The scariest Christmas Present EVER!!!

Grandma Linda gave us a new hand-held video recorder for Christmas - and one of the first videos we take is of the family laughing at Katie's terror as she encounters a rapping plush reindeer.......we are bad people.....

Merry Christmas, everyone!

There's a commercial on TV right now for a recordable greeting card where the mom teaches her toddler to say "Merry Christmas" and sends the card to the child's grandparents.

Here's our version - and the first recording of Katie's first verbal words:

Update from the doctor...

Katie's 15-month appointment was today, and she's doing great! Only two shots this time (2nd half of the flu shot and DTaP) but Katie was a lot less than happy about the appointment this time. The nurses and doctor took it all in stride, saying this was perfectly normal for her age.

Here's the current stats:
Height: 2'8" (90th percentile)
Weight: 24 lb, 12 oz. (75th percentile)
Head size: 48 cm (95th percentile)

The doctor noted that her weight is climbing up the chart a little, but since she only just started walking all the time about a week earlier, he wasn't worried at all, saying that her increased activity would more than take care of that.

And again, everyone marveled at her full head of hair, noting that it finally looks "normal" since she's getting bigger.

Look Who's Talking!

Mark and I have been using sign language for a few key concepts - "change", "eat", "more" and "play" since Katie was about 6 months old. The workshop leader told us not to expect a response until somewhere between 12 and 18 months. She would respond to signs with big smiles and claps when we guessed right (especially for a "change"!) but about a week or so before Thanksgiving, we realized that she was making a version of the sign for "change" - and asking for her diaper to be changed!

We immediately set out to teach her "please" in time for Thanksgiving, and her vocabulary has since grown to include about 5 or 6 signs that she makes regularly, even putting them together into sentences! Here's a short demonstration:

Peek-A-Boo!

Like most children her age, Katie's favorite game is "peek-a-boo". She is constantly amazed that everyone in the world seems to know this game, too - and has chosen a few favorite locations for playing - around corners or behind furniture (as you can see in the video).

when no helpful furniture or corners are available, she just hides her face with her hands...

Happy Halloween!!

Katie spent this Halloween much in the same way she spent last year's Halloween - handing out candy on the front porch.

However, she was a MUCH more active participant this time - in fact, she was the one who gave almost every trick-or-treater their candy - anywhere from 1 to 5 candy bars (it all depended on what stayed in her fist after she plunged it into the candy bowl!)

She also visited her friends on the block and played in the leaves.

Many thanks to Grand-dad's foresight to snag the tiger costume during last year's post-holiday sales - even though she was not overly fond of the mittens and couldn't keep the hood up, she was plenty cozy warm and seemed to enjoy the outfit!



We got some good pictures, but the batteries in the camera died shortly after they were taken - hopefully, we'll get some from the neighbors soon!

Happy Birthday!!

Today, of course, is Miss Katie's 1st birthday.

We celebrated by inviting the family to the house for cupcakes and ice cream. They brought a ridiculous number of presents. Katie thoughtfully tested the cupcakes before anyone arrived by moving her rocking chair right up to the table and climbing up!

By the time we got to the part where she was SUPPOSED to have some cake, the excitement and the nap-free status of the day (we tried....) had caught up to her, so she took a short nap while everyone else had cake, and then finished opening the last couple of presents.



After everyone left, we cleaned up, took down the decorations, and played with new toys and the balloons. As a special treat for Mom and Dad, Katie figured out a brand-new trick....standing up all by herself without holding on to anything!

From First Birthday!

The last day of summer vacation....

The Waldfogle Family had a "last day of summer break" celebration at the Bicentennial Commons park in downtown Cincinnati. MUCH fun was had by all at a playground, wading in the swim-fountain, and enjoying a nice lunch break at a downtown sandwich shop. We are definitely going to have to do this every year.....

Dinner with Aunt Shelly

Amy's Aunt Shelly comes through town every year about this time on her way to visit more of her relatives who live further up North in Ohio.

So, we had a nice dinner with her at Grandma & Grandpa's house - someone took pictures, but it wasn't us (although we DID remember the camera...ah well).

Anyhow - here's what Aunt Shelly had to say:

While staying with Linda and Dave, this August Amy and Nark brought the sweetest, littlest dumpling you could ever imagine. (She looked just like Amy did around that age). Katie was walking-crawling around the house, of course most of it was on her head, tippy toes and her hands. All three touching at the same time. She was such a delight that she had every eye on her, at attention, to her every move. The most exciting was when she finally graciously allowed me to pick her up and carry her around for a few minutes. (Time it – it would have been minutes only). I walked her in my arms and we went to the outside porch to look at the water fall that her Grandfather is building. She laid her head on my shoulders and looked up at me with those beautiful big eyes and she whispered to me “I love you Aunt Shelly, you are my favorite Aunt”.

11 months old!

We can not believe how quickly this year has gone by! Katie is looking more and more like a little person every day. She's cruising like a pro - and often will stand and move with just the barest of support - any moment now, she's going to take off across the room and then the adventure will REALLY begin!

She's having more opportunities to interact and play with other children and animals, and other than a tendency to use anyone handy as a support for standing, she seems to be getting along with everyone.

We've started to plan her 1-year birthday party for the family and just finished her 1st year baby book - if you want to take a look, click on the link in the side menu.

Current stats: (measured at home)
weight - 21 pounds
height - 28 1/4 inches

vacation, all i ever wanted....

Here's the whole vacation....



Some interesting things that happened:

-Katie met her great-Grandma Mary and played lots of peek-a-boo
-Katie met her great-uncles and aunt
-Katie's first airplane trips (went very well - little bit of tylenol for her ears, some carefully-timed nursing, and she napped through each trip)
-swimming in a pool
-playing in the ocean!
-we had lunch at The Breakers resort!
-lots of family bonding

all told a great time was had by all......

down by the sea...wouldn't that be smashing?

beautiful day.....


lots to do......




and a nice nap afterwards........

Across the generations

Katie met her Great-Grandma Mary for the first time this week. They played a lot of peek-a-boo.

leavin' on a jet plane

Today is a big day - Katie's first vacation, first time out of state, first time to meet her great-grandma Mary, great-uncle Fred, great-aunt Lona, and great-uncle Bob.

But first - the first time on an airplane......
It went really well - little bit of Tylenol to keep her ears from hurting, and then a quick settle into Mommy's lap to nurse - she fell asleep before or during takeoff and napped the whole trip (much to the relief of the other passengers!)

Stairway to Heaven?

Led Zeppelin references notwithstanding, Katie has taken the staircase by storm! She's even able to scramble up our ultra-steep steps at home....

10 months old!

Boy has this been a big month! It seems like Katie learns new things every day - even every few hours....

• crawling all over everywhere
• pulling up to stand against furniture
• playing with refrigerator magnets, tupperware, and whatever else she can find
  
• eating all kinds of "big girl" food...even taking bites out of an apple herself!
• climbing stairs
• clapping
• playing peek-a-boo with any handy object
• waving bye-bye
• dancing by picking her feet up one at a time as well as with knee-bends
• walking with help (holding someone's hands)
• pointing
  

She's continuing her experiments with the various sounds she can make (loud, quiet, high, low, etc.)

Mommy started working part-time away from home (yay summer school!), so we tried out the Katie-care plans with Uncle Steve and Granddad, and everything seems to be going swimmingly.

According to the bathroom scale, Katie weighs 19 pounds now, and she appears to be 28 inches long, though it's really hard to get her to stop wiggling long enough to get a good measurement!

Yankee Doodle Baby

Katie celebrated her first 4th of July in style! Besides going to her first Independence Day picnic, this day also marked her first time in a swimming pool...





















She made a new friend in her soon-to-be-cousin-in-law, Parker.

And enjoyed her first fireworks (pictures coming)...she liked them a lot, even with the loud bangs and booms!

Peek-a-boo! and other tricks

Katie has enjoyed a good game of peek-a-boo for some time, but has recently figured out how to actively participate. She'll now grab a blankie or piece of paper, or some other handy object and hide her eyes, waiting for someone to ask "Where's Katie?!"

When she hears that question (or sometimes after a brief wait - the secret of comedy is, of course, timing) she'll pull the blankie away and giggle like a loon when you say "peek-a-boo!" or "there she is!"

The earlier blog mentioned that the name of the game is "mobility" so it seemed appropriate to share a little video of katie-in-action.

9 months old!

Current stats:

• height: 28 1/2 inches (80th %ile)


• weight: 18 lbs, 1 oz. (40th %ile)


• head size: 46 cm (95th %ile)


• still a "tall skinny smart kid"

This has been one heck of a month! It turned out that the "two teeth" was just one (right front bottom) but it's definitely there! When it and its neighbors (who must be rallying to make their appearances as well) are paining her, she alternates between the little frozen-gel toys (we have about 5 of them conveniently located in the freezer door) and this rattle thing that massages her gums when she bites down on it (baby's first vibrator? Eek - we try not to think about it.....ha ha!).

Earlier this month, learning how to push herself into a sitting position on her own was the big accomplishment, but the name of the game this month has been "mobility" - this kid can MOVE! She's mostly using a kind of soldier-crawl (the one they do when they're crawling through mud under ropes in training in pretty much every basic training montage that's ever been filmed) but occasionally pops all the way up on her hands & knees in a more traditional posture. She also spends a lot of time wobbling back and forth on her feet and her hands with her little fanny way up in the air. When she can get a good grip, she'll pull herself to a standing position, which has necessitated the lowering of her crib mattress and is inspiring a bit of furniture re-arranging.

Sweet Potatoes is still pretty much her favorite food, especially now that Mommy has started cooking her real ones instead of baby-food ones, but just about anything will do. Katie is the darling of any restaurant we take her to as she flirts with all the other customers and the entire wait staff while happily munching on crackers, applesauce or mashed potatoes and whatever is on Mommy or Daddy's plate that won't choke.

Speaking of Mommy and Daddy - wish them luck as they start trying to move her "party girl" sleep schedule to something a little more work-day-friendly, since Mommy got a new job and will be starting with summer school in just a week! Uncle Steve and Grandad are looking forward to having regular Katie-time, and so is Miss Beth the plan-b babysitter :) and Grandma (once she gets home from her trip). Turns out it really DOES take a village!

not so keen....

"Thy tooth is not so keen, because thou art not seen..." - William Shakespeare

Katie is officially no longer toothless! After a long night with many tearful awakenings, her first two teeth have sprouted on her lower gum. The frozen chew toys are now among her favorite things....hopefully, she'll be willing to show them off in time for her well-child visit next week...

8 months old!

Wow - our little girl is certainly growing fast. We had a terrible time getting her to sit or lie still for her tigger picture this month - she NEVER stops moving!

That's probably a lot of why she still weighs in at 17 pounds, even though she's eating like crazy! Over this past month, she's done some more damage to the available purees and recently started on Cheerios and spiral pasta for finger-foods.

Still no crawling, but she gets herself from point A to point B through a combination of rolling and spinning on her belly, plus some scootching that, in truth, seems a little bit more like taking advantage of accidental relocations than anything purposeful. We are VERY aware that we are in big trouble when she really figures out how to move!

As you can see in this picture, she's sitting on her own really well, with only the rare, occasional "bonk on the noggin" when she loses her balance. She's also able to stand for brief periods if we set her against the ottoman or on someone's lap with a little support. The bouncer and the exersaucer are two favorite toys, and Mommy and Daddy are glad that someone invented captions, since both of these toys are noisy!

bouncing baby girl

so many thanks to Mark's co-worker who gave us this hand-me-down toy. I'd forgottten all about it until today and we are both so completely entertained!! Simon the Wonder Cat is a little bit freaked out - but Katie and I are having a ball!

7 months old!

Today, according to the bathroom scale, Katie weighs 17.5 pounds! We're not sure where she's putting it, since she's still about 27 inches long.

On the plus side, she's getting better and better at sitting up, and can do so for quite some time without help, especially if she has an interesting toy in her lap.

On the down side, she's getting a little bit mommy-clingy and recently started waking up a few times during the night - fortunately it's never for very long.

Yay for Vegetables!

Katie is getting the hang of "eating like a big girl" and has about a half a jar of stage 1 veggies for lunch every day. Most of the time, she takes the spoon into her own hand, and she often talks with her mouth full (we'll work on table manners in a little bit).

The cereal (rice and oatmeal) was pretty much a bust - which isn't surprising...it tastes like wallpaper paste! Her current favorites are squash and sweet potatoes. As soon as mommy has a nice little collection of jars, we're going to try making Katie-food at home!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!

Though she didn't have a bonnet, Miss Katie made the scene in her lovely new Easter Dress.

The headbands are definitely helping in the hair-in-the-eyes department and she doesn't seem to mind them at all.

Katie Go Braugh

Of course any baby named "Katie Eileen" would celebrate St. Patty's day - our little Colleen is sporting a "Kiss Me I'm Irish" frock (you can't see the big shamrock in the picture b/c she kept insisting on lifting THAT foot) and is all ready to spread good luck wishes to the world.

We haven't done the math yet, but Dad's a little over 1/2 Irish, and Mom's a little less than 1/2 Irish - so she comes by the wearin o' the green honestly!

Have a great day, everyone!

Tall, Skinny Smart Kid

Katie's 6-month checkup went very well. The doctor and all the nurses just couldn't get over her thick, long hair - we also got permission to start using conditioner on those tangles (all the articles say not to use it until 2 years old because "of course" you won't need it! LOL).

Here are the current stats on our tall, skinny smart kid!

height - 27 inches (90th percentile)
weight - 15 lbs, 11 oz (50th percentile)
head circumphrence - 44 cm (90th percentile)
weight-to-length ratio - 10th percentile

She got a bunch of shots again and is sporting Bugs Bunny bandaids on both legs. She hollered for a little while but then settled down into a 2-hour nap (between the 9am appointment and the time change she lost a good bit of beauty rest last night) and now seems to be doing pretty well.

A lot of folks have asked what she thought of the big snow Cincinnati just got - she's still too little for playing in the snow but seemed interested in the few flakes that hit her face while traveling from the house to the car - just wait until next year, though!

6 months old!

Wow - Katie is a half-year old today! The whole family enjoyed Katie's tigger pic photo session, especially when they started wrestling (Katie won). We have decided that Katie will be taking tigger pics for the rest of her life, although we'll probably switch to annual pictures after this September.

This has been quite an exciting time - Katie is eating a "real" meal at least once a day with either Mom or Dad doing the honors (for a while it looked like Dad's left handed technique was the only one that was going to work....). We're pretty sure she's getting ready for another growth spurt - not only do the books say to expect it, but she's eating as though JoJo the tapeworm has moved in....of course the ...ahem... results of the dietary change are interesting - just ask Daddy, who got to do the "special" diaper change today!


Meanwhile, Katie has rolled over from her back to her belly a couple of times - the first time was a surprise when no one was watching, the most recent was with a rapt audience who cheered appropriately. She will purposefully grab for things she wants, even if it means moving something else out of the way first. Her vocalizations are getting much more elaborate as she squeaks, squeals and sings - sometimes up to a half an hour at a time.

Faces seem to hold a new fascination for Katie - she'll run her hands all over your nose, cheeks and mouth while you're holding her - pretending to nibble on her fingers is a sure way to get a giggle!

Of course, we'll do just about anything for one of those giggles, including playing peek-a-boo until we want to just hide under that blanket for the rest of the night :) Speaking of nights, the sleeping-through-the-night thing seems to be firmly established, including sleeping in most mornings!

"God, that's good!"

The pediatrician said that we could try any time between her last appointment and her next (scheduled for March 10th) so today was the big day - Katie's first "solid" food.





"Solid," of course, is a relative term but describes her meal of reconstituted rice cereal as well as can be expected.





Although this picture might suggest otherwise, pretty much all of the first meal seems to have ended up inside her tummy.





Cleanup also went well.


There are many more pictures and even two videos in the 5-6 month section of the photo album - click on the link to the left and enjoy :)



p.s. those who get the title's allusion...we felt justified since her meal is partly of human origin...although more voluntary than in the song...... ;-)

stealth ninja tricks

If a baby rolls over by herself and neither parent sees it happen....does it make a noise?

Something like that! LOL!

Katie was happily playing on her floor-mat-gym-thing while Mom and Dad were reading on the couch - all of a sudden, we looked down and she was on her tummy!



no repeat performances yet, but unless Simon the Wonder Cat got involved (and he's not saying), our girl just hit another milestone :)

About a week ago, she rolled herself right off her changing table and scared Mom half to death (not to mention Dad, who was upstairs before he even realized that he was moving) - she's a quick little thing...and a little bit sneaky.

We also had our first sickness when she woke up at 4am with that horrible barking croup-cough. Fortunately it went away almost as quickly as it started, and we got to meet another of the pediatricians at the practice. We also learned a little bit about giving medicine to a baby - definitely one of those things you don't appreciate until you experience it first-hand LOL!

Learning every day...

Katie is learning more and more about manipulating her environment - already she's getting more interested in the gee-gaws on her exersaucer (not to mention looking adorable in the mouse ears that Uncle Greg gave her for Christmas).



She's also starting to handle toys and other objects with both hands and even also using her feet to move things to her liking, like the block toy she's holding in this second picture.







And there's always that killer smile, which is at the ready more often than not.....

5 months old!

Well, Katie's 5 months old now, and she's growing and learning so much, it's hard to keep track! A few weeks ago, she found her feet and has managed to start chewing on her toes. She's also reaching out for things she wants, recognizing people beyond Mommy and Daddy, and she'll smile and giggle at just about anyone.

Current stats (measured at home): 15 pounds, 26 inches long

Our girl is finding her voice and is currently exploring the continuum of vowel sounds, squeeks and squeals. We're looking forward to consonants, and are competing to try to get "ma-ma" or "da-da" to be the first one, even though we know it's going to be quite some time for that :)

We're starting to experiment with rolling over - with a little bit of help, she's managed back-to-front and front-to-back. Tummy time is much less of a chore, and we've entered the wonderful world of the exersaucer! This was a Christmas present and is now a piece of furniture in the house - the thing had roughly 8 million pieces, and Katie's not quite sure what to do with it yet, but we can tell it's going to be a lot of fun in the coming months...

Also - if you go back in the archives to September, 2007, you can read the Daddy-eye-view of Katie's arrival....

New Tricks

Katie seems to have finally figured out the whole "tummy time" concept. This picture was taken at Great-Grandma Rosie's house. She also recently started rolling over - only from Mommy's lap so far, where it's easier to push off by kicking Mom in the stomach (the first time was quite a surprise), but she seems to enjoy the process, so we're sure she'll be rolling all by herself soon.

Four Months Old

Today was Katie's four-month birthday and the day of her checkup! Dr. Mumma declared her totally fit and progressing nicely. The current stats are:

14.7 pounds
25.25 inches long

She got the same shots as at the 2-month visit and spent the rest of the day being c-r-a-n-k-y! There were purple bruises on both legs :(

We managed a quick visit to the SEUSSICAL vocal rehearsal, but she was definitely not in the mood to hang with the big kids today (although she was certainly dressed for the occasion).

Happy New Year!

Just before the New Year, the whole family went for a weekend visit to Akron, where Amy used to live, so that her friends could see Katie in person. We stayed at "Uncle John's" house and had a wonderful time! Katie actually slept the whole car ride there and again the whole car ride back home (4 hours each way!)

John & Josyf playing with Miss Katie --->



Katie spent New Years Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Shaffer so that Mommy and Daddy could go to a party at Uncle Greg's house. Grandma said she just missed being awake when the new year changed.....