This is Kate's "robot" that she made out of a bunch of random things she found in a drawer in the kitchen. She worked on it for a long time and was very, very patient. I only helped her a little at the end by adding a clothespin so the whole thing would have some stability and stand up like she wanted.

A few snapshots of life with Kate at three-and-three-quarters, in no particular order:

Last night, after we had celebrated Mother's Day, Kate and I were lying on her bed talking before bed time and she asked me "When am I going to be someone's mom?" I told her when she is a grown up married lady we hope she'll have some babies of her own. Kate told me she wants to have seven babies when she grows up and that I will come and help her. Having settled that, she asked me if she will live in this house when she is all grown up. I was trying to explain to her that she and her seven children will probably need their own place to live, but she has a long time to figure that out since she's only three now. I actually remember the first time it occurred to me that I would not live with my mom and dad forever, and I remember that I was sort of upset by the idea, but Kate was largely unfazed. I thought she was done thinking about it all together until she stopped me while I was singing to her before bed and told me to put my hand on her tummy and feel how many babies she has in there. Evidently there are three of them and one of them will be born soon but the others need to stay in a while longer. I'll keep you posted.

Kate's preschool, in their ongoing commitment to celebrating every holiday on the calendar with great enthusiasm, hosted a Mother's Day program and ice cream social on Thursday, and it was pretty adorable. Kate's age group sang "I'm a Little Tea Pot" and I am so, so sorry to say that I did not get video of it because I was laughing too hard at Kate's dramatic version of the hand gestures to get in position. I thought she was going to knock the kid next to her down with her teapot impersonation. They also had the kids answer some questions about their moms and they gave us a laminated piece of art work with their answers on it after the program. Kate's answers about me made me laugh.

My mom's name is: Haley
My mom is three years old.
My mom's favorite food is: mac and cheese.
My mom always tells me to: eat my dinner (So true. I could write an entire post about how much time I spend telling Kate to eat her dinner, but I won't.)
My mom's favorite thing to do is: To go to Shamu. (Can you tell someone recently went to Sea World for the first time?)
My favorite thing about my mom is: She loves to play with me and take me to Shamu.

Kate's Shamu fixation continues, almost three weeks after our trip to Sea World. Mondays are usually a day when we stay home and I catch up on laundry and house stuff after the weekend. Last Monday I came into my bedroom to find Kate wearing her swimsuit and arranging every single pillow from my bed and hers into a big square on the floor. This, she announced to me, was her Shamu pool. She got a stuffed Shamu toy at Sea World and she spent most of the morning having it do tricks in the pillow pool, which required her to jump back and forth from pillow to pillow. Isaac got in on the fun by lying on the pillows and kicking his feet. This game is hard on the pillows, but I have to give them points for creativity.

The other thing Kate saw recently that made a big impression on her was (I know you are going to be shocked): The Royal Wedding. Oh my goodness. I am not sure if it could possibly have been any more fascinating to her. It was just icing on the cake that the bride's name was actually Kate. That Friday I was cooking a bunch of food for a family get together the next day, so after Kate's nap I pulled up footage of the wedding on You Tube and put the computer on the table so Kate could watch it while I was chopping vegetables. She sat at the table for an hour and a half, mesmerized, through all that music and talking and ceremony. It was actually kind of educational, since we got to talk about who the Queen is and what the big church was and why it was a big deal for the Prince to get married. I wasn't quite sure how to explain the British fixation with giant hats, but Kate thought they were great. I really enjoyed all the music and was surprised by the highly religious nature of the ceremony. It's just unusual to hear the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost invoked repeatedly on anything being broadcast around the world. I kept sort of doing a double take at the screen and thinking "Wow. That was true, what that guy just said about marriage." Let's hope the happy couple were listening. Playing wedding is a big pastime for Kate already, but after the royal wedding, she has added a couple of features to her game. Specifically she now needs someone to carry her train ala Pippa Middleton, and she climbs into a carriage after the wedding is over. Dan is in so much trouble when this child does get married.

And now the Princess herself is waking up, so I need to go. It's Monday. Happy Shamu Day to all of you!