Katherine

Katherine is so fun right now. She has really turned into a girly girl. She wants to wear dresses all the time and is quite particular on how her hair is worn. Yesterday I actually convinced her to let me do 2 pigtails instead of 1 ponytail since we had bows that matched her dress (thanks Amy). I tried a side part ponytail because I thought it would go better with her hair's part and I saw a cute picture of my niece with that "do". I thought it was pretty cute. In true Katherine style we first had the sad face, then the silly face, and finally the smile.

Katherine picks out her clothes every day. We have multiple wardrobe changes per day. After two days this week where she pulled one of my childhood outfits out of the closet to put on I did a little rearranging. Now all clothes are out of reach and I hang 4-5 outfits where she can reach so she can choose. Some days it works and some days she insists on wearing something she can see out of reach.

How do you like my '70's outfits? Both of these dresses hit just below her panties. Apparently in the 70's we wore very short dresses with knee socks. Katherine chose to wear the denim and yellow dress with a jean miniskirt. She wore the blue dress with large white collar with a sweater and jeans. She likes long dresses.

I have decided to pretty much let her wear what she wants as long as it is appropriate for the weather. She did a good job selecting her rain coat and rain boots on one of the days this week where it was in fact raining. She had fun jumping in the puddles. And, of course she usually covers up whatever she is wearing with dress up clothes. Our rule is that she cannot wear her slippers outside of the house and she cannot eat while wearing a costume. These rules came after spilling Chick-Fil-A sauce on a dress and after trying to walk around the block in her Cinderella slippers.

This last outfit was actually of my choosing. My college roommate sent me a box of hand me downs. Her mom made her daughter some dresses with pinafores to go over them. This one had Easter eggs on it so she wore it to ballet. It is cute and very Little House looking. The only picture I got was asleep in the car. This was the week after Disneyland and she was still exhausted.

Look alikes

Recently I have begun to think that Katherine and Caroline resemble one another more. At least Caroline looks like Katherine did at this age. I was showing Sam a few pictures and on the one below he said, "Katherine?" as a question and not a statement. The only reason he knew was because she was standing in her crib before the mattress was lowered and Caroline did not stand until after it was lowered. The other day Caroline was wearing a pink dress and playing at her activity table. I felt a deja vu as I had in mind a picture of Katherine in the same dress doing the same thing so I went to get the camera. Which one is Katherine and which one is Caroline?
Katherine is the top photo and Caroline is the bottom one. I do think they look different but much more similar than I had realized.

9 months

Nine in, nine out. Caroline, you have officially been on on the outside as long as I was pregnant with you. That is pretty hard to believe. In some ways it seems like it has been so quick but then it also seems like you have always been a part of our family. I certainly can't imagine our family without you.

You continue to be the happiest baby. You love to smile and laugh. Sometimes you get shy and bury your head into my shoulder and it is so cute.

You love to babble all the time. I love hearing your fun noises. I am not sure but you may have said your first word or two. On the way home from an evening event at church you screamed "mama mama mama" the entire way home. I really think you were calling my name because as soon as I opened the door at home you were calm and screamed no more. You also may have said "dog". We were reading a book and you kept turning back to the cover where there was a dog and saying "da". I am so excited that you are about to start communicating.

We have been pretty lazy with sign language and need to get better about working on that with you. Katherine knew so many words and it was so helpful. I want to give you every opportunity to learn to sign as well. Tonight you may have actually signed "all done". Either that or you were just waving your arms in frustration as I tried to feed you more.

Speaking of feeding, you continue to be a pretty good eater. You have liked most things we have fed you. You were not sure about egg yolks and still are not a big fan of avocado though you will eat them. Your favorite is breakfast when I give you a mixture of yogurt, applesauce and cereal. You like to feed yourself when possible and have a very good pincher grasp. We are trying to get you to drink from a sippy cup but you are not very interested. You have also lost interest in the bottle which is unfortunate but you only were given 1-2 bottles a week anyway so it is not a huge deal. You currently nurse about 4 times during the day and then sometimes at night.

You have also discovered gravity and enjoy dropping things from your high chair, especially if Hooligan is there to eat it.

This month is "mobility month". It is both fun and problematic. This month you have learned to really crawl. You were just scooting before but now you can really get across the room. If I leave the room I hear you trying to crawl and find me. For some reason you usually end up at the front door. This new skill also means that you can get stuck in tight places, find the dog food to eat, spill full bowls of the dog's water and mess up just about anything that Katherine is working on. This creates a lot of learning opportunities for both of you.

You have also learned to climb up not only to your knees but to your feet. You have fun looking at things from this new level but it also can cause problems because it is not always easy to get back down gracefully. It is especially hard because every time you wake up in the middle of the night you sit up and then stand up until someone comes in there.

We are in a rough place with sleeping right now. You pretty much don't ever nap in your crib. You prefer to sleep either in my bed with me or on my lap. The problem is that since you are now crawling I can't leave you on my bed. I hate making you cry it out at nap time because it will wake Katherine up from her nap and that is not good. At night you go to sleep easily and usually wake up 1-2 times. You don't want to nurse but usually just need us to put your paci back in or a little cuddling. I am ready to make you cry it out just out of frustration but you have another ear infection so your doctor said to wait.

You love to explore things. You frequently will take all of the toys out of a basket either one at a time or by dumping the entire things over. You like to look through Katherine's toys or the stuff in my office as well. You were very interested in all of the stuff I bought at a consignment sale.

Your favorite person is Katherine. Your face lights up when you see her. Every month she has more fun with you as you grow and are able to do more things. It is so fun to see you all becoming friends.

Now that it is warmer outside we spend a lot of time in the back yard. You enjoy crawling on the grass and you keep my on my toes making sure there is nothing in your mouth. I have seen you try to eat all kinds of things.

You are in the separation anxiety phase and that is not fun. You tend to cry every time I leave you somewhere like the church nursery and you also will cry if I am out of sight. I know it is just a phase but it is quite annoying when we are at home and I can't leave the room without you crying.

Sweet Caroline, you are such a joy. We love you so much.

A visit with Grammy and Grandad

Last weekend Sam was going to visit a friend so I took the girls to visit his parents. Usually when we are with them all of the cousins are there so there is not much individual time with the grandparents. It was so much fun to have them all to ourselves for the whole weekend. I really enjoyed seeing the girls enjoy their grandparents.

When we arrived Grammy gave the girls a late Easter present. Katherine received a set of princess dishes that she used the rest of the weekend. Caroline received a really cute outfit.

We had a lot of fun just hanging out at the house. Caroline seemed to really improve her crawling and pulling up skills. Katherine brought 5 different princess outfits with her and she was always wearing one. She enjoyed grandad's microphone and video toy.

Saturday we went to a local park and nature center. We were able to hold a millipede and look at a lot of other creatures.

They have a butterfly house. the entire park is set up only with plants and animals that are native to the area. There were quail walking around and several varieties of butterfly. The guide helped Katherine to hold a Monarch.

We had a picnic and then walked around the pond. We tried feeding the ducks but they were not interested at all in our bread.

Dress up

Katherine has entered the world of dress up with full force. I had a few items but after receiving more dress up clothes her birthday and a huge box of hand me downs from a friend, we have a lot of dress up clothes. If fact, she has a wooden laundry hamper in her room that is just for her dress up clothes.

Her current favorites are her yellow tutu and her Cinderella dress from Nana. The tutu was from a friend's ballet recital. For some reason she always wears it over her clothes which makes for some interesting combinations. Here she is wearing it while riding her tricycle. I think she looks like she is ready for the circus. The neighbors loved it.

Another day she wore it over her Mexican dress to play in the back yard.

Sometimes the tutu gets layered with her super princess cape. I made the cape and it has a crown on the pink side. The other side has a fabric with castles and it has a big "K". She loves the cape and even wore it to school the other day.

The other day she was wearing her Cinderella outfit and carrying around a stuffed frog. She had no clue that there was a story of a princess kissing a frog so I told it to her.

Her final outfit is her High School Musical cheerleading outfit with her Fancy Nancy hat and sunglasses. She actually wore this out to eat last night. I have decided that I don't care if she dresses up when we are out. It is cute and funny. We do have her take it off when she eats so there will be no spills due to the incident where Hooligan ate her tutu.