Katie is very good at copying noises. I finally captured some of it.
Category Archives: Learning
Katie playing in mama’s cup
Needless to say I didn’t want my water anymore. 🙂
Road Trip, Day 1
Amazingly we started off on schedule—and if you want to be technical about it, we were actually seven minutes early. And we didn’t think of anything we forgot…
The barrette lasted a whole hour—which doesn’t seem like much but her previous record was about three seconds.
Things went pretty well until Katie got a little screechy. But Owen was SO awesome—he’d start talking to her, singing the ABCs, playing peek-a-boo (which usually resulted in giggles), and clapping (at which point she’d clap in return). But then it turned into hunger screeches meaning she wanted her bottle—which sounds easy…but isn’t. She can physically hold the bottle—but can’t understand she has to tip it (she wants it to work like a straw cup). We tried putting her formula in the straw cup…and then she doesn’t really want it. And even though it’s attached to a strap so it can’t end up on the floor…it ends up hanging or upside down…dripping milk. Sigh. At this age, Owen was definitely holding his own bottle—great for road trips.
So I tried giving her a no-spill snack cup…which lasted all of five minutes until she a) figured out how to hold one flap open and tip most of it out and then b) got the entire lid off! Joy.
No-spill snack cup: 0
Katie: 1
So we figured our good little eater would snarf down some mac and cheese for lunch. Nah. Not interested today. REALLY?! Also not really interested in any of our foods, including one of her favorite baby foods. GRRR.
The good thing about lunch is that the owner—after chatting with Tom—comped our meal as a thank you for his service. So a nice shout out to Prissy Polly’s BBQ in Kernersville, NC.
Neither kid napped well. Katie got maybe an hour each before and after lunch and Owen got maybe an hour total with his catnaps.
Then there was a sibling sharing game, played with the lid to the snack container. Owen would hand it to Katie, she’d hand it back, lather rinse repeat. Owen kept saying “We’re sharing! We’re talking turns!” 🙂 He’s such an awesome big brother.
When we finally got to the hotel, Owen helped daddy with the cart (it was too bright for a good picture!).
And Maggie’s bag…which was about half his size.
Katie was having a blast crawling/zooming across the bed. Of course as soon as I tried to record her, she stopped.
Then she learned how to get off the bed. Just like that. (Just like she learned how to slide off the couch.) She’s a smart cookie.
Then it was off to dinner. We ate at the hotel just to make life easy. Katie ate seasoned curly fries, regular fries, and beef brisket (in addition to her cheese slices, green beans, and yogurt). Yes, BBQ beef brisket. Owen? The triple-decker PB&J and yogurt we packed from home.
Then it was FINALLY time for the pool—Owen had been asking most of the day but had really started asking when we got to the hotel. He was VERY excited!
Catching a ride and kicking it with daddy…
Watching daddy and Owen in the pool:
Then I took Katie outside for a stroll since it was REALLY warm in the pool area.
It took a minute to get a smile.
Then it was back to the pool, where daddy nommed some Katie toes.
I love when I get an unexpected shot. 🙂
Back at the room, we turned our backs for a minute…and this happened.
Yes, she opened the drawer AND got in by herself. And she was SO proud! Of course, she got out by herself, too.
Unfortunately, there were a few tiny snafus.
I thought I did really well by packing overnight bags so we didn’t have to haul everyone’s suitcases in…but I apparently forgot obvious stuff like jammies and Katie didn’t have her burp cloth.
I rolled the stroller through something in the hotel (they had some construction areas) and tracked it all over our carpet. It looked like putty, and thankfully it was still wet enough to easily wipe up.
Owen picked a scab and bled all over the white sheets. I had no band-aids…either on me or in our med bag. Tom had to get one from the front desk.
I haven’t had reflux in a month…so of course tonight was the night. And I forgot to take my nightly meds before putting Katie to bed, and I really didn’t want to get up because it took her 25 minutes of SCREAMING to fall asleep and hell if I was going to be the one to wake her up.
Also, the room next door has a bird and a yapping dog. Luckily it didn’t wake Katie up…but it woke me up about 10:30, and them continued to bark randomly until the owners SLAMMED back into their room around midnight.
Oh, we also got the last non-smoking room and it’s…not great. The bathroom smells, the bathroom counter is chipping, the toilet runs, and the sliding bathroom door (handicap accessible) is off the track so it can’t close. But we got a military discount!
More button pushing!
She discovered the dinosaur today!
Button Pusher
This was new to me today, but we rarely play in the living room…
Her new game!
She has found the drawer with her burp cloths. A few times a day she takes them all out…I put them back…she takes them out. She loves it!
Her new favorite seat!
Now that she can get up there by herself, she’s up there all the time. And she LOVES it.
What the–?? You sneaky little girl!
I was just sitting there minding my own business just half watching Katie because she was on the floor playing. Until I looked up and saw this:
HOLY CRAP.
Owen always surprises me.
This morning he wanted to go outside and I told him he had to get shoes on. Usually he puts his Crocs on since they’re easier (although we’ve been trying to teach him his Velcro sandals)…but he came back with the sandals! And on correctly! (He usually gets the Velcro on way too loose—like foot falling out loose.) I was impressed.
You can now tell him to go to his room and get an outfit and he’ll bring one down. Most times he can get dressed, too!!
I made a frozen pizza for dinner. I was sure he wouldn’t like it so I had one of his ready for backup. He takes one look at mine and says “Where’s MY pizza?” I tell him we only have pepperoni (knowing he doesn’t like pepperoni) and he says “YES! Pepperoni! I like pepperoni!” Hmm. Okay. So he somehow THINKS he likes pepperoni? So he gets it and lets it cool and…big surprise…he doesn’t like it. We pick off all the pepperoni and…nope. (Of course, Katie ate both.)
Then, I was giving Katie some freeze-dried corn (same stuff that Owen LOVED at that age but hasn’t eaten since) and he just up and asked to try some. And liked it. And asked for more. WHAT?!?! Okay, cool. Then he asked for dried bananas (which he has eaten lately—but I’m still amazed he asked).
He’s growing up…
Sniff.
Straw sippy cups!
This morning at breakfast I gave Katie a straw sippy cup to play/practice with. I marked where I filled it so I could tell if she actually drank anything or was just playing. And damned if she didn’t actually drink some! Then I let her have it during play time and she drank more! So…it looks like we’re going to bypass the hard spout cups. WOOHOO! (Owen didn’t drink out of straw cups until probably 1.5-2—but I don’t think we even gave him the chance because typically regular sippy cups come first so that’s what we did.)
At her second dinner (when Owen was finally eating at 8:00) I gave her the cup again and she was drinking and drinking. She’s still obviously getting used to the flow because she’d often choke a little bit on a big gulp of water. She’s also learning to hold it and pick it up…something she’s refused to do with her bottles thus far.
But look at how VERY proud of herself she is!
ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE!
THERE YOU GO!
TA DA!
I’m really wondering if she’s going to be done with bottles sooner rather than later. She still drinks SOME but it’s really few and far between (I can’t tell you the last time she drank a full bottle in one sitting)—she’d much rather eat real food.
Playing School
We’ve started playing school while Katie takes her nap.
Today we had “lunch”—Owen put his fake food in the “oven” (the space under Katie’s jumper), told me to be patient while it cooked, then we shared everything—and then we did workbooks. He calls me Teacher Mom. 🙂
Then we had a visitor:
He’s pretty good at drawing lines and tracing, but completely loses interest in everything after about 15 minutes.
It’s also very frustrating trying to teach him how to hold a pencil/crayon/marker so I need to google tips on that.
First sippy cup. Kinda.
Trying her damnedest to drink from Owen’s sippy cup! And somewhat succeeding!
Backwards ABCs Take 2
This is a better sample…though I help him a bit on the second run-through. 🙂
Backwards ABCs
For awhile now, Owen has been super intrigued by my ability to sing the alphabet backwards. He’d request it, then when I’d get to about T, he’d say “No no no!” then sing it normally. But then slowly HE started singing it backwards—just a few letters at a time and making up what he didn’t know. So then I pointed out where the alphabet was on a few of his toys so he could read it backwards….and there was no looking back. In a matter of a week, he pretty much had it down. I recorded him today but it’s not as good as he usually does it. But still impressive for four.
Clever boy!
I often ask Owen to go up to our bedroom/bathroom and bring down all the empty glasses. Usually he just brings down one or two so we were really surprised to see this. Clever boy!
Almost but not quite.
A true escape artist!
She went right through the pet door! I’m just glad Tom was up there when we realized it!
Monkey see, monkey do.
It’s only a matter of time before she actually follows him up the stairs…
Katie Yoga
We see a lot of these poses:
That’s Elmo’s World!
Owen is really becoming a parrot—and learning from watching Sesame Street. His favorite new “Word on the Street” is stumble—as he fake-demonstrates it all the time. And he LOVES the Elmo’s World theme song:
Different shades of brown.
One of the moms in my group had a GREAT explanation for the “difference” (not really) between black and white skin.
Evie asked me a question after MLK day. Many would find it difficult to explain… but this is what I said. I held a white towel against my arm and asked if they matched. She laughed and said, “no”. I held a black towel and asked her if anyone she knew resembled the towel. Again, she laughed and said, “no”. I explained that we are all just different shades of brown. Flesh, blood and bone. Full of emotion, love and tenderness. We are all the same, just a different shade!
I thought that was simply awesome—and a perfect way to handle what could be a potentially uncomfortable or awkward question. The next day, this photo was making the rounds on Facebook and I thought it was apropos to her explanation.
Go on!
So we were watching this…
…and Owen was on the floor playing. He looked up and says “Go. No.”
Wait. What?
Me: Owen, what did you say?
Silence.
Tom rewound it.
Me: Owen, what does that say?
Owen: Go no.
Me: Owen! You just read your first word!
Owen: Can I have 15 minutes?
So…yay! He read his first word. But…boo! He’s switching letters (he also switches numbers).
O-W-E-N spells Owen!
So Tom was watching football, I was at the computer, and Owen was sitting on the couch playing games on the iPad (and lest you think I forgot Katie…she was napping). Owen starts saying “O-W-E-N spells Owen. O-W-E-N. O-W-E-N spells Owen.” Tom finally looked at what he was doing…and Owen had created a new profile for a game and had typed in o-w-e-n! 😯 He’s seen me do this before and I’ve showed him how to find the letters on the keyboard, but this is the first time he did it himself! Totally on his own! Tom and I were floored.
O-W-E-N with an extra O!
Cute ABCs
You don’t get to hear/see this part on the video, but if you want Owen to start singing the alphabet and he won’t do it on his own, you just have to start singing them incorrectly—he usually stops you about the third wrong letter (A-B-C-D-O-F-Q). This is him correcting me.
Almost but not quite.
Listening to Owen count over the monitor: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 16 13 18 17 23 24 25 27!
Learning to get up
OWEN GOT OUT OF HIS BED TO PEE! It was only naptime and he had only been in there five minutes and his door was open…but it’s a start!
You see, we’ve been trying to teach him that if he has to pee, he can get out of bed…which has been an uphill battle since we kept him “locked” in his room for so long.
And in trying to do so, we’ve actually created a little monster—after we put him to bed, we’ll hear him get up and open his door. He’s not getting up to pee, though—he just goes back to bed. But often whines a little because a cat gets in and bothers him. (He doesn’t want the cat in there but apparently doesn’t understand that the door needs to stay closed to prevent that.)
And then one night last week he was up opening his door at 3am—and crying. And couldn’t tell me what was wrong. I put him back to bed, then did the same thing again at 3:30 and 4:30, when I finally laid with him for a bit.
So today was a good first step with him realizing he had to pee and actually getting up to do it!
Owen sings the ABCs
And later, to Katie. She loves it…just staring at him.
Stab and dunk!
I taught him a new way to eat his pancakes this morning—which would hopefully be less messy—and because he really needs to start eating more with utensils.
A spitting fool
We taught Owen to spit so he can use regular (toddler) toothpaste…so of course all he wants to do now is stand at the sink, drink water, and spit. If we can’t find him or haven’t seen him in awhile, chances are he’s in one of the bathrooms…with the door shut so we don’t see him (he’s smart, too).
I know it doesn’t sound too bad, but he gets soaked in the process—along with the sink and the floor (usually). And he sometimes does it outside the bathroom as well…
BOYS!