First day of school

Kate has started going to a new school this year after nearly three years at our little co-op that we helped to create and build. It is bittersweet to leave that co-op and the amazing community there. Fortunately, although she won't be going there, we're still in the community through food swap, wine nights (well, I'm in for that part, not Kate) and play dates. And a few kids from our little co-op are going to our new school too. The new school is also a co-op, All Austin Co-operative Nursery School, and after two visiting days this week, we already love it.

Here she is on her first day. She was so excited, she started asking a full hour before we had to leave if we could go.

45 months

I realize it's not very balanced to do a monthly (as if they are! ha!) update on Owen and neglect to update on sweet Kate. There are always changes for her too, and maybe they don't seem as momentous as learning to walk, but they are equally fascinating for us to watch.

I don't know if I can pinpoint things that happened this past month, but there a lots of things since I last wrote about what's happening with her. If you'll forgive, I'm going to resort to bullet points.

- Her favourite movie/pretend playing is Cars. She pretends to be a race car or she drives her toy cars around or she draws them. Or I am a car, or the dog, or her brother. She played Cars all day today from morning until bedtime. By the end of the day, I'm pretty worn out by Cars.
- In the last two months she is suddenly willing to try new foods. I'm so proud of her. If she tries it and doesn't like it (which is rare), she doesn't have to eat it. Right now, I just want her to be trying things. She has recently tried (usually not for the first time): cucumber, broccoli, zucchini, hot dog, herbed chicken, spinach pie, celery, chard, tomatoes. Clearly there is a veggie trend happening. She has liked all of them.
- She is writing her name (not a recent development. She's been doing it for almost a year) and her friend's names. She asks how to spell things and we figure them out phonetically.
- She is a great sister and plays with Owen. He is in the hitting stage, but she's getting better at dealing with that instead of just screaming.
- She is really excited about our vegetable garden. She may become a tomato eater by the end of the summer.
- She's excited about starting preschool in the fall even though she doesn't really know what it means. I'm less enthusiastic, mostly because I am having trouble letting go and facing the change.
- She can nearly ride a pedal bike without training wheels!

And, as she always has been, she is sweet and funny and affectionate and I love her more than I can believe. She drives me crazy every day but I wouldn't change her at all.

15 months

Owen turned 15 months old last week and it's been a month of serious changes.

About a week ago he went from crawling 90% of the time to walking all the time. Once in awhile if he's in a hurry (to chase his sister, for instance), he will drop down and power crawl, but otherwise it's walking. He's quite pleased with himself. He's also started to use some sign language and it's so nice to have a few instances of clear communication. Otherwise, there is a lot of pointing and yelling which gets frustrating for everyone. He has about six spoken words and three signs (more, all done and milk). His spoken words are Baboo (the dog and by extension any other non-human animal), ball, bye, mama, dada, uh-oh). The time between 15 and 18 months were hard with Kate, and I think the same is true this time. He knows what he wants and he understands us but he has a hard time communicating. At 18 months that got so much better, so I'm hoping the same thing happens again.

Owen is super affectionate and a clown and is still in love with his sister. He can play happily on his own for 20 minutes (second child? Kate could not do this at 15 months) and his favourite toys are castanets and the play pots with wooden food.

Since Graeme has been away so much this spring, Owen has gotten really attached to him. I think Owen is starting to react to G leaving all the time. He now gets upset if Graeme leaves the room - crying for him until he comes back into view. It breaks my heart. Fortunately, there is only one more month and G will be home for 1.5 weeks of it.

Nearly every day I look at this little boy and bigger girl and I'm in awe of them. I don't know how I can love two little people so much, be challenged by them so much and be so lucky to be their mum.

9 months

Owen turned nine months old about two weeks ago. I'm a bit deliquent, although I'm sure no one is surprised. In the last month (and a half) Owen has turned from a baby into a little boy. He's crawling and leaving a swath of destruction behind him. He goes from room to room and just pulls everything apart. He loves his new mobility. He also wants to stand up, so he crawls to a chair or table and pulls himself up. But he hasn't quite figured out how to gracefully sit down.

He got a new tooth (number six) which caused a few bad nights of sleep. He is eating like a champ. His current favourites are smoke salmon and pureed peas. He can also now get small bits of food into his mouth, which is a lovely development since he will happily sit with a few snacks and feed himself.

He's babbling and exploring and generally making everyone smile. He's a flirt and the sweetest boy you'll ever meet.

Here is our not-baby-anymore boy and his sister having a snack:

Crawling!

Yesterday Owen started crawling. On Tuesday he pulled his knee forward for the first time, but only once. Yesterday morning he went about two 'steps' and by afternoon he was crawling across the room. He doesn't have speed yet, but give him a week or so. He definitely has the motivation. And he really just wants to stand up. He crawls to the table or a chair and tries to stand. Might we have a baby who is crawling at 9 months but walks by a year? Yikes.

(I have video, but the card reader has gone missing. I will put up a video as soon as I find it.)

Blossoming vocabulary

A few days ago, I was marvelling (again) at the pace at which Kate is learning words. A few every day, and she is now finally starting to put them together into two word sentences. It's really amazing to see. I wanted to jot down her vocabulary to get a sense of how many words she has now. I'm sure I'll forget a whole bunch, but here is my attempt at a list:

Daddy
Baboo
Mummy
Mine
No
Yes
Dog
Cat
Cow
Horse
Fish
Cereal
Banana
Toast
Bath
Water
Juice
Milk
Sleep
Blanket
Book
Bucket
Pool
Park
Show
Away
Raisin
Pie
Cake
Cookie
Grapefruit
Hat
Bag
Up
Down
Hot
Walk
Car
Bus
Truck
Train
Chair
Potty
Pee
Poo
Wagon
Clay
Felix
Beck
Again
More
Wet
Tea
Oma
Shirt
Shorts
Pants
Doll
Bike
Computer
Bottle
Shoe
Sock
Airplane
Hi
Bye


I know I'm forgetting some, and I also can't figure out how to put it in columns so it's not the longest post ever, but oh well.

A big day

Kate took her first unassisted steps today. The first was just one to get to the chair and she didn't even notice what she did. I tried not to react much, although I did run to the phone and call Graeme. Then tonight, Graeme had her walk across the kitchen. It didn't surprise me that her first day walking she went that far - she has been ready for a long time but hasn't wanted to give up the fingers. We'll see how it goes tomorrow, I think within a few days she'll be refusing help altogether. That's our girl - stubborn about one thing and then the exact opposite thing the next day.

Around and around

She still isn't doing it on her own, but she goes around and around and around:

Words

Kate has been saying our names (dada, mama, baboo) for awhile now, but this week she's added a few new ones. Diaper (only one syllable, like diup) and quack.

Yay for words!

14 months

Kate turned 14 months old today. I often look at her, still, amazed at what an amazing little person she is and that we made her. WE MADE HER! It is still amazing to me.

She is definitely her own person though and will clearly communicate what she wants whether it be a snack, to walk the circuit or to play with something you have. In the last week, her favourite thing is to walk around and around the loop in the house (living room, Graeme's office, hallway) holding onto someone's fingers. She runs and can do it again and again. She is so interested in walking, although not in letting go. I'm guessing another week or so and she'll be taking a step or two on her own.

She really is amazing.

Milestone

Kate just crawled across the living room.  Let the craziness begin.

Another tooth!

Tooth number two has officially appeared. A tiny bit of it was palpable yesterday, but now it's visible, just one week after the first one sprouted.

And, despite early exaggerated reports of her rolling, Kate is now an official roller. Both directions, no help from us, pulling her knees up underneath her in an early attempt at crawling.

And (again!) she is a veggie eating machine. Tonight was carrots. She could eat most of a jar if I let her. Instead, she gets about a third of a jar and loves it. Same for sweet potatoes and squash. Rice cereal, on the other hand, she hates. We're going to try barley cereal instead. Maybe that will suit her tastes better.

All this excitement means no "what's cooking wednesday". ok, that's just an excuse. I just didn't feel like cooking tonight. Maybe I'll do a late entry tomorrow if I'm feeling inspired.

Mmmm

Last night we gave Kate her first meal (other than the taste of steak). Rice cereal. Yum. She seemed to be slightly more interested in the spoon than in the cereal. She did eat a little bit. We clearly need to get a high chair, since feeding her down near the floor attracts Westley a bit too much.

What the pediatrician doesn't know...

Most sources say you should introduce food to babies by first giving them rice cereal, then bananas, sweet potatoes and carrots. I found one source that suggests meat early on. But most do not. But most didn't ask Graeme his opinion.

We had steak for dinner last night, and once again Kate was sitting on my lap while I was eating. She grabbed for my fork with a piece of steak on it, so I let her have it. She just sucked on it for a good five minutes. She loved it. Eventually she dropped it and Westley was there waiting. They have forged a new relationship.

Kate needed a bath afterwards.


Today I bought some rice cereal and bananas. And plastic bibs.

I want that!

Kate has started showing interest when we're eating. She watches us, watches the food go to our mouths and sometimes makes chewing/sucking motions with her mouth when we're eating. This only started about a week ago. This evening, she was sitting in my lap as I was eating dinner, and when I started to drink my water, she reached for my glass.

I let her try it, and she loved it. At least, she loved the glass.

She tried to suck at first, but then realized it was kind of nice to put her tongue in it. I think we're going to try food in a week or two since she's showing interest. It's going to be really fun.

Rollin' rollin' rollin'

We have rolling!! As recently as Tuesday, Kate showed no interest in rolling over. She could get onto her side, but didn't seem to care about getting there or moving on from there. Starting on Wednesday, she would roll half way and then get mad that she couldn't get to her tummy. She would fuss and fuss until I put her onto her tummy. It happened over and over for the past few days. Today, I left her on her play mat on her back, and when the fussing started, I expected to find her on her side again, shoulders part way over but hips still firmly halfway.

But no! She was over, but had her arm pinned underneath her. Her hips were all the way over. I flipped her back to her back to see if she would repeat it. Less than five minutes later the fussing started again, and over she was, arm still pinned and causing frustration.

It's a memorable day! And it means I can't leave her on the change table while I run to get clean diapers from the dryer anymore.

This isn't a rolling picture, but it's one from this weekend and too cute not to post.

The Beginning of the End

Rolling over is probably only a few weeks away:

Something new every day

Kate seems to be changing daily. As if overnight she figures some stuff out. A few days ago it seemed like she might be starting to reach for things. Suddenly today she was playing with a toy that I put in her lap. Moving it around, putting it in her mouth and definitely reaching for it when I put it back after it fell.

She has been in an amazing mood today. Cooing, smiling, watching. She is focusing and has started the soul penetrating stare that I remember Emily having. It's amazing.

Truely.

Three months

Sorry, no pictures yet. I haven't taken any photos for a few days, and Kate is currently sleeping. Tomorrow is her second thanksgiving and we'll be sure to get some pictures.

Everyone said that around three months it starts to get more fun. So far, two days into it, I think I have to agree. It seems as though she is changing and learning new things every day. She is more vocal, cooing and making new noises and she's smiling more and more. She loves to kick around with out a diaper every time we change her and kissing her bare belly will earn a smile every time.

She is enjoying her play mat and spends some time there every morning. Mornings are definitely her happy time. After a good night of sleep, she is in a good mood and all smiles. She continues to get chubbier, if that's at all possible. She's been wearing 3-6 month clothes for a month already, and a few of those are starting to get too small. I'm guessing she'll be taller than me by the time she's 9. Anyone want to place bets?

She is sleeping through the night, from about 9:30 or 10 (better than midnight!) until about 6 or 7. She nurses and then goes back to sleep for 2 or 3 hours. I know this great sleeping pattern will go in the shitter as soon as teething starts, but right now I love it.

Kate is a very sweet, cuddly baby who is a total mummy's girl. She has a definite preference for me, which is frustrating for both Graeme and me. I know she'll have daddy phases, but it would be nice if she were happy or would calm down with him.

So, photos tomorrow after the turkey gorging.

12 weeks

Kate has had a bit of a growth spurt this past week. Observe:

Serious pudge. She's also gotten longer though, which is equally amazing to me. We don't have a scale to find out how much she weighs, but trust me that when you are walking around with her for any length of time that your arms feel like they are going to drop off.

She's getting smiley, which we totally love. And stronger - she holds her head up very well and kicks and wiggles when she's happy. We pulled out the play mat, and she happily lays there and looks at the dangling toys. It's nice, because it give me a few minutes to clean up the kitchen or make some lunch. Or, gasp, shower.