Kate Milestone Update

Kate has learned so many new things in the last couple of weeks:

• clapping
• waving bye-bye
• doing the sign for "more"
• saying "dog" and "eyes"
• running (which has resulted in new bumps and bruises on a daily basis, thanks to our tile floors)

The running really is more like a toddler version of mall walking. It's so much fun to chase her around the house. She gets excited and squeals when she hears me get close behind her. I'd love to post video of that, but unfortunately we had to ship our camera off for repair after the sprinkler park outing. :-) The good news is that the repair was covered under warranty, and it should arrive by Fed-Ex sometime today.

Brushy Creek Sprinkler Park

Kate and I joined Cheryl Carrell's playgroup this afternoon at the Brushy Creek Sprinkler Park. This is such a cool park. It's fun, free, and only about 10-15 minutes from our house. Kate loved the sprinklers! She was pretty much mesmerized. She walked all around and through the water, pointing, clapping, and trying to grab the streams. I can foresee many more visits here this summer.

Chatterbox

Kate is really starting to talk it up these days. Several days ago, I was trying to cool off some food before giving it to her and I told her it was hot. She said, "Haaahhhhh" (really loud, with great gusto). It was the first time she'd ever repeated something I'd said. She has said dada and mama before, but it is pretty sporadic. So, this was exciting. I then tried to parlay her "hot" into "hi," which worked fine because they sound pretty much the same in Kate-talk. So, all that day when I would say, "Hi Kate," she'd say "Haaahhhh" back. Pretty neat. Then last week, Josh came home from work and I said, "Hi Dada." And Kate said, very clearly, "Haaahhhh Dada!" Josh was so shocked! She really is working on communicating with us. This morning, she was sitting with me on the couch and I pointed to the polkadots on my shorts and said, "dot." I didn't expect her to repeat, but she did! She said, "Daahhht." :-)

We're still trying to get her to learn some basic signs, but nothing's taken yet. It would be helpful if she'd learn the sign for "more," because she's got the whole whining-for-food thing down pat.

Full Speed Ahead

A couple of weekends ago Kate took her first unassisted steps, and since then we've been coaching her to walk without furniture, a walker, or a hand to hold. Today, I guess the coaching sunk in. The girl took off! She did three laps around our bedroom without stopping or holding onto anything. Here's some video of her walking in our office. There's no turning back now...

Kate's First Birthday!

Kate turned one year old last Saturday! We had a backyard cookout, and family from both Josh's and my side as well as friends from our Bible study (the Carters, Jupes, and Conlys--who all have kids close to Kate's age) helped us celebrate.


The weather was beautiful, although a bit too breezy to fill up Kate's new kiddie pool, so we just inflated it and let the kiddos jump around. They had a blast.
Here's Kate while we're singing Happy Birthday to her. (Yes, that's supposed to be a ladybug made out of cupcakes.)

Kate didn't know what to make of her cupcake at first, but once she got a taste she quickly figured out this was good stuff!

Kate really LOVED opening presents. She was so excited at each gift. She received some really nice presents and money for a college savings account. We are blessed to have such generous family and friends.

We had a wonderful day celebrating the precious gift God gave us a year ago. These past twelve months have been amazing--watching a tiny, helpless baby develop into a little person who laughs, interacts, walks, and has an opinion! Now, it's full speed into toddlerhood!

Weekend in Elkhart - and FIRST STEPS!

So, my friend Sunee has done a great job of blogging last weekend's adventure at my parents' place in Elkhart. She posted some of the better photos of our two kiddos, so rather than plagerizing her blog (which I was tempted to do), I'll just suggest that you visit her site.

Kate and Adelaide had a great time together, and I think now that Kate is getting more mobile they are going to be able to play even better in the very near future. Speaking of mobility, Kate took her very first steps this past weekend!! I was sad that Josh missed it, but we captured a few steps on video for him:

Here's some more photos from the weekend.

Kate tried out Adelaide's four-wheeler:

Enjoying the swing set at Grandma and Grandpa's house:

Here we are at the Grapeland Safari:

And, Sunee, I just had to post this picture. "Caaaammeellll."