Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Kissing and Signing!

Kate's been making all kinds of progress lately that I thought you might be interested in hearing about. She is now hugging us when we ask for a hug. She will also attempt a kiss when we ask for one, but it varies between a lean forward with a wide open mouth and an actual kissing noise that goes along with the lean forward - either way it is too cute!

She also has finally begun to communicate using hand signs! This is a long time coming, as we've been showing her signs for "hungry" and "more" and "done" since she was six months old (that was 9 months ago!). Lo and behold she began to perform the "done" sign when a couple weeks ago and within the last week she's begun doing the sign for "hungry" (mainly when she is really hungry and trying desperately to get her point across) and she also is doing the sign for "more" half way through each meal. It was pretty rewarding for us to see the signs and I think it is thrilling for her to be communicating successfully with us.

The good news too is that she is also talking a bit. The words she can perform with various levels of proficiency are: mama, dada, nana, night night, doggie, coal, bye - I think that's about it.

Our little cutie is coming along and we're thrilled to see the progress.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

5 Pounds Happier (and heavier)

The week of Thanksgiving is officially over and now it's time to get back to life, and the gym. We had a fantastic week-long trip to Milwaukee to visit my parents along with the rest of my sib's and their "lovers". We had a good week and Kate being the only kid in the bunch was spoiled rotten; we've had to endure a few crying fits since our arrival back in Denver to remind her that we don't indulge her as much as when there are grandparents, aunts and uncles at her disposal.

The highlights of the week included a gingerbread house decorating contest, of which the winner has not been determined - if you have a favorite, please vote in the "comments" section! Joe got all of us to pitch in to make firewood, each couple put on a family meal, we were "treated" to venison that was sauntering in the woods the morning before dinner, a 1000 piece puzzle was completed, ping-pong domination, and a cute little under-the-stairs closet for Kate to sleep in (very Harry Potterish).

My folks were nice enough to watch Kate one afternoon while Mike, Kristin, Jeff and I went to the Lakefront Brewery tour in Milwaukee. If you're ever in Milwaukee wondering what to do with an afternoon I highly recommend this tour - it was interesting, hilarious and complete with Kristin and I standing on the conveyer belt leading the group in the Laverne & Shirley theme song as Kristin dropped the rubber glove on a beer bottle - good times.

Have I mentioned the food and wine of the week? There's nothing like a week in Wisconsin full of pies, apple crisp, cinnamon roles, pumpkin bread, and your usual meat and potatoes to put on the couple of extra pounds I'm carrying around with me. Was it worth it, absolutely - I wouldn't trade it for the world. I figure that it took me one week to gain it, I get two weeks to lose it - now I'm headed to the gym! Enjoy the slideshow!