"Time-out" 3 times before we left the house this morning...not a good start to our day. Daddy and I are laying down the law until your new attitude leaves. You are so smart about everything else in life...we know you understand the difference between blessings and consequences, disrepect and respect and disobedience and obedience! I know these are big words, but you have had enough association with them according to your behavior...we know you know what we mean. If you are smart enough to march yourself to your time-out chair, you are smart enough to know the reason why.
We love you so much and feel so blessed to have the opportunity to mold your sweet little personality. The good part of this story is that these stints of bad behavior are short lived and few and far between. We understand you are in detox from Grand-ma's and Aunt Anga's, so we have given you some additional grace :).
Your goal today is to get a good report from Ms. Emily at school and prove you do, indeed, have listening ears.
I love you,
Mommy
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Cato House is in Full Swing!
During the winter months, if you were a fly on the Cato House wall, you would have heard me lamenting to Bill that our life was not exciting enough. During those cooped up winter months, I was big on reading others' blogs and just thought, "Man, they live such exciting lives," and allowing Satan to use that to put me in a state of comparison.
As the weather has gotten warmer and warmer this spring and summer, our family has not lacked for excitement, thus, the reason for my blogging hiatus (in addition to me trying to be tech saavy and twitter and update my facebook profile...I've had little time to blog.
So, the spring started off with lots of travel. Within 4 weeks, I traveled to Katy, TX; New Orleans, LA, Pittsburgh, PA; Elizabethtown, KY and Stockton, CA. It was this last trip to Stockton that sent me over the edge. I was tired of traveling and everything at home was quickly moving out of control, but the one thing that continued to plague me was this unusual, non-consistent pain in my stomach. I had enough of it when I returned from Stockton's luncheon. Went to the dr to get the ball rolling. Within 4 hours, I had a CT scan and was admitted to the ER and spent the next 3 days hooked up to IV antibiotics at the hospital.
We left the hospital with a diagnosis that was treatable but nevertheless undesirable. Two weeks later, I had to go back to the dr to get a follow up CT scan. Piece of cake (except for drinking that Barium "Smoothie"), right? Wrong! This was my third CT scan in less than 2 years, and for some reason, this time, I had a horrible allergic reaction to the contrast die. I really thought I was dying that day. After 2 hours of being pumped with Benadryl and steroids, I was released.
I am finished with the drama, right? Wrong! Last weekend, the Cato House met the other Cato house (in Birmingham) and the Jones house (here in Nashville) at a lake in northern Alabama. To make a long and horrible story short, the temperature was over 100 degrees, Claire didn't have shoes on and stepped on the hot pavement and subsequently a piece of metal on the dock and burnt the bottoms of her feet. Blisters, screaming...just the most heart-wrenching thing for a mother to watch. It was horrible.
And guess what? As soon as that episode happened, I had to travel back to California.
If it were up to me, the drama would be over. We have vacation with my family next week in Destin...drama-free zone has been requested!
That's what we have been up to...how about you?
As the weather has gotten warmer and warmer this spring and summer, our family has not lacked for excitement, thus, the reason for my blogging hiatus (in addition to me trying to be tech saavy and twitter and update my facebook profile...I've had little time to blog.
So, the spring started off with lots of travel. Within 4 weeks, I traveled to Katy, TX; New Orleans, LA, Pittsburgh, PA; Elizabethtown, KY and Stockton, CA. It was this last trip to Stockton that sent me over the edge. I was tired of traveling and everything at home was quickly moving out of control, but the one thing that continued to plague me was this unusual, non-consistent pain in my stomach. I had enough of it when I returned from Stockton's luncheon. Went to the dr to get the ball rolling. Within 4 hours, I had a CT scan and was admitted to the ER and spent the next 3 days hooked up to IV antibiotics at the hospital.
We left the hospital with a diagnosis that was treatable but nevertheless undesirable. Two weeks later, I had to go back to the dr to get a follow up CT scan. Piece of cake (except for drinking that Barium "Smoothie"), right? Wrong! This was my third CT scan in less than 2 years, and for some reason, this time, I had a horrible allergic reaction to the contrast die. I really thought I was dying that day. After 2 hours of being pumped with Benadryl and steroids, I was released.
I am finished with the drama, right? Wrong! Last weekend, the Cato House met the other Cato house (in Birmingham) and the Jones house (here in Nashville) at a lake in northern Alabama. To make a long and horrible story short, the temperature was over 100 degrees, Claire didn't have shoes on and stepped on the hot pavement and subsequently a piece of metal on the dock and burnt the bottoms of her feet. Blisters, screaming...just the most heart-wrenching thing for a mother to watch. It was horrible.
And guess what? As soon as that episode happened, I had to travel back to California.
If it were up to me, the drama would be over. We have vacation with my family next week in Destin...drama-free zone has been requested!
That's what we have been up to...how about you?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Coversations with a Toddler - Part 2...About God
If you live in my "neck of the woods", you know we have been having lots of thunderstorms (I'm sure many other areas of the US are as well).
Add on top of the storms that Claire is really sensitive to sound (the fire alarm going off because of her momma's cooking and her reaction is an entirely different entry some day!).
Several weeks ago, she heard thunder and yelled, "It scare you." I told her that was God outside. Each morning after that when we would leave for school/work, she would make this big announcement outside to Him, "Hi God."
If her sweet greeting each morning was not enough...last weekend we were driving home to Mayfield during a horrible thunderstorm. She kept seeing lightning and hearing thunder and wanted us to "hold you". I told her those flashes of light were God taking pictures of her and that every now and then He would laugh (the thunder) at a picture He took of her. As the broken record of a 2 year old should go, we talked and re-talked about God for quite a while.
Today, we were driving to school/work. It was an absolutely beautiful morning. We happened upon a traffic jam, so we were noticing the streams, the trees, the grass, the sun, the clouds. And Claire would say, "God made trees...God made grass...God made sun." And then all of a sudden, she screams, "Yaaaay God" and starts clapping.
Oh, my heart just melted. Out of the mouth of babes!
What do you need to "Yaaaay God" for today? It would not have surprised me if we had immediately heard a clap of thunder at God laughing at Claire this morning! I think he was pleased.
Add on top of the storms that Claire is really sensitive to sound (the fire alarm going off because of her momma's cooking and her reaction is an entirely different entry some day!).
Several weeks ago, she heard thunder and yelled, "It scare you." I told her that was God outside. Each morning after that when we would leave for school/work, she would make this big announcement outside to Him, "Hi God."
If her sweet greeting each morning was not enough...last weekend we were driving home to Mayfield during a horrible thunderstorm. She kept seeing lightning and hearing thunder and wanted us to "hold you". I told her those flashes of light were God taking pictures of her and that every now and then He would laugh (the thunder) at a picture He took of her. As the broken record of a 2 year old should go, we talked and re-talked about God for quite a while.
Today, we were driving to school/work. It was an absolutely beautiful morning. We happened upon a traffic jam, so we were noticing the streams, the trees, the grass, the sun, the clouds. And Claire would say, "God made trees...God made grass...God made sun." And then all of a sudden, she screams, "Yaaaay God" and starts clapping.
Oh, my heart just melted. Out of the mouth of babes!
What do you need to "Yaaaay God" for today? It would not have surprised me if we had immediately heard a clap of thunder at God laughing at Claire this morning! I think he was pleased.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Conversations with a Toddler
I will be the first to admit that I haven't been as good to keep the blog up-to-date as I would like or avid bloggers would suggest. We are living an exciting life with a toddler right now, but sometimes I just don't think anyone would find our day-to-day activities that interesting.
However, one of the reasons I began this blog is to have an archive of stories for Claire to read back on when she is older. So, this is my disclaimer. You are now entering a blog that may not be as exciting, but it is our memories.
Claire and I drive into Nashville every day. Her pre-school is halfway between home and downtown. We have some very interesting conversations on our way into town. Thus, the ride to town in the mornings (not the afternoons because she has a meltdown every single day) have become my favorite one-on-one times with her.
Yesterday's conversation proved to me that she is always paying attention. For months, anytime we would see a backhoe, dozier or any heavy equipment, she would announce, "That's my daddy's!" Wanting to keep her daddy huge in her eyes, I would affirm that "Yes, that is daddy's" even though we are a long way from having a heavy equipment fleet. This past Friday, I was out of town on an event and she went into the office with Bill to drop off his timecard. While in there, she saw all the guys and talked to "Mr Barry", Bill's boss.
So, yesterday on the way to school, she looked across a field where a new subdivision is being built and said, "That's not daddy's!" And, once again, I affirmed her observation proud that she had finally caught on that daddy did not have that much equipment. And not missing a beat, she said, "That's Burry's!"
Oh, how smart our little babes are!!!!
However, one of the reasons I began this blog is to have an archive of stories for Claire to read back on when she is older. So, this is my disclaimer. You are now entering a blog that may not be as exciting, but it is our memories.
Claire and I drive into Nashville every day. Her pre-school is halfway between home and downtown. We have some very interesting conversations on our way into town. Thus, the ride to town in the mornings (not the afternoons because she has a meltdown every single day) have become my favorite one-on-one times with her.
Yesterday's conversation proved to me that she is always paying attention. For months, anytime we would see a backhoe, dozier or any heavy equipment, she would announce, "That's my daddy's!" Wanting to keep her daddy huge in her eyes, I would affirm that "Yes, that is daddy's" even though we are a long way from having a heavy equipment fleet. This past Friday, I was out of town on an event and she went into the office with Bill to drop off his timecard. While in there, she saw all the guys and talked to "Mr Barry", Bill's boss.
So, yesterday on the way to school, she looked across a field where a new subdivision is being built and said, "That's not daddy's!" And, once again, I affirmed her observation proud that she had finally caught on that daddy did not have that much equipment. And not missing a beat, she said, "That's Burry's!"
Oh, how smart our little babes are!!!!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Progress
***WARNING: This is a potty training update. If you think potty talk is crude, skip reading this entry!***
My potty training approach was much like my "nursing" approach...why read books, why get advise...this is a natural process, it will just happen naturally. I should have learned the lesson from my failure in nursing, you can always use help, support and advise!
The story begins in October. We were still at the old house, just shy of moving into the new house. I always heard that big, major changes cause potty-training set-backs, so I was not going to attempt to begin potty training until we moved. However, at that time, Claire was staying with Becca and Becca was potty training Jonah (3) and Claire and Sophie took an interest. So I bought her a potty with no intention of working on potty training. But the child is smart I tell you! After giving her a bath, I would wipe out the tub and for several weeks, I would turn around and she would be sitting on the potty and actually going potty! That's as far as we got in October and November.
Fast forward to December. Mom (me) was on vacation for a couple of weeks around vacation and I thought this was an ideal time to train her. I still had not picked up the first book or asked for the first piece of advise, but I had been around moms and toddlers enough that I had a few tricks in my back pocket. Like the one where you give them as much juice as possible throughout the day, set the clock to go to the potty every 10 minutes and they are trained in one day...that one didn't work for us. All it did was make her revolt from wanting to sit on the potty at all.
Back to square one.
We took a little break. I wasn't passionate about potty-training and neither was she!
Fast forward...February. I walked in to pick her up from school one day and her teacher, Anna Claire, asked me if I had even considered starting to potty training because, as Anna Claire said, "she WILL be 3 in November." My gracious, I thought. The child just turned 2. Aren't we rushing the pressure and she has 8 more months until she is 3.
But since Anna Claire was new and I wanted to atleast show her that I was somewhat interested in her opinion, we went to Sears and bought panties and began our potty journey again.
Since I am running out of time and your attention, we are doing really well on potty-training as of today. Claire has not had a pee-pee accident in some time and is actually telling us when she needs to go and not us reminding her when to go. #2 is a different story, but we have made alot of progress the last few days. We are on 2 days in a row of going in the potty!!!
Our only remaining obstacle is public restrooms. Bill, inadvertantly, reacted to a dirty bathroom in Wal-green's a few weeks ago and said it was "nasty" and now she won't go in public restrooms. I don't blame her, but carrying her potty around in the back of the Tahoe is getting a little old!!!!
My potty training approach was much like my "nursing" approach...why read books, why get advise...this is a natural process, it will just happen naturally. I should have learned the lesson from my failure in nursing, you can always use help, support and advise!
The story begins in October. We were still at the old house, just shy of moving into the new house. I always heard that big, major changes cause potty-training set-backs, so I was not going to attempt to begin potty training until we moved. However, at that time, Claire was staying with Becca and Becca was potty training Jonah (3) and Claire and Sophie took an interest. So I bought her a potty with no intention of working on potty training. But the child is smart I tell you! After giving her a bath, I would wipe out the tub and for several weeks, I would turn around and she would be sitting on the potty and actually going potty! That's as far as we got in October and November.
Fast forward to December. Mom (me) was on vacation for a couple of weeks around vacation and I thought this was an ideal time to train her. I still had not picked up the first book or asked for the first piece of advise, but I had been around moms and toddlers enough that I had a few tricks in my back pocket. Like the one where you give them as much juice as possible throughout the day, set the clock to go to the potty every 10 minutes and they are trained in one day...that one didn't work for us. All it did was make her revolt from wanting to sit on the potty at all.
Back to square one.
We took a little break. I wasn't passionate about potty-training and neither was she!
Fast forward...February. I walked in to pick her up from school one day and her teacher, Anna Claire, asked me if I had even considered starting to potty training because, as Anna Claire said, "she WILL be 3 in November." My gracious, I thought. The child just turned 2. Aren't we rushing the pressure and she has 8 more months until she is 3.
But since Anna Claire was new and I wanted to atleast show her that I was somewhat interested in her opinion, we went to Sears and bought panties and began our potty journey again.
Since I am running out of time and your attention, we are doing really well on potty-training as of today. Claire has not had a pee-pee accident in some time and is actually telling us when she needs to go and not us reminding her when to go. #2 is a different story, but we have made alot of progress the last few days. We are on 2 days in a row of going in the potty!!!
Our only remaining obstacle is public restrooms. Bill, inadvertantly, reacted to a dirty bathroom in Wal-green's a few weeks ago and said it was "nasty" and now she won't go in public restrooms. I don't blame her, but carrying her potty around in the back of the Tahoe is getting a little old!!!!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Goin' Fishin' Part 2
And, Goin' Fishin' Part 2...a few details behind the afternoon.
Simply put, we, all 3, had a fun time. Claire could barely contain herself as we were getting ready. As daddy did some chores at the church, Claire and I practiced fishing in her Valentine's life-jacket and her Barbie (she actually calls her Bella) fishing pole. We took some photos...
And, then we were off. We only had a couple of hours to be on the water, but you would have thought we were going to there all day the way I packed snacks, changes of clothes...
And here's Bill's two happy girls...
And the funniest part, we packed her potty with us on the boat. (By the way, she is doing a mighty fine job with potty training lately). She is relieving herself in the picture below, if you look carefully, you'll see the potty.
Simply put, we, all 3, had a fun time. Claire could barely contain herself as we were getting ready. As daddy did some chores at the church, Claire and I practiced fishing in her Valentine's life-jacket and her Barbie (she actually calls her Bella) fishing pole. We took some photos...
And, then we were off. We only had a couple of hours to be on the water, but you would have thought we were going to there all day the way I packed snacks, changes of clothes...
And here's Bill's two happy girls...
And the funniest part, we packed her potty with us on the boat. (By the way, she is doing a mighty fine job with potty training lately). She is relieving herself in the picture below, if you look carefully, you'll see the potty.
Goin' Fishin' Part 1
Just a small amount of self-sacrifice can lead to so much happiness in a home! If I would only be so smart to offer larger doses in my life.
This past winter, Uncle Don loaned the TN/AL Cato/Jones family his fishing boat as Bill's nephew Craig began to take a bigger interest in fishing. The boat arrived in need of some shelter and as the family with the new 2-car garage, we became the proud home of the boat!
Bill has been itching to get on the water since the day the boat arrived. Craig, Owen and Bill had been out a couple of times, but as the weather started getting warmer, Bill's conversations revolved more and more around fishing.
Like a child awaiting Christmas, he asked me earlier this week if I thought, just by chance, Claire and I would be interested in going fishing with him on Saturday. "Why sure!" was my response. I love the water and it was supposed to be a beautiful d.....wait, a beautiful day? A beautiful day for sowing grass in our new yard? A beautiful day for cleaning the house with windows open? "Bill, there are many days this summer to go fishing, but only a few optimal days to sow grass," I responded.
And, in his ever-so humble and sacrificing way, he responded, "Okay." "Okay" without a grimace, without a fight. An "okay" with a smile like only Bill Cato can give that said in his mind, "well, atleast I'll be on some type of equipment grading the yard."
And then the Lord began to speak to his wife. Throughout the day on Friday, I received, not 1, but 2 words from the Lord that I needed to go fishing with my husband. So I called Bill and said, "We're going fishing!" And, again, in a way only Bill Cato could make a 220 lb., construction worker, Carhart-wearing, equipment operating man do, he turned back into the child before Christmas and said, "oh, the Lord has been good to me!!!"
So, yesterday afternoon, after a few chores, we loaded up the truck with boat in tow and headed to the water!
As we pulled away from the house, he looked over to me and said, "This is one of my biggest dreams come true. I don't think anyone could upset me with anything right now. I got a wife, a baby girl and a fishing boat with me today!!!"
And the Lord returned the favor and was "good to me" yesterday by seeing a husband walking around on cloud nine! And today, guess where he is...he's out on his second favorite piece of equipment grading my yard!!!
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