Here we are, only fourth months away from Kaitlin's SECOND BIRTHDAY. Excuse me while I go cry in the corner. The last two months were very exciting for Kaitlin as she got to experience Thanksgiving and Christmas as a toddler, and could participate and start to enjoy these holidays. I don't think she was too excited about Thanksgiving, but I was able to get her to eat some turkey so I was pretty pumped. But Christmas...ooohhh Christmas. Kaitlin absolutely adored all the Christmas lights, decorations and especially the Christmas tree. In fact, she started crying when she saw that the Christmas tree had been taken down and for WEEKS afterwards she would point to the bare spot in the living room and wave "bye-bye".
She did not have a great experience with Santa, but that is to be expected at this age. I think this photo will say it all...
One thing that she did love was getting lots and lots of presents!! Her Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Colleen came down to visit in December so she got to open presents two times, and I think she was starting to get used to being showered with gifts! She was an extra good girl this year and Santa rewarded her handsomely.
Kaitlin is turning out to be a GREAT little helper. There is nothing that she loves more (ok, maybe I can think of a couple things...) than for you to give her a task or ask her to help you with something. Some of her favorites include helping me "fold" laundry and empty the dishwasher. If I say to her, "Kaitlin, do you want to help me fold laundry?" She says "Yup" and walks up the stairs, opens the doors to the utility closet, tries to open the door to the dryer and then will help me "fold" the laundry! She shakes all the clothes out and will put all of her socks away without me asking. Unloading the dishwasher is, apparently, just as fun. She will put all of the spoons away in the silverware drawer (well, as best as she can reach) and then wait for me to empty out the rest. She also loves sweeping the floor. Hmm...I'm starting to see how this could work out quite nicely for me...
Other things Kaitlin likes (in no particular order):
- Dogs and Bunnies
- Watching TV (particularly Harry the Bunny on the baby channel). Its amazing how quickly she went from not interested int he TV at all to asking several times a day if we can turn it on! It's a slippery slope my friends.
- Coloring and playing with Play-Doh.
- Going to the park and the swings. Oohhh how this girl loves to swing.
- Reading books.
- Giving kisses and hugs to all of her favorite stuffed animals, toys, books, food...pretty much anything.
She is such a sweet, caring girl and makes us laugh all day long. Her vocabulary has really started to expand (at the moment she says 16 words regularly) and it is so fun hearing her express herself and learn new words. I have to say, ever since she turned eighteen months she has been, like, abnormally fun and awesome. This is my favorite age to date :) I can't wait to see what the next few months bring!
