More Beach Photos

Overall, Kate's favorite part of the Rehoboth beach trip was the rides on the boardwalk at Funland. As you can see, she sort of got her wish of getting to "fly an airplane." Cameron also enjoyed the rides!

A Weekend at the Beach

We spent this weekend with our friends, Karina and Jason and their son, Cameron, in Rehoboth Beach. We all had a really nice time and Kate even did better at the beach this year than last year, although she still refused to walk barefoot in the sand!

Is this the terrible twos or do we have a bigger problem here?

Kate had a spate of temper tantrums when she was around 18 months old, and then things started to get better when she started being able to say more words and communicate better. Apparently, that "starting to get better" was just the calm before the storm, because the temper tantrums are back in full force.

I understand some of them - like her knock down drag out tantrum in Bethesda last night when she was pissed that we wouldn't let her cross the street without holding onto one of our hands. I get that she wants to be independent and do things on her own.

But today's tantrum has me worried. We were watching a show on the Discovery Channel about airplanes (Paul loves these kind of shows - personally, I would rather be watching HGTV...) Kate kept pointing at the screen and saying "Oooh...airplane! Mama - airplane!!" To which I told her, "Yes, that's an airplane. Maybe someday when you get older, you'll be able to fly an airplane." Bad move on my part.

About a half an hour later, we were getting ready to get in the car. I told Kate to get her sandals on. "Going in airplane?" she asked. "No, we're getting in the car." I told her. "But I want to fly an airplane!" she screamed to which I quite rationally replied,"You can't fly an airplane. We don't even have an airplane." To which she started screaming and crying "I want to fly an airplane! I want to FLY AN AIRPLANE!!!!" I mean, come on, this is just ridiculous. It reminded me of the little girl in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Veruca Salt - the one who sings that song "I want it now."

I mean how do you even respond to a tantrum like that? I'm a little afraid of what's ahead....

A Visit from Grandma and Papa Marsiglia

Maybe I need to stop drinking so much coffee...

My parents were here this weekend to visit. Since they won't see Kate again before her birthday, they got her a birthday present - one of those big Little Tikes cars that toddlers can get in and move with their feet. She loves it! She got right in the car and said "Bye, bye, see you, have a good day. Going to Starbucks!"

I'm beginning to think that Kate thinks we drop her off at daycare every morning so we can go to Starbucks! :)

Breakfast with Kate

Mealtimes around our house lately do not happen quickly. Here's an example from a recent breakfast:

7:30 AM - Paul puts Kate in her highchair and gives her oatmeal and fruit. Kate eats one bite of oatmeal and hears the next door neighbor's dog barking, "Henry - Henry barking. Henry the dog barking. Sadie dog too. Sadie barking too. Hi Sadie. Two dogs barking."

7:35 AM - Kate tries to scoop another bite of oatmeal and drops it. "Uh oh, oatmeal fall. Uh oh - make a mess. That's okay. I get it. Get oatmeal." "Fruit - Kate's fruit. Dada fruit too?"

7:40 AM - "Ooohh...Barney on. Barney sing? Kate sing too!"

And so on and so on.....about 5 minutes of talking for every bite of food. She finally finished eating at 8:15.

Between Kate and me, poor Paul doesn't get much of a chance to say anything....

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Gray