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Katherine went to a new Mother’s Day Out this week. Actually it is an in home day care that a friend uses. This wonderful lady is a mother of 4 and watches my friends son every day. She is adding Katherine one or two days a week.

Ms Lori is great. I have no idea how she can have all of her kids and 2 others actively engaged in educational activities or constructive play, feed them all wonderfully nutritious meals and have a spotless house. I fail miserably in all of those areas with only one child.

Ms. Lori said that Katherine had a great day. She had a fun time with her daughters playing with dolls. She also loved to color and made this cute craft. The scanned copy is hard to see but Katherine colored the sun, dirt and grass. The cow and pig are her hands.

I was really proud when she said she had never seen a toddler who knew so much sign language. There were a few times that they were pulling out their sign book to see what Katherine was saying.

The whole group (almost) ready for our first hike

 

Finally I am posting about our trip to Colorado with our church. This has been a very busy week for us.

Our trip was great. Our family really needed a vacation after a very hectic June. We flew to Colorado Springs which was so much easier with Katherine than driving. The week was full of a lot of free time to relax which was great. We spent some time doing activities like hiking and other times we just hung out at the lodge. It was an especially great vacation to take a toddler because there were times when there was childcare provided and times when she could take a nap.

Most of the group went on an “acclimation hike” that was pretty easy and designed to get us used to the altitude before we took more difficult hikes later in the week.  

Most of the group went on an “acclimation hike” that was pretty easy and designed to get us used to the altitude before we took more difficult hikes later in the week.  

Katherine “hiked” in the backpack. She has the hat on in this picture but it was off most of the time. All week we were trying to make sure she did not get a sunburn. She liked the back pack until we stopped at the stream. We let her out and she walked around.  

Katherine “hiked” in the backpack. She has the hat on in this picture but it was off most of the time. All week we were trying to make sure she did not get a sunburn. She liked the back pack until we stopped at the stream. We let her out and she walked around.  

 

For the 4th of July we went into Westcliff to see the parade. It was quite comical and yet refreshing. Pretty much anyone could be in the 15 minute parade. We saw the American Legion, the Purple Heart recipient, a few tractors, some horses and llamas, some kids twirling batons, etc. Katherine did enjoy it and waved to the pony. 

Much to Sam’s delight there was also a car show going on. It was surprisingly very good with a large number and variety of old cars. He was in heaven and probably took about 80 pictures of cars. There were at least 25 pictures of the truck that was exactly like ours except for it is finished! 

Much to Sam’s delight there was also a car show going on. It was surprisingly very good with a large number and variety of old cars. He was in heaven and probably took about 80 pictures of cars. There were at least 25 pictures of the truck that was exactly like ours except for it is finished! 

Katherine got tired after the parade and walking around at the car show and she fell asleep. She could not be comfortable in there. As it goes with toddlers, she thought that 20 minute nap was all she needed for the day.  

We had a bit of a camera fiasco on this trip. Our new DSLR has been acting up. I took it to two camera shops and called Nikon. I thought I had it working again but when we were at camp, it would only take pictures about 50% of the time. I had already decided to return it to be repaired under warranty when the lens broke off! Very frustrating because now it was working 0% of the time. We had a smaller camera as well, but the LCD screen on that was always white and that was the only way to see what you were taking a picture of. Luckily our good friends Jen and Richard had 3 or 4 cameras with them so they let us borrow one for the rest of the trip. The lens that was available was a single focus 55 mm lens so we had no zoom but it had a much lower fstop capability than my camera so I was able to take some different pictures. All of the rest of the pictures were with their camera.

 

We went to a nature hike that ended up being an outdoor education time where we learned about fossils. Katherine did not care too much about the fossils but did love collecting the rocks.

The camp has a pony named Glory that is great for the kids. Katherine had her first horseback ride.  

 

She enjoyed “hiking” around. I was really amazed at how far she could walk and how well she did on the uneven terrain.

 

One day a large group of us went to Bishop’s Castle. It was pretty crazy. One man has been building this castle using all of his free time and extra money since 1969. Anyone who met him while there would hear him explain how the entire thing was built “with my own two hands.” I admire someone who has such a passion for something that they devote all of their resources to it yet I pity him because he has chosen such a worthless pursuit.

 

We were really glad that we had Katherine strapped to Sam’s back. The place was very dangerous. There were balconies with no railings, windows several stories up with no railing, a bridge that went nowhere but dangled over nothing. We will not take Katherine back until she is old enough to not wander off.

 

Don’t you love men who wear their daughters on their back for the day? What great dads you guys are.

 

On the last day a large group of us went to the Royal Gorge. I have been there before but we only went to the edge and looked over. This time we paid to enter the park and do all of the fun things. I was not sure if it would be worth it but it was a lot of fun. They had a carousel, inclined railway, aerial tram, petting zoo, western town and movie. 

 

Katherine actually was not too fond of the carousel. She kept shaking her head no and signing “all done” and grabbing on to mom for dear life.

 

 

Katherine was not scared at all. She walked all the way across the bridge by herself. It was a quarter mile long. She loved to look over the edge at the “waaa” (Water).  

 

Mommy and Daddy were a little nervous. I knew that there was no way for her to fall but being 1530 feet above the river was a little scary, especially when there would be a larger 2-3″ crack in the boards and you could see down to the ground.

 

It was hot and Katherine fell asleep. Again, the mid day map in the carrier ruined the rest of the day. She did not take a nap later and had a hard time getting to sleep for the night.

 

  

It was a great vacation. Our family was able to reconnect after a very busy and stressful month. Katherine really enjoyed spending so much time with her mommy and daddy. In fact, this week she changed from calling us mama and dada to mommy and daddy. I love the way that sounds.

Also, there are more pictures posted in my google album. Just click on any of the pictures (except the large group shot) and it should take you to the album.

JG turned 2 last week. We were supposed to have a swimming party but due to the monsoon season here in Dallas it was moved indoors. 

 

JG’s mom was 9 months pregnant so we had a low key party of playing at the house followed by cupcakes.  

 

Katherine loved the cupcakes as that is something she normally does not get to eat.  

 

By the way, Congratulations to Amy, Jesse and JG. Ava Grace was born today. She is a beauty.

Katherine enjoys her weekly playdate with Hannah. Katherine’s mommy and Hannah’s mommy enjoy having some time without a toddler every other week.

Hannah has longer hair than Katherine so she always comes over with some cute clip or bow. Somewhere along the way she lost it. So, I decided to put her hair in pigtails (2 hairs as mentioned previously). Then Katherine had to have pigtails as well. I thought the girls were pretty cute. They look so grown up with pigtails.

I am a little behind on my monthly post. Sorry there are not more pics. I don’t really have any that I have not already used on the blog. Katherine turned 16 months last week while we were out of town. Have I said before how much fun Katherine is and that this is the most fun age ever? I feel like a broken record still.

There are again just so many fun things that You is doing. I really want to document them all but it is so hard to take the time to do just that. So here are some of those memories that I don’t want to forget.

Katherine, you are continuing to grow more expressive. You are “talking” all the time. Sometimes we can make out words and other times we are sure you are speaking another language fluently. The cutest is when you says “wheeeeee”. You say this when something is fun or exciting. You are also producing a lot more signs. It took awhile for you to start signing but now you are really catching on. The other day you actually signed “more, please”. I have not been working on “please” yet. I figure that just signing “more” is a lot more polite than grunting. You haev also also learned that signing “please” is a quick way to get what you want. You currently sign more, milk, eat, all done/finished, please, thank you, no, hi, hat, bird, duck, frog, dog, bath, phone, sleep/tired, baby, and dirty. You will also copy a lot of other signs but not produce them on your own at the right time. You have started to shake your head yes and no a lot though I am not certain you always say what you mean. Usually if I ask you a question you shake your head no and yet sometimes really mean yes. It is funny and a little frustrating though when you do express when you do not want something. Like tonight I said, “are you ready to go to bed” and you shook her head no.

You are starting to learn to identify more things. You currently can point to your nose, ears, mouth, teeth, tongue, eyes, toes and belly button. Your belly button is your favorite and it is really cute when you lift up your shirt and look down to touch your belly button. You get frustrated when you are in a onesie and can’t lift up your shirt. It is a little akward when you try to find someone else’s belly button because you try to lift up their shirt. The other morning I asked you to find daddy’s belly button while he was still in bed. You lifted up his shirt and were a little confused by the hairy belly (and Sam is not really a hairy guy at all). You shook her head no and put his shirt back over his belly button.

You are also starting to identify animal sounds. It is not something I consiously have been working on but I guess I have been saying animal sounds. The other day I handed you the Little People polar bear and you said, “grrrr”. When I opened a book to a page with a cow, you said “mooooo”. You have already been imitating dogs by saying “woooooffff”. It is pretty cute.

The other day Sam was on the patio firing up the grill. I was in the kitchen with you. I asked, “where’s daddy?” You walked into the den and I thought you were going to the door to the patio. You returned to the kitchen saying, “dada dada” and you were carrying your “Who Loves Baby” photo album, opened to the picture of daddy. I thought that was pretty smart.

Katherine, you have a new favorite toy, a teddy bear that has all kinds of things you learn to do like zip, velcro, button, snap, etc. Your face lights up when you see it and you carry it around a lot. You are also starting to participate in more imaginative, pretend play. When eating a snack, you try to feed your dolls and animals. When we were at a friends house where there was a great toy kitchen, you had a ball cooking and playing with the baby in the high chair. You also LOVE to read your books. As a teacher, this could not make me happier.

We are still working on eating more. Your new favorite food is blueberries. You would eat them all the time if I let you. They do funny things to a diaper though. So much that we are actually in disposable diapers until the issues is resolved. You are trying to feed yourself more and love to dip things. You love to dip crackers into hummus but you try to lick the hummus off and stick the same cracker back in the dip. You are a double dipper! I tried to give you your own bowl but noooooo, you wanted to dip into mommy’s bowl. You still does not like to eat meat so we are still having to feed you babyfood to get meat in you. When I have time, I make my own casseroles so that the meat will be a little chunkier. I am really ready to stop buying special food for you. I guess I can stop and just force you to eat what we are eating but I’m just not willing to let you go hungry.

I am still nursing you. Some days I really loved it and other days I am ready to give it up cold turkey. Now that you signs “milk” well, you do it almost every time I pick you up. I also notice that you sign “milk” if it has been awhile since you hve had some quality time with mama. So, usually when you sign “milk” I try to sit and read a book or play rather than feed you.

It is really fun to see you following directions. If I ask you to go get a book or shoes or sit down, you will follow directions and do it. I know you understand so much more than we give you credit for. Just your ability to understand what we are saying and then to communicate back to us is so amazing.  

You love to play, especially if it is outside. I think if you were outside all day long you would be so happy. You really are a good climber which makes me nervous. You are not afraid of stairs and are actually pretty good at them. I just get so scared that you will lose your balance and fall.

You are really starting to test boundaries and experiment with disobedience. I do not like this part of parenting! I want my sweet little girl to always obey and be perfect but I know that you have a sin nature and will disobey. I pray with your daddy about how we can most effectively and fairly discipline you. It is not fun! The common offenses are throwing food off the highchair, trying to get off the diaper changing table, trying to get out of your stroller, not holding mommy’s hand when we are walking and throwing a fit when you do not get your way.

You are finally becomming a better sleeper. You are napping better during the day though it is still not at the same time every day. You also go to sleep at night with very little fussing. Due to traveling and teething, you have been waking up in the middle of the night again. Mom has not been getting enough sleep and has been so busy so I have been lazy in trying to train you to sleep through the night again. It is so much easier to just nurse you. When we return from our last vacation this summer I am going to work on that again.

Katherine has been attending Mothers Day Out since January. It took her a little while to adjust to being away from mommy for 5 hours but she does great now. She had been in the youngest room with Ms. Peggy, a sweet grandmother who was so great. One challenge at MDO is getting Katherine to nap. The only way that Ms. Peggy could get her to nap was to rock her for about 20-30 minutes until she fell asleep and then put her in the swing. I could not believe it because we gave our swing back to the friend who let us borrow it about 8 months ago.

Katherine is practicing (not) sleeping on her nap mat.

At the beginning of June she moved up to the Toddler 1 class. In this new class they take naps on NAPMATS! You have got to be kidding! I have a hard time getting Katherine to take a nap in her crib, Ms. Peggy has to rock her and put her in a swing and now she is supposed to sleep on a napmat. I laughed at the suggestion.

So, we went to get a napmat. We practiced at home. She would lay on it all of 2 minutes if I was laying right beside her. So, last week was the test, would she sleep on the napmat? They tell me that they all eventually do.

NOT KATHERINE!

Apparently when they put the mat on the floor she starts screaming. She knows that means she has to take a nap and she is not interested. The first week they pulled the swing in from the baby room and she did take a 45 minute nap. Every other kid fell asleep on their nap mat on the first week. Hmmm, I think I have a stubborn one. This week they pulled in the swing and she took a 10 minute nap and then just talked to herself the rest of the time. The teacher commented that Katherine talks more than any other toddler she has had (she was worked there for over 10 years). She said it sounded like she was speaking another language with all the correct intonations and expressions. Thats my girl!

In the toddler room they do color. Each week her picture has been neatly labeled with her name and put in her bag. Either they only have red crayons or that is Katherine’s favorite color.

Today alone there were so many funny things that Katherine did. While cooking dinner, she was in her box. I have to be careful because she can reach things on the counter. She grabbed the plastic cutting board and held it so that Hooligan was licking it. She thought it was hilarious. Later tonight, she crawled up onto Hooligan’s bed with her so that she could pet her dog. She laughed when Hooligan was licking her fingers.

Tonight for dinner we had omlets and waffles. Katherine was sitting on my lap (due to previous tantrum) and she discovered dipping her super healthy, organic, whole grain waffle in SYRUP! When she did, her reaction was hilarious. She squealed and almost started dancing. I hate to tell her that it will not be a regular part of her diet.

Her antics are so funny. She has started making a fish face. I don’t know where she learned that. She loves to spin around and says “wheeeeee” when she does.

 

She has the cutest gesture while looking for something where she holds both hands out. I first saw it at a friends house when she had scared their cat off and she was looking all over for it.

She has decided that she does not like baths. I do not know what has happened to cause this. In the photo she is doing the sign for “all done or finished” so she was letting me know that as far as she was concerned the bath was over!

Every day is so much fun. I constantly am looking at Katherine with amazement. I laugh as there is never a dull moment with a toddler around.

Today I had some special visitors. My Grammy and Grandad came all the way from Wichita Falls to visit ME! They were here all day. We read a lot of books, played with my zoo and played outside. They also enjoyed watching me walk around and play with all my toys. For dinner all of the adults were having pizza and I wanted some so Grandad let me have a bite of crust. It was yummy. Thanks for coming to visit me.

Another special visitor I had today was Daddy! He has been in Mexico for a wedding since Wednesday and I really missed him a lot. He brought me a really cool hand embroidered Mexican dress. He bought the smallest size they had and it is still too big for me but I will wear it next year.

Katherine is borrowing a fun item from her friend Jaden while his family is in Colorado for 6 weeks of training. It is a box that his dad made. It is hard to describe but oh so cool. Basically there is a platform for Katherine to stand on so that she is raised to a level that allows her to watch what I am doing in the kitchen. It keeps her at that level but safely where she will not touch any knives, hot burners, etc. We put her snack where she can reach it and give her a book or two. She pops up and down to play peek-a-boo and sometimes drops her snack over the edge to Hooligan. I try to ignore that . We have only had it for 2 days but so far has really helped out while I am getting dinner ready.

 

We use the pack and play in the den for a time out when Katherine throws food ove rthe edge of the high chair to the dog. It is immediate and she has not been too fond of it. She has learned that she does not get out until she is quiet so she usually does not fuss at all. Well, this week you will see that she was fussing to get into the pack and play. It was because her ball was in there but she wanted in. Then she kept pointing to her pile of books and asked for me to give them to her. She was quite happy in there for about 10 minutes. It may no longer be an effective time out except that we do remove all toys when she is there for discipline.  

 

Last night Sam was going to work late so I called my good friend Madi to see if she and her son Ben wanted to hang out and eat dinner because her husband also works late sometimes. Well, Andy has a different summer schedule so he was home but they invited me to join them. So Katherine and I went to play with Ben. Time with Madi is always fun and this evening was no exception. It was time for her to bathe Ben and get him ready for bed and I asked if I could bathe Katherine as well. You see last week we had tile put into two of our bathrooms and currently the toilets have been removed and are sitting in the bathtubs. So, it makes it more difficult to give Katherine a bath. So, we gave Katherine and Ben a bath together. This is certainly something that they will outgrow soon, but it was convenient and fun for now.

Another night this week I watered the front flowerbeds after a family walk. Katherine stayed outside to “help”. She was so interested in the hose and kept wanting to put her hands in it. She was getting so wet and muddy that I stripped her down to her diaper. (the dark backside is mud by the way) She helped by holding the hose too. She loves the water whether it is a sink faucet, a hose, a sprinkler, a dog’s water bowl, a pool or a bathtub. The only thing she does not like is when I have to wash her hair.