What a day...!

Today was a LONG day Katie-wise.

She had woken up a couple of times at night, which is no big deal really. By 5 minutes to 6am I heard her again and when I went in and checked I got the sense there was no going back to bed. But still wanted a little more snooze time. So I changed her diaper quickly (during which she cried because she was still tired I think) and took her to our bed where we cuddled. Oh what a nice 10 minutes that was. =) (there's some sarcasm there because 10 minutes when you're hoping for 30 is not very long)

She started to perk up and chat so we turned on the lights and played in the bed for another 15 min and then it was clear it was time for breakfast. Cheerios and milk. Yum!

After that (during which she wasn't quite entirely happy) we (apparently) HAD to read some books. These are the library books we got just yesterday. But the reading was like "Night Night Baby" (specific book request by Katie)...turn one page."Nooo" (we're done with that book now). And so on. All 10 books or so went like this. And there was some crying. And one book in particular, which has the song "Hush little baby don't say a word, mama's going to buy you a ..." (etc) which for some reason made her big lower lip quiver and she'd just start bawling more. It was so weird.

Most of this time dad was getting ready for work and still had the time and smarts to come up with the brilliant idea that maybe she was still hungry and Cheerios wasn't enough. (we've just really transitioned to cheerios as breakfast and are learning how much is enough, or what else should we serve with it etc) So we made her some toast and PB and that seemed to cheer her up a bit.

By this time it was obvious we were going to drive dad to work, for time reasons. She was still a crankypants but at least it was a bit of a distraction.

The day did get better...we had a play date with Megan and D at an indoor playground. We had a lunch at home which she seemed to enjoy eating. We had a good long (2 hour) nap followed by another playdate with Joanne and the girls.

This evening she was just a JOY...she was crawling around all over Ben as he layed down on her big bed. She giggled as he tickled her toes. She helped do some laundry...she listened to a couple of books and had a fun bath and went to bed so easily. Such a different baby.

I thought if the whole day went as did the morning I was going to go crazy. Thanks to friends and getting out and just trusting in my girl that this was minor and temporary things are much better now. I did also happen to stick a finger in her mouth at some point (yes I still do this randomly) and I suspect that perhaps all this was caused by an incoming molar. I would LOVE it if this was the case...for a minute there I thought we were getting into crazy toddler territory.

Oh, you want pictures? Here:
Katie's idea of cheese and crackers (yesterday afternoon's snack)...eat all the cheese, then eat the crackers.

On the way home from the library last night, reading a book in the car. (I swear this photo isn't staged...she insisted on taking the book home and reading it on the way home...what a good daughter of mine!)
And...what do crazy tired moms do while baby's nap? Make tiny baby socks (for a friend's new baby...will post more after we've chatted and ok'd the blog announcement)...so cute and one whole sock was done in a single nap. I may knit baby socks forever. =)Hope you had a great day...and have sweet dreams just like Katie is right now. =)

Another weekend

Hello! Weekend was lovely and busy...Saturday Ben and his dad worked on the basement and Katie and I worked on what I'm hoping will turn out to be an adorable Halloween costume. (well, more than hope it's adorable, I really just hope it's recognizable!)

Last week sometime Katie played with bubbles while I was doing dishes. She had lots of fun until I took the bubbles away after she started eating them. "No Eat Bubbles!"
While we were at Gram and Papa's on Saturday, Katie played with her new cobblers bench. She'll be knocking up drywall before you know it!
And she also helped Gram bake a pumpkin pie for Sunday dinner. (and now that it's Monday I can tell you it was delicious pie!)Sunday Ben requested French toast for breakfast...it was very yummy. Katie definitely enjoyed.
Sunday afternoon it was quite chilly but gorgeous and sunny, so, with seat belts newly installed on our "steal of a deal" second hand wagon, Katie and I went to the park.
Wee! The park turned out to be quite wet (I think just melting frost...it was SO frosty this morning!) and boy...I can see now why people make kids wear "play" clothes. I always thought this was a kind of prissy thing to do, but when your kid crawls around in damp sand and you cringe and worry about the pant knees (on second hand track pants...not even special "favorite" pants)...I'll admit, I get the play clothes thing now. Or I need maybe I just need to get a walking girl. Something.
Sunday we had the dinner at Papa's and Gram's...Turkey (again) because Gram loves to cook her own and have leftovers and turkey soup I think! Katie tested the whipping cream for pie:...Notice the post dinner belly...and it passed inspection, along with the pie itself.
Hmm...I think I mis-ordered some pictures here...and I hear Katie (not) napping...so I'll wrap it up anyway...Sunday morning Katie and I went shopping because though we had a mattress set up and the bedroom mostly cleared of toys, we didn't have sheets! We found some excellent Eric Carle sheets...Yay! We love lots of his books and usually pick up one at the library.
We tried putting her down to nap Sunday afternoon on the big girl bed...but the sheets were too much fun! She kept crawling around adn saying "Giraffe! Hi Hippo! Hi Lephant! Turkey! (I think she meant Parrot) Peacock!"She pretended to sleep but none was had. I'll have to put the plain sheets on and see if that's any better. And perhaps, once we get the last few things childproofed in her room we'll try nighttime sleep anf then try napping. We'll see.

So, we're still napping in the crib and this morning, I put Katie in the crib for a bit since she was kind of hyper/tired/whiny/cranky...she didn't nap, but when I went in a half hour later...
...this girl was clearly ready to get out of her PJ's and into the real world. (so off to Costco we went!).

Anyway...nto sure if she's sleeping or not so I'm off to check...have a good Monday!

A few words...

My favorite things that Katie is currently saying:

"AhNeedYuhHelp": Said really fast, means "I need your help". Sometimes she also says "AhNeedKatieHelp" as in "Katie needs your help". Also sometimes we say this when we don't need help. Katie doesn't need help standing up or drinking milk from her cup, but sometimes, she just doesn't want to do it by herself. That's ok I think...it's nice when we help each other out isn't it, even when we're all grown up? (Thanks for cooking dinner Ben!)

"Play With": When she wants to play with a specific something. Sometimes followed by the name of whatever she wants to play with. (Example, this morning it was "Play with phone") If not, be very prepared to scour the room to find what she wants because tears may soon follow.

"WhereIsIt": A game Auntie Andrea taught her last night, when we had dinner at Papa and Gram's (to celebrate Uncle Jerry's Bday...Happy Birthday!). We hide something, behind us or Katie and say "Where is it?" and Katie says it too and then we find it. She even started hiding things too a bit while we play. Very fun.

"RainbowBriteDoll": Did I mention that she'd found my old Rainbow Brite doll the other day? We had it in a box in her closet and she dug around (during "Independent Play Time" aka "Mom's busy in the kitchen, go play in your room")( of course I pop my head in every minute or so, don't you worry!) and found it and really enjoys playing with her. When we got in the car this morning she realized she forgot the doll and Cried and Cried...enough that we had to run back in the house quick and get it. I think Giraffe has some competition (or maybe he just needs a bath?). She talked to the doll most of the car ride to Papa's.

"Twinkle": This one, obviously means "Twinkle...little star"...but when she said it (because it's not really pronounced right) as I was holding her to say goodnight, I honestly could NOT figure out what she was saying. She kept repeating it and then finally started singing to herself "How wondeh what yoo are..."

Katie was quite hyper and over-tired this evening. The Papa Report said that she didn't nap this afternoon because she was being "Super Active Girl" (Supergirl's little sister?) and learning to crawl on to their couch...By Herself... and being generally super busy. She slept the whole ride to pick me up and the whole drive back to Papa's to drop him off and the whole ride home. Luckily a little pasta for dinner perked her up and some reading and a bath calmed her down before bed and she's been asleep for a good half hour. Sweet.

Also, almost forgot! The appointment yesterday with the Pediatrician went very well. She's good and healthy and a good size. (28.5 pounds and I didn't get the height) Turns out she's big enough that we should be moving her out of her crib so she can't fall out (shoulders above the sides of the crib) so we've got big plans in the next few days to rearrange her room and get a mattress on the floor for her. Lets cross everything and hope this is a quick and painless transition! We'll let you know, of course. =)

Hope you have a good sleep, just like Katie!

Thanksgiving!

Happy (post)Thanksgiving everyone!

Yesterday was a holiday and we celebrated by going swimming just the three of us. We had lots of fun...haven't gone swimming as often lately and it was a nice reminder that we should go more often. We had a lovely weekend with a birthday party, 2 turkey dinners and a brunch...and had camnesia for most of it. ('scuse the silly link full of ads...another link I found had a different definition that most definitely did NOT apply).

Luckily I have plenty of photos from the week before. We took another trip to the park...like animals who gorge on food before hibernating for winter, we're wanting to get as many trips to the park while the weather is nice. Katie took one look at the slide and said "No!"...she was not having any of that.
We reorganized her toy boxes, putting blocks and stackables all in one and other toys in another. I think she did play more with the toys as they were easier to find what she wanted. She had so much fun, she got crawled right in there. These pretty IKEA boxes won't last too much longer if we keep this up, but oh well! Worth it for the entertainment value (hers and ours!).
Last weekendwe went to Auntie Andrea's and Uncle Sheldon's for an Open House type party. Lots of family was there and Katie was delighted when the other "KIDS" arrived. (she says it capitalized just like that you know...!) My cousin's kids A and V were looking adorable and well-behaved as always.
They seem to enjoy each other's company. When I tried for a photoshoot it was pretty hard to get all three looking at the same time. Crazy kids!
This week Katie and I went on a fun trip to IKEA...and ran close to lunchtime, so I decided last minute to eat there too...and it was great. There was yummy pasta(with zucchini that she didn't notice in the sauce!) and quiche that she and I shared and some milk too.
We also had a playdate with all three friends at once! D and the girls, C and G. It was a little bit chaotic, but they all got along fairly well and had a good time.Last week we were also lucky to have visitors for dinner one night...Great Uncle Laurie and Great Auntie Elaine. They brought their guitar and played songs for Katie...she was so excited! Ben and I were inspired too and have been singing more songs with Katie this week, since we all enjoyed it that evening. Bring on the music! (And in other music news...a brag moment here...Katie can almost sing the whole Twinkle Twinkle Little Star song...some words are completely unclear but every phrase is there. We often prompt her line by line, but I have caught her saying the words by herself too!)I found some rogue pictures on my camera...from Papa's..apparently Katie likes to try on shoes over at their house too! This past long weekend, we went to the twins's 2 year birthday party (Happy Birthday Girls!). There were lots of kids around. Katie loved that. It did turn out that she was somewhat terrified of the balloons though, and we ended up sticking to the playroom with regular toys while the balloons were "Over There". There were two lovely cakes...one Jo Anne baked in the shape of a barn...so cute! All the kids sat around the table and ate cake...it was so cute. Katie left this party with an enhanced vocabulary...she said "Happy Birthday Cake" all the way home!That evening Katie was walking around in her boots...she loves those boots. I think she'd been really hot so we took off the dress she'd been wearing. I was counting on the boots keeping her warm. As I mentioned I completely forgot to take pictures while we had brunch at Grandpa Ken and Grandma Cheryl's on Sunday, but rest assured it was lovely. GG Lill was there and Great Uncle Mickey too.

Dinner Sunday was at my cousins place and they have a gorgeous puppy that Katie fell in love with. I think the love went both ways.
She completely tired herself out while practicing her stairs...She must have gone up and down a million times. Carpet was nice and soft compared with the lino on our stairs. She's really a master of stairs now. We had dinner last night at Great Auntie Gail's. Katie discovered that she LOVES cranberries (sauce). She kept asking for more. And though they have a bit of sugar in them...cranberries are full of antioxidants, right? And if they helped her eat every other veg on her plate why not? (we may have to keep cranberries on hand now!).

Really we had just the best weekend! It's always nice to see family and show Katie off. Seeing her interact with others is neat. At my cousin's dinner Sunday night, there must have been over 30 people there and Katie just crawled around and looked at everybody...not letting strange people pick her up or anything, but still looking like she enjoyed being around all the people.

Katie helped me vote this morning (cross fingers) and I gave her a bath since with the busy weekend it'd been a few days. And we have her appointment with the pediatrician this afternoon, for her 18 month check-up. (she's not officially 18 months old, you didn't miss anything...but she will be on the 26th!) Looking forward to hearing his thoughts on her growth and talking about some minor questions we have.

Almost forgot...Katie's been saying some ABC's lately...just starts saying them...though her alphabet goes something like this "ABCDEFGFGFGFGFGFGFGLMPW" and that's about it. I think it's a great start, don't you? =)

Happy Tuesday (and go vote if you haven't already)!

More Parks...and More

Well, I've written lots on the blog lately but have been a little lazy with pictures. So today you get lots of pictures and (I'll try) few words.

Katie's been working on her colouring again...getting better. Purple appears to be the favorite.
Grandpa stopped by last week. Katie enjoyed a cuddle with "Gwampa".
The weather last week was beyond spectacular...records broken I believe. So Katie and I went for a walk.
This lovely green field is the park they've been reconstructing to be a dry-pond for ages...you may remember previous pictures of the construction. They're not done yet, but the results so far are awesome!
After a bit of walking Katie insisted on getting out. I tried to get her to walk while "pushing" the Chariot, but she much prefers wearing out the knees on her pants. (and don't even ask why she won't crawl on the grass...I'd prefer grass stains to holes...we're tried, she won't go for it.)

As a reward for getting back in the Chariot (aka bribe) we stopped by the park on the way home.She loves crawling in and out and through these tunnels.The next evening, it was still gorgeous so the three of us went to a new park nearby. They had these cool saucer swings which we like.You may recognize the park from the video in the previous post. As well as "walking", she really enjoyed the "Big Steps!"Up and Down!The park also had a neat rubber bridge. (a style I've not seen before)Last week we were also lucky enough to meet up with Those _______ Girls for a spur of the moment pajama party (we mom's decided on a coffee date early and didn't bother getting the girls all dressed up). G and Katie sat together and read books.And all three girls had fun in the playroom.Later that day it was so warm that we wore a dress (could be a while before we can do that again!) but Katie insisted on wearing her boots as well. A "transitional outfit" shall we call it?Otherwise Katie has been great...had a bit of a cold near the end of last week and the weekend but has handled it well and still managed to sleep through most nights.

Grandma Cheryl was away for a few days visiting Auntie Alli, Uncle Shannon and Great Auntie Lori and brought back some treats for Katie. From Auntie Alli and Uncle Shannon...a bunch of great books, including her knew favorite "Clifford's Hiccups"...she loves it and asks for it by name. You should hear her say "Clifford"...so cute. I'll get it on video this week. And from Auntie Lori...some Tinkerbell wings...Katie doesn't know it yet, but I tested them out: And I think they are great!

Have a great day! (sorry...this was much wordier than I had intended...it's hard to post a picture without explaining it!)

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.

So Sad

I'm so sad right now...we just took a dozen board books back to the library this morning. What a good batch they were...I almost want to go out a buy a few of them, but the point is to return them isn't it?

A moment of silence as we say goodbye to our favorite books of the past three weekst:

10 Rubber Ducks (Eric Carle)(this one is long, doesn't rhyme and we didn't like it in the beginning, but eventually it became the favorite!)

Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs (Sandra Boynton)

Mommy Hugs (who doesn't like mommy hugs?)

Daddy Cuddles (see previous comment but insert "daddy cuddles")

Silverly/Goodnight Goodnight (somehow this one got read to the tune of "Jingle Bell Rock")

I'm a Little Teapot (which adds the extra line to the traditional lyrics: "Party Time!")

Corduroy Goes to the Dr. (we've enjoyed a number of follow up books to the original Corduroy, which we do own)

There are a few others...as I said we did return a dozen and she enjoyed most of them. Let's hope that, although Katie has memorized most of the words and specifically requests these books when we sit down to read, she forgets entirely that they existed and remains happy with her personal library.

(PS...this is not a plea for gifts...we have many books and just have to go during open hours (today? tomorrow?) to get a dozen more...we're just going to miss this batch in particular)

I'll try and post more later about some of the topics I teased you about last week...just had to share this first. Happy Monday morning!