Happy First Birthday!

Katie turned one last Friday, September 2nd!  I had to work on her birthday, but my mom and my cousin, Garyldine, brought Katie to visit the classroom. She was very entertained by watching the students, and the students quickly began copying Katie when she started sticking her tongue out and pulling it back into her mouth. It was funny to watch!

Later that night, Garyldine and Jim came over to celebrate Katie's birthday with my parents, sister, and me. Katie enjoyed her gifts and attention. I wasn't quite sure what she would do with the cake since she had hardly had any sugar in her life. She really did not like the taste of the frosting when she tried it, but she did seem to have fun playing in the frosting.  She was in desperate need of a bath after the cake!

A New Book!

Chloe Joined the Celebrating 

Not Sure About the Frosting 

Sure About the Frosting - Yuck! 

It's fun to play with though! 

"Look! I can be messier than you!" 

Looking Even Prettier 

It was a good first birthday!

Back to Work

Last week, I officially returned to work.  I thought about Katie a lot, but I knew she was in good hands with my mom.  As far as Katie goes, she has now straightened out her crawl and has increased the speed of her crawl. She still uses her wacky crawl on the wood floors.  Her foot that she swings to the side usually provides more traction on that floor than her knee. I love to watch that crawl though. 

Katie has also re-discovered her "scary face." For a while it was happening less frequently, and I sort of missed laughing at it. Now she is back to doing it a lot. Sometimes, I think she realizes it makes people laugh because she'll smile after the scary face, but other times, she'll just make her scary face and then go on with life like she has done nothing weird.

Katie still has a lot of things she loves, and  one of those things is books. She loves listening to books, looking at books, playing with books, unstacking books, and pulling books off the shelves. One of her favorite books is "Pat the Bunny." My principal gave Katie that book along with the Pat the Bunny stuffed animal at one of my showers, and Katie can't get enough of that. The other day, she went over to choose her toys. She stopped first at the newspaper to take an ad with her. Then she stopped at her toy basket and got the Pat the Bunny stuffed animal. Then she went to her books and chose "Pat the Bunny" and "Goodnight Moon." I hope she continues to love books throughout her life!

Katie's Dress from Hawaii. Thanks Uncle Jeff and Aunt Grace!

  

Scary Face Returns

Still enjoying the dress!

Katie's Choice of Toys

 Katie's First Postcard from Grandma Noreen and Grandpa Joe

Katie "Reading" Her Postcard

A Busy Week

Jennifer had the week off to celebrate her birthday, and while she was home, we kept Katie pretty busy. She had her first visit to the zoo. Just like when she's in any new situation, she was pretty quiet and serious at the zoo as she took everything in. She did like waving to the animals when she saw them which was pretty funny!

At the zoo



Later in the week, Katie had her first picnic at a lake. We chose a picnic table right next to the lake, so she could keep her eye on any action. She loved watching the people swimming and fishing in the lake and also enjoyed waving to the people passing by. She really, really likes being outdoors, so it was easy for my parents to sit with her at the picnic table while Jennifer and I walked around.

In other news, Katie has started crawling. She has a really wacky crawl. She crawls normally except for her right leg. Instead of keeping her right leg bent, she swings that leg straight out to her side, and stands on her toes to move forward. Her left leg stays bent. I'm not sure what is going on with the right leg, but she gets where she needs to go!  She has also learned to pull herself up on her feet when she is next to a piece of furniture. The learning continues.



Smiley



Looking at Katie's Progress

This week, Katie had an appointment with a child development specialist. It wasn't a surprise to me when I met Katie that her physical skills were not where they needed to be. A lot of babies that are in orphanages don't have the same opportunities to develop those skills compared to typical, American babies.  The specialist tracked Katie's skills over the last month. She said that Katie is still a little behind in some areas, but based on all of the progress she has made in the last month, she has every belief that Katie will catch up soon.  She'll keep tracking progress but has no concerns. It's amazing to think that I just met Katie a little over two months ago, and she couldn't even sit up on her own. Now she's sitting, rolling over, dancing, waving, imitating facial expressions, imitating some language, singing, standing, and playing a lot with her toys. It's fun to watch her progress.

A Trip to Idaho

On the weekend of July 2nd, my cousins and aunt hosted a party for Katie in Idaho, where I grew up.  I wondered how Katie would handle being in her car seat for lots of hours, but she did really well!  She was sure glad to get out of it though.  The day of the party was a hot day, but it was at a park with lots of shade, so the heat wasn't too bad. It was good to see all of my family at the party, and the park looked really nice.

One of our family friends brought her 6 year old neighbor who was also adopted from China. She and Katie were an instant match. Katie even let Mady hold her, which is still pretty rare.  It was fun to talk to her and get to know her that afternoon.

While we were in Idaho, Katie started a new and funny behavior. She started making funny faces. Every time she makes the faces, Jennifer shouts "Scary Baby," which fits quite well.  She has already stopped making the faces quite as often. I sort of miss it because it made me laugh so much. She continues to be happy baby, and we see smiles more than anything else!

Idaho Party





Katie's New Friend, Mady



Scary Baby, Take One

Scary Baby, Take Two

Scary Baby, Take Three

Happy Baby

New Behavior

Now that Katie is recognizing her family, she sometimes cries when people who are new to her try to pick her up. She is fine being held be the people she is used to, but she'd rather observe other people from afar and get to know them that way. It's a phase that will eventually pass, and it is actually a good sign of attachment.

Some likes and dislikes of Katie's:

Favorite Foods: sweet potatoes, carrots, squash

Worst Foods: green beans, peas

Favorite Toy: Jennifer

Favorite Animal: too many to name

Favorite Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Favorite Book: Pat the Bunny

Worst Fashion Accessory: Anything that goes on her head

Favorite Thing to Make Her Giggle: Chloe

Bingle and Katie

It's been another week of learning for Katie.  She has learned to wave hello and good-bye to people (at least most of the time), and she has started to play Pat-a-Cake by herself. It's fun to watch her change each day.  Ever since she learned to roll over, she has become an official wiggle worm. She's getting close to crawling, and she always wants to be on the move!

Katie received a special present from my good friend, Noreen, in New Hampshire this week. Katie loves the quilt her Grandma Noreen sent her.

I've written several times that Katie really loves the pets. Below is a video of Bingle with Katie.  Katie was supposed to be sleeping when the video was filmed, but the minute Bingle came around, Katie woke up quickly. As she discovered the relationship between her actions and Bingle's actions, she giggled and giggled.