Kate's First Halloween

Our very own pumpkin patch . . .

After dressing Kate up, we took the opportunity to meet some of our neighbors. We figured Halloween is a good night, since everyone is home and ready to answer the door. It was really nice getting to know the folks on our street. Plus, it was fun showing Kate off!

"a veritable smorgasbord-orgasbord-orgasbord"

Kate and I enjoyed the wonderful weather we've been having by window shopping this afternoon with my friend Sunee and her daughter Adelaide (who is 6 weeks older than Kate). When we got home, this is what we found in the backyard:

Seems our dog Toby has discovered that there's all sorts of tasty treats in the trash can in our garage and that he can sneak these goodies through the doggie door to the backyard.

Caught like a rat...or should I say, Templeton?

Colonel Sanders, I think you've got a critic:

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we visited a pumpkin patch at a local church. Kate was very intrigued by all those big orange things. We picked out a pumpkin and plan to carve it next week to help celebrate her first Halloween.

Comedy Hour

Kate smiles, squeals, and makes happy noises, but she has yet to let out a real belly laugh. I know she'll do it eventually, but hearing other people's babies the same age or younger belt out laughter just makes me want to hear it from our own little sweet pea. So, my mission these days is to give Kate plenty of opportunities to launch into hysterics. Here's video of me tickling her with an elephant puppet to earn some giggles.

Another tooth!

This morning while playing with Kate, I noticed more white than usual poking through her bottom gums. I looked, and sure enough--there's a second tooth coming in! It's right next to the first one (bottom, center). It's no wonder she chews on everything in sight!

On another topic, although Kate still pretty much hates tummy time, she is getting better at it. She doesn't push up very high--I think she's learned she has more balance by keeping her arms spread out (see picture below). But, at least she's going for longer stretches without having a meltdown. She's also turning over from her back to her tummy a lot now. It still surprises me to put her down one way and look back and see her flipped!

A tooth!

As I posted a couple of weeks ago, we have been wondering if Kate is teething. All the telltale signs were there: fussiness, chewing on everything in sight, drooling, etc.--but as a first-time mom I just wasn't sure if I was reading too much into things. Well, turns out our instincts were right. Kate has a tooth coming in! I felt a little ridge on her gums yesterday, and when I took a peek there was a little white sliver poking out. It made me stop for a moment and realize just how quickly she's growing up. It seems like her development has gone into hyper-drive over the last few weeks: sitting up, rolling over, eating solids, and now a tooth! I've always heard parents talk about kids "growing up so fast," but I suppose you never really appreciate how true that is until you observe it first hand.

New Milestones

Kate is now able to sit up by herself! She is still pretty wobbly, but she's getting better at it everyday. We usually keep the boppy pillow around her to avoid crashing into the ground, but pretty soon she won't need the extra support. Here she is playing with some toys:

She loves to chew on links:

The other big milestone that just happened last night is that Kate rolled over from her back to her tummy! She was on her playmat on her back, and I turned around to do something on the computer. When I looked back, she had rolled over. Wow! Our little munchkin is growing up. She'll be mobile before we know it.