Kaetlyn's Thoughts
Well, it's been a couple weeks since we wrote. Mommy seems to be a bit overwhelmed with work, Special Olympics and...life. But she says her happy place is us :)
I've had a great week at school, with a lot of development, particularly in communicating. Mrs. Linda says I say "diaper" (Di-P) when I'm getting changed, and I'm all about signing and saying "Up" and "Down" lately. I am a champ at signing "Please", "Thank You", about blowing kisses, and saying "Hi!" (especially to random people on the way into daycare, accompanied with a wave - at myself - but still a wave!) I also have started saying "Good Bye" and have surprised my parents with a couple of signs that no one knew I could do:
1) Milk: Mommy was asking if I wanted something to drink with dinner and I was signing "milk" like crazy and "please" with the other hand! She didn't even know I KNEW milk. I do. I mean, I know a lot of stuff. That's easy:)
2) Dog: Mommy took me into school and my friends were carrying around stuffed animal dogs. My friends Peyton (who I pretty much adore) and Dominic were saying, "Doggie" and I started patting my knee, to sign "Dog"...Mommy almost fell over!
3) Frog: Mommy was reading me my favorite book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and when we got to the "Green Frog, Green Frog" page, I started signing "frog." Who knew I knew how to say "frog"!?!?!
4) Help: I got my foot stuck in a climber play toy at school. I started whining (because that's what I do!) and Mrs. Linda said, "Kaet, do you need "help"" and then signed "help"...we've been working on that sign, and though Mommy and Daddy haven't seen it, Mrs. Linda said I signed, "help" and she came to help me. I love my Mrs. Linda!
I have been very interested in carrying and playing with purses the last couple of weeks. In fact, I try to take lots of bags and go EVERYWHERE with my "purse"...I need to raise my arm to actually hold my "bag" on my shoulder..
Mommy was gone last weekend with her folks from Special Olympics, so we spent the weekend with Daddy. I was caught teaching my Baby Sister Grace how to deal with the baby doll...
Unfortunately, she loves the baby doll and I *might* be in trouble!
We also went on a nice walk with our super-duper wagon. We really like to go for walks in our wagon!
I have been very active at school as well as at home. I taught the kids in my class about gloves...and using them on your feet...really they can be quite effective! :)
 |
| Puttin' on the gloves... |
 |
What? You don't wear your gloves on your feet? You're really missing something!
I have been working on a lot more than just my vocabulary... I'm getting really, really good at pee peeing on the potty at home before baths and I try a lot at school, but haven't quite mastered it all the time. I have figured out that if your diaper is off, you go to the door where the potty is and say, "Di Di!!!"
It's been "nice" here - way nicer than normal. This means we get to go outside and sit in the sun to read books...
And do art!
We got our School Pictures back this past week. Mom says they are the best EVER...I am just glad I kept my shoes on!!!
|
 |
| Not quite sure if I should smile... |
 |
| Here we go... |
 |
| Playing coy :) |
 |
| My big, beautiful smile! |
Therapy has been going well too. I have been alternating going to the therapy center and doing therapy at daycare. No matter where I am, it's been fun. I've mastered telling my therapists to "GO!" when I want to play and have discovered playing in dry beans and with Play-Doh! LOADS of fun!
 |
| Playing "parachute" swing... |
 |
| Clearly I don't like this at all... |
 |
| Feeding Baby Doll dried beans with Miss Erin. |
As you can see...we've been busy busy busy!
Gracie's Perspective
Big Sister Kaet's communication skills are exploding and my gross motor skills are exploding at the same time. Mommy and Daddy are pretty sure I'm going to be walking before I'm 10 months old! I just turned 8 months old and I am ALL over the place both crawling and surfing furniture and items (like my parents' and teachers' legs!), plus anything I can find to push and walk behind, I'm ALLLLL over that!
 |
| Walkin' with my stroller and baby... |
Climbing and standing EVERYWHERE...
 |
| Standing up by the back door at school... |
 |
| Standing up ON MY OWN..I'm not holding onto anything!!! |
Mommy had some technology challenges...video is continued below! :)
At school, I'm becoming quite the avid pre-toddler and am trying to have all my friends climb on things too. I've started playing "ball" on the concourse...and did you know, you can stand up on balls too!?!
 |
| Ball support! |
Unfortunately, we don't seem to have gotten out of the "sick season" and I had to take a couple of days off from school this past week due to having a fever. It turns out that both sister and I were sick, but I just complain a lot more about it! We went to the doctor and came home with 4 ear infections, 2 sinus infections and 1 yeast infection! Fortunately, after a course of antibiotics, we both seem to be feeling better. The best thing about being sick is that I got to spend one day with my Mom and one day with my Dad and it was pretty fun! Unfortunately for Mommy, I would only sleep when we went for a car ride...
Or when we were off on our walk to the Market...
Daddy didn't have much better luck getting me to sleep, but I showed him a thing or two...
As Kaety mentioned, we had pictures at school and they were fantastic!
 |
| Big smile... (what you may not notice is Big Sister Kaet's dress in the background. The only way they could get me to smile and stay put was if BSK was right there with me!) |
 |
| Big cheese |
Our pictures together turned out pretty darned fantastic too!
 |
| Sisters ~ Friends |
Mom and Dad have really been struggling with me to eat solids. They've tried different chairs:
 |
| Sittin' in the big girl chair |
 |
| Bumbo time...I look happy, right? Wait...put a spoon in my face and I morph into Screaming Baby! |
Well, Aunt Elizabeth was asked for some advice, since I do not seem to be interested in solids without a LOT of fuss. She suggested that maybe I just wanted to do it myself and wasn't interested in pureed foods. So, we've been giving it a shot this last week and you know what? She is BRILLIANT. Pictures next week will show me with a variety of food products that I seem quite happy with!
 |
| I live spoons as long as I can control them myself...and it helps if Aunt Rachel is giving me a kiss too ;) |
Until next week...we hope you have sunny skies and a fantastic time!
