And a good evening to you from the Queen City. Welcome to Volume 7 - the last edition of Raise Kids With the Taylors! Plenty to catch you up on, so let's get amongst it, shall we?
3/12 - Today was YET ANOTHER one for the books, as we officially closed K's birthday in big fashion. She had lunch with Vol Nana and JT, and then they pulled her out of school early for "Day out with Nana!" She was SO EXITED about the early dismissal. When we told her about it last night, she said, "Oooooh - I'm so excited! My first early dismissal! They will call Ms. Pate on the radio and say 'Ms. Pate, we need Kaitlyn for dismissal.'" She was over the moon!
They had a BLAST together, watching "How to Train Your Dragon" 3, eating cotton candy, going to Build A Bear to fill a gift from the Burch family, shopping at the mall AND Wal-Mart for K's presents (the feisty pets are DEFINITELY my favorite)...I mean, it was EPIC. However, the late nights (and likely some germs from Defy Gravity) clearly caught up with K, as she actually passed on having dinner with Vol Nana and instead requested they come home for some Mac 'n Cheese. WOW - didn't see that coming. It all worked out well, as we had mac and then some cookie cake that mom had brought, so it was still a super fun night. By bedtime, however, K looked completely WIPED OUT, was blowing tons of snot, and looked really, really tired. We gave her meds and prayed over her - poor thing!
Funniest line of the night: K looks at mom and asks, "Do you know where babies come from?" Before mom can even respond, K points to her vagina and says, "They come from right here - GROSS! I am never getting married and having babies." Love it! 3/13 - K was a trooper today. By the grace of God she was feeling MUCH better than last night, and she was able to go to school. And best of all - SHE DIDN'T CRY WHEN SHE LEFT VOL NANA!!! It helped that we told her she'd see mom in about 6 weeks, but all the same - this is a HUGE leap forward. YAY!
I had the girls for bath, and afterwards they were SO CUTE. Kaitlyn was a huge help and actually read to Cora! The photo I have is priceless - one for the ages. And bath time was fun as well, because Kaitlyn got to open her present from Kate - a Scruffalove! Now admittedly, I had NO IDEA what this was, but it is pretty adorable. Basically, you take this ball of matted fur, throw it in the bath, and watch it pop open. Then you dry it (we even used a hair dryer) and brush it, and you figure out whether it's a dog, cat, or bunny - too cute! Kaitlyn got a pink cat - SCORE! That is exactly the critter she wanted, so it was a definite win.
3/14 - Kaitlyn was able to go to school today, but she said that her throat hurt when she came home from school. JT actually ended up giving her Tylenol about 4:30, as she was crying from the pain. Jenny said that her throat looked white, and honestly at this point we are a bit concerned that we've got Round III of strep on our doorstep. K has been okay and has still been a) playing and b) eating, but you can tell that she's struggling. She much more lethargic than normal, and she seems ready to cry at the drop of a hat. K did tell us today that she now has $88 Bradford Bucks. If she hits $100, she can host a "pajama party!" $150 is the popsicle party (but we have to supply the popsicles - what is up with that?), and $200 is movie party. The funny thing - we have told K over and over "just pool your money with other kids so you don't have to burn all of your cash," but she is having none of it. Tonight, I think I figured out why. She has told us the amounts other kids have, and it is typically WAY LOWER than what she's got (this is with her cashing in quite a few bucks, mind you). One of her friends has $24, and one kid in class only has $6! I asked if they were just chasing them in for lots of stuff, and she said, "No - Ms. Pate just has to take bucks away from them all the time because they are doing stuff." What I love - K has NO IDEA how wonderfully she's behaving. I am SO PROUD of her - that's just wonderful.
Oh, and Kaitlyn is ALL ABOUT the music box that Vol Nana left her. I actually think it was Steve's (sorry, Pooh!), as it plays Memory from Cats. We wound it and sat in her room tonight before bed listening to it - it was pretty wonderful actually.
On the Bear front, her grammar is improving SO QUICKLY! She is talking nonstop now, and her enunciation is definitely improving as well. I walked in today and she said, "It's tablet time!", which is hilarious because we don't actually GIVE her tablet time. However, she does know that when K gets her tablet, it's time for Mia and Me on Netflix, so I guess the association more or less holds true. These kids...
3/15 - UPDATE!!!!! K went to cash in her Bradford Bucks today, and she had $99 (she'd earned $11 during the day). Ms. Pate saw this, smiled, and then gave her $1 more, getting her to $100. And guess what she did....BOUGHT THE CLASS A STUFFED ANIMAL PARTY, BABY!!!!! Yay! Honestly, SO proud of her, and so sweet of her to do this for the class. Ms. Pate announced it to everyone, and the class was thrilled (she was the conquering hero and got plenty of hugs :-)). So Monday is cuddly friend day, courtesy of Kaitlyn Elaine Taylor. Proud of you, kid! Ms. Pate even called it out in the school news letter - YAY!
The day wasn't all roses, however, as we took K to the Peds at 3:20 and found out that she has a DOUBLE EAR INFECTION. This house is permacold right now! However, alls well that ends well, and the girls all got a frozen custard over at the new ice cream shop by the Sweet Spot. K was just thrilled she didn't have to get swabbed for Strep (the testing is the worst part), so the diagnosis had already been a victory for her. :-)
Oh, and I'm pleased to report that the Kindle Fire with FreeTime is now fully back in the good graces of KET. And if she doesn't want it, Cora is all about it. Bottom line - the revival is complete, and it's back to getting used (which means K is getting her money's worth out of that $1 subscription :-)).
One other thing to note on K - she gets to write stories each day in class, and her a) phonetic writing and b) accompanying pictures are AMAZING! I love looking at them each day - truly a special moment for me. You can see a lot of great creativity in there - very exciting to watch it bloom!
On the Cora front, it was a big day for her and JT as well - farewell to the aquarium! Today was the last day for our pass (it was part of K's present last year when she turned 5), and so they made it count. They got some GREAT pics and even saw some stuff that had never happened in the tank before (like Neptune the turtle sleeping while floating!). GREAT way to end!3/16 - A big moment - Cora actually said "Kaitlyn" today! Now granted, she still says Yaya most (okay, almost all of the time), but she definitely identified K by her name today! I mean, that girl is talking in full sentences, noticing everything, and speaking SO clearly right now. So proud of her! And it's so cute both how well they play together AND how cute they are coloring together. Little artists in residence!
And another big moment - Cora has FINALLY taken a liking to "who is THAT pretty girl?" I do it 4 times (2 in each mirror) after bath, and she loudly yells "Me!" She does, for the record, get angry when you stop, as she expects you to do it Ad infinitum. The good news - you can start her laughing again if you just say "YES!" every time she says no when you lay her down for diaper and lotion.
Oh, and Cora is now getting a show nightly to allow Jenny and I time to prepare food. Consistently we are seeing "Mia and Me." These girls... :-)3/17 - Happy St. Patty's Day! It was a GREAT start in the morning, as K was officially moved into the Arrows class full time (thanks Ms. Morgan!). K was SO excited, and honestly - I think it's going to be great for her. She's definitely ready for it, and while it is loud in there, she is far more mature than a lot of the kids running around in that class.
She was in there for both services on Sunday, which meant that she got to see me teach! I cannot tell you how special it is for me to share the Gospel with her and to have her in the room with me - THANK YOU, FATHER! Such a blessing. And the really cool thing to see - K was REALLY into the music during worship. She truly was worshipping - dancing, clapping, you name it - it was awesome!
We hit the park in the afternoon (the day was AMAZING), where my girls ran around making "sand angels" on the volleyball court. :-) The Burch family was there, and they played a bit as well. The highlight came about halfway through. Kaitlyn had seen Hope and Grace - two girls from the swim team, and you might remember Hope as the one who called K a "baby swimmer" last summer. Well, get this - Hope walked up to Kaitlyn today and said, "I'm sorry I was mean to you last summer. Will you forgive me?" K did forgive her, and then they were all smiles - HOW AMAZING AND MATURE IS THAT?!?!?! Seriously - I was blown away.
3/18 - STUFFED ANIMAL PARTY, BABY!!!!!!! WHA, WHAT!?!?!?!?!? Now granted, I was in tropical, sunny Minneapolis, but by all accounts the gang had a good time. However, the news was not all great on the homefront, as the area under Cora's eyes were CRAZY red, and she kept having "sleep" ooze out of her tear ducts. JT sent me some pics - she looked like a vampire/zombie baby...suboptimal. K's 6 year well visit was planned for the following day, so we knew we could check her then. Plus Bear wasn't running a fever and was still smiling, so we hoped for the best. And then Tuesday arrived... :-)3/19 - Kaitlyn had her 6 year appointment today, and everything looked GREAT! The report was great - 90th percentile in height and weight - completely proportional, and very healthy. PRAISE JESUS! Cora, on the other hand, was sporting a brand new ear infection - her FOURTH since December. That puts us in the unfortunate category of needing an ENT referral, as we need to confirm that her eustachian tubes actually can clear that fluid. So we now have both girls BACK on medicine, which means the M & M's are flowing. :-) But the good news - they have been in good spirits throughout the whole thing, and they honestly seem to be doing pretty good.
3/20 - Happy Spring! And since it's the first day of Spring, that can only mean one thing - FREE CONES AT DQ, BABY!!!! Team Burch and Team Taylor rolled over there (minus the dads, that is) for free cones - even Bear got one! I mean, is that not the cutest photo EVER? Love it.
After school, K and JT did some volunteer work for the church - packaging Easter Eggs with candy for some school egg drops (we are giving the eggs to schools this year vs. hosting it ourselves). This was great, and I LOVE when K gets the chance to serve at church. Great job, wife muffin!!!
3/21 - Grandparent's Day at BPS! Jan made the trek up from South Carolina to be with K at school today, and it must have gone really well. The kindergarten class did a little performance, and then Nole Nana went back to K's class with her to work on some crafts. They also got to go to the Spirit Store (where they purchased a "Bradford Bear") and the Book Fair, where K spent some of her allowance money on new books (Nole Nana kicked in for a few as well, including one for Bear). The time went quickly, and K really had fun - so much so that she cried when Jan left! But the good news, one of Ms. Pate's kids was in the room, and he (very sweetly) made K a bracelet and necklace out of pipe cleaners. K was still wearing them when she got home! It seems the entire Pate family is wonderful! :-)
I got the chance to see both kiddos in the morning and the evening, which was GREAT - I loved all the hugs! You can tell they are in much better spirits now that the medicine is working. One crazy thing - there is so much fluid in K's ears that she's currently having trouble registering (hearing) noises that are lower on the spectrum. She actually couldn't hear the bottom 2 notes during her wellness check, but she still passed. I tested it three times (once with her looking at me), all with the same result. So we'll definitely keep an eye on that, but today (I'm writing this on Friday) she was already hearing better (even when I was speaking low). 
And I know I say this a lot, but you just wouldn't BELIEVE how great Cora is speaking and articulating things right now. It is MIND BLOWING - we are talking full sentences! Admittedly, the conjugation isn't yet there, but whatever - it's awesome! And her little voice is pretty cute. For some reason she's whispering almost everything right now - adorable.Last thing - we now have Google Music in the house, and the girls (and parents) LOVE it. Right now "Baby Shark" and "Gummy Bears" (the techno version) are getting a LOT of air time. :-)
One thing I must call out - Cora Bear is picking her nose CONSTANTLY! I mean, that girl is a GOLD DIGGER. This morning I had to pull her finger out of her nose about 5 straight times in the space of 15 seconds. So....we will be working on that.3/22 - K and Bear went with JT to Life Group this morning, and then Kate came over in the afternoon (and they had a blast, as per standard). Originally the plan had been for Kate to come over on Tuesday, but that didn't work because of Cora needing to get in for a Peds appointment to get medicine. But honestly, this worked out better, as they got more time together.
3/23 - Today was a special treat for me - my first ever movie with K! Kim and Matt were in town with the boys, and they were all down at the Tacy's for Bob's 75th birthday party. Kim went down there early with Bear, and I took K to the Gem Theater in Kannapolis. It was about 25 minutes north of us, but it was this SUPER CUTE old theater, and tickets were only $2! FH Kids had rented it out, and there weren't many folks there, which meant we basically had the place to ourselves - SO FUN!
Bear was a trooper and didn't nap all day. I was really impressed with her stamina, and she was good all the way home in the car (I drove her back to sleep here). She crashed about 8, happy as a clam. And let me tell you - my girls ate GREAT tonight! I was so impressed with all the ham, veg, and everything else they ate. K even had 2 rounds of sautéed onions! All in all, it was a GREAT day - complete with an FSU victory for Jan, Bob, and Kim (all graduates).
Oh, and best story (this has happened twice now) - K has been reading a book, and when she's come to a word that she can't say, Cora just blurts it out! It happened the other day as well, but I was in the car and heard it myself this time. They were reading "Hide and Seek Bunnies," and K was struggling on a word until Cora blurted out "SULKING!" HILARIOUS! Love these kids!
3/24 - I had Bear at church today (she was GREAT), and K was down in SC with JT. We met at the Y in the afternoon for...the return to the pool! We spent an hour, and it was GREAT - time really flew while we were there. I wasn't sure how much K would have regressed, but she picked up right where she left off - YAY! She even ground out a 50 in the cold pool. Well done, kiddo! Bear had a blast as well, and the setup there is fantastic (way better than NOMAD). I absolutely love the Y - talk about the best deal going!It was then home for movie time (for the girls at least - the adults were on the screen porch). Talk about a full (and exhausting!) weekend in the books!
3/25 - Today was parent-teacher conference day at BPS, and I am THRILLED to say that K got a glowing report. Ms. Pate was very complimentary and referred to Kaitlyn as a "star pupil." She said that Kaitlyn is very self-motivated (can't tell you how happy that makes me to hear), always does her best, goes above and beyond (she gave examples of writing where she writes multiple sentences in her stories whereas some kids only write one sentence), and wants to do things right. YAY! I mean, honestly, what more can you ask for from a kindergartener?
Ms. Pate shared two stories that K has written, complete with illustrations on each page. To put this into perspective, I was starting to do this in second grade, so they are already WAY ahead of this guy. So impressive! And her handwriting is really, really good! Dare I say it - better than mine in some cases (insert the "well, that ain't too hard" joke here).
Today was a huge day of transition, and it was fascinating to witness. For starters, Kaitlyn can now do her own reheating in the microwave. She knows what to push and is tall enough to reach it - WOW. I mean, when did that happen? Also, She announced this evening that she did NOT want any colors in the bathtub. Bear wasn't happy, but given that K thinks she "is allergic" to the color pills (I mean, maybe don't set them on your leg in the middle of an exothermic reaction..but I digress...), it was easier to just acquiesce and establish the pattern of Bear picking one night, and K picking one night.
In K's defense, she very well might have allergies. Stuff is blooming, and she's already started coughing and complaining of itchy eyes. JT has been putting drops in K's eyes all week! And just like her daddy, it took her some getting used to (but at least she laughed the whole time). We have been giving K allergy medicine, and the red bags under her eyes have gone away. Watch this space!
The girls were absolutely EXHAUSTED today. Good thing we didn't have school, as they both slept 12.5 hours!!!! Bear has done that a few times, but that is one of the longest sleeps for K EVER. I remember a 13 hour sleep once, but those puppies are few and far between. The other transition moment came right before bath - Kaitlyn didn't want to do "ch-ch-ch" (aka "running around the jack 'n jill). She refused to participate even though we (and especially Bear) begged for her to, and Cora REFUSED to run around with just her parents - too funny! I am happy to report that we did do it on Wednesday, but I think we are about at the end of the era for that little activity.
The girls are just growing up SO FAST - it's amazing. Kaitlyn is bathing herself now, with only a bit of help on her back required. She's doing a good job and really scrubbing; she's also really gotten better about brushing her teeth as well. And BEAR! Her vocabulary (and memory) is just amazing. K got stuck on a word tonight, and Cora shouted out "Cupboard!" at the exact spot. You wouldn't believe the stuff she remembers and says to me - just crazy to watch!
Not sure if I mentioned it earlier, but we have now downloaded the "Parent Cue" app. It's a really neat, Biblically based app that counts down the number of weeks your child has left before they "move on" (aka leave the house for college or something else). It gives Bible verses, things to do with your kids, and gives simple, practical ways to engage with them. And in case your curious:1. Kaitlyn is 315 weeks old - 642 weeks until she moves on (that's right - almost 1/3 of the time is already gone)
2. Cora is 117 weeks old - 819 weeks until she moves on (shocking to see it in print like that, eh?)
Their message is simple - you have 936 weeks from the time they are born until the time they leave - make every single second count. AMEN TO THAT.
3/26 - Another "growing up" moment - Kaitlyn did her first ponytail by herself today! I saw her this morning getting ready for school, and it's amazing to see how much that little girl has trimmed down. She's been doing handstands like crazy lately, which is definitely helping her upper body. Add in PE and recess every day, as well as all the running she's doing (and now swimming!), and you've got a wee one who will be in great shape come summertime. Proud of you, kid!
3/27 - I got the chance to come home early and play with both girls today - catching handstands for K, playing My Little Pony dollhouse with Cora. This was the longest stretch I'd played with Cora in awhile, and it was really a ton of fun. She's so interactive and playful now, and I am blown away by how wonderful both of their imaginations are. Kaitlyn expresses her in writing - Bear is expressing hers through playing at the moment. Kaitlyn read to Cora tonight, and I got some video of it because it was just PRECIOUS. K also helped Cora brush her teeth, helped clean the house, and even gave me a massage! She was SO SWEET today. I really do think that, when she's healthy and feeling good, she's an absolute angel. She's slept 12 hours each of the last three nights, and you can tell this week she's got more energy. I am sure it's a combination of clearing out the sickness and getting some rest, but either way it's just great to see.
3/28 - "The Good Egg" - Jenny and I got the chance to do somehing for K tonight. BPS had asked us to color a picture of an egg and say why our child was a "good egg." We worked on it during the day, and Kaitlyn came home to find it. When she saw it, her face genuinely lit up. We read it to her, and you could tell she was happy and felt loved. It was a sweet moment.
3/30 - JT and Kaitlyn had another Mommy-Daughter life group today, and they made it count! They went to a bowling alley, where the "adventure pack" got them a boatload of adventures, including a round of bowling, a motion simulator, and a few other rides in their arcade. Jenny said that the costs were extortionate (some games were 2 and 3 dollars!), but K did have fun. Jenny barely beat her in bowling (but K did have the assisting slide and bumpers), but my wife did edge the young one 78-76. :-) Dog fight! 
3/31 - I was in Knoxville for the half marathon, and in the middle of the race I checked my phone to FaceTime the girls. Jenny couldn't talk (getting the girls and herself ready for church), but she told me that we had a milestone - CORA PEED IN FROGGY POTTY!!!!! YAY!!!!!! That's BIG news - first time ever!
And on the K front, she was reading "Purrmaids" (which is one of the more advanced books that she owns) with ZERO help when I called! And the best part, K told Jenny today: "I love church now that I'm in Arrows." RE-SULT, BABY!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!
I made it home late and missed the girls (except JT, of course). Needless to say, I was ready to give them big hugs and kisses.
That, however, will have to wait until the next post, as this officially wraps the end of March installment.
Chat with you in a month!
Love,
Sam and Jenny
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