Stickers, Love, and E-I-E-I-O

The terrible twos are upon us. Hello tantrums, meltdowns, and a new level of feistiness. When time outs started losing their effectiveness and I was closing in on my patience threshold, I called my mom and sister for advice. Christy had a great idea that worked well with Annabelle. Sticker chart! Pretty simple: earn stickers for good choices, lose stickers for poor choices. A full sticker chart will be a major accomplishment and earns some sort of special treat, like a new book or a trip to the park. Katelyn caught on really fast and loves earning stickers for following instructions, not throwing fits, using her manners without being prompted, and other "big girl" behavior. Some days she loses more stickers than she earns, and I'm ok with that. She's learning to identify positive behavior and that choices- both good and bad- have consequences. I realize this phase is just beginning and many rough days are ahead, but I feel like we're off to a good start as far as managing it. 

According to Katelyn's teacher, she has become the alpha female of the class. She is super feisty... But also super loving. When another child cries, Katelyn is the first one on the scene and immediately hugs the child and literally wipes away their tears. I witnessed this one day when I picked her up from school and It. Is. Precious. 

Lately we've been singing a lot of "Old McDonald."  Kind of. Katelyn made up her own little game where she wants me to substitute certain words for farm animals in the song. She says, "E-I, Mommy. E-I _____."  Fill in the blank with whatever word is on her mind at the moment and the song goes like this: "...and on that farm there was a _____."  Baylor, Daddy, baby, fly, rice, tortilla, broccoli, flag, nose, you name it. Silly girl!

Mouthful of Cheerios

All Dressed Up

We recently went to Houston for Dave's uncle's retirement dinner. It was a big deal-- one of those wear-fancy-clothes-we're-going-to-a-super-classy-restaurant types of deal. And as Katelyn does in most social settings, our super active 19 month old wanted to explore the room and socialize. Given that perfect behavior during appetizers, dinner, dessert, and speeches is a lot to ask of a toddler, I guess you could say she was well behaved. She was just a handful! At least she looked cute!

Holding/chewing some sort of plastic doll.

Thanks, Nana, for the pretty dress!  And thank you, Grandmom, for the pretty bows to match!

Everyone but MawMaw, Dennis, and June. And all the dogs.

18 Months

Katelyn is so much fun at 18 months. She is such a precious little girl and so full of personality and love. Some of my favorite things:

• Her hugs. Her teachers at school call her their "love bug" because she is so sweet and affectionate. She is so generous with hugs- and not just with actual people. When we FaceTime/Skype with Nana or Papa, she hugs the phone/computer as though she is hugging them in person.
• Her love for music. Whether it be a musical snow globe, music on tv or the radio, or the always popular PraiseBaby, she responds to music. She sometimes sings a little with the music and matches pitch surprisingly well. Her favorite words to sing? "Ho-yee, ho-yee... mi-tee, mi-tee..." (Holy, Holy, Holy) I. LOVE. This.
• Her words. She loves naming all the people in the room. Mama! Dada! Be-yah! (Baylor). She loves naming the kids in her class. She repeats everything we say and has gotten much more consistent with saying please and thank you. She's also starting to put two or three words together to make complete thoughts... for example, "Bye bye, Daddy" or "No bubbles!" when she didn't want to take a bath.
• Her independence. Eating by herself, scrubbing her own tummy with the washcloth in the bathtub, putting the lid on the playdough container-- these are all things that will cause her face to turn 50 shades of red if you try to help.

We spend a LOT of time at her coloring table. Her short attention span means we don't stay at the coloring table for more than 2 minutes at a time, but it is the activity we most often revisit. She doesn't like to color alone; Mama or Daddy must also participate. She hands the other person a crayon and asks them to draw dots, stars, circles, or every member of our extended family. 

... and one of my favorite pictures:

Christmas: Part 2

We had a good Christmas. We spent time with both sides of the family and had a great time...

Emma, Cassidy, and Katelyn in the cutest dresses ever!

with the cast of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse... x3

waiting patiently to open presents

Playing with Katelyn's new piano 

She put a LOT of miles on this car!

playing with blocks with Uncle Joey (whose name she has learned to say)

Pierson, Katelyn, and Annabelle watching the snow begin to fall.

 mesmerized by our white Christmas

Sitting with Granddad. This picture makes me laugh because it shows Katelyn and Annabelle's nighttime personalities: Katelyn ready for bed and Annabelle WIDE awake.

Reading Katelyn's favorite book, "I Love You Through and Through."

On another note, Katelyn's vocabulary is increasing. It's clear that she understands everything we tell her, but it seems she waits to say new words until she's confident. You can see the wheels turning in her head, like she's mentally rehearsing how to say a word. And when she's ready, she whispers it first. As she gains confidence, her volume increases until she says it loud and proud! Some recent words: tortilla, broken, pocket, broccoli, Christy, and Kathie. Can't believe she is almost 18 months old!

Christmas: Part 1

Katelyn loves all things Christmas... well, most things Christmas, anyway.

Funny thing is, she likes looking at pictures of Santa, wasn't scared when we were standing in line, and even likes to say "Ho Ho Ho" herself. My parents have pictures of me being equally dramatic.

Safe distance was a candy cane.

We drove around to look at Christmas lights, and Katelyn LOVED it. She constantly said "Ohhh! Ohhh!" and if we passed more than two houses in a row without lights, she frowned and said, "More? More?"  It was really fun.

She is fascinated by the Christmas tree. I modified ours this year. As much as I wanted to put up our beautiful glass ornaments, I didn't know if our little pink tornado would go crazy and pull the tree down. So I opted for non-breakable ones and lots of bells instead. 

Christmas in Texas

She's giving the Christmas tree a hug.

More to come!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! We went to Mississippi to be with the Taylor family. 

Katelyn quickly identified and befriended MawMaw and said her name all weekend. It was sweet!

She found a latex glove and immediately put it on her arm. It dawned on me later that she picked that up from school, where the teachers wear gloves to change diapers.

She CONSTANTLY asked me to go outside.

Playing with Daddy...

...and Papa. I love Mississippi in the Fall!

 Post- sidewalk face plant. Sometimes leaves just have to be chased!

She was fascinated (and highly entertained) by the bunny statue.

Such a big girl!

Playing one of PawPaw's old autoharps. I love this because it reminds me of children's choir in Snyder!

 Ok, so it's not the best family photo, but it makes me laugh!

So sweet.

Katelyn said her first full sentence over Thanksgiving. While watching a dog show with Dave, she pointed to the TV and said, "That's a doggie."  Am I surprised that her first complete sentence was about an animal?

Parent/Child Dedication

We had Katelyn's Parent/Child Dedication at church recently. Since we moved and were in between churches, the timing never worked out for us to do it when she was a baby. My parents, sister, and her family came to the dedication.

Katelyn was in full activity mode, running up and down the hallway before the service started. She did not want to be held and squirmed and fussed up until they called our name to stand before the congregation. She behaved for the two minutes we stood there, and then the minute we left the Sanctuary, she bolted from our arms and loudly ran down the hallway. At least she was good when it counted!

See what I mean? Flight risk.

A few other updates:

• She's communicating more clearly with us through nodding/shaking her head, saying no (a lot!), additional baby sign language, and a little bit of talking (though it takes awhile for us to translate what she's really saying).
• She runs everywhere she goes. EVERYWHERE.
• She's in a growth spurt and has a huge appetite. Her current favorite food is strawberries.
• Her word for Annabelle is "Beh"-- as in, AnnaBEHlle. I didn't live close to one of my cousins until I was 16, so I'm glad Katelyn gets to share lots of childhood memories with Annabelle (and Annabelle's sister Zoe, who will make her debut in April). Plus, having my sister nearby is just convenient. I'm glad she started the parenting thing before me, because she is full of good advice!
• Katelyn LOVES books, music, coloring, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and PraiseBaby. She doesn't stay with one activity for more than 10 minutes.
• She is most often disciplined for hitting something (or someone) when she's mad. And she makes valiant effort to avoid eye contact with the person disciplining her.
• She loves throwing trash in the trash can and putting dirty clothes in her hamper. We love this, too, and are taking full advantage. :)