The Talking Tally, January 2009

Katie is quickly becoming a little talker. In the last few weeks, her vocabulary has grown immensely, and now she is trying to say almost every word she hears regularly. It's quite amazing. I've been trying to write down as many words as possible over the last several days, although I'm sure I'm still missing some. But here are most of the words she can currently say.

Fictional shows and characters: "See-see" or "Elmo Cookie?" (when she wants to watch Sesame Street), Abby (one of the newer characters on Sesame Street), Elmo, Cookie (Cookie Monster), "Buh buh" or "Boo-ard" (Big Bird), "Book" (Bert), Pooh, "Teh-tale" (Veggie Tales)

Real people:
Family: Bella, Dada, Mommy, Mike (my brother), "Aah-ee" (her cousin Alli), "Ah-drew" (her cousin Andrew), "Ama" (Oma, formerly known as Grammy) , “me!”
Friends: Mark, Anna, Kai, Amy
"Whooz dat?" (used for everyone else)

Animals: Bee, "Coggy" (Doggie), Cow, Puppy (and countless animal noises and motions to indicate the others)

Eating: "mawk" (milk), juice, apple, "balla" (banana), "cocker" (cracker), cookie, chip, cheese, "ah gah" (all gone)

Clothes: coat, sock, shoe, diaper, hat

Parts of the Body: eye, nose, "mock" (mouth), toe, "eyebow" (eyebrow)

Toys and Fun: ball, beach, book, Bible, "baa" (Bath), bead, "bubbles!" (always said with an exclamation point), "boon" (balloon), car, hug, "Whoa whoa whoa" [Row, Row, Row (Your Boat)],"tock" (asking us to make her toy talk), see

Other Words and Phrases:
Hi, hello, bye
Happy, sad
Up, down
Hot, cold
"Peas" (please), "dank doo" (thank you)
Yes, no
Amen
walk
"s*it" (directing Bella to sit) (and yes, I did get a good shock then chuckle out of that one)
two
"pah-ee" (potty -- I wish being able to say it made potty training happen automatically!)
yellow (learned this week when she wanted another M&M)
baby (important to learn right now!)
"sah" (star)
"lat" (light) "Whoa" and "Wow" (learned while admiring Christmas lights)
"Where's... (da cow, Bella, etc.)?"
"Es dat... (Elmo, Dada, etc.)?"

Over two months ago, when Katie was just starting her vocabulary drive, she learned "beach" and "happy" in the same weekend -- a great pair of words, I might say! Here she is practicing her new words in the car on the way to the ocean:

Christmas 2008, Part 1

Happy New Year!

I'm hopelessly behind on this blog, so I'm going to throw up a few photos and a video of Katie enjoying some of her Christmas gifts, and will tell you our family's Christmas tale a little later with more photos.

Katie was sick on Christmas, so we spent Christmas Eve at home. Poor baby -- you can tell she doesn't look well in these photos. On Christmas Eve, she opened up some Sesame Street DVDs and a Melissa & Doug puzzle:


Since the rest of my family had been sick that week as well, we were thankfully able to get together with them on Christmas Day without worrying about spreading germs. Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) gave Katie several gifts, including an Elmo Live! doll and an interactive Elmo book:

My parents gave me a pretty pearl necklace/earring set, but Katie quickly claimed them for herself:

And Uncle Mike (my brother) gave Katie a giant car, which she loves riding around our house these days:On Christmas Day, Katie also got to open up another gift from Mommy and Daddy -- a barking, walking dog that we picked up for her at the beach. Despite the wierd expression, she loves her "puppy"!

Several days later, when we were pretty sure the flu was a thing of the past, we were finally able to celebrate Christmas with John's family. Here Katie's Aunt Laura helps her ride the beautiful neighing rocking horse that Uncle Jamie and Aunt Amanda gave her.

John's parents, Grammy and JayPa, spoiled a happy Katie with a boatload of gifts. That's what grandparents are for, right? Here Katie sits atop a packaged alphabetical/numerical puzzle mat while holding her new baby doll. The box with her new playhouse is at her feet.


Katie also received a LeapFrog magnetic farm from Aunt Laura (John's sister). The highlight of the farm should be that Katie gets to match animal heads and tails, but she's been having way too much fun dancing to the songs the farm makes:

Thanks to everyone who helped turn my sick daughter's Christmas week into a week of fun and toys!

Our 2nd Tiny Talk Tuesday

Since I listed a bunch of Katie's new words last week, I'll list just the new words Katie has said this week.

1. "Hi" and "Buh-Bye".

The cutest example was when Katie's betrothed Kai was crying in his highchair, and I leaned Katie in to kiss his head and try to cheer him up. She got right into his face, started waving, and said, "Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!" Kai, who seems to be crushing on Katie as well, immediately cheered up.

2. "Pooh" (as in "Winnie the...") (first said 10/17)

Winnie the Pooh is everywhere in our house, and now she's referring to him by name.

3. "Two" (first said 10/18)

Katie was trying to get into a bottle of floor cleaner and I was giving her a countdown of one-two-three to encourage her to walk away before I had to intervene. I started the countdown: "One". She immediately replied, "Two!" That was her first time saying "two" in context of counting, and of course I couldn't be mad as she showed off her new word. I did, however, still remove her from the floor cleaner. :-)

4. "Bee" (first said 10/18)

We've been reading the Dr. Seuss book, "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" before bed a lot recently. After Mr. Brown moos like a cow on the first page, he buzzes like a bee on the second page. Katie had buzzed once, but yesterday as she was picking up her bath toys and making animal sounds for each, she picked up the bee and said, "Bee." Good for her. Maybe we'll finally embark on a trend of saying the animals' names instead of just the sounds they make.

5. "Puppy" (first said 10/19)

Speaking of the animal name trend, another of Katie's new words is "puppy." No longer does every dog have to be "Bella." Unfortunately, I discovered this new word while trying to sit quietly with Katie during our evening church service this past Sunday. I handed her the "Puppy Love" book in the pew, hoping that she'd "read" it quietly while I listened to the sermon. Opposite reaction -- she started screaming "Puppy!!! over and over again in excitement. We exited shortly thereafter. :-)

(Others' Tiny Talk Tuesday posts are here.)

Deep Thoughts From a Recovering Germophobe

I just got this email forward from my friend Mary:

The First Kiss

It's your First Kiss and several questions might come to mind:
Is it the right time?
Is anyone watching?
Does your partner even want to?
Is your breath fresh?
AND,---Should you use some tongue?
Then you say . . ..
'What the heck!' and Just Go for it!!!

(scroll down)

This must be a 2nd or 3rd child... because Mom grabbed the camera and not the kid! :O)

Cute email, but it strikes me as a bit odd, because Katie is my first kid and I probably would have grabbed the camera too. Am I a bad parent because I videotaped Katie's cousin tackling her on the moonbounce rather than running to her rescue? Or because I photographed Katie meeting Bella for the first time, even though they both used their tongues? :-)

My friend Shi-Wei complimented me the other day for not "coddling Katie" constantly. Her comment has really made me think. After all, I've always been a bit of a hygiene freak, although I knew going into motherhood that I'd be forced to relax a bit.

On the one hand, I want to build up Katie's immunity, so I don't freak out about every possible germ she may encounter (hence her 6 months of colds this winter). Plus it's simply impossible to keep her away from all gross things, especially with a dog (dog hair on the floor; or the fact that Katie loves to "share" her food with Bella before sticking it back into her mouth). I also read this week about studies that show that children who grow up with older siblings or pets tend to be healthier as they get older simply because they were dirtier as babies!

At the same time, I obviously want to make sure Katie doesn't do or eat anything that would hurt her. So I try to keep a close eye on her, even if I don't panic over everything. (Her close encounters with poop -- the dog's or her own -- are an exception to that rule.)

I'd be interested in hearing the thoughts of other mothers about this, especially mothers of older or multiple children who don't have the luxury of watching each child every moment of the day.

Her name is BELLA!

Thank you to Emily (who turns 10 tomorrow), Jack (age 8), and their mom Deb for suggesting our doggie's new name, Bella!

Deb, Jack and Emily have no way of knowing that the term "Bella" is special to John and me, and a great fit for our St. Bernard mix. It is the Latin (and thus Italian) term for "beautiful".

After learning in Fall 2006 that we were pregnant with Katie, we took a "babymoon" to Europe -- a train through the Swiss Alps, where we got to hug on a St. Bernard in front of the Matterhorn. This is the trip that confirmed to us that we wanted a St. Bernard or Bernese Mountain Dog someday.

During the last leg of that trip, we visited special friends in northern Italy. The granny in the Italian family had been friends with John's grandfather since World War II until he died a few years ago, and we promised Granny and her family that we would stay in touch with them. The granny doesn't speak much English, and we don't speak much Italian, but one word is used often in conversation with Granny: "Bellissimo!" or "Very beautiful!" Here's a photo of us with Granny and our Italian "cousins". We miss them very much!

Back in the U.S., Bella is turning out to be a wonderful dog for our family. We had prayed for the right dog and we could not be happier. She is social and fun-loving -- a perfect fit for our family! She is very gentle and has learned very quickly the few things we needed her to learn.

Introducing the newest member of our family!

Our family adopted a dog today! She is a 3-year-old St. Bernard mix -- probably with border collie and/or English setter. Her name was "Greta" when we adopted her, but then we found out that the Humane Society had given her that name -- her name was actually "Sack" when she was given up by her owner a few weeks ago. (Who names a dog "Sack"?)

Anyway, we're still trying to decide on a name. John suggested simply "The Head" since that is her most prominent physical feature. We're leaning toward "Bernie" since "Bern" is German for "Bear" ("Bear" was my first name suggestion, again thanks to her gigantic head).

Katie is delighted to have a doggie to play with, and the doggie so far seems quite content to be here as well. She has endured a 2-hour car ride home and even a few fur yanks when I was trying to teach Katie how to pet gently.... oops. But so far, no snaps or nips or anything, so all seems well. The dog is incredibly strong though, so I'll still have to figure out how to walk the dog and Katie at the same time without one of us toppling over.

Here are photos of John and Katie meeting the doggie for the first time (I have the flu so my photo will not be shown here):

Here's the doggie after we brought her home:

And here are Katie and the doggie after John gave Dog a bath. Quite an adventure. Nothing like having to pick up a St. Bernard who is spreading all 4 legs as wide as possible so as not to have to go in the bathtub. I didn't get to watch since John did it all with the door closed. It's a shame. I had my camera ready for a good photo op.

I don't know who's more tired tonight -- me after a weekend alone with Katie and the flu? John after a weekend retreat where he hurt his back playing basketball and then had to wrestle a big dog into the bathtub once he got home? Or Doggie, who found a new home today?

I vote for John. But it's still time for all of us to go to bed. G'night!

Katie at 9 months

(this photo is of Katie with my parents and my grandma, who celebrated her 85th birthday on Sunday -- Happy birthday, Grandma!)

Katie turned 9 months old this week and we're still having a blast!

We had our 9-month dr's visit today and she is 18.8 lbs (50th percentile) and 28 inches (60th percentile). She's getting better at crawling, especially when she sees something she's not allowed to play with across the room. She's also becoming proficient at pulling herself to standing, and stood for a few seconds today without me holding her.

She's making me laugh this evening -- I'm teaching her to clap for the American Idol contestants. She made everyone at my dad's office laugh today when we stopped by with birthday presents (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!) and she danced and laughed and cooed at everyone.

We had a rough weekend last weekend -- she had (at the same time) a bad cold, a 103+ degree fever, major teething issues, and a touch of the stomach virus that her daddy had had a few days earlier. Poor girl. But she seems to be all better now, and has 5 teeth now with 4 more about to pop out any day now.

She has no interest in baby food anymore -- besides nursing, all she will eat is Cheerios and whatever Mommy's eating. The doctor says it's ok to move her to adult food, and my friend Katie M. is lending me her food grinder, thank goodness.

Her big obsession right now is animals. You saw the earlier video with her meowing and mooing. She's now roaring like a lion as well. She loves dogs and cats and we go on walks everyday to try to see dogs in the neighborhood. We also visited the local animal shelters last weekend to try to find a dog for our family. We've put in three applications (see here and here for the doggies we've applied for) so we're hoping the right doggie comes our way!

Thanks to all of you for your support of our family.