Reading with People, Animals, and Things

Katie still enjoys her books very much. This summer, she has become more interested in "reading" her books herself instead of listening to her books. She's usually happy to listen to someone else read her books in the morning and at night, but during the day, she's usually in charge! With this new independence, she has begun expanding her audience as she reads. Sometimes she'll just sit with whichever person is closest to her and read her books. When she doesn't want to read to a person, Chloe always proves to be a good audience for her. Winnie the Pooh is a great listener. Even Bingle sat still for a few minutes last week to listen to Katie read. The other morning, I caught Katie with her newest audience.

Are you listening, fish?  I'll teach you all about hands!

A New Friend

I only have a two hour day on the last day of school. This year, we had a lot of parents come in for our classroom celebration. Katie joined in the festivities. I asked one of the parents to bring her daughter, Libby, who is around 5 months older than Katie. They became quick friends. I didn't have a camera, but luckily, another parent did!

Hi! I'm Katie! 

It's so much fun to be around people my own size! 

I already like you a lot! 

Let's be friends forever!

4th of July

We had a nice holiday this year. Katie started her day by watching our neighborhood parade. The parade isn't a big or fancy parade. The kids decorate their bikes, wagons, tricycles, and pets for the holiday and follow a short parade route to our neighborhood park for a picnic.  I could have pushed Katie in her stroller in the parade, but I chose to have her watch it this year. She loves kids and animals, so I thought she'd enjoy watching it. At the end of the parade, one of the neighbors gave Katie some 4th of July presents - some small flags and a necklace. You couldn't get a whole lot more excited than Katie was.

In the afternoon, Katie had her own set of "quiet fireworks" - otherwise known as bubbles. Chloe gets so scared with the loud fireworks, so it was our way of entertaining Katie while keeping Chloe calm!

Katie fell asleep before any of the actual fireworks. I carried her outside when the fireworks were going off. She woke up long enough to look at a few, but she didn't care as much about the fireworks as going back to sleep. At least she wasn't scared of them like poor Chloe!

 What are we waiting for?

 The beginning of our big parade!

I see some short people like me! 

I really liked that three-wheeled thing that went by me! I cheered for him. 

What's next? 

Look at my new things, Aunt Jennifer! 

I just love these! 

Walking the Parade Route to the Park

I scraped all the skin off my knee on the way home. I didn't cry much when I fell, but I cried a lot when my mom tried to put on the band-aid. I really, really don't like band-aids! 

Bubbles! 

 

I wonder how many I can pop!

Aunt Jennifer taught me how to blow bubbles! 

The "New" Fish Tank

I've had an aquarium for almost ten years. A couple of years ago, I bought a new fish, and the pet store gave me a bonus with my fish - a bonus that I didn't ask for and a bonus I didn't want. They had accidentally put a couple of small snails in the bag with the fish. My two small snails quickly became about two thousand small snails, and they overtook my tank. This week, I finally cleaned out the entire tank, and started with a fresh tank. My one, old fish survived the transition, and now it has three new friends. Katie is beyond thrilled with the new tank. She spends plenty of time looking at her new pets!

I'm so excited about my new pets! 

I wonder if they see me. 

I love them! 

Two of Katie's New Pets 

I keep waving to the fish, and they never wave back!

New Things

The other day was full of new things and new ideas for Katie. It started with receiving a package with some new books for summer reading. Then she had fun playing with fish aquarium things, as I was changing out my tank. Finally, Katie had some new ideas for her toy bracelets.

I got a package from Grammy Noreen and Grandpa Joe! 

I can't believe my mom made me get dressed before I got to open this! 

I loved this book (Whoever You Are) from the first time I looked at it.  

Elephants are fun! 

I'm pretty good at lifting the flaps in this book. 

These boxes look like they could be fun! 

These might be good for climbing! 

Who said my bracelets just went on wrists? They look nice on my leg and upper arms too!

Doing Chores

Katie watches me pretty closely every time I clean the house. She especially likes to watch me vacuum. The other day, she was playing with her corn popper, but she was using it as her own vacuum cleaner. She was doing her own chores, running her "vacuum" back and forth across the carpet.

I found my vacuum! 

I know you have to push something with your foot back here! 

This is fun! 

Why would you ever complain about housework? 

I'll just finish up in the living room. 

Ahhh! Nothing beats some cool water after doing chores!

Sitting with Friends

Sometimes I catch Katie just sitting with her friends!

Chloe is such a good friend! 

Look at this, Winnie!