Girlie Girl

Princess Caitlin and Prince Inkspot

Our next door neighbor's daughter and three grand kids moved in with her recently. One of the kids is an 8 year old girl named Natalie. Caitlin and Natalie have become close friends -- I think Caitlin is like a little living doll to Natalie. She dresses her up in Caitlin's dress-up clothes, nice dresses, jewelry, princess tiaras, etc. She fixes and brushes Caitlin's hair. They play "dollies" together and Ring Around the Rosie.

Unfortunately, Natalie and her family will be moving next month. Caitlin will miss her so much!

Some of the girlie habits and play have rubbed off on our little tomboy. She wants to play dress up and "dollies" with everyone now! And, she'll let Natalie brush her hair without screaming -- Caitlin screams and fights when I come anywhere near her with a hairbrush!
Here are some photos of the girliness:

Natalie fixing Caitlin's hair

Caitlin and Natalie making dirt "cakes"

A photo Natalie took of Caitlin after fixing her hair

Birthday Pics

We opened Caitlin's birthday gifts from Stu and I earlier today. Conall was really jealous and mad about her being the center of attention, which was strange because until now he had handled this really well. We were very disappointed in him, but later I looked over and realized that he had "fever eyes". When I checked his temperature, it was up to 102.

The year Caitlin was born, Conall got sick the day Caitlin was born with a "fever virus". He had a high fever (103 and higher) for more than 5 days and had to stay with NaNa and PoPo until he was fever-free for more than 24 hours, so that he wouldn't give it to Caitlin or me. I guess there is a history there, huh?

Anyway, here are photos of Caitlin opening her gifts from us. The Tinkerbell flashlight, Tinkerbell dress-up clothes, snap on clothes baby doll, and Elmo doctor kit seem to be a hit.

Conall "helping" her before he had his jealous fit


Caitlin in her way-too big Tinkerbell dress

Tinkerbell flashlight -- she keeps holding it up to her face

The ring daddy bought her

More From Thanksgiving

Here's some more photos from the Thanksgiving weekend that I hadn't posted yet.

Playing trains

Playing cards with Great-Grandma

Bossing Caitlin about how to feed the doll

Playing with the doll on her own and doing just fine

Feeding the duck, too

Conall Is Ok

Conall is okay. He had some x-rays to make sure he didn't have an obstruction, based on some of his symptoms. And, apparently obstructions are more common in kids who've had malrotation. The doctor didn't think he had an obstruction -- just lots of air (HOT AIR! based on the things he's said to me and his daddy in the last few days) -- but the radiologist will review it in the morning to be certain.

Conall got a refill on the anti-puke meds. Funny thing is, when he got to the doctor's office, he had no fever! If Conall is still puking tomorrow after having had this medicine, or if the fever doesn't go down, we are supposed to go back in.

While Conall was at the doctor's office, Caitlin pooped in the tub. Then, while I was cleaning up the tub, Caitlin colored all over the dining room wall and her baby doll with a pencil.

What a day!

Princess and Daddy's Socks

While Conall was at the doctor's office tonight, Caitlin happily enjoyed being the "baby" again. At one point, I looked over and she was pushing her ship down the hall, wearing her princess tiara headband and one of her daddy's socks.

Eating Lunch With Doll Doll

Here's Caitlin eating lunch with her "doll doll" (as she calls her) the day Conall got sick (why I haven't posted it before now). I'll update this later and post the whole story.

Updated 8/22/02 6:25 p.m.

Caitlin was walking around with her baby doll "doll doll" in the stroller and playing with her. When it was time to eat lunch, she was hungry, but she wanted to sit in the high chair with doll doll. She fussed, so I let her sit in the high chair with the doll while I fixed her lunch.

When it came time to eat, she still wanted doll doll, but she also wanted her lunch (yum yum). She screamed either way. I was tired and knew it wouldn't be long before we had to get Conall from school. So, I pushed a chair up and put doll doll in it.

This wasn't enough! Doll doll needed yum yum, too. So, I got Caitlin's play car seat/high chair seat and put doll doll in it with a piece of play strawberry. Caitlin looked at me and looked at doll doll and I could see the wheels turning in her head, just like Conall does. I got one of Conall's old folders and folded it in half to make a tray for the doll. She seemed quite pleased with this set-up and ate her lunch. Then, she wanted doll doll's yum yum.

Baby Luke

When we got the art desk for Conall off freecycle, there were a lot of other things in the bag with it. Typically on freecycle, if you want something, then you take the whole bag of stuff offered and then they tell you to freecycle what you don't want. Anyway, the bag with the art desk also had a lot of toys in it (I know, the last thing we need!). It had about 5 or 6 baby dolls in the bag.


Conall has named one of the baby dolls "Baby Luke". He keeps putting Baby Luke down for naps, feeding him, pushing him in Caitlin's stroller, etc. His favorite place to tuck him in seems to be the basket in the living room that I keep throw blankets in. Here's a photo of Baby Luke tucked into my basket.

Don't Mess Up the Doll

When I was cleaning Caitlin up in her high chair tonight, Conall looked at me and said "don't mess up the doll" referring to Caitlin. I don't know how I could have messed her up more -- she had spaghetti and strawberries for dinner!
Here's a photo of her earlier in the day enjoying the spaghetti that Grandma made for her.

Real Live Doll

While we were at the doctor's office today for Caitlin's weight check, several nurses kept popping their heads in our room to see Caitlin. Apparently the assistant director of nursing told them to come by our room to see a "real live doll" complete with pigtails.

Caitlin's weight was up to 20.5 lbs., which is about 2 lbs. up from last month. Now we can turn her car seat around to face the front! I think we'll probably have to move the mirror, too. She really likes to talk to herself and watch herself dance in it.

Caitlin doesn't have to go back until October, when she'll have her 18 mos. check up (I know, she'll be older than 18 mos. but we are behind on check-ups due to an ear infection several months ago). We're still supposed to keep giving her the Carnation Instant Breakfast until they tell us otherwise, but they aren't as concerned about possible health problems now.

The Grease Monkey Plays With Dolls

The source of the grease

Pop Pop has been giving me a hard time about Caitlin's new doll and stroller. He has told everyone that we saw this weekend about how he had Caitlin trained right -- to play with cars, trucks and trains, but not dolls.

As we were visiting with one of my cousins, Caitlin scooted over to one of the tractor trailer's tires and grabbed the axle grease. Of course, Pop Pop thought it was funny and told Caitlin that he was proud of her. I told Pop Pop he could hold greasy Caitlin while I found something to clean the grease off of her.

Many of my cousins also found it funny and told us that Caitlin couldn't help it, it was just in her blood. She was nicknamed "grease monkey." For those of you who don't know, my grandfather owned a service station and Pop Pop worked there when he was a kid. Then, as an adult, Pop Pop also owned a service station. Many of my male cousins have worked as mechanics at some point in their lives. Thus, the comment about it being in her blood.

Reading to the baby

Caitlin brought me a book to read to her today, and as she usually does, climbed up in my lap for me to read to her and said "read." After reading the same story 2 or 3 times, she crawled out of my lap and very matter-of-factly grabbed her baby doll. She climbed back in my lap, put the doll in her lap, looked back at me, and said "read." It was so cute! I guess she wanted the baby doll to see the pictures, too.

Here's another cute video of her pushing the baby (and brown bunny) in the stroller yesterday.

Pushing the stroller

Caitlin loves her baby doll! She keeps putting it in the stroller, giving it the bottle, pushing it in the stroller, covering it with a blanket, giving it the bear and rattle to hold, and holding the doll. She is such a girly girl!
Here's a video of her pushing the doll (and her brown bunny) in the stroller.

Baby doll

Grandma bought Caitlin a baby doll and stroller. The baby doll came with a pacifier, bottle, teddy bear and key chain/rattle. It also talks and makes noises when activated by motion. Both kids love the doll and fought over it and the stroller.
Caitlin knew it was hers and made sure everyone else did, too. At one point, Conall tried to take away the stroller and push his bear "baby" around in it. While Caitlin was looking the other way, he threw the baby doll across the room from them. I just happened to have the camera going at the time. Here's the video.