I had a GREAT week this week! First of all, my SISSY is here. It's her spring break from college and she got to come spend an ENTIRE week at home with us! (I do LOOOOVE my Sissy!) Secondly, I got to go to my very first Western Days at a ranch!
A local ranch, Reber Ranch, was having a day where they had lots of activities for kids with special needs, so Mommy and Daddy took me to go see what it was all about. I got to see lots of animals, touch a donkey and a pony and spend lots of time looking at miniature sheep and a ROOSTER. I am a big fan of roosters. They may all kinds of interesting noises. They cluck and coo and caw...fascinating, I tell you! I also saw these HUGE chipmunks. They were bigger than my Mommy and Daddy! I was pretty taken with them...maybe even a little overwhelmed, as Daddy couldn't get a great picture of me when I was around them because I had to keep staring!
Kaety and the chipmunks - Mommy trying to get her to look the right way!
Ranch hand Kaetlyn
This weekend also marked a first for me...it was *finally* nice outside, so Mommy and Daddy took me to a PARK! I rode my very first swing ride and I LOVED IT. LOVED. IT. I'm a BIG, BIG fan. I hope it starts to get nice more frequently so that I can go swinging much more often!
In other news, I'm getting to be quite a big girl at school...I'm sleeping on a COT like the big kids. It's in preparation for my move to the Toddler room, away from my Ms. Audrey. THAT doesn't make me happy, but I know Ms. Audrey will be just down the hall...I think I still have a couple months left, at least!
I had a busy week this week. I got to go to the Seattle Aquarium and see Holly and Kayla! While we were there, I saw LOTS of fun things and was fascinated by the fish tanks and all the bubbles (have I mentioned I LOVE bubbles in a fish tank?). Mommy and Holly tried to get a picture of me and Kayla together, but I really thought it was more fun to lick Kayla's head and try to play with her hair...
I did get to touch a starfish while I was there. I put my hands in the water and splashed and then Mommy helped me touch the starfish. He was hard and scaly, but I wanted to keep on touching him! He was so interesting!
After that, we went and saw an octopus - a real live one! They also had a fake octopus that I could touch and feel the way his arms are and I was very very interested in that...I even tried to "eat" him, but Mommy didn't think that was such a good idea!
When we were leaving, we stopped in the gift store and Mommy bought me my very own stuffed starfish! It has a zipper on each arm so it feels very much like the one I touched in the aquarium. I think it's really cool. Mommy also decided that since we were there, I should take up the family tradition of trying on silly hats wherever we go. <SIGH> That Mommy!
Kaetlyn tries on a "shark" hat
We had a really nice day together with Holly and Kayla...it was so much fun to see Kayla and get to play with her again!
Kayla - all smiles.
Also, this week, Ms. Colleen came to visit at school and she brought Ms. Donna. Ms. Donna hadn't seen me for about four months, so she was really surprised at how great I'm doing moving around. I showed her how I like to move from laying down to sitting and how I like to climb up on things. I showed them that I could go three crawls forward before I sort of got tired and just sit up. Both Ms. Colleen and Ms. Donna were really happy with how I'm doing. They said I'm exceeding their expectations...GO ME! :)
The day after my therapy session, Mommy and Daddy were working with me on my crawling before bath time. I was doing pretty good, but then I did something AMAZING. Daddy got me all ready to go into my bath and then he and Mommy were dilly-dallying. I don't like when they do that. Especially around bath time. I do LOOOVE my baths! So, I kept trying to get to Mommy to make her pick me up and take me to the bath. Mommy thought she'd do a test and moved ALL the way across my bedroom. I really needed her to pick me up and get me in that bath...time was wasting! So, I crawled ALL THE WAY ACROSS MY ROOM! Of course, I did it in my very own style...as you can see below. Mommy made me do it again for the video camera before she put me in my MUCH deserved bath...whew...way to make a girl work! Well, now I can do it...I'm officially a crawler! Again...GO ME! :)
So, as you can see it's been an awesome week. I hope yours was too! See you next week...
Uncles Kevin and Tommy bought Mommy and Daddy this fabulous trip to Las Vegas for Christmas, and I got to tag along...how's that for fantastic?
We left on a Wednesday and returned on Saturday and had the most wonderful time. On the flight to Vegas, I pretty much slept the whole way. I really am the best travelling kid in the history of travelling kids, if I do say so myself! When we got to Vegas, we met Grammy and Grampa at the airport and got in a big van to go to our hotel.
We stayed in a big suite at the Bellagio hotel where they have a really cool water fountain show and a really fast elevator. I wasn't so sure I liked the elevator (we stayed on the 34th floor!), but I do have to say I liked the room. WOWZA! There were two bedrooms, a living room and a dining room...AND FIVE toilets in our suite (yes, FIVE). Mommy said she'd never seen so many potties.
We pretty much ate our way through Vegas. The first night, we went to dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant. I was SOOOOO good throughout almost the whole dinner. About two hours in, I started to get a little fussy and one of the fancy restaurant men mysteriously appeared with a DVD player. I'd never seen one of those before. He had "A Bee Movie" playing. I was absolutely TRANSFIXED by it. I'd like to get one of those things, please!
Kaety watching "A Bee Movie"
The next day, Uncles Kevin, Tommy, Grampa Ward, and Daddy all went and JUMPED off the top of the Stratosphere. I watched them FLY through the air and land in front of me on the observation platform. It was really nifty, though all the "woo hoo'ing" that everyone was doing was a little scary and I did start crying at one point! Afterwards, we went to eat at a Cheeseburger joint (notice the eating theme? I come by my love of food naturally!). I demonstrated my table-dancing skills at the restaurant (it's NOT what you are thinking!)...
What? Did you see my cool dancing skills!?
The last day, we went to the pool and I pretty much slept in my stroller for the whole two and a half hours we were there. Then, I went and hung out with Daddy for the afternoon while Mommy and the Uncles and Grammy and Grampa went for massages. Afterward, we went to a fancy-schmancy dinner again. I was not really having any of that, the dinners were getting BORING, so I made sure Mommy and Daddy had to play with me a lot...see Daddy and me below? Isn't he a good Daddy!? :)
Unfortunately, we had to leave "the good life" and come home. I slept most of the plane ride (again), but did wake up for our landing, which was super fantabulous. I'm a big fan of looking out the airplane window...it's FASCINATING!
It was nice to get home, though...I really missed my doggies and sleeping in my own bed! I hope you had a good week too!
I am 9 months old this week! It's been a big week for me. I went to visit Dr. P to have my 9 month checkup and she said I'm doing just fantastic! I am a BIG girl, weighing 20.02 pounds (75%), I'm 28" long (75%), and I have my Mommy's little head (17cm circumference - 25%). All those measurements are on a typical scale...on the DS scale, I'm close to 100% or over! Guess that proves that this girl likes to eat! I demonstrated my fancy sitting up skills on Dr. P's table and also demonstrated my "urping" skills to her (all over her actually)...Mommy doesn't think she liked that very much! Also, did you know they have PAPER on those tables? And it is LOUD...AND fun to play with! I pretty much destroyed it, but had a great time doing it! I did have to have one shot and have some blood drawn, but Nurse Amy was SOOOO good, I didn't even cry at all for either one!
I got to play with some new toys this week...they are some that Gramma Ward brought me when she came to visit last month. Mommy says they're not "new," as she and Uncle Kevin used to play with them when they were little! Mommy says I have to be supervised at all times with these toys because she's pretty sure they don't pass today's safety standards. But I do have to say that I love them. They make a LOT of noise (which is a good thing) and I can play my own music with them!
There were some big things that happened at school this week too. Mommy and Daddy met with Ms. Audrey and started talking about my pre-transition out of Ms. Audrey's classroom into the Toddler room! I *really* don't want to leave Ms. Audrey, but typically my classmates go down the hall to the big kids room at about one year old. It looks like I'll probably go a little after that, but not too far after, so there are some things I have to do before I move:
I have to be able to feed myself. - CHECK!
I have to be able to drink from a sippy cup. - In Progress
I have to be able to have only one nap a day. - This seems cruel and unusal - taking away naps!?
I have to be able to sleep on a cot rather than in a crib. - I started this on Tuesday. Ms. Audrey says I'm a natural! :)
I have to be semi-mobile. - CHECK! (Though I can't crawl forward just yet, I am climbing up on things and am a WHIZ at that backward crawl, scooch and roll!)
So...I guess that means in few months I'll leave Ms. Audrey and move on...thank goodness she'll be just down the hall and hopefully my new brother or sister will be in her classroom, so I'll still get to see her!
I met with Ms. Colleen this week too. She was really impressed by my sitting up skills. We still have a lot to work on for crawling and I still have to do bendy leg exercises, but overall, she says I'm doing really well. Mommy was concerned that maybe we should start speech therapy now, based on some comments made by Dr. P, but Ms. Colleen and Ms. Audrey both said they thought I was verbalizing just fine (in my own way!) and Mommy shouldn't worry just yet! So, we're going to continue to focus on the OT work for now.
This coming week, we're heading to VEGAS, Baby! We're going to meet Uncles Kevin and Tommy and Grammy Chris and Grampa Ward there...I hear there will be some interesting things to see...I'll report more when we get back! Have a GREAT week! :)
