Ready to Eat

The other day, Katie wanted something to eat. She tried to help herself, but her tactics didn't quite work.

I want something in here, but the doors are hard to open. 

Maybe if I just hang here, the doors will open.

All Set to Work

Katie was in the basement and decided to take over the office area.

I'm ready to go to work. 

I know just what to do. 

This mouse isn't so hard to control. 

I could just keep working here all day!

Funny Things

Katie makes me laugh all the time. With all the new words and phrases she learns each day, she feels happy to express what she wants. She says things with such sincerity. There's a lot of little things she says that I don't want to forget.

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No Pictures Please

Katie was doing another song and dance performance, and I really wanted pictures or a video of what she was doing. All of a sudden, she stopped what she was doing and said very clearly, "No pictures please!" I guess everyone needs privacy sometimes.

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I Need Something

Katie was home with my mom and sister. Out of nowhere, she exclaimed, "I need coffee!" None of us even knew she had any understanding of coffee. She may have heard the phrase once or twice from Grandma or Aunt Jennifer!

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Make It Please

I was playing with Katie's wooden blocks with her one night. After her creative Aunt Jennifer had played with her the night before, she discovered that almost anything could be built out of blocks. One of her favorite things Aunt Jennifer built was a house. So Katie looked at me and said, "Make a house." I did my best. When I was finished, she said "No," in a polite enough way and knocked my house over. I guess it didn't compare to Aunt Jennifer's mansion.

Then she said, "Make Costco!" I thought it was such a funny thing to say. She had never said any specific place by name until then. Maybe we go there too often! I was happy that Costco is a simple place to build. She was happy with my rectangular form and didn't knock it down. She has continued to challenge Aunt Jennifer with things like, "Make Bingle!" 

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Just Talking

I love the way Katie says some of her words. Of course, I know she can't talk like this her whole life, but I have to say, I'll miss some of her pronunciations of words as they change.

Katie's most constant stuffed companion for the past year has been Winnie the Pooh. We have referred to her beloved bear as Winnie, Pooh Bear, Pooh, and Winnie the Pooh. She developed her own name for him - 'Nie Pooh.  The 'Nie part of the name is said just like the end of Winnie, but she doesn't pronounce Pooh yet.  Imagine saying "book" without the k at the end. Now replace the b with a p sound, and that's how she pronounces Pooh. We hear about 'Nie Pooh a lot.

One day Katie started saying, "I need baggois (pronounced bag gwa)!"  She said it over and over as we tried to figure out what she was talking about. Back wall? Back rubbed? Bag?  We were stumped. Finally she did her sign language for banana. We got her a banana and she was satisfied. Then we practiced with her. "Say ba. Say na. Say na. Say banana." She can very clearly say the three syllables separately, but when we ask her to put them together, it comes out, "Baggois!" Seems like she's making it a little tougher than it needs to be!

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Being Polite

Katie is like most two-year olds. She certainly doesn't have perfect manners all the time. However she is expected to say please and thank you for things. In recent weeks, she has added another polite word to her repertoire -  "Sorry." She has loved overusing her new word.  She not only says sorry if she does something, but she says sorry if something is accidentally done to her.  Here is how our conversation went the other day after I accidentally opened the kitchen cupboard door and hit her in the head.

Katie: I sorry.

Me: It was my fault. I'm sorry. Are you okay?

Katie: I fine.

Katie then rubbed her head and very loudly and dramatically said, "Ouch!"

Emory's Birthday Party

Katie has a friend in her music class that she adores - Emory. He turned two recently, so Katie went to celebrate his birthday with him.

First, I got to decorate my own crown.

I still sometimes use my left hand...

 …and I still sometimes use my right hand.

Then I found one of Emory's toys.
I hope he doesn't mind if I play with it.

I decided to try one of the cupcakes.

I'm not sure I like this frosting part.

I think I'll just eat the cake part without the frosting.

I watched Emory and his dad for awhile.
They're both my friends from music.

Then I found another toy to play with.

Emory was opening my present, 

but I was having too much fun playing with the toy I found to watch him.

Time for the piñata! I'm ready to swing!

Whack!

I tried again, but I didn't hit it hard enough.

Someone hit it hard enough though.
I went home with some of the treasures inside.
Happy Birthday, Emory!

Father's Day, 2013

This year, my dad wanted to go on a picnic for Father's Day. Jennifer, Katie, and I picked up the food, and then we met my parents at the park.  It was a little chilly but a pretty nice day overall.

After we ate, we took Katie to the play structure. All she wanted to do on it was to play with the wheel that was mounted to the structure. We asked her if she was steering a boat, and she said, "No. Bus." Then she went on to sing twenty or so verses of "The Wheels on the Bus."

I got to spend quality time with Grandpa while everyone else took care of the trash. 

We had fun together! 

"The wheels on the bus go round and round…" 

Aunt Jennifer is waiting for her turn to drive the bus! 

 I'm sitting between two of my favorite people.

I went right next to the lake with Aunt Jennifer! 

Happy Father's Day, Grandpa!

Out for a Walk

We took Katie out for another walk next to our house. We were in search of wildlife. We were about to give up on finding any when Katie got really excited. She looked up at the house and saw her grandma, standing in the window and waving. That was the best wildlife she could have seen!

Gaga! 

Grandma always appears when I need her! 

We didn't find any animals this time, but I do have a butterfly right here on my dress! 

I'm so happy to be outside again! 

I picked up some more rocks while I was out here. 

I also stopped to check out the wildflowers. 

Before I went in, I helped water our Mother's Day flowers.

Rock Hunting

With our nice weather, Katie is going out on more walks. She loves to walk next to our house to collect rocks. There are many to be had.

I brought my panda, and I'm ready to go rock hunting. 

 I found one!

Maybe I should check next to the rock wall! 

Did I miss any rocks down there? 

I found one big rock and two baby rocks! 

I was lucky enough to see an airplane before we went back in the house!