aisle:

Relieved, I said, "There it is!!!" and Katelyn grinned, laughed, and started clapping for me, proud that I had won the prize in her little game. I don't know how to keep shoes on this child!

Katelyn has a bad habit of throwing her sippy cup on the floor when she's in her high chair. The other night she threw her cup and I firmly told her "NO!" Didn't seem to phase her, and not surprisingly, she did it again awhile later. This time, however, Dave told her no. Her response? She stuck out her bottom lip and started to cry, devastated that she had disappointed her Daddy. Are you kidding me?! So the next night, she took a drink from her cup, gave Daddy a little smile, and then set the cup down on her tray. Then she then started clapping for herself. Throwing her cup hasn't been a problem since.

And just like that, it became glaringly obvious just how much of a Daddy's girl Katelyn really is. 

It was like seeing a glimpse of myself in her. Test Mommy, obey Daddy. I invented that! I informed Dave that he and Katelyn would likely have a strong relationship in her early teen years while she would make my life very difficult. I know firsthand the uniqueness of the daddy/daughter relationship, and I'm so grateful Dave will share that with Katelyn. And to my own mother: I love you, and I'm sorry for the grief I gave you as a sassy, stubborn kid. Go ahead and laugh... you've earned it. :)