Kaitlyn Michele's Baby Updates

So once again we’ve been slackers on posting Kaitlyn updates. Somehow there never seems to be enough time to get everything done on our to-do list. Kaitlyn likes to keep us very busy.

Our baby girl is no longer a baby anymore. =( Kaitlyn is growing up way too fast . At her two year check up Kaitlyn weighed in at 28 pounds 3 ounces (75th percentile) and is now a whopping 36 ¾ inches tall (which puts her off the charts!!!). Everyone says that children’s growth usually slows down by this age but no one seems to have told Kaitlyn this. She just keeps growing and growing and growing. Kaitlyn grew almost 6 inches in the past year which means that on average she grew ¼ inch every 15 days. CRAZY!!!

Other than watching Kaitlyn grow physically, it’s been fun seeing Kaitlyn’s personality grow and develop. Kaitlyn is still a little shy at first but once she warms up she can be a little social butterfly. She especially likes to play with kids. Surprisingly Kaitlyn is very affectionate now and willingly gives out hugs and kisses. What a change from her baby days when you felt lucky if you got a two-second hug from her. Kaitlyn favorites right now include reading books, playing with her toy kitchen set, and jumping in her inflatable ball pit. She still loves animals especially her four legged brothers Chase and Joey. But enough small talk…I’m sure everyone just wants to see pictures. So to make up for our lack of posts during the last six months here’s a bunch of little updates with tons of pictures for your enjoyment. Send Kristen some serious kudos her way as she produced all the picture collages and 99% of the journal entries in her copious spare time.

Kaitlyn with her cousins Kualii, Kadin, and Ken.

First, we’d like to give a big THANK YOU to all of you for celebrating with us in person and in spirit for Kaitlyn’s 2nd Birthday. We decided to go with a Winnie the Pooh/Heffalump theme since Kaitlyn’s favorite movie at the time was the Heffalump movie. It took a while for Kaitlyn to warm up but after she did she had a blast. Kaitlyn was lucky and had two birthday cakes (one vegan and one for the rest of us) and she managed to blow out her candles both times by herself. Kaitlyn didn’t show much interest in opening her presents probably due to the fact that she was all presented out from both Christmas and her actual birthday. She preferred to play with all the kids instead. She finally crashed and fell asleep around 6pm while eating dinner. It was only for a short cat nap however and then she was back up and running until 10pm that night. Crazy girl!

We can’t believe our baby girl is already two!!! Where did all the time go? Mama and Dada had set up her birthday present (inflatable ball bit/jumping toy) late the night before and Kaitlyn’s eyes lit up as soon as she saw it. She went over and jumped right in and had a blast playing. It continues to be one of her favorite toys and she insists that we both climb in a play too. Mama baked Kaitlyn a vegan (egg/milk free) chocolate birthday cake which Kaitlyn enjoyed tremendously. She sat and ate every last crumb. It isn’t very often that Kaitlyn gets to eat sweets due to her allergies. She quickly learned the word cake and for the next week she would ask for cake morning, noon, and night (no, we didn’t give in – well, mostly we didn’t).

As mentioned in the Christmas entry, we bought Kaitlyn a toy kitchen set for Christmas. Kaitlyn loves pretending to be little cook and especially likes pouring everyone a drink and then toasting by saying “cheers.” She even has an apron and a chef’s hat thanks to cousin Lorna from Iowa.

We had a very busy Christmas this year. We started off Christmas Eve at Auntie Dot’s house for our traditional Da Bin Lo dinner and our massive gift exchange. Kaitlyn actually enjoyed opening her presents this year, although she didn’t grasp the concept of opening a present and then moving on to the next one. She really just wanted to open and play with the first toy she saw. We didn’t get home until very early Christmas morning so we all slept in late. Kaitlyn was very excited when she woke up and found her new play stove and refrigerator all set up. She didn’t even want to open up any of her other gifts. Later that day Nei Nei, Ye Ye, and Uncle Dave came over for dinner. We really wanted to get a picture of Kaitlyn with her grandparents but she has this thing about not being held by anyone. So we convinced her to take pictures by setting the camera up on a tripod and then letting Kaitlyn push the button and then run over to be in the picture. Surprisingly we actually got some decent picture that way. The next day Paw Paw and Goong Goong came over to exchange gifts and we repeated the picture taking strategy. It was a very busy and fun Christmas.

We decided to take Kaitlyn to the snow for the first time on Mama’s birthday. It turned out to be a very, very very, very cold day. We had a hard time finding a good spot to play in the snow and since it was a weekday there wasn’t very many people around. Kaitlyn didn’t want to have anything to do with the snow. She was happy as long as she was being held but didn’t want to be put down. It reminded us of her first trip to the beach when she had to sit on a towel and wouldn’t walk on the sand. The only time she smiled/laughed was when we would take a step and the snow would give way. We only stayed for about 30-45 minutes and then headed back. We wound up spending time at the mall instead. Kaitlyn had a blast playing at the outdoor playground with Dada while Mama shopped.

It was a cool, but sunny day during the Thanksgiving holiday when we decided to go out the Land Park near the Sac Zoo and take some pictures. As you can see, she had a great time with the ducks, geese, and whatever other birds were there. =) Leaves on the ground always makes for a fun outing.

This year we found a really cool pumpkin patch to take Kaitlyn to in a small town called Wilton which is just east of where we live (sorry, the name of the pumpkin patch escapes our minds at the moment). The great thing about this family-owned pumpkin patch is that there are several Swiss Mountain dogs that call it home. Kaitlyn made friends with all of them and even got to ride next to one of the dogs, Bosco, on the hay ride. She also enjoyed playing in the big tractor tires. Oh, and Kaitlyn likes the pumpkins too.

How many 22 month-old kids have three costumes for Halloween? Somehow Kaitlyn wound up being a brown bear, Tinkerbell, and Lumpy. We originally bought the bear costume but she absolutely hated wearing the headpiece (we bribed her with letting her go outside in order to take the pic). We then bought the Lumpy costume on clearance which she didn’t mind wearing. Tinkerbell was actually the third costume. We bought that one because she got invited to a Halloween party and it would be too hot to wear the Lumpy costume while running around playing inside. Can you say SPOILED!!! Oh well, thank goodness for eBay (for buying AND selling). On Halloween we took Kaitlyn to a few of the neighbor’s homes that we new just to show off her costume. The first house we went to they invited us inside. After that Kaitlyn thought she was supposed to go into every house and didn’t quite get why we were skipping some homes. Later that night Kaitlyn’s cousins came over to play for a while. We’re always good for another Kodak moment. =)

Kaitlyn has always enjoyed looking/listening to books and will sit still a long time while someone reads to her. Because of her love of books Paw Paw and Goong Goong have been taking Kaitlyn to a local library for toddler story time once a week. The instructor reads several books, sings songs with the kids, and then there is an art project at the end of the reading related to the books’ topic for the day.

We enrolled Kaitlyn in a parent participation gym class last October to expose Kaitlyn to other kids her age and also to help her develop her motor skills. The class has about 12 kids ages 1-3 years and consists of parachute time, music time, and playing on all the apparatuses. Kaitlyn really likes the music part as well as jumping on the trampoline. When she first started the class she had no idea of how to jump but by the end of the session she was finally able to jump. This class is also good because it teaches Kaitlyn how to share and wait her turn. She hasn’t fully grasped this concept yet…she is 2 after all…but she is getting much better. We will be starting the class up again in March.

For the past two years we’ve taken Kaitlyn to the SF Zoo sometime in late September. We took a really cute picture of Kaitlyn back in 2004 sitting next to a baby elephant statue and decided to repeat the picture again in 2005. This time she requested that Dada be in the picture too. It’s amazing to see how much she has changed in just one year.

A fun filled day at the zoo. This was Kaitlyn’s 2nd visit to the SF Zoo. Our plan is to take her every September. Kaitlyn had a blast. She especially liked the giraffes, the ducks, and of course the petting zoo. The cool thing about this petting zoo is that they provide brushes to brush the animal’s fur with. After running around and gently brushing all the animals Kaitlyn thought I looked like he needed a brushing too. Before I could stop her my whole back was covered with sawdust. Mama thought it was pretty funny...

Since Kaitlyn loves animals so much we decided to take her to see the circus. We weren’t sure how she would do being that she was only 20 months old and had never been to an event were she had to sit still for so long…other than when she eats =P….but to our relief she did great. We went early and got to go down to the floor where they had entertainment in the three rings. Kaitlyn really enjoyed the view from daddy’s shoulders. When the show started she was mesmerized by all the animals. She especially liked the elephants. During the clown portions she got a little fidgety but nothing a few snacks couldn’t fix. During intermission we let her walk around and of course Paw Paw spoiled her and bought her a little stuffed elephant and a little stuffed white tiger. It was a very fun outing.

It’s been really neat to watch Kaitlyn grow up and form such a special bond with our dogs, especially with Chase (our first fur child). Kaitlyn absolutely adores Chase. She loves to hold his leash and walk him around the house (actually he walks her), she reads to him, gives him treats, plays ball with him, brushes his fur, and gives him lots of hugs and kisses. She also will grab the dog toys, which we keep in a box that the dogs can’t get to, and give them to the dogs. So not only do we have to clean up all of Kaitlyn’s toys at the end of the day but we have to pick up all the dog toys too. The cutest thing is that she insists on saying good night to both our dogs before she goes to bed.

It looks like we might have a future vet in the family. Kaitlyn’s greatest love so far besides her family has been animals. Every time we go somewhere that has a petting zoo Kaitlyn makes sure we go visit the animals and it’s never for a short visit either. At last years State Fair they were allowing kids to walk either a goat or miniature horse on leash. We decided to let Kaitlyn start out small and walk the goat. Everyone was impressed by how gently she was. Maybe this year we’ll let her walk the horse.