Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Happy 2009!
How did we spend our New Year's Eve? Ben and I have a tradition of having very low key NYEs...this year wasn't too much of an exception. We just stayed home and relaxed. We didn't make it up until midnight either, but that's normal for us!

Katie seems to be showing her wild side and wanting a more exciting New Years. I took videos, but accidentally deleted them (I won't tell you what I said when I did this, only that I'm really glad she chose not to learn that word!)...so, what you see below is merely a reenactment:

Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.

K from BabyLuch on Vimeo.
It was the best walking she'd done to date and we were all pretty excited. Since then she's practiced quite a bit. The most exciting thing for me, is how she initiates it...controls her own balance and chooses when she wants to walk. Such a powerful taste of independence I would imagine! Katie walked like that for a good half hour this morning...back and forth and back and forth. Afterward, she had some well deserved pear for a snack.
And in other news...

It's crazy cold today...we're not leaving the house unless we have to. (really?...what else is new?)

Ben and I have spent some time the past couple of days prepping some baby food for freezing. (that is food for when the new baby arrives, not food FOR the new baby!)(we made burritos and chicken cheddar salsas, yum!)

I made some play dough the other day, just to try it out and see if Katie would enjoy playing with it...pretending to bake cookies etc. It was fun though there was a lot of enjoyment that came simply from squishing the dough. We used cookie cutters, a rolling pin and a garlic press to make fun shapes.
Katie's had a lovely string of nights completely sleeping through and having 2-3 hour afternoon naps. We were worried when she had three days without an afternoon nap (Dec 25, 26 and 27th) but now we're pretty sure it was Christmas excitement. And the for the month of so before that with her having a cold etc, she was waking up a bit more than usual at night. Now it seems we're back on track.

We had New Years Day dinner at Gram and Papa's. After dinner, while the adults were chatting, Katie sat in her desk (her high chair converts to a desk...the coolest high chair ever!) and played "casino" with a tiny pack of playing cards that came in the Christmas Crackers...all of the sudden we heard her counting..."One...Two...Three..." all the way to 11...It's always neat to hear her spontaneously do thing like that that apply her knowledge.
Yesterday we had a great dinner out with Jon and Shelley and Baby L. It was nice to get together with the kids and visit. Baby L slept through most of it (he's 2.5 months) and Katie behaved very well. She played with crayons, a train we brought and walked around the restaurant a few times.
I've also had a great time the past few evenings knitting a scarf with some yarn that Grandpa Ken picked out for me for Christmas...it's the most gorgeous, easy, fun scarf I've ever knit. I'll be sure to show it off when it's done.

Holidays are so great. Sad to think it's Saturday and Ben goes back to work on Monday. Hope you are enjoying what's left of your holiday just like we are!

PS...I apologize for not fixing the red eyes in the photos (or doing any editing on the videos)...I'm supposed to do more of that now that I have my awesome new laptop, but sometime, I'd rather just blog and get it done a little faster...I'll try and be better about that in the future because, really, not much wrecks a good picture like some red eye! =)