baby blog

Croatia 4 - No more nappies

2009-06-18T14:35:00.002Z

Due to the extra days on holiday we ran out of night time nappies. Oh no, what would we do?

"Don't worry mummy, I'm a big girl, I won't wet the bed" was the response. So we thought we'd give it a go, and...woohoo, a dry night.

Croatia 3 - The Pox

2009-06-11T19:21:00.002Z

Uh oh, they're not mosquito bites then!

Croatia 2 - Fun in the sun

2009-06-10T13:31:00.006Z

It was incredibly hot for the first few days and we made the most of being at the beach. Katie loved it.

Croatia 1 - Leaving on a jet plane

2009-06-08T07:56:00.006Z

Katie ventured abroad for the first time. With some lovely friends of ours we went to Croatia for a week in the sun. First time on a plane was no problem for Katie who took it all in her stride.

Negotiation techniques

2009-04-28T20:24:00.002Z

Is 2.5 years of age too young to work for the UN?

Last night, we put Katie to bed as usual but she got up again. As I tucked her back up in bed I said, "Now, I'm going to go and do some work in the kitchen and you are going to stay in your room and go to sleep'. To which Katie replied...

"How about, you go and do some work, and I get a book and do some reading?"

Don't you just hate it when there's a bee in your window

2009-04-17T15:48:00.002Z

Angel Delight anyone?

2009-04-02T20:22:00.002Z

Pregnant friends

2009-02-26T11:53:00.003Z

Katie has known a few of our friends to have babies recently. She knows that when you are pregnant you have a baby asleep in your tummy.

With the help of her friend Mungo, here is her version of pregnancy...

Silly words

2009-02-26T11:29:00.004Z

Although language is one of Katie's strong points, she does occasionally have problems with some of her words. Here are some that she has got mixed up with over the past few months.

The first word she struggled with was music. However we tried, we just couldn't get her to say it. Instead she said 'fidget'.

Then she had trouble with houmous (her favourite snack). No matter what we said, it would always be 'Thomas'. We tried and we tried, but nothing changed, until one day when arguing with her she blurted out "It's not houmous, it's Thomas!'

The next funny word was mango. Katie has a cuddly friend called Mungo so already you can see we were going to have a problem with the fruit. To try to distinguish it from the toy that she sleeps with we emphasised the beginning of the word. This unfortunately led to the fruit being known as 'mmmmmmango', everytime.

On learning the song Woopah, Wayhay, Katie got a little confused. But who can blame her, they're not proper words. There she was singing at the top of her voice "God loves me pa-pay, woohoo".

Her latest word 'cumbumber' makes us smile.

But the funniest so far has to be concerning the letters 'SM'. Katie couldn't say 'SM' and instead replaced it with an 'F'. So smelly became felly. The funny moment came when Daddy was dressed up to go to work and Katie told him that he looked fart!

Anyone for skiing?

2009-02-25T12:28:00.005Z

Katie has been on holiday recently to Grandad's house, whilst mummy and daddy went skiing. However, to encourage Katie for future years we've been explaining how skiing works and showing her how to dress appropriately. While we were busy in one room, Katie decided to have a go herself and this is the result...

Great Conversations

2009-02-24T18:50:00.005Z

Here are just a few of the great conversations we've been having over the past couple of months...

Mummy: How old are you Katie?
Katie: Not five, not four, not six!

Katie: I'm happy. Are you happy mummy? Katie happy, mummy happy. Are you happy daddy? Katie happy, mummy happy and daddy happy.

Katie knows that Daddy is a doctor but seems to think that he can fix anything. Last week our radiator stopped working, and so Katie piped up with 'That's ok, Daddy can fix it, he's a doctor'.

Katie is adding to her vocabulary on a daily basis. This week she has replaced old phrases with new ones - 'It's gone' is now 'it's disappeared'; 'oh dear' is now 'I've got a problem'; and 'I like it' is now 'it's fantastic'.

We were out and about in the car the other day and had a conversation about what music we would listen to. It was decided that daddy would finish listening to his podcast, then Katie could have Kids Praise on. We explained this over and over again, then I said "so daddy's putting his choice on now and when it's finished you can put yours on". Katie rightly replied from the back of the car, "but I can't reach".

This week Katie was watching us wrap some food in tin foil. As she does she asked what we were doing and so we explained. And as she does she tried to learn the word. But foil was coming out as 'hoil'. After a number of repetitions from us both, I explained 'not hoil, but f-f-f-f-foil'. To which she replied, 'f-f-f-f-hoil'!

We were back visiting our lovely friends at Walton Corps over Christmas. When the band started, Katie covered both her ears and said, "when the music stops, I take my ears off"

As well as talking, Katie also likes singing. This week we had a great version of a song, only the words had changed from the norm. She sang, 'Heads, elbows, knees and toes'

She's great!

We love you Katie. You make us smile.

Katie are you cute?

2009-02-06T14:51:00.008Z

No, I'm not cute, Karl's cute, I'm gorgeous.

Katie are you cute?

2009-02-06T14:50:00.010Z

No, I'm not cute, Karl's cute, I'm a little lady.

Katie are you cute?

2009-02-06T14:50:00.009Z

No, I'm not cute, Karl's cute, I'm a little girl.

I'm a big girl now

2009-02-04T22:49:00.013Z

Sorry we haven't blogged for a while. There is so much to catch up on. We'll try and add some news and photos over the next couple of weeks.

I'm sure all parents say this, but Katie is growing up fast. She has lost her baby ways and is definitely a little girl (although if you ask her she says she's a big girl because she wears knickers!)

There have been advances in her active abilities because just before Christmas she announced that she would do a 'roly roly poly'. We're not sure which is cuter, watching her doing it or hearing her saying it.

One thing we've found is that Katie loves maps. She has been enjoying looking at where she lives and finding out about other countries. We've tried to teach her not only the names of countries but also interesting things about them. So for example she knows where Disney world is and that nanny and grandad are going to take her there one day; and she knows where Italy is and that Auntie Tina, pizza and pasta were all made there.

As for Christmas, this year Katie was an angel in the college nativity. On reading the nativity story to her before bed one night, when we got to the bit about an angel I said you were an angel to which she replied, 'No, I am an angel'.

Here are a couple of photos to keep you smiling. The first was taken at nursery just as Father Christmas arrived, the second one was all Katie's idea, the third is just lovely.

We had fun today

2009-02-02T21:48:00.008Z

Thanks for the coat Rosy!

Where have my knees gone?

Weeeeee

I love my daddy

Dressing up for a cold November morning

2008-11-27T21:24:00.007Z

Didn't we have a lovely day

2008-11-18T20:13:00.006Z

We thought we'd make the most of being in London and so we had a day exploring - a train to Greenwich, a boat ride to Westminster, a walk along the embankment, finishing off with a great fireworks display over the Thames.

As you can see, Katie enjoyed the day until the fireworks - she doesn't seem to like them too much.

I wanna do a deal

2008-11-10T15:23:00.007Z

As with most kids, Katie would much rather eat her pudding than eat her main course. A couple of times last week Daddy rearranged the food on Katie's plate and said that if she ate a certain number of items, she could have her pudding. This seemed to work and she ate most of her main course before going on to sweeter things.

So today as we were sitting together having lunch, out of nowhere, Katie pipes up with "I wanna do a deal".

Now fortunately she hasn't quite got the hang of it because upon requesting a deal, she then went on to choose which bits to eat and which bits to leave - she ate the lot! But the potential is there, she knows how to get what she wants.

It's scary!

8 pairs of knickers hanging on the line

2008-10-21T17:45:00.004Z

Yes, you've guessed it - yesterday we started potty training.

Despite the 8 pairs of wet knickers, 4 of the 10 attempts made it to the potty.

It was obvious by the end of the day that Katie understands the concept because whilst daddy was on the toilet, she walked in and asked what the smell was. When he explained, she said "Well done, want a sweetie?"

Last week Katie had already mastered the use of the potty for poo purposes, with the help of a sweet reward. But after 4 successful trips yesterday we soon realised that we were going to have to change the reward before her teeth all decay.

So now we have a star chart where 5 stars equals a chocolate.

A bumpy day

2008-10-08T18:51:00.006Z

Today was not a good day for Katie.

When we picked her up from nursery at dinner time she had 2 large colourful marks around her left eye - she had fallen over and hit her face on a table.

Then this evening after tea, she wanted to do some bouncing on her bed. She was doing really well until she fell and hit her chin on the end of the bed and put her teeth through her lip. There was a lot of blood, a lot of tears, and eventually a fat lip.

Fortunately, Katie had received a doctors kit for her birthday and so Daddy was able to give her a check up. A prescription for Calpol and a cuddle with Mungo soon did the job.

Leaving Leicester

2008-09-28T21:17:00.002Z

Well we are now back in London and Katie is loving being with her old friends again. But before we left Leicester she was very helpful in cleaning the house.

Daddy, I got messy hands

2008-09-19T20:36:00.003Z

Should've blogged this a few weeks ago but I've just been reminded of a funny event, although I wasn't laughing at the time.

I was on Katie duty (mummy was at work) and all was going well. We'd had fun playing in the morning, had a lovely lunch, and so now was time for a sleep. I put Katie down as we often do, came downstairs and got on with doing some work. I heard nothing for over an hour, which is quite normal, until a little voice from the top of the stairs says "Daddy, I got messy hands".

So up I go wondering what she means, and then I see it - yellow cream everywhere - her hands, arms, legs, feet, head, the wall, the wardrobe, the drawers, the carpet, her tshirt, her trousers. Not just any yellow cream, but clinique moisturiser. She'd pretty much emptied a new tube (bought only days ago).

Where do you start to clean up such a mess?

The good news - she now has lovely soft skin.

Funny talk

2008-09-17T17:17:00.002Z

Despite a number of comments about Katie's advanced speech, she still makes us laugh from time to time with the things she comes out with.

This week the classics have been when sitting at her toy piano and she asks us if we want a 'tuna'.

And secondly when asking if she can play with Daddy's iplod!

Postcard from Keldy

2008-09-08T20:48:00.013Z

Katie had a wonderful holiday last week in a log cabin in Keldy Forest, North Yorkshire. She had her own special bed (blown up by daddy) and she discovered lots of new things - such as ice cream

fish & chips takeaway (from the Magpie Cafe in Whitby)

and hot tubs.

After spending the week with an eight year old, she has also discovered some new phrases. So now when we ask her to do something she replies "I'm watching the telly", and if we ask her to stop doing something she replies "I'm not doing anything" (both with a slightly whiney accent).

But we also found out that she loves to walk. Until now whenever we go out anywhere we always take the buggy, so why would a two mile walk in the woods be any different. Well Katie wanted to walk and walk she did, which meant while Katie happily plodded along we ended up carrying the buggy over the mud. It was hard work but she had a great time.

Katie also has two new loves in her life - puddles

and the beach.

Thank you to the Elliotts for a lovely holiday.

Fun in the garden

2008-08-16T19:40:00.002Z

Happy Birthdday

2008-08-04T22:17:00.005Z

First words of the day... "I got my presents"

Quote of the day... Mummy to Katie: "Don't put houmous in your belly button" Katie to Mummy "Why?"

Sleep time

2008-07-19T18:22:00.002Z

We're guessing that Katie didn't go straight to sleep when we left her last night!

Nearly 2 years on

2008-07-14T18:33:00.003Z

Wow, can you believe it?
There have been a few amusing moments over the past few months and so we thought we'd share some of them with you.

Katie likes to sing, and one of her favourite songs is 'Our God is a great big God'. We now have a copy for the car and whenever the song finishes Katie shouts out 'More God, more God'. We don't want to discourage that.

Similarly, if she is unwell or just feeling a bit rough (code word for screaming her head off), we often sing quietly 'Jesus loves me this I know'. One night, whilst still crying Katie was asking for 'More Jesus'. Aah, how sweet.

We've had a bit of a breakthrough this week. A couple of months ago Katie was showing us how she could count, but it was a little odd in that she could count one to nine. However, this week she got to ten. Hooray.

A fun hobby of Katie's is catching pigeons. She will follow them around the park saying 'Catch you'. When she gets close and they fly away she will just utter an 'oh' and go on to catch the next one, not realisng that she will probably never catch one.

And then there was our favourite funny moment. One night we had had strawberry cheesecake for tea and put the left overs in the fridge. Katie was playing after tea and as she regularly does, she fell and bumped herself. So off she went into the kitchen to retrieve Mr Bump who lives in the fridge to help soothe bumps. But it all went very quiet, until we heard with a tone of intrigue 'ooh finger'. At which point Debbie jumped up saying 'Cheesecake'. There Katie was, in the fridge, holiding up her finger covered in cake, with strawberry sauce around her mouth. Guess her leg didn't hurt anymore.

Fun with friends

2008-07-02T20:36:00.004Z

These are a few of my favourite things

2008-06-13T11:19:00.002Z

Dresses & wellies!

Cheeeeese

2008-06-08T21:22:00.002Z

Stop praying and eat your dinner!

2008-06-05T21:21:00.005Z

Every night we pray with Katie before she goes to sleep. She closes her eyes and puts her hands together and off we go. We thank God for what he has done for us that day and we always pray for someone else. As her understanding and language developed we started to ask her what or who she wanted to pray for.

Katie has surprised us a few times suggesting people that we would never have thought of praying for, and it's been great. However, we struggled a little this week when she wanted to pray for cars! So we prayed and after the Amen, she said 'my turn' and this is how it went:

'Thank you God cars, thank you God dangerous, Amen!'

Then, the other day half way through dinner she wanted to pray. So she did, then she wanted to pray again, so she did, and again, and again, until eventually daddy interrupted her with 'Stop praying and eat your dinner!' Is this acceptable or should we be encouraging holy habits?

Big bed

2008-06-01T14:55:00.002Z

Well last night was the first night in the big bed. Yesterday morning we dismantled the cot and turned it into a small beautiful bed, for our small beautiful daughter.

Will she stay in it?

Should we have bought a bed rail? Should we have placed an extra duvet on the floor incase she rolls out? Should we have bought a door gate so that she can't escape?

We havn't done any of those, but the first night was a success. Katie and Mungo were very happy. Katie slept through with no bumps (not that we heard anyway), and wandered into our room when she woke up at 7.45am. Hooray!

Just hope she doesn't start waking early.

Language

2008-05-27T11:07:00.004Z

It has been fun to listen to how Katie's language has been developing and how she has new words everyday. A couple of months ago she started with phrases such as 'not like it', 'not want it', 'not tasty' and 'not do it'.

However, this week she came out with a classic. Nanny and Grandad have been very good at teaching Katie her Ps and Qs and so when Katie asked for "More milk", we replied with "What's the magic word?" Her reply:

"Custard"

Katie the footballer

2008-05-25T18:47:00.001Z

Katie the rock climber

2008-05-24T18:00:00.002Z

Katie the gardener

2008-05-22T19:12:00.004Z

Minding her manners

2008-05-19T14:22:00.006Z

We are very pleased that Katie is growing up to be a polite girl. Even in her darkest moments she is still very polite.

We were getting ready to go out and trying to get Katie to put her coat on. She did not want to wear it and at the top of her voice shouted 'no thank you'.

On trying to get her to finish her dinner, she got really cross and amid the tears screamed 'no thank you'.

We can't argue with that!

Quality time with Daddy

2008-05-17T22:21:00.004Z

The other morning Mummy wasn't feeling too well and so Daddy was in charge. Katie had her first experience of lazy mornings in front of the tv.

Mummy got to sleep, Daddy got to read his book, Katie was watching Thomas the Tank Engine - everyone wins!

Oh Jesus

2008-05-15T20:58:00.004Z

We were a little concerned the other day when we walked into the living room to find Katie behind the chair saying over and over again 'Oh Jesus! Oh Jesus!'.

Was she praying or had she been listening to Grandad getting cross?

No, for Christmas Katie had received a wooden nativity puzzle and one of the pieces was missing - Jesus!

Definitely nature not nurture

2008-05-13T11:01:00.003Z

The past few days have been very hot and so deciding what to clothe Katie in has been a little tricky. This morning we asked her would she like to wear her jeans, to which she replied - 'Hot'.

So we asked if she would like to wear her cream trousers, to which she replied - 'No'.

Now, nanny bought Katie a couple of dresses at the weekend, and so we asked would you like to wear a dress, to which she replied - 'Ooo, dress, pretty'.

She then headed towards the bedroom shouting 'Dress on, dress on' all the way. We got to the bedroom to find her pulling on the wardrobe door, so we obliged and got her dress out. She was obviously keen to wear it as she then began to put it on over her pyjamas.

Now this is definitely not something that mummy has encouraged, so where does this desire for pretty pink dresses come from?

Urgh, wassat?

2008-05-11T21:07:00.002Z

Now this isn't an unusual question from Katie, she is often finding the smallest of crumbs or a passing ant and asking what it is. So today when she held her finger in my face and asked the question it was no shock.

However, on inspecting the item on the end of her finger, I was unsure of its identity and so I asked Katie where did she find it. Her reply....

'Nose'

"More, More"

2008-04-25T21:40:00.003Z

Last weekend we had a wonderful day with our friends Gemma and Craig, which included a lovely walk in Hyde Park. Katie rather enjoyed the playground which had a large adventure climbing frame thing with lots of ropes and slides and stuff. Katie likes slides and despite lots of older kids being a little pushy - she found her way to the BIG slide. First time on her bum. Second time I think she just crawled in and this was the result.

We have a cool video of it and when she got to the bottom all she would say was "more...more!"

Might go back tomorrow... (woo 22 degrees in London!)

Hidin'

2008-04-22T15:49:00.002Z

One of Katie's latest little games is to hide from us. She seems to have grasped the idea quite well except she thinks that if she can't see us, she is hiding.

Oxo anyone?

2008-04-17T19:57:00.004Z

As most of you know we tend not to give Katie much chocolate. However, thanks to others she seems to know a lot about it (you know who you are grandads!)

She seems to think that anything in shiny paper is chocolate or as she would say "toklate". You can imagine her delight when she found a box of Oxo cubes :-)

She didn't seem to believe us when we said it wasn't, so we opened a square, and of course it's brown! This added weight to her argument, not ours. So we went one step further and got her to try a bit to see how disgusting it was. Her response...

"tasty"

Is the taste of chocolate just mind over matter?

Dressing up

2008-04-15T10:52:00.006Z

I think she's growing to like dresses...

"Look at me in my dress"

"Arghh it doesn't fit!"

"Ah well"

Who's that?

2008-04-10T19:20:00.005Z

We've had fun in London this week. Katie is constantly looking round and commenting on everything. She is also on the lookout for anyone she knows. It must be a funny world that she lives in because:

Anyone who drives a tractor, digger, truck, milk float or wears a high-vis jacket is Tony (the college gardener) - he's been popping up all week!

Anyone with a blonde bob is Gemma

and anyone who's pretty with long brown hair is...

...Uncle Ian?!

Pirate & Princess party

2008-03-31T07:03:00.009Z

Katie went to a birthday party last week which unfortunately for Daddy was a fancy dress party. Obviously we had to borrow Katie's outfit but maybe we should've bought her some new socks.

Toes or toast?

2008-03-14T15:23:00.003Z

BOTH!

Pockets

2008-03-07T22:08:00.001Z

Time to catch up

2008-02-29T23:32:00.006Z

Katie has been so much fun recently. She brings joy to so many people and makes us giggle everyday. We're sorry we havn't been keeping you up-to-date with what's been going on her life, so here are a few of her best moments over the past couple of weeks.

Will had done rather well in his Old Testament essay and so as a little treat Katie bought him (with the help of Debbie) a packet of his favourite snack - bombay mix or as Katie likes to call it "bum bum mits"!

Hello Nanny & Silly Daddy

2008-02-29T23:31:00.003Z

A couple of weeks ago (we really should blog more often) Katie started to put two words together rather than just using one at a time. The first time we heard this was on the phone when she clearly said "Hello nanny". It was a special moment. However, a couple of days later came the next not so special moment when we heard "silly daddy"

Wassat?

2008-02-29T23:22:00.002Z

We've all heard about that annoying stage in a child's life when they start asking questions and want to know why. It would appear that Katie's questionning has started a little early. Her question as of yesterday and for now what seems like every waking minute is "wassat?" interpreted to be "What is that?"

Although we are thrilled that Katie has an inquisitive mind and wants to learn, it does test our patience.

Lap

2008-02-29T23:21:00.001Z

Katie has a cute little habit of sometimes wanting to sit on our laps, even if we are lying down at the time. Cute, that is until she plonks herself down on your ribs and bounces up and down.

Getting taller

2008-02-29T23:19:00.001Z

How do we know that Katie has grown this week? No, not by the fact that her clothes are too small, but by the fact that if she stands on tip toes for long enough and gets the right angle on the handle she can open doors. Another hazard for her parents to look out for.

Going potty

2008-02-29T23:11:00.004Z

Highlight of the week - yes it's the news that all parents long to hear, Katie went on the potty - hooray! She is a little too young for this (apparently), but she has been showing a keen interest in the potty over the past couple of weeks - mainly wanting to stand in it, but interest none the less. Last week she would often come and say to one of us "toilet" or "potty" and we would smile sweetly and say ok. Off she would go stand in her potty or attempt to sit on it (usually unsuccessfully) but she did fill her nappy at the same time! Remarkable. We told nursery about this and so they've tried to encourage the habit and on Wednesday of this week, after asking for the potty at nursery, she sat on it then with some surprise shouted " ooh, water!"

Pancakes

2008-02-22T10:14:00.006Z

Katie had her very first pancake this year, and after the first one she asked for more and then more and then more. We think she enjoyed them.

Jelly & tears

2008-02-21T13:49:00.005Z

Katie has been helping out in the kitchen recently. Her favourite activities are cooking and washing up - long may that continue.

So we decided to make a jelly together. Katie was doing really well, she wasn't too keen on the texture of raw jelly to start with, but after tasting it she decided it was ok. She then went on to help stir in the hot water. But once it dissolved, there was complete devistation - Oh no, the jelly had gone! We tried explaining as best we could that it would be ok in a few hours time, but it wasn't working. Life as a kid must be really tough sometimes because it just doesn't make sense.

Sorry no jelly photos, but her she is helping us out again.

Cleaning up

2008-02-20T21:18:00.003Z

Fed up with her parents untidiness Katie decides to take matters into her own hands

Compassionate Katie

2008-02-08T14:28:00.002Z

Katie has started to show her compassionate and caring side lately. If she hears anyone crying she will search around the room for them and have a sad look on her face. The other day some grown up friends of ours were having a little play fight and Katie, in what seemed like slow motion, stopped what she was doing, her bottom lip started quivering, and she screamed and wept. Similarly we were having a bit of a tickling match, but it was too much for Katie to handle. She stood completely still and screamed and screamed and screamed, it took a long time to convince her that mummy and daddy were ok and that they loved each other very much.

Another example of her deep compassion was expressed at nursery last week. Katie's best friend Niamh was sent to the naughty mat for biting another child. On seeing her all alone, Katie went and sat next to her. Aah, how cute.

Just like Daddy

2008-02-06T21:55:00.000Z

18 months

2008-02-04T21:58:00.000Z

Being old is hard work

Sorry

2008-02-03T10:28:00.000Z

This is one of Katie's new words at the moment, although she hasn't quite grasped the correct use of it yet. She uses it when we are in her way and she wants to get past!

However, we are sorry for the lack of blogging. Christmas was great and we caught up with a lot of family and friends, it was good to see you all. We've got a lot to blog about so keep on looking over the next few days.

This was taken with our friends in Mashbury just before Christmas

Looking lovely

2007-12-22T11:41:00.000Z

Little Miss Helpful

2007-12-18T11:31:00.001Z

Katie's new found independence does have it's advantages. She wants to help us in everything we do.

She's been helping daddy with his assignments

She's been helping to put the washing out

She's been answering the phone for us

And she's been helping to make tea (angel delight). It must be inbuilt into our human nature to lick the spoon and bowl as we didn't encourage this behaviour, she did this all on her own.

My first haircut

2007-12-16T17:46:00.001Z

Well, not entirely true because nanny has had a couple of attempts before now, but this week Katie went to the hairdressers. We were a little cautious about how she would react, but she took the whole thing very seriously.

At the end, Katie was given a new hair clip, a certificate and a lock of her hair. As you can see she wasn't that impressed!

Here are a couple of others along the way

Cuddling cousins

2007-12-12T21:00:00.000Z

Katie had a great weekend - Bob, Judy & Rosy came to visit her. A lot of fun was had by all and the girls had a great time following each other around. Unfortunately we didn't manage to capture the cuddles on film but they were a delight to see, so here they are getting to know each other over a spot of lunch.

Park life

2007-12-09T09:34:00.001Z

More fun with nanny and grandad

Fun on the farm

2007-12-06T23:54:00.001Z

Katie has been on holiday. She spent the week with nanny and grandad in Kent and had such a great time. She really loves them, infact, she's now been back with us for 3 days and still asks for Grandad each morning when we wake her up.

Over the next couple of days we'll show you what she got up to...

Christmas gifts

2007-12-03T08:27:00.000Z

What sort of parent would buy a slinky for a child who has no access to stairs?

It was cold today

2007-11-25T20:45:00.001Z

We've had fun today

2007-11-23T21:24:00.001Z

Little Miss Independent

2007-11-22T19:52:00.000Z

There are loads of things to learn in the world when you are 15 months old and Katie seems to be learning at a rapid rate. She seems to be following in her daddy's footsteps. The main way junior doctors learn new procedures is to watch one, do one, teach one. This seems to be Katie's motto too. She will watch us and have a go herself.

Katie now feeds herself all the time (she is very protective of her spoons and her food - getting into a paddy even if we try to cool it down by blowing on it!)

Katie now walks to nursery (the pace is painful, and not great for our time keeping either).

Katie now cleans her own teeth (depending on your definition of 'cleans').

And her latest game - she carries her own little bag around everywhere, looking for things to put in it (don't even think about trying to take it off her!)

Relax

2007-11-03T20:18:00.000Z

Before leaving Liverpool, Don (our lovely next door neighbour) taught Katie how to relax on the sofa. This is something she has continued to do and today was particularly good at it.

The Dictionary according to Katie

2007-11-02T00:15:00.000Z

Katie is changing every day and it is a delight to see. Her character, cheeky as it is, is shining through more and more each day. But one of the ways in which she seems to be developing quickly is her communication.

She understands what we say particularly well: we can tell her to go and get her shoes and she does, we can ask her to go to her high chair and she does, we ask if she would like some breakfast/dinner/tea and she responds with "Yum yum".
But they are not the only words she says, here is a list of them all to date in the order that she started saying them:

Ta (probably her first word at around 10 months)
Gone (in relation to her food)
Da da
Ma ma
Dohh (dog)
Buh (book)
Shus (shoes)
Yum Yum
Shocks (socks - guess she gets mixed up with shoes)
No (when asked if she wants any more milk)
Cud-dle (this is so cute)
Mu (as in Mungo, her favourite soft toy)
Noh (as in Noddy)

But it's not just her words that are developing. She has other useful skills too...

Ain't misbehavin'

2007-10-24T22:18:00.000Z

It's an interesting time at the moment because it's only recently that Katie can choose to misbehave. I guess before now, she didn't know what was right or wrong but now there are a few occasions where she is consciously naughty. She is funny. Sometimes she'll look to see if anyone is watching before she'll press the CD eject button. And when she is found out, she often rubs her hands down her front - literally wiping her hands of it all! It seems that is built into our DNA!

We have a bit of a battle in the bath too - trying to stop her from standing up. When we tell her to sit down - she pretends to and as soon as you say "good girl" she's back on her feet giggling! It's not a good start when you're trying to tell her off and she thinks it's a game!

We wonder whether now would be a good time for the old "I'll count to three" trick. Or do we need a naughty chair?!

It's not a major issue - but we just want her to be happy, for her to be safe and not to learn too many bad habits that need to be addressed in the future.

Solo steps

2007-10-17T13:47:00.000Z

Today was a good day. Katie took her first solo steps. It was great to see. We didn't actually see the first ones, they were taken in nursery, but she took a few more later in the day and we were thrilled to see them.

Katie has grown so much over the past few weeks and she really is interacting with us now. It is wonderful. There have been lots of occasions that make us go 'ah', because she is so lovely and loving. Recently she has become much more touchy feely and has been asking us for cuddles. She has learnt how to blow kisses which is cute, though it can appear a little forward when she meets new people!

Katie's latest discoveries

2007-10-10T20:32:00.000Z

Helping with the washing

I can put my own 'shus' on mummy

And how much fun can you have with a beaker?

New shoes

2007-09-24T21:27:00.001Z

Ok, we know they're pink, but Clarkes really don't do any other colours. We did try and get some brown velcro ones (from the boys section) but the shop assistant warned us off these as Katie would be able to pull them off easily. So pink it is.

And here are just some funny photos that were taken a few weeks ago.

Hello London

2007-09-20T20:17:00.000Z

Well a lot has changed and we've all been a little busy. There is lots to tell you - so here goes...

New house
It has taken Katie a little while to settle in to her new home, but I think we are getting there. Her routine was all out of sorts and she didn't like sleeping during the day during the first week. This made unpacking a little tricky, but although we've still got a few boxes still to unpack, we're nearly there. We are pleased to say that Katie is now very settled in her new room and she likes exploring the flat.

New friends
We've been meeting lots of new people including a whole babble of little toddlers. There is Niamh (13mths), Hannah (19mths), Anya (15mths), Naomi (2yrs), Catherine (3yrs), and Angelina (2yrs). You'll notice a distinct lack of boys. Katie is already busy making friends and gives them all big smiles. She's not the youngest (by two weeks) but she is the smallest.

New nursery
This hasn't gone quite to plan. Although Katie loved nursery in Liverpool, it's not the case here. She is having a little trouble settling in. The nursery staff are doing their best to settle in all the new girls but so far, each morning one of them starts crying, and then they all join in one by one. Katie is getting particularly good at her non-verbal communication - she knows all the moves for "mummy/daddy don't abandon me here with all these strange people - all the babies are crying there must be something wrong!"

New food
On saturday we went to Bluewater and for lunch Katie had her own food plus a fair bit of mummy and daddy's too. She had beef casserole, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, cheese, egg, bread, olives (!), artichoke, strawberries, banana, marzipan, and some cake with cream. She's also discovered sweetcorn and she's impressed.
Similarly, at nursery she gets snacks during the day (something we've never done). There have already been comments on how she will not only eat her own, but also has seconds and then will eat other kid's food if they don't want it. Today she had a big bowl of rice crispies for breakfast, a round of toast for mid morning snack, salmon and broccoli tagliatelle followed by a yoghurt for lunch, a mound of mango for a mid afternoon snack, scrambled egg and spaghetti hoops for tea, a little lettuce, pepper and tomato as a snack while we had our tea, and then her usual 9oz of milk before bed - phew! Could this be a growth spurt?

New teeth
At last she has four, but we think there are more on the way. Katie has been a little upset from time to time since we arrived. We don't know how much is due to being unsettled, how much is due to missing her northern friends, and how much is due to new teeth. We're guessing it's probably a bit of all three.

New moves
As we said before, Katie is enjoying exploring the new flat, but not on her knees, on her feet. She has taken one or two steps herself and can often be seen wobbling like a weeble as she tries to stand up on her own without holding on to us or the furniture. It is tiring for us, but she is having a great time learning how to use her legs and feet, and is growing in confidence every day. All her new friends can walk and so she looks on longingly as they run around the gardens here, so is determined to join in. So we're off to buy her some shoes.

We've taken hardly any photo's recently - will try to get some in the next few days and post them for you all!

Goodbye Liverpool

2007-09-19T22:54:00.001Z

It was very sad :(

But aren't Dorothy and Donald lovely :)

Katie Biggles Pearson

2007-08-27T18:53:00.001Z

I think Katie has found her future vocation :D

Step one

2007-08-25T13:57:00.001Z

On Thursday Katie took her first steps - hooray!! Well, not unaided, but without mummy or daddy helping. For a while now she has been moving around the furniture and she enjoys walking around in the bath holding on to the side, but this week we had solo movement. She has got one of those push along brick carts and so we showed her what to do.

To start with she just held on and crawled with it, giggling all the time. But then she started to stand up. This resulted in quite a few falls as the cart moved forward and she didn't! However, she very quickly got the hang of it and enjoys doing length after length of our living room. She gets rather frustrated when she gets to the end and bumps into the coffee table, but we quickly turn her around and off she goes again.

She loves it and always walks with a smile on her face. I say walk, it's more like a quick jog. I'm not really convinced she has much control over the speed to be honest, it seems she has two options - run quick or fall over! Either way - she is still having lots of fun!

Katie's holiday

2007-08-16T20:22:00.000Z

This was Katie's second holiday this year. She had so much fun the first time that she booked herself back in at nanny and grandad's for a week, and what a week she had! Grandad emailed her diary over - so we can all read what she got up to...

SATURDAY - I went to a barbeque for my birthday at Auntie Brenda & Uncle Ben's house. I had a few presents and a lovely chocolate cake. I did not get home until 9.30pm and I stayed awake all the time! Mummy seemed suprised to hear about that.

SUNDAY - Nanny and Grandad took me to the park to go on the swings. I really enjoyed it. I spent some time playing in my paddling pool and then played with my toys. I went to bed at my normal time.

MONDAY - Grandad was going to golf so we took him. I had a nice car journey in my new car seat. In the afternoon I went to visit my second cousins as their mum has just had a new baby on my birthday.

TUESDAY - I went to the seaside where I ate my lunch on the seafront. Then we went shopping to buy Grandad some new shoes. I had my first haircut, Nanny cut my fringe so that I can see properly.

WEDNESDAY - I went to the park again where I had lots more swings. Then Grandad went to golf so I stayed at home and played with my toys. Auntie Anne & Auntie Brenda came to visit.

THURSDAY - Nanny took me swimming and I had lots of splashes and swims. In the afternoon Nanny took me for a walk so that Grandad could have a sleep. We went to the park for more swings and the slide.

FRIDAY - We are all off to the seaside. Nanny, Grandad and me with Auntie Jenny and Uncle Doug. We went on a little train, The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway. It was once known as the smallest public railway. We had lots of fun and saw lots of animals on route. We went into the cafe where we had fish and chips for dinner. I also watched lots of tiny trains in the model railway museum. What a tiring day.

SATURDAY - My holiday is over and it is time to go and rejoin my Mummy and Daddy. I leave my Nanny and Grandad very tired and I think they need a holiday to rest.

The big number 1

2007-08-13T16:29:00.000Z

Well can you believe it, Katie is now 1 year old.

Katie had a lovely birthday. She spent the morning having fun in her new paddling pool.

Later on in the day Nanny and Grandad had arranged a surprise birthday party for her. As a result, Katie's favourite foods are no longer toast or cheesy veg, but chocolate cake!

Feeding time

2007-07-23T08:32:00.000Z

We've been having a little trouble getting Katie to eat anything (other than toast!). However, yesterday she just couldn't get enough.

A day in the sun

2007-07-21T18:57:00.000Z

At last the sun came out, for a day, so Katie wore a skirt to show off her chunky legs.

We decided to make the most of the summer and sit in the garden. However, it would appear that grass can be a little prickly if you're not used to it.

Bendy Baby

2007-07-07T20:15:00.000Z

Over the past couple of weeks Katie has developed a new habit of falling asleep in some very awkward looking positions. Here are just a few that we've managed to capture on camera...

Crawling and falling

2007-07-04T16:19:00.000Z

Well Katie is 11 months old today and she is developing new skills.

This week crawling has definitely advanced, along with climbing - up the tv, table, chairs, sofa, bath, pretty much anything she can get a grip of. She's a determined little soul. At nursery they now have to put Katie to sleep in the travel cot because she insists on climbing up the bars, then standing and waving at everyone, instead of sleeping.

We are trying our best to prevent any major accidents, but we've already had lots of minor ones. Today at nursery she climbed up the dinner table, fell and bumped her cheek, and earlier this week she bumped her head a number of times as she tried to get around.

Times are changing; she's growing up.

Katie's holiday

2007-06-27T17:00:00.001Z

Katie has been on her first holiday without her parents and she had a wonderful time.

She went to stay with her Nanny and Grandad in Kent for a week. She had quite a busy time seeing lots of family, going to the seaside, meeting the goats and chickens at the farm and then finally a trip to the airport to find mummy and daddy.

We dont' know for sure, but we're guessing she was thoroughly spoilt. She wore some new clothes (including frilly dresses), played with some new toys, tasted some very expensive food, and had lots and lots of cuddles. But most of all she had lots of fun.

Nanny and Grandad had a great time too, although their parting words were "We're knackered".
Katie loved it so much she is going back for another week in August. Nanny and Grandad have booked a holiday before then to get over the shock and they've booked another one afterwards too.

It's been a bit tough readjusting, but it's great to be back home together :)

Coughing and clapping

2007-06-07T21:54:00.000Z

Today has been a sad day and a happy day.

Nanny and Grandad came to stay at the weekend and Katie fell in love with them (again). She gave a huge smile everytime she saw them, and played lots of games with them. Grandad shared not only his love with Katie but also his cold. So today has been a bit sad as Katie has been coughing a lot. But it's not just any old cough, it sounds like she's been a heavy smoker for 40 years!

However, on the happy side, today was the first day that Katie has clapped her hands. It was lovely to see and it made her happy too.

Sorry, no photos of coughing or clapping, but a lovely one of Katie sleeping.

10 month update

2007-06-04T20:54:00.000Z

So what is going on with Katie?

Well, she is still slightly smaller than the average baby. Her 6-9 months clothes are beginning to get tight, but we think we are going to skip straight to 12-18 months clothes as she is about to move up into the next size nappy - and they are huge!

She is now eating well (on the whole). Her favourite foods are, weetabix, readybrek, toast, or scrambled egg for breakfast, and for later in the day, fish, pasta and any veg as long as it’s mixed with cheese. She hasn’t got the hang of using a spoon yet, neither is she too great at feeding herself with her fingers (unless it’s toast in which case she excels). She is now holding her own milk bottle most of the time and this week we appear to have had a breakthrough with water. Since Katie was six months old we have tried to get her to drink water out of a beaker. It has been very frustrating as she really hasn’t taken to it and the health visitor insisted that we persevere. Well four months on and she seems to have got the hang of it, ish.

Still no clapping which is strange as we guess Katie would see a lot more of this than your average baby, as she goes to church every week. Oh well, no hurry. There is no desire to walk yet even though she has got really strong legs. But we have seen some backwards crawling and she can do a great 360 deg turn. Her favourite activity is bouncing.

She still sleeps through the night and when she’s at home with mummy and daddy she still has 4 sleeps a day. This is not the case at nursery where they are lucky if she has 20 minutes! We are still working to a 3 hourly routine, but we are getting a little more relaxed about it these days. But it has worked really well for us and we'd recommend it to others.

We have a very happy contented little girl.

Pyjama party

2007-05-31T14:03:00.000Z

I know you had a sneak preview on the previous blog, but we just wanted to show off Katie in her new pyjamas. She looks so adorable and more grown up than when she wears her sleepsuits. I think it's true to say she is now a little girl and no longer a baby.

Active Katie

2007-05-24T17:14:00.000Z

Over the past few days every time we've gone to wake up Katie we wonder how we are going to find her - which end of the cot will she be in? which way round will she be? The other day as I stood by the doorway for a sneaky peek at her, I couldn't see her - she was way down the bottom end, completely wrapped up under her blanket. She is really enjoying the whole 'rolling over' phase of her life and recently has become a little more adventurous.

We went in the other morning to find her sitting up! We're not quite sure how she did it, but decided it is time to lower the cot down to its lowest level.

But now Katie has a few new moves for us, and this is how we found her when we went in to wake her up yesterday morning...

Things to make you smile

2007-05-14T14:43:00.000Z

Since being ill, we have struggled to get Katie to eat anything other than weetabix. I think we've got over that problem now though...

Mummy was giving Katie a music lesson one morning, but I think they should've waited until after lunch...

A very genorous friend of ours gave Katie some vouchers for Early Learning Centre, and so we went on a little shopping trip...

Hanging out with very special friends at Roots

Do you think my coat is a bit big, or am I just a bit small?

Hanging out with dad

Girls have all the fun!

2007-05-04T10:11:00.000Z

Katie looks cool in boys clothes

though she can do pink and girly too.

I guess she gets the best of both worlds.

Mungo, we have a problem

2007-04-26T08:38:00.000Z

You may have heard a little about Katie's friend Mungo. Well here are a few pictures to show their special relationship.

Unfortunately they have grown so fond of each other that Katie won't sleep without him. This causes us a problem because Mungo is too big to carry with us when Katie goes out.

We are trying to wean them off each other during the day, but this is proving a little tricky. Are we being too harsh and expecting too much from these little people who are so in love?

What a week!

2007-04-16T08:33:00.000Z

We've had a tough time in the Pearson house. Katie was poorly for 7 days, but on the 6th day, Debbie caught the same bug and was poorly for 5 days. On her 4th day Katie was sick again. Both have been off their food and drink and just been a bit sad. There's been quite a lot of cleaning up to do (!) and our washing machine has never seen so much action.

Just as Katie was back to her adorable bubbly self, she became a cranky girl who just wanted to be cuddled - why? A tooth! So again, off her food, won't sleep, won't drink. We're a bit worn-out.

Spring cleaning

2007-04-09T06:51:00.000Z

Katie has been poorly sick this weekend. From what we've seen and heard, most babies are sick now and again, but we've been quite blessed with Katie because so far she hasn't been that ill, but she certainly made up for it this weekend. She obviously felt the need for a detox and so has been emptying the contents of her tummy in quite impressive actions from both ends! Neither of us have ever seen anything like it. Where does it all come from?

Obviously we havn't got any photos of poorly Katie, so here are a couple taken a few days before on her 8 month birthday.