My “Baby” Girl

If I could have chosen any gender for this pregnancy I would have chosen a boy – it just makes sense.  Evens out the numbers a bit, gives Jason a brother, logical right?  So yes, I was excited.  But then I got home and saw Katie and felt really sad.  I ADORE that girl!  She is so full of personality and love.  I have enjoyed her so, so much. I have always, always, always loved being a mother and I certainly don’t favor one of my children over another or one gender over the other, but I’ve said this before, when Katie was born I had a light bulb moment and I GOT IT.  There was never any rush to get though any stage.  I enjoyed her and found happiness and contentment even during the multiple midnight feedings.  I recently read “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin – interesting book with lots of great take-a-ways.  Anyhow, one thing she said was, “The days are long, but the years are short.”  I don’t necessary think the days are THAT long in fact often they seem to fly by, but I do know that the years are WAY too short.  I’m in no rush to see my kids walk out that door, if I could slow down the time I have with them I would.

I guess none of that is really gender specific nor does it necessarily explain why I felt a bit saddened that I wasn’t going to have another little girl.  Perhaps it was just a reminder that Katie is growing up and that I can’t go back and recapture or relive all those special moments with her.  I’m not making much sense.  But in summary – super excited to experience having another little boy – super bummed that my little girls keep growing up.  (And it’s no secret I’ve been trying to convince Jason for years to stop getting bigger)

Katie has changed so much in these past few months that I feel it’s time for an update on my adorable little girl:

Nicknames include:  Baby, Babe, Love, Sweetie Peetie, K

Katie has become quite expressive.  I’ve had a couple different people comment to me recently that she is talking quite a bit.  I love her little voice and hearing her formulate her thoughts into words.  She can put together full on sentences that can actually be understood by others.  My Mom hasn’t seen Katie since she was eight months old, she’ll be coming to visit when we have the baby in May and I keep wishing I could freeze time so my Mom can experience and share these stages.  Seriously, this girl rocks my world – she is so stinkin’ fun.

After Hawaii I thought we’d have Katie potty trained in no time – she had been using the bathroom several times a day and stayed dry during our entire flight home.  But then she got sick, then I got sick, and potty training just wasn’t something I thought about.  Not sure when that interest (in both of us) will return, but we’re not there.  She sits on the potty almost everyday, but we’re not consistent enough to go down that road.  I’ve always said I’d much rather change diapers that clean up “accidents” so we always wait til it can be an easy transition.

Photo taken back in October

The day after we got home from Hawaii Katie asked to sleep in the “big girl bed” in her room.  She was so excited about it that we decided to give it a shot.  We tucked her in and were surprised when we didn’t hear from her until morning.  She never slept in her crib again.  A few days after making the move she insisted that we take the crib out of her room before turning out the lights for the night.  Neither Justin nor I felt like getting out the tools necessary to take it apart so we tried to tell her we’d do it another time, but she was insistent and her request was granted.  We thought it was funny that the next night she asked for the crib to be put back up (we held firm on this one).  It’s been nearly three months and Katie hasn’t gotten out of bed once.  Even when she wakes up in the morning or after a nap she calls for us to come get her – we don’t necessarily take her out of bed, I think she just wants our OK that she’s ready to wake up.  Talk about easy, peesy!

She still has a binkie when she sleeps – yes, I know it’s time to take that away, but if it jeopardizes whether she’ll still take naps I’m not ready.

Katie still willingly takes long naps nearly every day.  Occasionally there are days she’ll be in bed for an hour or two and I won’t be sure she ever fell asleep, but I think that’s rare.  Either way she’s resting and quiet.  We’re also in a nice stage where if I want to skip a nap for my convenience she’s totally fine with that too.  She may end up a little more sensitive or whiney by bedtime, but it’s not a big deal.  With the start of the new year we now have church from 1-4pm so Sundays are napless days.

We missed so much church in October because of vacations, sickness, etc… that when we got back from Hawaii Katie struggled every time I dropped her off at nursery.  Apparently she’d just cry for a few minutes and then be ok the rest of the time.  Often whichever adult comforted her during that time Katie would stick close to the rest of the class.  One week that particular adult had to pick up a crying child and Katie stood there and scowled at her making clear the betrayal she felt.  The last month we’ve seen a huge change, she’s actually excited to go and when we pick her up at the end of church she’ll proudly exclaim to us, “Me happy in church!”

Katie doesn’t cry much.  Late last night as Justin and I went to bed we heard her crying – like she was having a bad dream – it only lasted a few seconds, but we both noticed that hearing her cry isn’t something we hear every day.  Sure she whines occasionally and will cry if she’s hurt, but she really is a happy little girl.

Has started to develop friendships.  The other day in the car she rattled off to Justin the names of a few of her friends from church.  Every Friday I do a swap with another Mom who has a 4 year old daughter.  Now that Katie is communicating so well I think they are finally starting to actually play together instead of independently.

At least a few times every week since November Katie will ask, “Me back hotel?”  So funny that Katie still has memories of Hawaii and would love to go back.  Actually, we all would!

Katie loves to say prayers – she likes us to help her out and she’ll repeat what we say pretty much word for word.  At the end all she needs is us to say, “In the” and she’ll excitedly complete it with “name Je Chri – AMEN!”

Katie likes to play games.  Abigail got the game Headbanz for Christmas and Katie had lots of fun wearing the cards on her forehead.  We had to be real careful though cause often she’d get so excited about the card she’d see one of wearing that she’d blurt out what the picture was that we were trying to guess.

Katie recently started pretending.  She put a baby doll down for a nap on top of her pillowpet with a blanket at nap or bedtime.  When she woke up she exclaimed, “Baby Happy!”  She’ll have make believe conversations on the “phone” and will tell herself a story as she looks at books.

She has the most squishable, kissable cheeks and an infectious laugh

I’ve recently been reading about the love languages of children and in the book it mentions if you’re trying to figure out your child’s love language then pay attention to how they express love.  For Katie without a doubt, she expresses her love physically.  She is all about giving hugs and kisses and we freely give them right back to her.  It’s possible she may just be limited by her age and capabilities to show love in other ways (service, words of affirmation, etc…) but for now it’s all about snuggles and smooches.

Can count to ten and has the ABC song down pretty well

There is nothing terrible about the twos with this girl.  To be honest I don’t think any of our kids put us thru the “terrible twos” – if anything three was usually a rougher age than two. 

A few weeks ago we had another two year old at the house and she got into everything.  Katie followed her around the house picking up after this friend and trying to keep her out of trouble.  This little girl even tried to help herself out the front door – something I’ve never had to worry about, ever.  I can’t imagine how my friend can even have a few minutes to herself to shower with such a busy little girl.  Not my Katie.  She can certainly make a mess, but she’s not exceptionally curious and doesn’t get herself into much trouble.

Katie likes to go shopping and run errands, but she’s content to stay home too.  She’ll say, “me stay home with you!”

Katie likes to pick out what she wears and has gotten really good at putting on or taking off her pants, though she still struggles with shirts.

She’s not a huge fan of getting her hair done, but that’s probably my fault.  She never complains when we do it, but if I ask her if she’d like a ponytail or a clip most of the time she’ll say no – guess she’s happy with it falling into her face all the time.

Pretty much every day I make a smoothie pack full of spinach, carrots, cucumbers, bananas, oranges, and a little frozen fruit to take the edge off.  The kids have actually learned to really like them, especially Katie.  Yum, Yum!

Katie likes to color and write.  She’ll sit at the desk with me with a paper and pencil and ask how to spell something (usually the names of our family members) as I spell out the letters she’ll jot down some symbol on her paper and wait for me to tell her the next letter.

We read a book at naptime and bedtime.  I’m sure most kids are like this, but she could read the same book for weeks and not tire of it.  Some of her favorite books are the seek & find picture books.  She has an amazing memory and can quickly point out where all the items are hidden on the pages.

Have I made it clear enough how smitten we are?

Love this girl!