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!