So Many New Things

Katie is getting so grown up.  She has spent her first two nights in a “big girl” bed (toddler bed).  She does pretty good at night, but nap time has become a challenge.  She thinks it should be play time all the time, of course.  We rearranged her room when the bed got changed over and she LOVES it.  I turned a long bookshelf on it’s side and she thinks it is great to pull EVERY BOOK out of it and use the top to put all her babies and stuffed animals to bed–with blankets, of course. 

And her safety-consciousness continues as she continues to insist that her babies or animals or elmo get buckled into the infant seat in the car next to her.  Adorable.  She is also getting more and more into her friends.  Yesterday we got to go play with “Jacob, Jacob, Jaaaaccccooooobbb!” at the mall and she loved it.   Mostly Katie loves to go “bye bye.”  She gets very sad and cries if she wants to leave and we tell her we aren’t going to yet.

She is getting more and more into babies and wanting to feed them and have them go “night, night” or give them a binky.   She also continues to improve her artisitic skills by coloring all the time!  Blankets are another favorite.  She drags almost every single one out of her drawers and gets soooooooo mad if I try to fold them and put them away.

I will aim to post pictures soon as I am sure you are anxious to see all her adorableness “in the flesh.”   Just sayin’ it how it is. 

My how time flies…

Okay, well, so it has been almost 2 months now, I think.  Craziness.  I guess I have been even busier than normal.  Katie is talking up a storm and saying adorable things.  She is still not too into potty training, but is making a little progress.  She did (finally) pee in the toilet for the first time this week!  Baby steps….

Some of her new words and old favorites:  bunny pronounced “dummy;”  (Love it!)  “bitit” when she sees a frog (ribbit); “come on” and “come here;” “germs;” “cheeeeese” (said while gleefully posin for pictures–what a ham); “kitty” (pronounced “kitter”); “purple;” “pink;”"juice.”  And sooooo many more!

One big milestone for my big 2 year old girl happened this week, though.  We took the binky to the toy store and used it to buy a new baby doll that Katie picked out herself.  She was so cute wandering through the aisles playing with toy after toy.  But when she found the doll, she played and played and played.  When I told her to “come on” she picked the doll up and brought it along.  So that’s what the binky bought.  And she has done soooooooo well her first week without a binky!  She’s only asked for it a few times and seems to be fine with things when the binky doesn’t make an appearance.  Next big girl step–out of crib and into toddler bed. 

Katie has such nice aunts that she has acquired several new articles of clothing recently.  I don’t have all the pics uploaded just yet, but here are a few of her in the skirt and dress that Aunt Jeni made.  More pics to come in the (relatively) near future!

Was she made to be a model or what?! 

Be back again….eventually.

 

 

Little Poser

She is a hat-wearing, posing little ham.  She loves to wear a hat–so long as it is her idea.  She will often put on one of Matt’s baseball caps, or her fireman hat, or  a hardhat we picked up.  Or one of the many hats my mom made for her.  I think it’s hilarious because sometimes she has this heavy winter-type hat on with her summer clothes.  So adorable.

what a pretty smile

And a few other pictures…. 

Playing with the Little People--a favorite around here

Recently, Katie has been very into her diaper and the potty.  She isn’t progressing in the potty training realm, but she sure likes to talk about it!  Sometimes she insists that her baby doll have a diaper on too.  This is a picture from my previous post about how she put the baby on the potty then wanted to go herself.    They sat on the potties together in the bathroom.  Awwww….bonding moments between Katie and her doll.

Such a funny girl.

A Baker, An Artist, and a Stinkin’ GREAT garage sale deal!

Here is a little catch up from some “little moments” in the past month or so. Katie and I enjoyed some happy moments together. She helped me bake for the first time–we made banana bread. And then we ate it. She LOVED dumping items in the bowl and helping mix it all up. She go sooooooo mad when it was all over and there were no more ingredients to add. She is becoming a masterful fit-thrower.

Tester bite--she was afraid to eat it at first.

VERY pleased with the end product!

She was leary about the banana bread at first, but once she had a bite–she was all over it. 

Practicing her coloring. "Color! Color!"

She loves coloring and playing with playdough and bubbles, bubbles, bubbles.  And sometimes she even avoids eating the products.

This was one of our best garage sale deals this summer.  We didn’t get to go to many sales due to our screwy schedules, BUT this doll stroller was a total steal of a deal!  It is in practically brand-new condition and Katie LOVES it.  I cannot believe how much she has loved to push her doll around in it–or try to sit in it.  And guess how much we paid for it?!  $1–that’s right just a single dollar!  Woo-hoo!  I saw the same stroller (different fabric, same brand and style) at the store for about $24.  Yeah for our super fantabulous great deal!

This is how Katie feels about the purchase

Bustin’ A Move

We have a serious mover and shaker in our midst. She loves-loves-loves music and to dance. We were wandering around the mall yesterday after Katie was done playing at the “mall park.” There is one store that is always playing music and every time we walk by, she stops and starts dancing right in middle of the walkway. She usually starts off by just swaying, but then slowly gets more wild, with bigger arm and head movements. It is always a people stopper–many a person has appreciated her public performances. It is such a crack-up.

Yesterday Katie had her eye on the mall strollers you could rent. They are like boxy little racecars. They are a little pricey to rent, so we kept telling her “no, maybe another time” (like when it is time to do a long Christmas shopping trip, for example!). Poor kid–there were soooo many kids in the mall yesterday and a ton of them were in that stroller. She asked every time we saw one. (I know, I know…we are so mean–but we weren’t going to be there long enouhg to bother with it.) But when we went outside to get in the car to leave, we noticed that God had given Katie a great gift! There was an abandoned car stroller in the parking lot! So we snagged it and went to walk around the mall some more so she could enjoy driving her “ride.” Isn’t it nice how God provides even some of our wants unexpectedly? And even before we are old enough to realize He is doing that?! How fun. I wish I’d had the camera to be able to take pictures. Oh well… Next time.

Here are some other pictures, though.

“’scuse me’….’scuse me’…”

This is a popular new phrase around here.  Katie is big into saying “excuse me” these days–and for a variety of reasons.  When her body makes a noise, she says it.  When the car makes a noise, she says it.  When she wants to get somewhere she can’t, she says it (even to a toy or other inanimate object).  And when she is carrying ice cream down the grocery aisle and people are in her way, she says it.  It is pretty adorable.  And often times it is even unprompted! 

Another popular phrase that continues to be heard around here is “biaper. ew!”  I believe I mentioned this in a past post, but she has extended this to not just mean that she has a dirty diaper, but also to say that her baby doll has a dirty diaper.  She takes the diaper off her doll, yelling “ew!” and then takes the diaper to the trash can and says “ew!”   And, today, after she did this, she then took the baby doll and put the baby on the little potty, and then set the toilet up with her special seat for herself and they went potty together.  (Well, they sat on the potties together anyway, as she still does not actually go in the toilet…just sits on it, uses the tp and then flushes–as many times as she can.)

Another new thing is that Katie tries to give Phoebe (the cat) time outs.  Phoebe gets on the table (which she isn’t supposed to) and Katie says to Phoebe, “No!”  Then when Phoebe doesn’t get down, Katie points to the kitty and says “time out.”  Hmmm….wonder where this behavior could possibly come from. 

Soon, I will have to post some pictures from the last couple weeks.  There are some good ones.  But for now you will have to be in suspense because the pictures aren’t uploaded.

“Wuv ooo”

In Katie-ese, this means, “Love you.”  It is so stinkin’ sweet when we say, “love you” and she repeats back (without prompting) “wuv ooo.”  It is a heart melter through and through.  She doesn’t do it everytime, but often.  Soooooo sweeeeeet. 

She is now also very big into gettinge her owies “kissed better.”  She will hold up her hand or arm or whatever (mostly her hand) and say “owie, owie” in hopes of gaining “make it better kisses.”  She usually gets them.    The poor thing has gotten lots of owies lately.  I think it is because she is getting a wee bit more daring.  Hmmmm….   I think there are many bumps, bruises and fat lips in our future.

Words

There is something about 2 year old fits and tantrums that is really cute.  Maybe because there is so much passion and feeling coming from someone so small.  Don’t worry, we don’t encourage the tantrums, but I do kind of adore them from a distance.  Katie experiences a lot of frustration, as do many 2 year olds, because she wants to do so much more than she can.  And, of course, because she wants her own way and can’t always have it.  She resorts to tantrums, kicking, biting, hitting, hair pulling and screaming, among other things.  We are trying to get her to express her frustration in other ways, as none of these are very desirable for the long term.  She is also prone to doing this grunting/whining thing to try to communicate.  It’s sooooo successful.  (Hear the sarcasm?) 

So something we say a lot around here is:  “Use your words.”  Or “Can you use your words to tell me what you need?” 

 Her response:  “Words!” 

Well, ummmmm, yeah…. but not exactly what we meant.   So now we are working on trying to explain what “use your words” means to a 2 year old.  So far, for her, it still means you say, “Words!”  Ha-ha.  The guessing game ensues.

Checkin’ Out Those Pearly Whites

Katie had her first-ever trip to the dentist.  It went much more smoothly than I expected it too.  She does NOT like the doctor or anything remotely resembling a doctor’s office so although I tried to get her excited about going to see the dentist, I wasn’t sure how things would go once we were beckoned to go through “that door.”

I did manage to get her excited about the dentist.  I would say, “Are you excited to go see the dentist?”  And she would say “YEAH!”  And she did really great.  It was not without any tears at all, but they were fairly minimal.  The dentist was a sweet gal.  (I haven’t ever seen a female dentist before–I know they’re out there….this is just the first I’ve encountered.)  She reminds me a little of our pediatrician, who we like a lot. 

She loved all the toys there were to play with and enjoyed the sticker she got.  And she got a new toothbrush and a toy rubber duckie.  The toothrush and a flosser went into a clear zipper bag that she carried around through the morning.  Whenever I would say, “do you want me to take that?” she would respond with “no! mine!”  She was very happy with her special dental prizes.  And I am proud of her.  She did a super great job getting her pearly whites checked out.  She is cavity free and her teeth are healthy and good. 

Showing off her clean, white smile and her goodies.

I forgot to take a picture while we were in the dental office so I had to snap a shot before we pulled away.  This was a big day for her.  After we went to the dentist, Katie and I went to the free family film festival so that she could see her first-ever theater movie.  She had a good time.  She did much better than I thought as she did not get restless until near the end.  And the movie wasn’t even very good, so I was doubly impressed.   We saw “Surf’s Up.”  It is about surfing penguins–and a chicken.  I wouldn’t recommend it.  Katie liked the water and the “birds” (aka penguins) and the music that played here and there.  Here she is waiting for the movie to start.

Crossing not-so-international waters

“Water!”  Katie says this often. She has a few words that she likes to use over and over and over and over and over and over and over and….  you get it.  “Water” is one of them.  She says it so that it sounds kind of like this, “waaa-der.”  It’s pretty sweet sounding.  She said it a lot on Sunday when we rode the ferry over to have lunch with some friends who just made a move to KS.  It was Katie’s first ferry ride that she has been old enough to be aware of.  It was fun to watch her be fascinated by the water and the boats and the birds.  She kept asking for “more, more” each time.  It was fun.  She enjoyed pushing the stroller around the ferry and looking out over the water while we stood outside.  The horn went off unexpectedly once and that freaked her out.  But otherwise she had a GREAT time.

Pulling away from the dock and excited by the water and birds

Here she is pushing the stroller. She got so mad when I tried to steer it.  She would have preferred to just run into whatever got in her way.  Whenever I touched the stroller, she would say, “No! Me!”

checkin' out a video game on the way home

It was a fun, but full day.  She seemed to have a great time riding on the ferry boat and exploring every nook and cranny!