Updates on Kateli

When I sit down to write updates on Kateli's progress, it is almost overwhelming to try and not leave anything out! She is growing so fast, and doing and saying so many new things each day, that I would really have to do a DAILY update in order to capture and share everything with you--unfortunately, I don't have the time to do daily updates, so I'll try to remember it all!

She is now 18 1/2 months, and so ready to be a BIG sister! I think she finally grasps an inkling of the fact that there is a baby in my tummy--she has been curious of my growing belly since I started to show--but it hasn't been until recently that she actually acknowledges it. Lots of times she will point at my belly (sometimes even raise my shirt) and say "baby" with a big grin on her little face. The sweetness of her voice and the gentleness in her eyes make me melt down each time. She loves to give baby (my belly) kisses--or serberts (spelling?) and gets a kick out of it everytime! I cannot wait to see how she will welcome baby once baby is out my belly--I wonder if she'll understand!?

She is really starting to use her vocabulary, though it seems that somehow most of the words she is picking up are in english. I continue to speak to her in spanish, and tell her the spanish word when she says something in english. Regardless of the language, we are so excited that she starting to communicate better. I feel blessed that her favorite word is not yet "NO", instead she uses her spanish "yes" more often to say what she wants. In fact, she doesn't actually say the word "no", but she nods when she doesn't want something or doesn't want to do something. On the other hand, the "yes" or "chi" is always verbalized! So, let me see if I can remember all of her vocabulary, I would guess she has about 15 to 20 words now and she repeats words well when she's in the mood. So, she says "doggie", "bubble", "hi", "bye", "keith", "mama", "dada", "baby", "head", "eye", "agua or wa-wa", "abu (her word for candy in spanish)", "pan", "aro (which I think is "pajaro" or bird in spanish), and I know I've got to be leaving some out.

Kateli is an on-the go, got to be doing something all the time type of girl!! Her waking hours are full of energy and lots of exploration. Now that it's finally warmer out, and it's not raining so much we do a lot more of outdoors stuff. Kateli plays in the gym play area, while mommy works out in the mornings and usually we go to the park afterwards to let her run around, play on the slides, swings, and chase birds and squirrels. She loves to greet other people at the park or just about anywhere, for that matter, and she finds it distasteful to walk away from people without saying "bye bye". This morning, as usual we were at the park pond watching ducks and squirrels, and there was another mommy there picknicking with her little boy. Kateli walked up to them and said "hi", then she went about her business running around, jumping on my back, watching the ducks and chasing them for while. When we were ready to go, I grabber her little hand and started walking back to the car. She quickly let go of my hand and walked back to the same spot from where she had greeted the mom and baby, just to wave and say "bye" to them--how sweet is that? She has such a happy demeanor about her and such a happy heart. One of her favorite things is MUSIC and DANCING--we have no idea where she gets that from :) (wink wink! must be the latin in her). As soon as she hears music her little dancing feet are going and her hips sway back and forth, her arms go up in the air and she twirls with huge smiles and chuckles! She wakes up in the morning asking for music before she asks for food!! It's so much fun--I know for now it's all fun, but when she's 16 and wanting to go out dancing all the time, we won't think it's so much fun then!! Oh, well I guess it's part of being a parent!

We have to admit though, that recently she has started to show some of those "terrible two's" characteristics that we thought we wouldn't have to deal with--no luck. Kateli is very strong willed--which is not necessarily a bad trait, but in a toddler, I can see the negatives. She is now throwing fits when she doesn't want to be somewhere, or do something or if she doesn't get what she is wanting. It is difficult to keep from laughing sometimes at the things that she does to get her way, but we try really hard so that we are not enabling the bad behavior. She likes to learn lessons the hard way, rather than listening to mommy and daddy's warnings about falling or getting hurt. Just the other morning, she dove off of our bed!!