My Second Child

I have heard many people say that preemies have stronger personalities than full termers because they have had more obstacles, more challenges, and more to prove. Kaitrin - check.

Nothing like being fearless. We have found a new hobby that I can only refer to as climbing. We like to climb stairs standing up (mind you that she only started walking about a month ago). We like to climb onto step stools to reach items on the counters. We like to try and climb into the bathtub alone. We even (with the shortest legs ever) like to climb up and jump on the couch.

And for the adventurous...Kaitrin loves to explore. Digging in dirt, burying her shoes in the dirt, covering her skirt in dirt, thank goodness she hasn't eaten the dirt. And in the same breath, she found the hose...a turned on hose. She sat right down in the water. She rolled in it. She splashed in it. She successfully made mud with it. She even found the end of the hose and decided to have the flowing water soak her shirt. Bath time baby!

Indiana or Bust

This weekend, well just Friday, we drove to Indiana for a Vow Renewal. I was a little nervous about the drive - two kids and all. Thinking that Kaitrin would be more relaxed, we turned her car seat around so that she could see everyone and the DVD player. Wouldn't ya know the little stinker slept the whole way out on Friday and the whole way back on Saturday!

The Vow Renewal was just beautiful. Mike's brother and wife have been married for 20 years. My father-in-law performed the service, their kids were a part of the ceremony, old pictures and new pictures were everywhere...just a perfect evening to celebrate their marriage. And as most of you that know me...I am a total cry baby, so my helpful daughter escaped many times to let mom work around the tears.

Kaitrin was almost infatuated with the stairs in the Hall that we were in. She just couldn't get enough of climbing up and down the stairs...to the tune of about 23! And this was no crawling matter...oh, no...we went total big girl! There was handrail holding, mommy hand holding, and announcing every step with a "sep, sep". She was just a little stair climbing fool...which also had her sleeping by 8:00, but who was really paying attention?

Jacob was most thrilled about the hotel having a pool and going out to IHOP for breakfast. Issue number 1 - pool was outside. Now, had Mike's family lived in Florida...no issue, but Indiana was a big 'not so much'. Issues number 2 - all he wanted was pancakes. After some convincing, he decided that going to Uncle Gary's party might be cool, and the mass amount of Jelly Bellys didn't hurt either...thanks Gary!

Go Diego Go

We attempted to take both children to the GO DIEGO GO show at the theater. Surprisingly, Kaitrin did a pretty good job at holding still through the first act. The second act? She conned daddy into buying her an over priced DORA doll!

Jacob said that he was nervous at first because he wasn't sure what DIEGO was going to look like. He wasn't really thrilled with how loud all of the kids were. But a big positive - he conned daddy into buying some light up toys! All in all, a good time had by the kids...which is all that matters anyway!

Founder's Day

Jacob saw his first parade on Saturday. He and his friend were pretty confused as to why they were allowed to run into the street for candy. "But, I'm not allowed to run into the street Mommy." After explaining the concept of a parade, Jacob was on his A-game and ready to take all the candy that he could get. He even had the garbage truck honk the horn at him because he couldn't leave any one piece of candy on the ground!

He went to the fair afterwards and got his face painted as a spider. And not any little spider, but a spider that took up his whole face (and a lovely time cleaning that off!).

So many words, no enough time

Kaitrin just keeps saying more and more words. When I went to pick her up from school today, the teacher was showing Kaitrin flashcards. Little bugger said "Cow", "Soft", "Sand", "Flag", "Hi", "Blue", and "Green". She used sign language as she spoke.

Last night at dinner she mumbled "all done" as she signed it too. And of course everything is in her cute little munchkin voice...

FINALLY!

On Friday, Kaitrin finally said "Ma-Ma!" I had to keep asking her just to make sure that is what she said.

Jabber Jaws

More words just keep coming! She proudly points out the color 'boo' and 'grn'. She yells 'too' at the TV when Mickey Mouse counts. She announces that she wants to watch Dora the Explorer by pointing to the TV and saying 'doooor-a'. And I even heard a 'all dun' yesterday at dinner.

But she refuses to say Ma-Ma.

Toilets

Yes, he is sitting on the toilet. Yes, he is reading a book on the toilet. And yes, the book is the story of Jesus.

Jacob and I are driving to Gordon's last weekend. For those of you who don't know, Gordon's is a food service store that sells bulk items for those of us who completely forget to order it for work. I ask Jacob if he wants to get anything from Gordon's for the house. He says that he has something in mind that we need. Cookies? Nope. Pretzels? Nope. "I think that we need some new toilet seats, Mom" Really Jacob, because they only sell food there. "But what about the things on the sink that give us water?" A faucet? "Yes, we need some new ones of those, too."

Talkity, Talk, Talk, Talk!

Please pardon the fact that Kaitrin has food EVERYWHERE and her hair is trashed, but I finally have her on camera saying some things. She is very quiet on the video (although Jacob and I are incredibly loud), so please turn up the volume.