a golden birthday

As promised: today is my little sister Kathryn's birthday and this is a post about her.

I want to talk about how awesome she is.

She is so smart and funny, and she's probably the reason that I've never had any problems with the boys. She was born when I was 16 and I learned all the ins and outs of taking care of a baby thanks to her.

Kathryn was the smartest toddler, and is the smartest kid I know. 

She was so funny with the boys when she was here. She could shift them from cradle hold to being upright on her chest and talked to them like a little grown-up. 

"Why are  you fussing? Is there a little burp in there? Let's see if we can get it out. Oh! That was a good little burp. Do you feel better?"

She was pretty mesmerized by watching me breastfeed and once -as she stared at the babies latched on to  my chest - I said "You know, Kathryn, you can look away."

Without blinking she replied, "Uh, no I can't."

We watched a home video of her as a baby, and she was very upset that we hadn't filmed her breast feeding.  She asked, "Didn't you think, maybe someday I'd want to see how I used to eat?"

When the boys were circumcised my mom wanted to prep her, "the boys are having a little surgery today, so when they come home we have to be extra quiet and gentle," she said.

"What's wrong with them?" Kathryn asked.

"Nothing's wrong. It's just a little surgery that most little boys get."

"What is it?"

"Well, they cut away a tiny piece of the skin around a boys penis."

Kathryn thought about this for a few long seconds and then asked, "Did you have to do something similar to me when I was born?"

"Nope, only boys."

"Did Dad and Jack and Travis have it done?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

(By the way, what five year old uses the word similar?)

That night when we changed the boys' diapers Kathryn gasped. "Oh! My poor babies, that is more than just a little skin!"

She was very upset. 

Her concern was pretty adorable.

She also couldn't always tell the babies apart. She knew one of the boys (Grey) had more hair than the other, and one baby was smaller, but remembering which was tricky. So she started to call them "the baby with the mohawk" and "the other little baby."

She has recently learned how to read, and tried to read a little story to the babies almost every day.  The problem is, she's a serious cheater. She pulled out Goodnight Moon to read, and every time she got stuck on a word she'd scan the page for a hint of what the word was.

She'd sound out "ki..." and then instead of finishing sounding out the word, she'd look for something in the picture that started with a k. "Kittens!" she'd triumphantly declare.

Little stinker.

I only hope my boys are little kids like her. (Although Travis hopes they have better taste in entertainment... iCarly = Dumb)

This is Kathryn and Grey when the boys were almost 3 weeks old. It was the first time she held one of the boys.
Her face at 0.05 is priceless.

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