Kate @ 23 Months

Here are a few details about Kate at 23 months old (June 8-July 7, 2009). We can't believe she will be 2 years old tomorrow! Where has our little baby gone? We are so thankful for our little girl--she brings us so much joy. :o)

At 23 months ...

• Kate loves to color, to play with stickers, and to watch her favorite videos (including Miss PattyCake, Snoopy, and Little People).
• She loves cars! She enjoys pointing out real cars and trucks (and their colors) as well as playing with her many toy cars.
  
• She also loves to point out trees and flags and various colors of random objects when we are out and about.

• She knows and recognizes colors, letters and shapes (square and triangle are new ones--she's known circle, heart, star for quite some time now).
  
• She likes to knock on doors. I have to really keep an eye on her when we are walking down the hall because she will start knocking on our neighbors' doors. LOL! She also likes to knock on our own door when I am getting my keys out/unlocking the door.
• She also likes to point out cookies and cupcakes whenever she sees them. She loves to eat cookies (especially chocolate chip), too.
• She had fun playing with my rubber stamps when I had them out a few weeks ago.
• When something is wrong or broken or dropped, etc., she often says "It's OK!"

• She loves to try on Tanna's shoes.
• She misses Tanna when he is not here. She will point at the door and say, "Ah-Pah! Ah-Pah! Ah-Pah!" She loves to run and greet him when he gets home. It is the sweetest thing to see; she just lights up like a firefly when he comes through the door.
  
• One of her favorite books these days is an big Elmo board book that one of our neighbors got for her.
  
• Tanna taught her how to shake hands, and she loves to "shake, shake."

• She still loves stairs! She is great at climbing them all by herself.
• Her speech continues to improve by leaps and bounds! It seems she is saying new words every day--and even speaks in some sentences. Also, some of her word approximations are now full words. For example, "all-dee" is now "all done," and "guk" is now sometimes "milk." In addition, "op-pease" is now sometimes "open, please."
• She is pretty good about cleaning up when prompted. After meals, I will tell her that we need to put her milk back in the fridge, and she will hold onto it at the door for me to open it. Then, she will place it on the shelf herself.
  
• We need to work on her menu/diet. One of our goals is for her to eat a better variety of foods. She currently likes chicken nuggets, meatballs, sausage, bacon, cheese toast, grilled cheese, green beans, applesauce, raisins, yogurt, oatmeal, fruit bars, chips, hot garlic shrimp chips, chex mix, crackers, cookies, etc.

• When we are out and about, Tanna's iPhone sometimes helps keep her entertained with videos, etc.
  
• She likes to look at catalogs--specifically, Hanna Andersson and Mini Boden catalogs. I think she likes to look at the kids in them. I like the Mini Boden catalogs because they are a great size for her to hold, and I save them for this purpose. This is cute--in the last few weeks, she will point out a few of the models and say "Bekah" and "Riley" (two of her cousins).
  
• She knows more of her animal sounds--including cow ("moo"), dog ("wuf"), cat ("mow") and snake ("ssss"). I tried to get a video, but it didn't work out. Maybe next time!
• She knows many (if not most) character names from Little People, Sesame Street, Miss PattyCake ... and maybe even more. She likes to point them out, too.

• She loves to go outside and to the pool. Many days, she will lead our hand to the door or to the window because she wants to go outside. (She'll say, "Outside?") Or she will point to the door and say "Pool?" Sometimes, she will even climb in her stroller to indicate that she is ready to go somewhere. LOL!
• She is recognizing more and more familiar faces. She also does a decent job of talking on the phone--saying "Wuv Oooo" and such. She likes to pretend to talk on the phone sometimes, too.
• She now wears size 5 diapers. I think we could have gotten away with size 4s for a little while longer--but we buy the huge box of Huggies at Costco, and we didn't want her to grow out of size 4s mid-box.
  
• We love her so much, and we thank God for this incredible blessing in our lives!