Princess Katie

On Wednesdays and Fridays I watch a 4 year old little girl named Katie. She is absolutely beautiful and she knows it!! She is such a girly girl that she fills whatever void I might have in a house full of boys. She has long, wavy, beautiful blond hair and an angelic face. Princess Katie!!

One of the things I love about having Katie around is that she and Grant get along so well. She has such an imagination and has taught Grant so much about imaginative play. They play house and store, of course, but also cars and hide and go seek. They play in the dirt together and dance to Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses. Katie wears her frilly dress-up clothes on occasion and Grant thinks she is so beautiful.

Today I heard Katie say, "I know your name: Grant Daniel Ratzlaff. [sigh] I love you!" Grant (in a sqealy little voice) said, "You love me?" "Yes, of course!" Katie replied. Very cute. According to both of them, they are best friends.

Katie considers herself the big sister and I always tell her that she is such a great big sister. I can count on her to keep Cole happy while I fix lunch and to tattle on Grant when he wanders into the vegetable garden. She makes it a point to remind us that she is bigger than Grant because she is 4. I have to remind her that she will always be older than Grant, but Grant is going to get real big like Mitch. A comment she made today makes me think that the concept is finally sinking in. Still, we give her special privileges since she is "bigger" and especially since she is our little princess.

Totally different story:
Funny thing happened. I couldn't get the DVD player in the family room to work, so the kids watched a movie in my bedroom. Well, they didn't actually watch the movie. They rarely do that. Instead, the two little monkeys jumped on the bed.

Next thing I know, Grant is whimpering and calling out. Since I can tell it is a whimper of fear and pain, I rushed into my bedroom to see Grant hanging from his chin and a couple of little fingers. Katie said, "Grant got stuck behind that thing." My headboard. It is a sleigh bed and Grant decided to straddle it like a horse, then swing his legs over the back and slip down behind the bed to hide. He got stuck. I tried to pull him out the top by his hands, but he wouldn't fit. I tried pushing him down so he could crawl out the sleigh bend. That didn't work. I started panicking and was considering calling Mitch at work to help me pull the heavy bed away from the wall. Finally, I figured that if he could squeeze his little hips through the small opening sideways, then he could squeeze them back out. I reached down and grabbed his pant leg and started pulling him up sideways (does that make sense?). We were all laughing (with a tinge of fear) as I pulled Grant's legs with all my might. It worked!! I wish someone could have videotaped the whole thing. The scrapbooker in me looked around for the camera at one point, but since it wasn't in view and Grant was looking kind of pale, I resisted running around the house in search. Over all, it was a fun day. I love it when Katie comes over!