Katy and food!

Katy has quite the love affair with food. Her newest thing that she gets SOOO excited about is cheerios. Well, technically they are Trader Joe's O's, which I just get because they don't have wheat in them (we are trying to avoid foods with dairy, wheat, soy, eggs until she is over a year). I can get her to eat almost anything if I just give her some bananas and/or cheerios between spoonfuls. And it's fun watching her feed herself the cheerios. On her very first try, when I handed her a cheerio, she grasped it between her little fingers and up it went straight into her mouth! That's my girl... a very quick learner! The first few times I put a couple on her highchair tray, she would get one in her grasp and then basically try to stick her whole fist into her mouth and somehow suck out that cheerio. But sometimes it would be stuck in a tightly closed fist... since she didn't want to open her hand and lose it! It was hilarious. And when they were all gone, she was still doing a picking up motion and sticking her hand in her mouth, as if she would magically have more! In only a week since she first tried them, she has become quite deft at handling them, holding one at a time between her thumb and index finger and gobbling it down, then eagerly waving her hands for another. It's a great way to keep her happy anywhere we go!!

Nice face Katy!! Somebody takes after her daddy!

First time in her very own highchair!
Chilling out with a full tummy
Katy is furiously sucking on banana that is inside of a mesh bag... again, a great way to keep her entertained while dining out!

Katy and friends!

Our little baby is becoming one social, busy little girl! From "Sign with your baby" classes, to library lapsits, to playdates, to diaperdays movies, to church events, Katy is making friends wherever she goes. She is definitely NOT shy, and typically squeals or yells with delight upon seeing other babies (or any child). She loves to reach out and try to touch faces, pull hair, and even give big, wet open-mouth kisses! I only wish I had my camera last Sunday night... Katy was sitting next to her little 10-mnth old friend Henry. They both leaned in toward each other and exchanged one of those big kisses. My girl's first kiss... awww... so cute! :)

I still have yet to get pics at all of our social outings, but here at least are a few...





Katy with Claire (just 4 days younger than Katy) at our Sign with your Baby class







Katy with friends from Las Madres at a playdate last Friday (March 23rd)

Happy St. Patrick's Day & Happy 1st Birthday Kyra!

It's Krya's 1st birthday! Krya is daughter to Kandis, granddaughter to Art & Star Dueck... my sister Samantha & Kandis grew up together in Caronport. Katy's safe arrival was very much helped along by the daily prayers of these family friends. We won't be able to celebrate Krya's bday with them, as they are WAY up north in Saskatchewan, but I just wanted you guys to know we're thinking about you today. Hope Krya's big day was a fun one! I can't believe she's a year old already!! And Katy will be 7mnths tomorrow... where does the time go??? Looking forward to seeing you when we visit next month!

And of course, Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. If you aren't wearing green (or if you are reading this after the fact and know you forgot), give yourself a pinch from the littlest Tittle! Katy was decked out in green for the day, from the cute green outfit her Auntie Lauren gave her to a green bib and of course her green Nuk. Nobody is going to pinch my baby! :) Even Benji and I made sure to wear green. We just arrived home from enjoying the traditional Irish feast of corned beef & cabbage (Ok, I ate chicken) with our good friend Dorothy, and her 2 yr old son Thomas. We even had chocolate-covered strawberries for me... yummy! Thanks Dorothy!

Time for Katy's 7mnth update!

Ok, so I am 2 days ahead of Katy turning 7mnths old, but since I'm on a blogging spree today... close enough! Katy weighed in 2 days ago at 14lbs, 5oz... after staying about the same weight for about 3 wks, she suddenly jumped over 6oz in a week! I guess all that solid food is finally beginning to stick. Katy LOVES food. Since starting with bananas just 4 wks ago, she now also devours carrots, Trader Joes organic applesauce with blackberries, avocado, prunes, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. In the morning I also give her either rice cereal, or more often, oatmeal, mixed with her bananas. We have been making all our own baby food, rather than buying the baby food jars. Katy goes bananas... :) ... whenever she sees the little cup I put her food into, or her spoon, or sees us beginning to eat something. She wants it all!

Since early February she started sitting on her own. At first of course it was just for a brief moment before beginning to tip. But now she can sit for long, extended periods, and is pretty comfortable with it. Still very occasionally she will suddenly tip over... and now because she is so good at sitting it surprises me so I fail to catch her and she goes BONK! When this happens, she usually cries for a very brief moment, but recovers quickly.

If you happen to call, you may have trouble hearing Benji or I if Katy is awake, because she babbles away almost non-stop at times! It's definitely fun to hear all the new sounds, which more and more are starting to sound like real words. I often wonder, does she think she is speaking English? Spanish? Spanglish???

Which reminds me... in addition to Spanish and English, Katy is now adding a 3rd language to her repertoire... Sign language! We signed up for a "Sign with your baby" 6 wk class, which uses real ASL signs. We've had two classes so far, and Katy seems enthralled by it. It's the perfect time to start, because usually between 8-10 mnths babies are able to begin signing back to you in appropriate situations... showing that they understand even though they are yet too young to say words. It can be really helpful to bridge that gap until they can start talking... so they can let you know when they are hungry or tired or hurt or whatever they want you to know. And we had not thought about another benefit the instructor mentioned... sign will act as a bridge for Katy between the Spanish Daddy speaks with her and the English I speak with her, since we will both be doing the same sign but giving the English or Spanish word for it. Neat!

I can hear Katy awake from her nap - she is talking in her crib, so I better wrap this up. But I'll end with a few pics of Katy playing in the bath... sitting up now! :)

New firsts for Katy...

Katy has been one active little girl lately. She has had all sorts of firsts over the last few weeks. We need to be better at capturing some of them. She now sits in a highchair at restaurants, and is very happy doing so. Mommy and Katy also joined Las Madres... a local mommy and baby group that has clubs all over the Bay Area. We joined the Santa Clara '06 group, as Santa Clara is close to downtown San Jose, and the '06 chapter did not yet have a group for downtown babies born in 2006. They have lots of weekly events. Katy and I have been to several so far... Tuesday mornings at Starbucks in Santana Row (upscale outdoor shopping center) and Thursday mornings laptime at the Santa Clara library. Katy sat in awe two weeks ago at her 1st laptime in a big room filled with babies under 1yr all watching the librarian do fun songs, rhymes, and read stories. The Las Madres moms stayed afterwards and just chatted for an hour or so. I will have to make a point to take my camera and capture Katy at some of these outings in the upcoming weeks, as I have been a BAD MOMMY and not remembered to do so yet! However, here are some 1sts we have captured in recent weeks...
First family library outing...

Wearing her new cool sunglasses (she has a pink pair too!)

Katy's 1st picnic at the park (with her 2yr old friend Judah)

First time trying prunes... Katy loved 'em!

As I said, Benji and I will try to make sure we capture some more of Katy in new environments and doing new things, but I at least wanted to give you a small sample!

Katy goes on strike!

Yesterday Benji and I had a meeting downtown in the morning, so we left Katy in the care of our neighbour, Margaret, and her son, Chris. They have been visiting and taking Katy for naps since she was a newborn, so she knows them quite well and is always delighted when she sees them. We thought our plan was fairly fool-proof (silly us!!)... we needed to leave the house at 9:15am. As Katy is usually ready for her morning nap around 9ish, we'd put her down and then Margaret & Chris would come over. Chris, who is home-schooled, could then just do schoolwork while she napped (which she has been fairly consistent recently with having at least a 90 min nap then). When she woke up, we had left a bottle of breastmilk, so if she was hungry before I arrived home (which I thought would be no later than 11am), Katy could have that. We also left the stroller out so if she did wake up and was fed, they could always take her for a walk if I wasn't yet home. Seemed simple enough, right??

WRONG!!! Katy lulled us into thinking she would cooperate by going down as usual for her nap right before 9am. Benji went next door and let them know she was down, and so they came over and off we went. However, Katy, who I expected to sleep until AT LEAST 10:30am, if not longer, since she had been up late the night before, decided she would wake up at 9:30am. Apparently they tried to just give her a pacifier to see if she would continue napping, but no such luck. She was wide awake. So next up... Margaret gives Katy her bottle. Now anybody who knows Katy knows she LOVES her food and has NEVER cared how she gets it, as long as she gets it!! But for the first time ever, Katy goes on strike, absolutely refusing the bottle. Won't take a single drop! They tried several times, but she just wasn't having it. So of course now they are dealing with a uncooperative, overtired & hungry but stubborn little girl until I arrived home. And as things would have it, our meeting ran very late, so it was closer to 11:30 when I arrived home to a VERY mad, screaming baby on the front porch. They had just also arrived back from taking her for a walk, hoping that would lull her back to sleep, but it never happened. While Margaret assured me she wasn't crying the ENTIRE time from 9:30 onwards, Katy was definitely not happy.

As soon as I took Katy, she held on to me as if she were desparate, touching my face, and the crying immediately stopped. I, of course, was absolutely shocked to see she had not drank her bottle. I offered it to her, wondering if somehow the milk was off, but this time Katy started drinking away! So it appears it was nothing but a stubborn, strong-willed little girl deciding she would rather starve then take it... and in her mind, make Mommy come home! As soon as she had drank from both the bottle and me, she was back to smiling and squealing with Chris & Margaret, who I was still chatting with. Fortunately, our neighbours are wonderful and took her behaviour all in stride. Katy continued to talk non-stop for another hour or so until I put her down for a now MUCH needed nap around 1. She slept until 4!!!

I have told Katy that when she is a bit older, she is going to apologize in person to Margaret and be available to them to perform hard labour for a couple of hours!!! :) :)