A playdate with an old friend

Well Katie doesn't have any "old friends" yet, she's too young. But here she is playing with Nathan, the son of an old friend of mine, Bea. I ran into a friend from Horace Mann that I had lost touch with (Karyn) and she was on her way to Bea's parents' house and it turns out that Bea has a son Katie's age. So we got together on Friday when they were in again from Boston. It was a really nice afternoon, catching up and chatting. The babes enjoyed playing and Nathan loved Meadow. 

A fun night with the cousins!

Here is Katie with cousins Rachel and Bernie. They just moved to Colorado and we'll go visit them there this summer. They are both baby people - and parents of Matan (4 1/2) and Ariel (2). Katie liked them a lot. Bernie was surprised she wasn't scared of his beard, little kids often are.

Katie got to show off her walking for Grandma/Dima and Grandpa/Dipa and Aunt Rachel and Aunt Debbie. They were very impressed! She was very graceful for a newly walking baby. Here she is walking with the "big girls." And Bart too. Bart was a little too interested in her most of the evening.

Here's Uncle Howard reading Katie a bedtime story.

3 Little Girls in the Tub

We had such a fun night last night at Aunt Debbie's house with Katie's cousins. I'll post more pictures later, but here's Katie in the bath with cousin Robin and cousin Ariel who was visiting from Colorado. 

Ride, Aunt Lesley, Ride!

Here's Katie on her little trike. She's riding along for Aunt Lesley. Aunt Lesley is doing this amazing 100-mile bike ride this weekend in California, the "JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes." Lesley has been training for months for this very important cause - she's been diabetic since she was 4. She's raised almost $10,000 which is incredible. We're really proud of her and excited for the upcoming event. So Ride, Aunt Lesley, Ride!

Katie Does Dallas

Katie spent a wonderful few days in Dallas. It was a nice relaxing trip and she got to show off her new skills for her Grandma/Nana and Grandpa/Papa. The weather was good - not too hot, surprising for Dallas in June. It rained one morning, but that gave us an excuse to go shopping. A few of Ann's friends came to visit and it was nice to see them. So here's Katie on her first day with her walker/scooter that Grandma/Nana bought her. She had lots of fun playing with this.

We spent 2 afternoons by the pool. She liked it more the first day than the second. Here's Katie enjoying the pool.

Katie and Grandma/Nana are ready for an evening out. We all went to our favorite Dallas restaurant and Katie was terrific. She ate with enthusiasm and even liked halibut.

Katie practiced her walking in Dallas. At home she's been a demon with the push walker and would take about 4 steps to me or Peter or Meadow. In Dallas, she started walking more, about 10 steps when we were visiting the grandparents.

And Katie perfected her walking at DFW airport! Peter went to get a tag to gate check the stroller and she just followed him! An hour earlier and her grandma could have seen it! Oh well. She got close enough in Dallas for them to share the experience. Katie walking!

Ride'm Katie

Here's Katie riding her big sister. Meadow is Katie's new best friend. She spends a lot of time playing with her, taking her toys, and climbing on her. Meadow is the best big sister and puts up with it - all except the ramming with the push walker - that she doesn't like and jumps on the bed or couch to get away from Katie. Can't blame her at all. The woman in the photo is Katie's fantastic babysitter - Ania - whom she just adores (and the affection is mutual). We head to Dallas tomorrow to see Grandma/Nana and Grandpa/Papa. Katie is looking forward to swimming and enjoying Paciugo sorbet.

The first weekend without us!

Katie spent last weekend with my parents because we went to a wedding on Cape Cod. She had a great time playing with Grandma/Dima and Grandpa/Dipa and she even got to spend time with her aunts, uncle, and cousins. I don't have any pictures from her adventures, so here's a picture of her eating Grandma/Dima's salad on Sunday night. My parents enjoyed her immensely and she had a good time - all but the bath which is funny because she loves baths at home. They thought her eating and her push walker skills were particularly impressive.

Peter and I enjoyed our weekend away. Of course on Saturday morning I felt like I was missing a limb. Very strange to have this little person attached to you and then go away for 2 days. The wedding was beautiful and we enjoyed the seafood of the cape. Yes, even I'm eating seafood now - if fried oysters and chowder count.

Aunt Rachel comes to play

Aunt Rachel came to play with Katie on Tuesday night while we went out for Peter's birthday. I think all the ladies had a good time. You can see Meadow trying to get in on the action here. Katie was her cute self and talked herself to sleep. Hopefully Aunt Rachel will come back soon. 

A new word in the vocabulary

Katie's been chatting up a storm over the past few days. This morning I gave her breakfast and I gave her a sippy cup of milk, "No," she said, shook her head and pushed it away. She's been shaking her head "No" for a while, but this was the first time she associated this action with the appropriate word. She did the same thing at dinner when I gave her some chicken, though she did manage to eat a few little bites. I'm hoping that her new vocabulary word does not correspond with an increase in pickiness, because right now she's a great eater and we'd love to keep it that way.

I took her to see Oma today, just a brief visit because Katie's nose is runny and I didn't want her to get too close. She chatted away for Oma. Oma said, "I know what she's saying. She's saying that she thinks Oma looks good!"

Lunching with the Ladies

Katie and I joined Grandma/Nana's friend Roberta for lunch on Friday. Roberta, an urbanmeadow fan, was in from Dallas and her niece lives nearby and is Katie's age. We had a very nice lunch at Isabella's. The girls were behaving well and it was so nice to spend time together. Despite this picture, Katie really did like Roberta. But it was too cute not to post - it's a classic Katie crying face.

And here's Katie playing with Roberta's niece. I was very impressed with the fact that the Lily was "feeding" her baby doll with a bottle. But then I was thinking shouldn't babies learn to "breastfeed" their baby dolls too? There wasn't too much time to play on Friday, but the girls were so cute together!