Catching up!

As promised, here are the stories I've been meaning to tell you.

1. The bagina story:
We give Katie a bath most nights before bed and she has noticed certain parts of her lovely body and we're trying to make a point to be very open about naming things (I'm going to avoid naming them directly here, only because of internet searches etc). So we tell her "That's your V____a" and she says "Bagina!". We're very pleased. And night after night it's the same thing. After about a week (ok, maybe only a few days, but it feels like a week) she's hanging out down there quite a bit and, so as not to make her other body parts feel neglected, I say casually "V____a's are nice, but we don't have to touch them all the time". And she moves on. The next night, she's playing in the tub and starts to touch her body and says "Bagina!...NO TOUCH!" really loudly and covers herself with her hands. Hmm. Not quite the reaction I'd intended.
(Really, this is funnier when told in person but I'm sure you can imagine!)

2. Bob Marley
Another bathtime story...we were bathing Katie and Ben starts singing a Bob Marley song, "Jammin". And all of the sudden, at the right part in the song, Katie says "Hope like jammin too!" Turns out Ben and Katie had been singing to this in the car earlier that day and Katie remembered it. So cute!

3. Veggie strike
Our perfect eater has started showing signs of resistance. A girl who downed all food as fast as she can is starting to get pickier. Zucchini ("Cchini") which she used to love...she won't touch. Broccoli, onions, anything resembling a vegetable...well, with the exception of cooked tomatoes, squash and corn. (she cannot get enough of Corn!) Ben was trying to give her some zucchini with sour cream on it (she loved it on the potatoes) and she took the zucchini, sucked off all the sour cream, spit out the remaining veg and says "Yucky!". Oh my. Let's cross out fingers that this is a short phase yes?

4. Arms up
The other week, I think while we were at the museeum, Katie discovered a new skill. If I want to pick her up when she's doesn't want to be picked up...she just holds her arms way up all of a sudden, so I have trouble getting a grip under her armpits. If you've ever tried holding something and had the edges you were holding onto (say, on a cardboard box for example) fall apart...that's pretty much what it was like. Of course, now I know it's coming and it's easier to keep a grip. She's really starting to get a sense of what she wants.

5. General language phrases
I don't know where to begin to talk about her language...it's amazing. The other day she said to Ben, out of the blue "Leaves fall off trees". It's that kind of thing...where she can string together a couple of words to make an acceptable sentence. Also when she says things unprompted in general...it's hard to understand because sometimes the words of out of context...she was saying "Mother Goose" the other day and if I hadn't looked at a Mother Goose book with her at Papa's, I wouldn't have been able to figure out what she was saying. Most of the time when we can't understand her, it's just that we don't know what she's referring too...not that she's not saying the correct thing. It's interesting.

6. Standing in crib
With the new standing up skill she's had trouble getting to sleep for about a week or so she's been crying some time after we put her to bed because she's stood up in her crib and can't figure out quite hwo to get down. It's very cute...we go in, move her down and say lie down and she repeats it,"Lie Down" all sleepy like goes to bed after that. (Though really, now that I finally got around to writing this, she's been ok for about a week now)

7. Oh my goodness I'm sure there's more...later!
More? What else...well, she has started walking along while holding somthing...her crib, the couch...and I've tried to walk her and just hold one hand...but after a couple of steps she loses her balance and usually falls slowly to her knees. She does (I'm a few weeks late reporting this) have officially 12 teeth now...the four in the middle top and bottom and another 2 on each top and bottom of the left (her left) side of her mouth. The one molar is definitely in. And I can see that other teeth are slowly coming up on her right side too.

Phew...how long was this update?? I have some pictures of what we've been up to this week...pajama party with the twins and lots of outdoor playtime given the summer-like weather we've been having lately, but I think I'll save those for later.

To keep things interesting (and visual) here's a couple of video's I've been meaning to share (taken mid-September):
Katie playing with some tupperware.

Katie hugging Giraffe.

A short one of Katie telling me to let go of the camera.

Ok...and here's another one for you...(added after I originally posted), taken while at a nearby park earlier this week.