Katie had just gotten up from her nap and was cuddling with Grannie Lin while Gramma Jean curled her hair. She was very intrigued by the mirror—especially when she realized she could see Papa and Owen behind her if the mirror was put in a certain place.
Katie’s ball rolled under the cabinet and she was whining because she couldn’t reach it. Tom told her to use the light saber to get it out. That’s all he told her…and she figured it out on her own!
She eventually needed help, but we were both amazed that she understood and figured out what to do!
Katie was napping so we got out some spelling puzzles! He did really well!
I love that Katie says please (“pease”) when she wants something. However, now she needs to learn that just because she says pease she’s not necessarily getting what she wants…which mostly happens when she wants Elmo [on my phone]. She’ll even point to my phone when it’s in my pocket saying “Elmo? Pease? Pease? Pease?”
Gramma Jean brought down some Cuties and Owen tried them but didn’t love them. We also have some so tonight he said he wanted one. Ohhh-kay. I peeled one and gave him a section. It disappeared. Three more times. So we got out another one and he wanted to peel it.
And he ate a few more! YAY!
She came up on the deck to get me, walked me over to the shovel/rake, then over to the poop and pointed!
She amazes me. Lately she’s been helping Owen pick up toys when I ask him to do it. Or she’ll start picking up the pillows (part of his end-of-night chores) on her own. This is what happened tonight.
When I first ask her to put away toys, I’m guessing she takes the bin and sets it next to Owen because he has toys out and she knows they go in the bin. Then later she sees the brush…and puts it back exactly where I keep it.
She holds my hand but she’d probably try without it because SHE HAS NO FEAR.
She grabs tissues all the time. This is exactly what happens.
Katie was on my lap this morning trying to get my phone out of my pocket. I was ignoring her. She was babbling something but I wasn’t really paying close attention. So she gets off my lap, goes to get the Elmo doll, and brings it back saying (her version of) Elmo. Then tries for my phone again.
Then it hits me. She wants to play the Elmo app on my phone.
She’s too smart for her own good.
Today I took Owen’s backpack and put it by the laundry room so I would remember to take out his sheets and blanket to wash. Before I knew it, Katie had grabbed it and was putting it where it normally goes by the front door on the hook.
Last night, I had Owen set up their Playskool Christmas village toys underneath the tree. Before he could even finish, Katie was taking the pieces and putting them back in their storage box.
She also knows that the remote control goes in the top drawer. It used to be when we left it out that she would grab it and run off with it…but now she opens the drawer to put it away.
And the other day she scared the bejesus out of me—she was standing at the top of the stairs and started down by herself. Forwards. Without holding on to anything. 😐 I just about plowed Owen over trying to get to her before she went tumbling down the stairs. She has no fear. So now you just have to hold her hand and down she goes…she’s too short to reach the railing and has no interest in going down backwards or on her butt.
And of course, she knows to go to the back door when we talk about going outside…and to go to the front door when we tell her it’s time to get Owen.
Yes, she’s certainly going to be my little troublemaker.
Unsnapped, unzipped, and more than half off when I walked in to get her this morning.
He’s doing something that’s making noise so she has to be right up there. (He’s practicing writing letters on the iPad.)
Katie knows when we leave a gate or door open downstairs. She used to bolt out the second we left one accidentally unattended, but now? She stands there and just makes noise. Sometimes she points. Sometimes she actually walks over closer to whatever gate is open and babbles at you like HELLO?! THIS SHOULD BE CLOSED! So we close it and she stops babbling and goes about her business.
Tonight she started squawking and was standing at the gate, pointing. I wasn’t sure what she wanted so opened the gate—curious as to what she was going to do. She went right to the fridge and tried to open it. So she stood there (mostly) patiently while I poured her some milk—and when I handed it to her, she went right back through the gate to the living room.
One of Owen’s books has photo booth strips on the back cover and tonight we talked about what that was. I have an app for that, so he got to see how they were taken!
She doesn’t often eat (like) yogurt or applesauce so we don’t have many options to try out spoons. But tonight we needed to keep her busy in her high chair so I brought out some yogurt, a bowl, and a spoon.
Her fingers were the first thing in the bowl. 🙂
Gramma taught her how to kiss the bear in the book. 🙂 The book was from Grauntie Marge when Owen was a baby.
She really only has a small handful of words so far (I thought there were a few more but maybe it’s just wishful thinking):
Maggie
Daddy
Mama
Charlie
Belly
Edited to add:
Hi
Bye
Peek
Meow
And she tries Owen. 🙂 She definitely knows who he is, though!
But she knows what door to go to when you say potty (when I tell Owen), she knows where to go if you say you need to change her diaper (the changing table in the play room), and she heads to the stairs when you tell her it’s naptime or bedtime.
She also knows how to put toys and books away, she knows the remote should go in the drawer (but she hates giving it up once she’s snatched it away), and of course she’s really good at signing “more.”
Katie has learned how to say Charlie…and it’s adorable.
Yes, I was having just a tiny bit of heart failure, sure she was going to fall down and smash her head on the marble…but she didn’t. And she was SOOOO cute. She was doing this for a good 2-3 minutes before I started recording!
Well, this morning was the first Special Needs Baseball game day! We drove around a bit until we found it (I’d never been to that complex before), picked up Owen’s shirt, and then it was a waiting game before all the registration stuff ended and volunteers got everything ready. And speaking of volunteers, there were a TON of them—a church group and a biker group along with friends and family—enough for a few on each base, ones to run with each batter, ones to have fun in the outfield, and many to just stand and cheer! (They told me later that there usually aren’t that many until later in the season.)
I had only brought my telephoto lens so I had to make Owen stand about 10 feet away to get a shot. Yes, he’s wearing it over his regular shirt—that was his choice. And I could kick myself for not taking more to have one with better lighting. Oh well. And yes, he had to go potty at that moment—that’s where we headed next. 🙂
Katie wasn’t really enjoying being strapped into the stroller, but since I wanted to take pics, I didn’t really have any other options. (In the future I likely won’t be taking as many pics so I can let her wander.) But she wasn’t really that bad (it could have been much worse) and she enjoyed everyone stopping to talk to her or wave at her. And I tried to keep her placated with milk, snacks, and toys.
He found a ball right away!
Lining up to be divided into teams. He was on the Crushers and they were in the outfield first. They even had a parent sing the national anthem!
Owen’s buddy in the outfield.
There was a lot of this in the outfield.
Bowling?
I think he was going for the fumble recovery. 🙂
Waiting for his turn at bat.
Picking a bat!
On second base!
Third base!
Running for home!
Back in the outfield.
I’m not sure why, but there was spinning.
Back up to bat!
He started running the wrong way, so the volunteers helped direct him! This is one of my favorite pics—even though it’s definitely not the best pic—because it shows how awesome and supportive the volunteers are!
Running to second base!
Coming in to a high-five!
Game over! High-fiving everyone!
You can’t really get a good feeling for how crazy it was. There were so many people around, the game being announced play-by-play on loudspeakers, lots of not-playing going on, no scoring, kids running to whatever bases they want, two or more kids running at the same time, some older kids actually hitting the ball and adults in the outfield taking care of those balls, some kids refusing to bat/run, etc. But it was fun and Owen had a good time…so yes, there will be more weeks of this.
Then they announced that lunch would be served at the pavilion, and Owen was hungry…so we went. Thankfully there was just a prayer before eating—which is just fine with me. They had hot dogs and popcorn—and if you can believe it, Owen ate an entire hot dog, bun and all! For the first time ever! WOOHOO! Then he wanted to play on the playground which was very close…so we went. And I finally got to let Katie out of the stroller and she had A BALL!
As we were leaving, Owen said “That was awesome”…and I’m guessing he meant the baseball, though I guess he could have also been referring to the playground as well. But it was a good day that gave me 428 photos to edit down to 58. 🙂 Next time I won’t take nearly as many!
Remember how I wondered if Katie was actually learning the sign for more?
Katie officially knows what her milk is. I can say “Where’s your milk?” Or “Go get your milk!” and she goes right to it. I love watching the learning process.
I’ve also been trying to teach her the sign for “more” and this morning, she repeated it back to me! It has yet to be seen if it was luck or if she’s really learning it. 🙂
Sometimes this is what happens when you send Owen to put on his PJs without assistance. I mostly have them in the drawer as sets, but he pulled out these two odd pieces. At least they match, right? And at least he can do it by himself!!
If you’re wondering about the pose, he’s pretending to be a statue because Medusa got him.
At dinner, I asked Owen what his favorite part of yesterday was. He tells me when he was in the other room playing with R2D2. No, we tell him, that was just a little while ago before dinner. We tell him yesterday was the party—and ask again what his favorite part of the day was. He stops and thinks.
Owen: The big white slide that goes around to the water.
Us: ??? [Thinking…]
Me: Owen, that was the water slide on vacation two weeks ago.
We explain that yesterday was the big party when Miss Virginia was here and he played with the kids and in the pool and had cake and ice cream.
Me: Owen, what did you like best about yesterday?
Owen: Playing in the pool.
Well, finally there’s the answer.
So Owen and I went in the pool when Katie went down for her morning nap. I worked with him on sticking his nose under to blow bubbles…which he eventually did. I really tried to get him to stick his whole face under—even tried getting him to plug his nose to do so—but he was having NONE of it. Okay, fine, I was content with what we had achieved.
Fast forward to Katie going to bed for the night and all three of us get in the pool. I had gotten a new waterproof camera so I wanted to test it out.
I told him to stick his face under—and you can see he barely got his chin and the very tip of his nose.
So then I told him to show daddy what he learned with me today—and imagine my surprise when we witnessed this:
WHAT?! He went under JUST like that! Like he’d been doing it all summer or something. The stinker!
Testing the stop-action setting with splashing!
And Photoshopped to adjust the colors (though it washes out the rest of the picture—I’m sure it could be done better, but I’m NOT a Photoshop wiz):
Photoshop version:
I was just snapping test shots of her on her downstairs basket…
When this happened.
Owen has gotten REALLY good at getting himself dressed…but sometimes, it does go wrong. Hilariously wrong in this case, as the way he was standing just cracked us up. You can see a little of it in this picture. 🙂
