2008 Comes to a Close

Well it has been one heck of a year. I know we have not posted nearly often enough about Katelyn's progress this year and for that I apologize. I will try to be better as we get into the new year, I promise.

Katelyn is now a very opinionated almost two and a half year old who loves to read and do puzzles as well as sing. She has gotten extremely verbal over the last few weeks and is using complete sentences all the time now. She has also started to show interest in using the potty and likes to go each time Mommy does.

For Halloween she dressed up as a little devil. She was very cute, although was not incredibly fond of the hood portion of the costume. She had a lot of fun going trick or treating and got enough candy to last a few weeks. When it was finally gone, she was very upset and want to go out and get more.

We went to Grandma and Da's house for Thanksgiving again this year. Katelyn was a bit shy around their friends, but warmed up after 30-40 minutes or so. She was SOOO excited to get to drink out of a big girl glass (that's apple juice, btw) and eat at the table with everyone without a high chair. She also got to help make the pumpkin pie as well as the whipped cream. After dinner, she even got the lick the beater from the whipping cream!!

We all went back east to Maine for Christmas this year. Katelyn really enjoyed the airplane trips and was disappointed when she was not allowed to fly the plane herself. She spent a lot of time with Memere and Pepere and had a lot of fun playing and reading books with them. The first night we were together, we were explaining that these were the people she had been talking to on the phone all those times. She looked at each and said the following: "You Memere? You Pepere? ...... That YOU!?!?" Her face was all scrunched up and it was like a light turned on over her head when she made the connection. It was a sight to see.

She got to see her great grandmothers again as well as a number of aunts, uncles and cousins she had never met before. Although a bit overwhelmed at first, she did get into things and had a good time at each gathering.

This was also the first time she really experienced snow in a meaningful way. There was a blizzard the day after we arrived, which is how she was really introduced to it, and that pretty much turned her off from wanting to play in it. It was cold and wet and wouldn't come off her shoes. After a couple days she got into stomping on the snow to make foot prints in it and sticking a finger into a snow bank to make a face, but that was about as far as she was willing to go.

All in all a very full year. We are expecting a new baby in March, so Katelyn will soon be a big sister.

Katelyn's 2!!!

Katelyn had so much fun on her birthday. There was a celebration at school with all her friends. They had cupcakes, played games and ran all over the place. Later that night, we went out to dinner as a family to one of her favorite restaurants, McNear's, and had a wonderful dinner. She got to have an ice cream Sunday for dessert all to herself.

On Sunday we had a party at the duck pond. Her friend Caelyn came and the two of them had the greatest time together. There were cupcakes to be eaten, bubbles to pop, ducks to feed, seagulls to chase and geese to laugh in awe at. They played hide and seek, chased each other around the fields and laughed so much we could hardly believe it. It was a beautiful day and neither girl wanted the fun to end. Both were were completely exhausted when we packed up to go home, and were asleep before we got even half way there.

Hawaiian Holiday

We just got back from a wonderful week in Hawaii. Katelyn had a blast in the pool and the ocean. The pool was designed to be 'beach-like' and had a pebble bottom and allowed you to walk in gradually. She was thrilled being able to go in and out on her own. She also enjoyed digging in the sand and pebbles, although got frustrated when they stuck to her hands.

She loved seeing all the wildlife on the island of Kauai. She chased a crab on the beach, fed some cats at the resort and even caught her first frog outside one of the restaurants we ate at. She pet the horses from our trail ride and chased lizards, too. We had to go out looking for the cats almost every night, which was really an excuse for her to go into the pool again. :)

Outdoor Fun

Katelyn is now 21 months old and absolutely loves the outdoors. Almost every weekday we take her down to the creek near her day care to see the water flowing. She has gotten very good at climbing up and down the hill with minimal assistance. She has finally figured out how to lean forward when going up the hill rather than try to stand straight up from the level of the ground. She also loves tossing rocks into the water and watching them splash.



Each afternoon when we get home we spend a bit of time walking around outside looking at trees and the creek nearby. She is also practicing her climbing skills over and under obstacles. She also has been practicing using keys to unlock the mailbox and the front door.




There is a community pool down the road from us and they have a wading pool there that is only 3 feet deep at its deepest point. She is so thrilled to be able to walk around in it on her own. She still does not like going under the water, but she is getting better at kicking her feet while we hold her and loves to splash us. Last time we were there she spent a lot of time mastering the ladder and by the end of the afternoon could climb out of the pool basically on her own. Needless to say, she slept really well that night. :)


Another of Katelyn's favorite outings is to go to the duck pond. There is a play gound there as well as the pond and she has a blast every time we go. She likes the slide, when we go with her, and the swing, as long as it doesn't go too fast. Sometimes we go with friends and she chases after them while playing in the playground or near the pond. She eats almost as much as she feeds to the ducks and geese, but she has a blast doing it.

20 Months and Counting

Katelyn has been very busy over the last couple of months. She has grown so much that she primarily is in 2T and some 3T outfits now. She is talking a lot more and uses sign language to suppliment what she is trying to say. "More" is very popular, as is "Bye Bye", which means she wants to go outside and play. She can string two words together in simple sentences and seems to be expanding her vocabulary on a daily basis. A couple new activities she has mastered in the last couple of weeks are putting on her shoes all by herself and getting her shirts and bibs over her head on her own. She spends a lot of time focussed on one activity until she masters it then goes on to another to master. It is quite amazing to watch.


Reading is her favorite passtime. Every day we read at least 10 books, and that's not counting the ones she looks at on her own. Some of her favorites are "Zoophabet 1, 2, 3", "Dear Zoo" and "Mouse Paint". She has started to even say some of the words in the stories and makes some of the animal sounds when we point to them. Rawr-ing like a lion is a big one for her. She loves to get into contests with us to see who can rawr the loudest. She did that at our office one day with the CEO of the company. It was very cute. Moo-ing is another big one. She moos at the cows we see as we drive home each night, too. Sometimes she decides they are not really cows and starts Baa-ing at them instead. When we try to correct her, she says "No no, Mama/Dada. Baaa."

Katelyn had a lot of fun on Easter. She found some eggs and was able to get them open on her own. There were a few with jelly beans, which were an instant hit, and a few with raisins, which she has always loved. We took her out to the duck pond that day and hid a couple eggs in the grass there. She was more interested in chasing the ducks than finding eggs, though.