Hayley and Kate Minter

Kate’s second tooth came in on Wednesday (May 9), so she’s been sleeping better since then. She continues to sit up well and play on the floor. She really seems to enjoy toys that play music or make noise. She likes discovering how to make the sounds herself and she seems to learn quickly.

She’s been doing a cute thing the last few days in the bathtub. (I’ve switched her to an inflatable tub that fits in the big tub so she could stretch out her legs a little more) I was trying to get her to splash the water with her hand so I splashed, saying, “Splash!” I did it a few times, then I rested my hand on the side of the tub to get out of her way so she could splash. She did, but then she looked at me and put her little hand on top of mine like she wanted me to splash again. So I did. Then I put my hand back on the tub, and after she splashed again, she touched my hand again. She would do this five or six times in a row. The next night, she did the same thing. Adorable.

Kate is doing well with solid foods. She normally eats cereal twice a day and a vegetable once. We’re on peas right now, then it’s on to squash before we try the fruits.

Kate can be very vocal when she’s happy. Sometimes she says consonant/vowel sounds like “baba” or “mama,” but mostly she just screams. If someone heard her and didn’t know, they might think she’s unhappy. But she’s not. She just screams. We’re going to try to get it on video.

Hayley is friendly with all the children in her school but she had become particularly attached to a little boy named Ehren. Okay, “attached” isn’t quite strong enough–she stuck to this kid like glue whenever they were together. She talked about him a lot and begged for him to come to her house nearly every day.

We never had a chance to have Ehren over to our house but we did have one play date outside of school a few weeks ago at a local playground.

We found out recently that Ehren and his family are moving to Poland (yes, the country in Europe), where his mother is from originally. Last Friday was Ehren’s last day at school.

We weren’t sure how to prepare Hayley for the inevitable heartbreak that we knew would come when she found out that Ehren wouldn’t be returning to school and that she wouldn’t be able to see him again (perhaps ever). She was fine saying good-bye to him after school (although he was asking his mom if they could take Hayley with them) but she broke down in the car when she realized that she wouldn’t see him again. She kept saying, “I want Ehren to come to my house,” as the tears fell down her little cheeks. It tore at my heart.

Luckily, she is still young, and I was able to temporarily mend the hole in her heart and stem the flow of tears with a Happy Meal.

She seemed okay over the weekend but tonight as I was putting her to bed she got sad again. She wanted to know why she couldn’t see Ehren, why we couldn’t fly to his house. I told her it was just too far away, but it’s difficult for a 4-year-old to understand how much real distance there is between the U.S. and Poland, and that such a trip would take time and money.

I remember when I first felt the loss of a friend moving away. I was in second grade. Ironically, her name was Katherine and she had red hair.

I don’t know if Hayley will remember Ehren forever but I think it will take her some time to get over him.

It had to happen, I suppose…Kate had been sleeping so well through the night, sometimes 12 hours straight through. But for about the last week, she has been waking up several times after I put her down, usually once or twice before we go to bed and again between 2 and 5 before getting up for the day between 6 and 7. So Mommy has not been getting as much sleep lately. Poo.

Kate is getting a second tooth in. It hasn’t cut through the gum yet but I can tell it’s right below the surface, so that might be part of the reason for her restlessness.

We went for her 6-month portraits at Sears this morning. It took a few minutes to elicit some smiles from her. She was just staring at the photographer, not scared, just not sure of what was going on. “Peek-a-boo” finally did the trick and we got some cute shots.