Kate 2 year stats.

Here she is dancing while her Daddy performs the violin with the Grand-Rapids Indie Rock Band The Bowery at the Frederik Meijer Gardens on 8/24/10.



Kate submitted to her 2-year check up today and passed with flying colors. And, according to Daddy, she was very brave when receiving 3 shots. She likes to wear other peoples' shoes whenever possible and finds it particularly challenging to balance in Mommy's 3 inch heels.

She is 35.5 inches tall (85%) and 29 lbs, 3 ozs (77%) with a head circumference in the 89th percentile to house her gigantic brain. Lately, besides trying on shoes, she likes to attempt to count and say the alphabet, babble a constant stream to us, the cats or anyone else who will listen to a dimpled toddler who likes to use hand gestures and laugh at her own nonsensical stories. She now says, "I love you, too," instead of the less satisfying "I love you, Daddy."

She picks up anything that resembles a phone and commences imaginary conversations where she says the following: "Hi. How're you? Fine. OK. OK. Um. Uh-huh. OK. Bye!" When a particularly catchy commercial comes on, or she is watching her beloved "Doo-Doo-Doo Dora" or "The Backyardigans," she declares: "I dance!" much like Mike Meyers did on the SNL skit "Sprokets." Occasionally, she also offers: "Mommy dance?!" What proceeds can only be described as the Energizer Bunny of dancing.

It seems that as soon as she turned 2, she also immediately became more willful and combative in an attempt to assert her opinion and independence. I am glad for her sass in some ways and realize that this is only the beginning of our battles. She no longer goes to bed without an argument. But she is also using a fork and a spoon without assistance and going pee-pee on the potty after only 2 weeks of attempts. And she is a perfect angel when a guest at someone else's house.

Let's Go Jump in the Lake.

In an attempt to eek out the last few days of summer, we hit the beach. Our neighbors and friends, Jay and Lori, invited us and some other friends to Jay's parents' lake house in Plainwell, MI for a Saturday afternoon of fun. C could not join us, because he was photographing a wedding in Detroit. Fortunately, the rain cleared up by mid-afternoon, and the sun came out. Here Kate and Dora, the "explorers," enjoy the shore.

The waves come crashing in.

Kate and Ty play in the sand. Although Ty was initially "afraid" of the sand on his feet, he eventually made peace with it while learning the joys of burying his feet in the sand. "Hop, hop, bunny," Kate says.

Onya and I did not plan this, but we wound up looking like a Kohl's catalog advertising different options for this two piece suit.

Kate admiring baby Sophia and chatting with Ty's daddy.

Preparing for a "fast" boat ride where the toddlers identified the colors on the buoys (AKA "boobies.")

Kate Turns 2!

We celebrated Kate's 2nd birthday by throwing her a small close family only party at our house on Sat., 8/14. When everyone arrived, Kate decided to ride the lion - what else?

Chris spent hours smoking pork butt (I like saying "pork butt") and preparing it "Carolina style" and BBQ.

Here are some of the guests waiting for some cake, including all three of her uncles, her Granny and Grandpa Joe.

Uncle Josh and Aunt Brittany

Sisters

Kate's reaction to having "Happy Birthday" sung to her.


"Where's my piece of cake?"

"Phew!"

Mommy and her not so little girl

Opening presents with Daddy neatly and politely. She kept ripping a small amount of paper off and taking it diligently to the trash bag held by her Uncle Bill. Her favorites were Elmo-related items and her new stroller/cradle/high chair combo for her baby dolls.

Indiana 2010

My future BIL got a job as an engineer for Cummins based in Columbus, IN, and my sister spent the summer working and living there before heading back to Michigan Tech in the fall. We decided to pay them and a law school friend a visit. Kate is getting used to road trippin' it now. Part of our adventures included a ridiculously fun trip to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Everyone should go there at least once. The theme during our visit was "Stars, Cars and Guitars." An '80s rock band greeted us near the entrance, and Kate began bopping while still strapped in her stroller. Must.dance.now. Then she toured the rest of the place, stacking these blocks past her own reach.


Brittany and I were most excited for this exhibit for obvious reasons. There was even a Barbie fashion show with a runway, paparazzi and a crowd of spectators. Kate wore a pink tutu.

Fortunately, we also got to have dinner and lunch the following day with my best friend from law school (BFFLS), Jon, and his parents. It was their first time meeting our little. There was a lot of mutual admiration flowing between Jon and Kate (no; not THAT "Jon and Kate.")

His parents were so lovely to us and to our Kate. We are so glad we got to catch up a bit.

Minneapolis and a Wedding

We packed up our swagger wagon and headed up to Minneapolis for the wedding of our good friends, Travis and Amber. Our first stop was for dinner in Turkeyville, MI. Hellooooo! Are we having fun yet?

Waiting somewhat impatiently to boogie down at the wedding reception. Why are these adults wasting their time eating and talking when there is "Y-M-C-A," "Greased Lightnin,'" "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Ice, Ice Baby" to dance to?

The hotel we stayed in had an indoor/outdoor water park. Kate (and C) had a blast in the whirlpool, water slides and tubing on the rapids. Me, I flew down a tube-like water slide at lightning speeds, landing head first into the water below with a painful water up the nose experience. Kate kept asking for the "wa-wa!"


While C hung out with the bridal party taking photos, I visited a childhood friend and her family in a charming neighborhood near downtown Minneapolis. Gretchen is only a few months older than Kate, and Bridgett is 5.

We headed to a local public park near their neighborhood where the girls enjoyed digging in the sand, splashing and trying to assert their independence.


The day after the wedding, we decided to check out this.

Holy crap! There is a whole amusement park in this mall filled with all of Kate's favorite Nick Jr. characters.

Daddy took her on all of the rides, b/c Mommy cannot take the spinning. It makes her vomit.


A tired Kate Monster on the ride back to the hotel, clutching her special Itty Bitty Twin American Girl doll.

And....a spontaneous side trip to Madison, WI to see the Ablers!

Hi there, Benjamin. He and Kate held hands and plotted to destroy the world together.


His precocious older bro, Matthew.

See daddy! Look at that giraffe.

And the best of all was how she looked when she woke up every morning next to us in the hotel bed. Yes; you are still my baby doll sometimes.

Mackinac Island

From June 10-13, we visited Mackinac Island and stayed at the historic Grand Hotel, so that I could attend a professional conference. Our hotel stay included daily full breakfasts, a ridiculous lunch buffet and 5-course dinners with live music. Unfortunately, we usually only made it to the 4th course before Kate declared "all done," and gestured to be removed from her high chair. She danced in her seat to the live music, making the staff giggle. When one of the nearly all Jamaican staff asked her what her name was, she replied, "me!" Of course!
















She loved exploring the grounds and running the length of the gigantic porch. We also went to a butterfly house and ate some of the famous fudge. Other conference attendees noticed her and gave us many compliments. The weather did not cooperate to do as much outdoors as we would have liked. All in all, it was a fun time, but I am not sure we would return with her, until she is old enough to enjoy the children's activities starting at age 5.

Kate is 19 months Old.

Kate turned 19 months old on Friday. I am a little behind on posting her 18 month happenings. At 18 months, she was 27 lbs (85%) and 33 3/4 inches long (96%). She seems to be learning a new word or phrase every day. She says "What's that?" constantly and sometimes adds "over there" to her phrase. She also says "I see that!" We taught her to make animal sounds for cow, sheep, owl, dog, cat, lion and others I know I am forgetting. She says "up" whether she wants to be picked up or to get down. And she points to most of her body parts in response to us naming them: Head, hair, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, feet, belly, hand, etc. She often claps to congratulate herself afterward. She continues to love books--whether it be having them read to her or sitting quietly while she thumbs through them herself and pretends to read. She added a few dance moves and now looks like a Kate Monster when she dances. But she dances to her own beat! Since the weather improved, all she wants to do is go outside on the deck, walk around the neighborhood, go to the park or ride on the back of Dada's bike. When I arrive home from work, she grabs my hand and leads me to the front door for our next adventure. Love her!!