On the Wild Side

Here's K's newest thing--walking while holding just one hand (or finger) of Mom or Dad. She's pretty wobbly, but is really concentrating and learning to balance.

Gal Pal

K. had her friend L. over for lunch and playing today. The girls are just over three months apart, and I suspect they'll become great friends. They're really cute together, and their moms made several valiant attempts for a picture to capture their cuteness (and pretty dark hair and blue eyes). This was the best attempt:An attempt for a cute photo in the pink chair:
K. mistaking L. for her doll and trying to pick her up by the shirt collar:

Electric Slide

Although it is an eyesore, I'm glad K. has a plastic slide to play with. She can slide down by herself (when I'm within reach, of course). She also likes to hold on to the slide and walk around it.

Additionally, she has learned how to drop things down the slide and gets a kick out of playing peek-a-boo with me around the edges of the slide. And sometimes she just polishes the slide:

Floating Bliss

Here's another photo of K. at the pool last week. My friend S. took this and sent it to us, and I just had to add it to the blog!

Making Strides

We had a get-together at a friend's house Sunday night, and we spent a wonderful evening enjoying the outdoors (and some delicious food--K. knocked down a pork chop and about half of a watermelon). Since K. doesn't really care to crawl on grass, we spent a lot of time helping her walk (which was great for her and fun for us). She gained so much confidence that she and I walked across the yard and back with me only holding one of her hands! I'm so proud of her progress. This might be the first photo that we have of all three of us together! It only took [checks counter at top of blog] a year, two weeks, and four days to get this.

Future Lacrosse Star, Part Deux

For her birthday, K. received her own lacrosse sticks from our good friends: "So here's my stick,"
"And I have to catch the ball with the net part of it?"
"I think I will just set the ball in it. That seems easier."

Future Poolside Lounger

Today we went to a neighborhood pool with some friends. K. likes the water, and floated around in a floaty for a little while, but what she really enjoyed was sitting in a little chair at the edge of the pool--she was content there for a long time. I think we have a future lounger on our hands!

Mustang Sally

"Only fifteen more years and this is a reality!"

The Right Stuff

K. is starting to move into the stage where she actually plays with toys the "right way." (Note: I know that there is no wrong way for a kid to play with a toy, and that whatever the child chooses helps that child learn.) This morning, she was playing with her alligator (crocodile?) xylophone, and was actually hitting the metal bars with the mallet! Also this morning, thanks to her work with Grandma J., she was putting the plastic coins in her piggybank, whose slot on top is less generously sized than the other slots she's played with.

Week in Review

...and some cute photos of the kidK. and I spent this past week at Grandma and Grandpa L's house--I was teaching at a camp in the mornings and K. spent that time with her grandparents. They played together, took walks to the park, went swinging on swings, and played outside on the deck. Despite the fact that K. is so clingy to me I cannot hand her to anyone else, if I'm holding K. and my mom walks in the room K. will hold out her arms to Grandma!
In other news:

• K. has learned how to give a "hi-five," joining the ranks of everyone else in our house (me, B., both dogs, and the cat. Yes, the cat.)
• No walking yet but much cruising
• Sometimes she'll crawl with one leg straight, like a modified scoot
• K's eye-hand coordination is really great, and she loves moving toys around
• She'll raise her arms up to me to be picked up
• K has mastered "the light switch" on her toy house (and can do real ones, with supervision)
• We were playing and I was laying on my side the floor. She dropped a toy and it landed on the far side of me, where she couldn't reach it. She crawled around me to get the toy.
• She eats what seems like an extraordinary amount of food--if we're lucky enough to go out to eat, we can't just pick things off of our plates for her; she'll eat her own kids meal
• K has figured out how to take the magnets off of the refrigerator and stick them back on
• She's still rear-facing in her "big girl" car seat--age one is the minimum to turn a kid forward-facing, but rear is better for as long as she can stand it
• She is so cute I can hardly stand it, and I like her so much that I actually miss her when she goes to bed for the night. I know. I'm that mother.
• We had a great time with K's grandparents (both sets) for her birthday and are really blessed to have them
• K. is also blessed by having a really amazing extended family--every single one my aunts, uncles, and grandparents sent her birthday cards, even though she's their great-granddaughter or great-grandniece. I'm really overwhelmed by their love and kindness!

Under Where?

"Ooh, what's under the table?"

Weekly Reader

K. loves to play at her bookshelf (often just to remove all of the books and put them on the floor). Recently, though, she's seemed to enjoy the books themselves.
Here she is looking through one of her books that she got off of her shelf (this is a real photo--I didn't put her into place or give her the book--it's all on her own).
I did help her get into her chair, but I suspect it will become a place she likes to read.

Super Stacker

K. also worked much on her stacking skills this week, taking all of the rings off the stacker, putting all of the rings back on the stacker, taking them off, putting them on, and so on. She even got the color order right on this particular try, though that was just a coincidence.

Playing the Slots

K. mastered another skill this week--putting "coins" through a slot. She figured out how to twist them in a certain way to get them to fit. Yea, K!

First Bike Ride

At Grandma and Grandpa's house this week, K. went on her first bike ride. She's not up for pedaling yet, but enjoyed riding in a trailer. Lucky for Grandma and I, Grandpa did the work of pulling the trailer.

Pardon K's finger in her mouth--she's working on several teeth and I think it's a comfort thing for her.

First Birthday Party Photo Blitz

Here are several photos of K's First Birthday Party. We had a small party (small in number of guests--as you can see, not small in number of gifts!). I hope that you, gentle reader, are not sad if you were not invited. B. and I only invited our siblings and our parents. None of the sibs were able to make it, but K. celebrated with both sets of grandparents. We're really lucky to have such super grandparents who are able to be a part of K's life.

K. discovering the pile of gifts:

Opening gifts. She didn't quite dig into the wrapping paper as much as she will in a year or two. Once she got things opened, though, she was very interested in taking things out their boxes.

"Oooh, what a cute pair of jeans! I love the embroidery on the pocket.""These jammies will be great this fall, and they look so cozy!"
"Wowzers, look at this toy vacuum. I can't wait to use it!"K. got a new ride-on. She'll learn to drive it eventually, but really liked sitting on it and pushing the buttons.
She was intrigued by her new farm set and played with it for a while.
Her new doll telling her a secret...
...and K. telling everyone else what she saidHere is K. at her new table, sitting in a chair that her dad successfully assembled...on the second try.
J. and K.
Happy birthday, dear K.

Let Them Eat Cake

Being the neat-freak that I am, I was a bit worried to let K. have a go at a cake (or even a cupcake) for her birthday.

I worried in vain, though, as K. poked a little bit at the frosting...
And eventually decided that She Didn't Like It and gave it to her dad.
Seriously--a child related to me and she turned up her nose at cake and frosting? How is that possible? And at dinner tonight she ate all of her lima beans and asked for more! Who is this kid?

You Say It's Your Birthday

"Hmmm...

I believe I turn one today!"

New Furniture

K. got a new piece of furniture for her bedroom--a comfy pink chair! I imagine her curling up in it to read (well, look at pictures in a book), but for now she likes to just play on it. She bought it with some birthday money from her Great Grandpa B.

Star Stacker: Star Stacker

K. surprised me today while we were playing. Her stacker didn't have any of the stars on it and the stars were strewn about the room. She picked up one of the stars and crawled over to the stacker (which surprised me anyway--I didn't realize that she knew those went together). She then proceeded to work until she got the star onto the stacker! K. was successful in putting all four stars onto the stacker despite its rocking back and forth. I didn't think she'd figure it out until she was older. She's a star stacker when it comes to her star stacker!

In other news, we went to the pediatrician for her one-year appointment. Here's her stats: she's up to 22 pounds and is 30 inches tall. Yea for a healthy baby! K. is looking forward to her birthday tomorrow.