Holiday fun!

We had a really wonderful holiday season with Katie. While she wasn't quite sure what Christmas was all about, she had fun playing with her Little People nativity and trying to squeeze as many animals and people inside the barn as possible. (It's cold out there!)

She also learned that Santa says "Ho, ho, ho!" and she loved the lights on the Christmas tree. Every morning she asked us to turn them on, then said "Oooooh!" She was very good about leaving the ornaments alone for the first few weeks, but later they were too big a temptation to resist. She also helped Sri put the angel on the top.

We kicked off the season with luminary night in our neighborhood, the highlight of which is a carriage ride through the streets to see all the lights. Katie neighed at the horses, "bow-wowed" at the driver's dog who was riding along and had a great time.

We also celebrated the season's first major snow by building a snowgirl. Well, Sriyesh did most of the building while Katie cheered about the snow and gave instructions. (See the video in the last post for more fun.)

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home in Bryn Mawr this year so that Santa would be sure to know where to find us. He did an excellent job, bringing Katie exactly what she wanted -- an Elmo chair. Katie has been introduced to the character in her new class and we're told she spent most of her first weeks in the class sitting in an Elmo chair there. She loves to chant, "Elmo chair! Elmo chair!" anytime it's within view.

Later, Katie played with the dreidel she made at daycare while decked out in her Christmas finest. (We've always been an interfaith family... if only Sriyesh and I knew more words to the song than, "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel...")

Christmas night, we headed out on the long drive down to NC while Katie and Betsy (and sometimes Anne) slept in the back. Thatha, Achi and Priyesh were waiting for us with a magical house full of lights and more great presents, including another Elmo (she gives him a kiss in the photo below), a fabulous kitchen and the best raincoat ever. Katie refused to take it off for several hours.

Santa also came to visit on the 27th on his way back to the North Pole to spend some quality time and deliver one last gift for Katie and some family friends.

We made time for a couple of basketball games during our swing through NC; Katie was enchanted with the band and the Ram (although she kept mooing at him) and enjoyed wearing Daddy's trademark blue hair.

Finally, we picked up Anne's mom and headed to Shelby to celebrate the new year with that side of the family. Katie was reunited with her cousins and their dogs Allie and Binkie and had a great time running around Darwa's house -- after opening MORE presents, of course.

All in all, a wonderful second Christmas filled with fun for Katie and our family.

Please check back soon for more photos in this album:

Christmas 2009

Playing in the snow

The recent blizzard wasn't Katie's first snow, but it was the first one she was able to get out and play in. At around 18 inches, there was no way any of us could walk on top of it, so Sriyesh carved out a place where we could build a snowgirl and play. Enjoy the video!

We're not lion...

She has grown so much! Here are Katie's Halloween photos from exactly a year before...


Click on the album below to see more of this year's costume pics!

Halloween 2009 (14 Months)

Our big girl

Katie has been standing alone for very brief periods, almost unintentionally, for a couple of weeks now, and this weekend in particular. Tonight, she pulled up on a laundry basket and put on a show.

Then, shortly after Sriyesh started recording Katie standing, she surprised us by taking her first steps!



We figured we'd take advantage of the good mood to capture a few of Katie's new sounds, as well. They're a work in progress, but they're cute!



We're so proud of her!

Katie's 11- and 12-month portraits

Katie's now just over 13 months, but we're happy to share the last of her monthly portraits for her first year. She ended the year around 20 lbs. and about 30.5 inches -- she's too wiggly to stay still for the measurement any more!

In other Katie updates, she's saying more than a dozen words now, including "Daddy," "Mommy," "up," "bubble," and "baby." She also knows a couple of signs (both related to food) and says some of the sounds when Anne sings the silly frog song (see post on 6.24.09) and Old McDonald.

First, a few 11-month photos. Here, Katie shows off her crawling skills.

And here she is with her favorite scarf. She loves playing "Where's Katie?" with it, and more recently, "Where's Daddy?" (or Mommy).

Katie's 12-month photos show off lots of new skills, including pulling up.

Katie also loves making the gesture for the number one.

Finally, she showed what a happy girl she is!

Click on the links below for more 11- and 12-month photos.

Katie 11-Month Photo Shoot

Katie 12-Month Photo Shoot

2009 Summer Roundup

We've had a busy but great summer, filled with lots of firsts for Katie.

She went to her first residency picnic (where we broke out the baby pool);

We went with friends to the zoo, where she had her first carousel ride;

She climbed stairs for the first time at Lachlan's birthday party;

And we celebrated her first birthday in style.

Last weekend, we closed out the summer with a trip to NC to visit our families and take Katie to another Carolina football game. Even though she was squirmy and wanted to get up and move around, she still was very, very good. It helped that she took a nap midway through.

After Katie woke up, we were all excited to show off her cheerleader outfit.

Last weekend, we also went to a religious celebration in Greensboro. The event, intended for women and children, depicts Hindu religious faith and history with dolls, dioramas and singing. It was tough for Katie to not be able to crawl around, but she was still very good.

We then headed to Darwa's, where Katie played hide & seek in the curtains and cuddled up for a picture.

We finished the trip with Anne's parents in Mt. Airy.

Click the image below to view lots of additional photos, both from this recent trip as well as earlier this summer.

Katie Summer 2009

Katie visits Chanticleer

My parents came up to visit over Labor Day weekend and we had a great time checking out local kid-friendly destinations, including the Please Touch Museum (we went twice - "museum" is an understatement - it's an experience!) and the Chanticleer gardens.

My dad took terrific pictures of Katie and me at Chanticleer, then created a neat video using audio of my mom and me singing to her at dinnertime. We have other great pictures and video I'll try to post soon, but until then, enjoy!

Katie turns one!

Our apologies for the long delay in posting. It has been a crazy summer! We'll scan in Katie's 11- and 12-month portraits as soon as we can, but until then, we wanted to share photos from Katie's first birthday party.

The biggest part of planning for Katie's party was building a deck on the back of our house. We ended up having to jump through a lot of hoops to build a simple deck, but we were thrilled and relieved that it was finished four days before the party. It was a great, shady place for the adults to gather and chat and the kids to dance and play.

Katie had five little guests and their families at the party, plus our closest neighbors. From left to right below (lined up for the birthday parade): Andy and Brian, Katie, Benjamin, Lachlan and Luisa.

After leading the parade around the yard, Katie tried her first birthday cake. At first, she didn't know what to do with it.

Even after she figured it out, she was pretty tentative with it, just tasting the icing...

...and sharing it with Mommy and Daddy.

Birthday cake is fun!

We finished with a pinata, and after everyone left, we opened all of the wonderful presents Katie received. Opening presents is fun, too!

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful first birthday!

Click on the image below for lots and lots of pictures from Katie's birthday party.

Katie's First Birthday

Katie takes on the AIG baby

We have always loved the AIG commercial featuring the baby cracking up over ripped paper. Tonight we discovered how to push Katie's giggling to that level -- juggling. We discovered pretty quickly that she laughed even harder when Sriyesh (intentionally) dropped the toys/balls ... or so he claims. Enjoy!

Crawling away with our hearts

Katie took the next step, so to speak, Father's Day weekend when she began crawling. She had been pushing herself backwards for several weeks, and frequently was able to go a couple of crawls before flattening, but she had never actually gotten her arms and legs working together until she crawled across the bathroom to splash in the dog bowl.

At first, she was a little cautious, preferring to sit and play. Then her curiosity got the better of her. We're now in the process of babyproofing because she likes checking everything out. She's also starting to follow us from room to room, a great cure for separation anxiety!

Check out this video to see Katie in action. You'll also see my (Anne's) singing debut on the Web. Katie loves it when I sing to her, so I'm more than happy to oblige, however silly the song may be.