First prayer

Tonight when I was putting Kate down, she said "hold hands" and held her hands out. We always hold hands to pray at night. Then she said "thank you for mommy and daddy, grace, aimee, tova, noah." Then she said a bunch of stuff I didn't understand, then "obey mommy and daddy." Then she said "okay" and let go. It was so cute!

Playroom

Kate got money from grandpa for her birthday last year and I finally got around to putting up the "Wallies" we got with it to decorate her play area which is also my office. She loves it!

Jump at Nanas!

Kate loves to go to Going Bananas, the local playnasium full of bouncy houses and great toys. Here she is playing with her best friend, Grace. They've been friends for a year and a half and just love each other so much! When I tell Kate where we're going she said "jump at nanas!"

Potty Training!

Kate started potty training on Saturday and has done great! We used the book Toilet Training in Less than a Day. The first day was very tiring but on Monday, she was accident free. Today was our first day leaving the house and we were playing outside when she had an accident but she clearly realized it because she screamed "WET!" and started crying. When we got home, she went twice in her potty and then went down for her nap. We went to a friend's house to play and she had her first potty experience away from home. She was nervous but then she just did it and smiled. She's doing great!

Finally!

Tonight, those three little words were returned to me. In Kate's case, it was two. I put her to bed and said I love you as I always do and she looked back at me and said "wuv you!" She repeated it a long time ago and hasn't said it since but tonight, it was actually said and meant. Wow! I love being a mom.

Ketchup please

Kate and I were at a friend's house where we let her have chocolate milk for the first time. She watched me squeeze it into her sippy cup, then polished off the whole cup in a matter of seconds. She must have associated that squeeze bottle to a commonly used object in our house because the next night when I gave her her milk, she piped up "ketchup please!"

My little helper

Kate is so into helping now. She pulls a chair over when I get ready to make dinner and says "help?" Of course I have to find something for her to do when she asks so nicely! Here she is putting corn into the steamer. She didn't want to just pour it in the bowl. She had to do it by the handful.

At night if she gets into her crib and not everything is picked up off the floor, she will point to it and say away until every item is off the floor. I just need to start remembering to let her do it before bedtime! She's a good little cleaner and seems to like having everything in its place.

She's also started giving big hugs. She will just spontaneously grab me and hug really hard. She tries to hug people and animals in her books too. She will see a picture of something and say "hug" so I put it up to her and she hugs the book. Then she looks at me and says "she's hugging me." It's so cute!

Kate's Christmas

Kate really got into Christmas this year. She'd open a present, put it aside and say "more presents" and be on to the next thing. She was really excited about all her new toys and puzzles and seemed a little overwhelmed when she was finished opening everything. She wanted to watch a movie so we put on her new Cinderella DVD and she sat there for about an hour immersed.

She got a new rocking horse ornament from her aunt and uncle and he didn't have a hanger. She ran to the tree and strung him up by his reins! She later asked if she could ride the rocking horse.

She's going to be very upset that the Christmas lights come down soon. Fortunately for her, our neighbors across the street had a nice display this year. Each night before bed, she would say "look at lights" and go lift the blinds to check them out.

Kate's also talking about Jesus now. We can't really tell what she's saying but are excited she's at least thinking about what she's hearing from us and at church!

Cookie Monster!

Today I decorated cookies for Kate's Kindermusik classmates and to go into the mail for our families. I had packaged most of them up and all the little wrapped ones for her Kindermusik class were on the kitchen table with a couple I hadn't packaged up yet. She wanted to watch Mickie Mouse, so I turned it on and went to check a few things on my computer. She was quiet and I really thought she was still on the sofa watching TV. When I came back, she was sitting at the kitchen table in a regular chair. She had a cookie in each hand and was licking them alternately. There was a bag beside her with a pulverized cookie inside that she had tried desperately to get to. Also in the family room in front of the sofa was an empty cookie bag! She looked so happy, I couldn't get upset with her. She had fun! The above photo was taken when I told her she could have a cookie after she smiled for the camera.

Tonight as I was getting her ready for bed, she put her hands on my cheeks, said something very sweet but unintelligble and proceeded to kiss me on the lips about 7 times in a row. There weren't little kisses, these had suction. Between her sucking and me laughing, I could barely catch my breath. It was just such a big show of affection, it just melted my heart!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Yesterday, Kate watched me put the lights on the tree and hung a few ornaments because she just couldn't wait. I thought she'd be too young but she did great. So today, we turned on the music and finished together. She had so much fun and wanted to look at every ornament before it went on the tree. She put the star on her head and said "happy, happy" because she thought it was a birthday hat. She broke a couple non-important ones but she had a blast and that's what's important. She really enjoyed "helping" daddy put the star on the top. At one point, she pushed off of him and got them both off balance and I thought they were going to go down on the tree. :-) Kate basically decorated the whole bottom of the tree. I think she did a pretty good job!