Girly-Girl

I guess the first clue that my sweet, little Kaitlyn was not going to be as sugar-coated as she appeared was when she was a month old. I had her over my shoulder, gently patting her back when the loudest, most grotesque sound erupted from her tiny body. Remember, she is my 6th baby, so I certainly had burped my share of babies. Never had I heard a sound like this come out of any child. I swore her whole lunch must have come up, but when I precariously turned my head to see what kind of milky mess I would be cleaning up, all I saw was my sweet girl, who burped like a truck driver at 4weeks old without even losing a drop of slobber!

Fast forward 5 years and here she is, still as cute and girly as can be, and still champion burper around our kitchen table, to the point that she is being disciplined about manners almost daily. She's also the one who cracks us up when she uses the bathroom and is heard loud & clear through the closed door grunting & moaning and then repeatedly screaming "Mom, I need Fiber!!!". She definitely fits the old saying, "We can dress her up, but can't take her anywhere".



Knowing she was not your stereo-typical "I can't mess my dress" kind of girl, I had no qualms taking her, Andrew, Michelle, & one of M's friends to the Museum of Natural History this weekend. They were having a special demonstration for Valentines Day where the kids could dissect an actual sheep's heart. This went perfectly with the Science lesson A & K had done this week on the anatomy of the human heart. While the big girls reluctantly took their seats and barely examined their heart specimens, Kaitlyn dug right in using chop-sticks to rip her heart apart. Here she and Andrew are in action:



To our surprise, the museum also had another special exhibit. They were cooking up bugs and letting the kids eat them! They explained how these were delicacies in Thailand. The dishes included Fried Chex Mix with crickets & Cheddar cheese sauce mealworms. I jokingly asked the kids if they wanted to eat any bugs. The big girls made disgusting faces & shook their heads. Andrew took two steps back and said "No way". To my surprise, in her little girl voice, Kaitlyn said "I'll try one". "You want to eat a bug, Kate?" I asked just to make sure she knew what she was doing. "Yes, I'll try the cheese one." she said. And so, while the big girls covered their mouths in horror & Andrew's eyes got hugely wide, our little Kaikee ate a cheesy mealworm and declared "It's pretty good!" She was given a button to wear on her shirt and we moved on. Later she asked to go back and eat another--so she did!! On our way home, she called from the back of the minivan, "Hey Mom, I want to eat more bugs. Can you buy some at the store?" Here she is enjoying her worm--check out the button on her shirt:





When we got home, she told her big brothers what she'd done. They high-fived her and Kyle declared her, "the coolest girl ever!"

Sugar & spice (& burps & bugs), That's what little girls are made of!