Kateisms - Week of July 20

Our happy little Kate has returned this week. Don't get me wrong, she's usually very happy; however, this week, she's back to smiling and hamming it up with every Tom, Dick and Harriet (though, she tends to prefer men...she's a big flirt!). In addition to being ever so smiley, she also is...

A Lover, Not a Fighter: She likes to run up and hug daddy and me. She started hugging more than a month ago, but now her hugs are full of so much intention I had to make note of it. She also will give kisses to us when we request them, but

beware...they are sometimes open-mouthed and wet!

A Dancing Queen: It's rarely quiet in the Macfarlane house these days. Kate loves to have music playing all the time. If music isn't playing, she'll ask me to turn on Mickey or Baby Signing Time, so it's my strategy for limiting TV. As soon as the music is on, Kate jumps**, spins and grooves out. She's not quite keeping the beat, yet, but this week I taught her some knee slapping to go along with all the clapping, "jumping" and spinning. Her favorite toon is still "Hot Dog!" from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but she also digs "Your Library" which is basically Jacques Offenbach's "Can Can" from "Orpheus in the Underworld."

Pretty Clumsy: What baby isn't, really? But, since she ungracefully fell while trying to climb off of a large slide at a bounce house place called "Bounce U" on Friday, I thought I'd include this. She actually falls with some style, but fall she does many, many times a day. Her legs are usually full of bruises or scratches, but this week, it's her nose. Rug burn...owie!

**For those of you who may have forgotten or don't yet have babies, they don't actually start jumping until close to their second birthdays. However, Kate bends her knees and tries to jump...usually lifting one foot and then the other in a skip-like fashion.

Kateisms - Week of July 12

What's up this week?

With Kate's schedule shifting ever so delicately from two naps into one, she has begun sleeping a little later in the morning (waking between 7:30a and 8:00a) and going down at 7:30p. While I certainly have not, nor does she seem anywhere close to completely dropping the first nap, it has stretched out to become more of a 10a nap when she does take it (typically on days when we will be home all day). This has allowed me to begin taking Kate to 9a mass for the last two weeks. She doesn't seem to dig the music as much as I had hoped (we have a very modern service, complete with bongos AND drums), but she's behaved well. She is certainly the most talkative baby in church and is very happy to note every single baby she sees and hears. And, regardless of how careful I am to bring her most favorite books, she is still more interested in the books on the back of the pew...

• Blocks: I bought a set of blocks for Kate this week...and not just any blocks, either. They are for 18 months and up because the blocks are also a puzzle and each block comes with a shape that fits inside it. They are so cool and Kate LOVES them. She spent a lot of time this weekend knocking down daddy's "towers" and checking out all of the new pictures.
• Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles: I bought two new puzzles this week. One with a bunch of vehicles and the other with household pets. She adores them. She is excellent at getting the piece on top of where it goes, but still doesn't orient it into its designated spot. This morning she signed the word "game" and pointed at her puzzle cabinet for me to open it for her.
• Baby Signing Time lives again. I guess we just needed a break from it, but she's asking for it again and, of course, I'm obliging (see bullet above, why wouldn't I, right?).
• Kate spins. Round, and round and round until she is so dizzy she falls. She likes ring around the rosy, too, but prefers just spinning around for the heck of it. Unfortunately, she takes up spinning whenever the mood strikes, even if it's in the middle of the kitchen floor (which is a very hard ceramic tile...).
• The most boring diet ever. I strive to give Kate a balanced, nutritious and varied diet. If she had her way, she'd live off of Raisin Bran/Cheerios, yogurt, eggs, bread, cheese, blueberries and bananas (and probably not in this order). This week, though, I discovered another meal I can make for us and her: chicken fettucine. Okay, so it's basically cream and cheese with some noodles, but hey, she likes it, she likey!
• No, No, No: I saved the best for last to reward those of you dedicated readers who made it this far. Kate has taken to saying "no, no, no" while frowing if she is doing something she knows she isn't supposed to. For instance, she puts a bath toy in her mouth and begins sucking the water out of it. She then pulls it out of her mouth, says "no, no, no" while frowning and then put the toy back in her mouth. She does this for virtually eveything I've ever told her not to do.

Kateisms - July 5, 2009

"Kateisms" are little things she does today that may be gone tomorrow, but that are endearing, touching and sometimes just plain silly...here are some notes from the week of July 5.

• For the longest time, Kate only signed "daddy" and said "da" everytime she heard him open the door or come home. Secretly, I wished she would say "mama" or at least sign mommy more frequently and not just when she is upset. I mean, I do change most of her diapers, prepare all of her food and spend all day with her every day, right? Well, within the past two weeks she has suddenly learned to pronounce "mommy" VERY CLEARLY. It's also amazing the intonation variances she already uses. It's often the very first thing she says in the morning, the last thing she says at night and probably the word she says the most throughout the day. While at times it can be a little -dare I say - annoying, I have to admit it is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard and at times fills my heart with pure happiness.
  
• Typically when Kate doesn't like something I give her (often a meal I was certain she'd devour), she will hand it back to me. Yes, take the food out of her mouth and hand it back to me.

• As the slightly neurotic mother that I am, my daughter has not been given full range to use her spoon and fork without extremely close supervision. This week, I've given her a wider berth and to my dismay she has taken to food flinging. Not on purpose...she likes to dance while eating and often in mid-scoop she is overcome with the sudden need to lift her arms in the air. Oh, joy...

Kateisms - June 16, 2009

"Kateisms" are little things she does today that may be gone tomorrow, but that are endearing, touching and sometimes just plain silly...here are some notes from the week of June 16.

• Sometime in May, Kate began pulling the diaper changing pad out of the diaper bag, laying it on the ground and laying on it. She also is fond of laying on her kitty pillow, the rug on her floor and anything she can lay down on the ground! She still sleeps without a pillow, but usually lays out one of her blankets to rest her head.

• Washing: In June, Kate began grabbing the wash cloth from me after meals and wiping her tray, hands and face. She now insists on "washing" herself...her tongue...her legs and bascially anything she can reach. If she is fussy in the car or at church, I simply give her a wipe and she is happy for at least 10 minutes!

• Tea Parties: Kate has loved her Fisher Price tea set since receiving it for her 1st birthday. This month, she has begun having tea parties with her animals, pretending to have them sip out of the cups, etc. She also began putting a bottle in her babydoll's mouth about a month ago! I think that's so amazing since Kate rarely had a bottle herself and certainly would not remember using one.
  

• Baby Signing Time is so yesterday. While she'll watch it sometimes, she no longer asks for it. Instead, she exuberantly asks for "Mi" (Mickey) everyday (and often several times a day). What is it about that mouse that babies love?

Baby, It's HOT Outside...

Each day the thermometer reads somewhere above 90 degrees...typically closer to 97 degrees by early afternoon. For that reason, Kate and I are spending a lot of time in the water this summer. During the month of June, Kate and I took swimming lessons with some of our pals. I learned some great tools to teach Kate water basics. This was not a survival class (such as Infant Swim Resource, known as ISR), but it was very helpful for me to begin teaching Kate the basics of swimming. I'm sure we'll continue with these types of lessons in the future. We are trying to find some time and an ISR instructor so Kate will learn how to survive in water, as well this summer.

Kate and I also are spending a lot of time playing with our friends we met last summer during our nursing luncheons at Florida Hospital. This year, our little ones are all running around various splash pads in central Florida as we try to keep them cool in the hot, hot weather! I'm also proud to say that Kate has not yet experienced a sunburn, despite two trips to the beach, a trip to Disney World and numerous outdoor excursions. Kate wears her sun hat proudly and loves to help mommy put on sunscreen. It helps that we bought her the Sun Smarties bathing suit that pretty much covers her entire body!

We traveled a bit in June. First we trekked over to St. Pete Beach to stay for our annual Father's Day beach weekend celebration. The Trade Winds was a bit crowded for our liking, but the beach was superb as was our view. Then, we flew to Michigan the following weekend for my mother's funeral. I can't believe it was just over a year ago that she was here for Kate's baptism and feeling weak, but optimistic. Kate did well with the traveling and even throughout the funeral. In such a difficult and sad time, it was wonderful to have her smile light up a room and to watch her play with her cousins: Belle, Joey, Bryan and Sam.

After traveling, Keith and I decided to take it easy over the 4th of July holiday. Kate was in bed by the time fireworks started lighting up the sky... she barely noticed! We did have a swell time with our playgroup buddies at the Lake Mary celebration on July 3. At Disney yesterday, she freaked out a bit when she saw fireworks during the castle show, so she probably wouldn't have like them, anyway! This week we went to the Central Florida Zoo--Kate loved it, especially the monkeys and the splash pad--and to Magic Kingdom at Disney. We had lunch at the castle...Kate was far more interested in her food than in the princesses (though she did warm up to Princess Aurora who took a liking to Kate)! She LOVED Minnie and Mickey, but started crying whenever they tried to touch her. Unfortunately, we had a bum photographer who didn't try very hard to get good pics. It was VERY hot and VERY crowded. I definitely recommend Disney in the fall... it's a bit hot right now!!

Be sure to check out our June Web Album and the visit to Magic Kingdom album to check out all of the pics!