Little Katie is gradually returning to her former self. She is becoming less fussy and is generally happy to be back home with all her regular surroundings and toys…especially her crib (see photo to the left).

6:50pm – My wife was putting little Katie to bed and brought her to see me in the bedroom. Little Katie saw the light switch and turned it “off”. This is the first time we saw her do this. I guess we are going to have to get used to having light switches in the “off” position from now on.

Today is the last day of little Katie’s first year. From the outset I decided that I would stop calling her “little” after her first year. She will now be just “Katie” (and of course “Chipmunk”). Our little girl is growing up..

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Little Katie learned how to turn a light switch off this evening.

Before we left I let my mother hold little Katie for the last time before our departure. I put a cartoon on the television and my mother and I agreed that it has been a long time since she has bounced a baby on her lap and watched a cartoon. The cartoon was about a mouse whose nose fell off and bounced down the road. The mouse chased after it…following its nose if you will. My mother said “who thinks of this stuff”…

The first leg of the journey to Newark Airport went like a charm. Little Katie was having a great time looking out the window (see photo to the right) and was quite pleasant and happy. We met a couple at the Halifax Airport who had a baby girl who was born in Virginia on the exact same day as little Katie. What are the odds of that?

At Newark Airport things started to change. Our flight was delayed, 3+ times. Due to all the delays little Katie got very fussy and was crying a lot on the flight to Raleigh. If we were home we would have probably gone for a drive. My wife and I agreed that this was probably the first time she cried and cried and we could not do anything to soothe her.

Oh, and as we departed the plane, one final “screwup”. Instead of leaving our stroller at the gate (which is normal), they took it to the baggage claim area. We had to carry little Katie along with our bags to the baggage claim area.

Good to be home!!!

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Little Katie flew back to the US today.

Since my mother won’t be able to celebrate little Katie’s birthday in person this year, she decided that she would like to have a pre-birthday birthday party. She purchased a dozen little cupcakes, we put a candle in one of them and lit it (see photo to the left), and balanced little Katie on her knees and took some pictures. I took the actual picture while my wife provided all the animation to get little Katie to laugh during the photo shoot.

I’m still feeling a bit under the weather, so my wife did the bulk of the packing while I looked after little Katie. Just looking after our little chipmunk was enough to sap my energy as well…

Little Katie crawled up to my mother’s lazyboy chair and said “UpA” this afternoon. Clearly she wanted to go “up” and sit in it, and we obliged.

My sister played “Paddy Cake” with little Katie this afternoon. Little Katie was doing a good job of pushing her hands back with her own.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Little Katie is entering an entirely new year today.

Daddy is another case. I decided that I would go to the hospital emergency room and after waiting for hours and hours I finally got the chance to see the doctor. She listened to my lungs and said things like “oh my my”… I the end I got a diagnosis of pneumonia and a prescription for some steroids and antibiotics.

Little Katie is fascinated by one of the boxes that gifts came in.  When you lift the lid of the box (see photo to the right) it will play “We wish you a Merry Christmas”.

Little Katie is in her “mimic” phase right now. She has even been able to mimic daddy as he coughs and wheezes. Let’s hope that she quickly forgets this little routine once daddy feels better.

My sister had a new game that she plays with little Katie. She will bring her head close to her and actually “head but” her lightly. Little Katie will move her head closer and “head but” her back. She seems to enjoy it.

We have been trying to put little Katie to sleep, but she happened to be up when New Years was ushered in. My wife and I bounced her in our arms and yelled out “3…2…1…Happy New Year”. Little Katie had a huge grin on her face and enjoyed all the action. Ok chipmunk…let’s go to bed!

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) This is little Katie’s first New Years Eve.

My mother gave us some money to put into little Katie’s education fund. I will split it up and put 1/2 into one fund and 1/2 into another when we get back to the States. It’s probably going to cost a fortune for someone to go to College or University in 20 years, so this will certainly help.

Little Katie has been quite the handful these past few days.  We miss the playyard where we can just put her inside and let her entertain herself.  While at home, if we want to let her go, there are no restrictions.  We have to follow closely after her to ensure that she doesn’t eat or destroy something that she shouldn’t (see photo to the right).

Little Katie is a bit fussy today and is running a bit of a fever. Hopefully she is not getting a cold. My wife tells me that she is getting all sorts of anti-bodies from mother’s milk, and kids are generally good at fighting off virus’ and infections. We sure don’t want to have a sick/ill baby when we fly back to the U.S.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Little Katie has a fever today…but mother’s milk is helping her to fight off anything else.

I seem to have contracted a cold/flu up here in the Great White North. With all this coughing and wheezing I’m sure that little Katie will say to her friends “Once you get yourself a dad, nothing will ever gross you out again”.

2:35pm – Little Katie just got up from her nap. Let the festivities begin!

Little Katie has not been eating much today. One exception is Cheerios. She enjoys feeding herself and munching on them, but it is true that not all of them make it into her mouth (see photo to the right). My wife fills the tray on the Exer-Saucer and little Katie will feed herself. She went one step further today…she shared her food and put a Cheerio in my wife’s mouth. Awwww…..

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Little Katie loves to feed herself Cheerios.

2010-12-28 - Katie & Cat

We arrived around 11am and were met at the door. I didn’t think that I would join them as I have a bit of a cold, but they pursuaded me to come in. Bridget is about a year older than little Katie, and first things first, we gave her a toy wrapped in red see-through wrapping.

Little Katie enjoys meeting people her own size, and Bridget was no exception, but their two cats, Emma and Finnigan, really stole the show though. Little Katie would chase them all around the house (see photo to the left) yelling out “cat”…so she obviously knows what a cat is. We can’t remember he ever being close to a cat in real life, so she must have learned this word from the books that we read to her.

Around 12:30pm little Katie was starting to get a bit fussy, so we decided that we would go home. Quite an exciting and energetic day, our little chipmunk (and their two cats) need to rest.

Anne Murray was singing on the television tonight and little Katie was humming along. She sure loves music.

It’s nasty rain/snow/sleet mixture outside tonight. Let’s hope that little Katie doesn’t need a drive.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Little Katie had a “Play Date” this morning.

Little Katie is continuing to munch on things other than organic food.  She especially loves labels on toys and things (see photo to the left).

My sister took my wife to Sobey’s to do a bit of grocery shopping. She managed to get some organic yogurt for little Katie. I stayed home with my mother to entertain little Katie. She was fine for the most part, but got fussy just before my wife got home. I changed her (a #2) and fed her some yogurt, and my wife fed her as well. No avail…we ended up taking her for a drive. We drove all around Truro and when little Katie got up from her nap we drove home.

We were playing with little Katie this evening when she got up and balanced on my knees. She then took one of her hands and tried to navigate to my mother’s knees so that she could move over to her. My wife tells me that this is the last step before children walk totally unassisted. Won’t be long now.

Little Katie loves this Christmas box that plays “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” when you remove the lid. It’s not quite rectangular, but litle Katie managed to find the correct positioning and place the lid on top of the box this evening.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Little Katie is walking with assistance now.

Today is Boxing Day here in Canada. There are usually lots of sales, but since this is a Sunday, many of the stores are closed. No grocery stores, no department stores, no big box stores in general. If we need anything there is always McQuarries Drugstore or Shoppers Drugmart…or little variety stores or gas stations. We have pretty well everything we need, so we’re fine.

The photo to the right shows the ExerSaucer that my sister’s friend lent us.  Little Katie loves to bounce up and down in it.  It’s a great place for her to eat as she can entertain herself at the same time.

There is talk of a snowstorm barreling down the east coast on the way to Nova Scotia. We are scheduled to get a lot of snow at midnight tonight…but it might turn into rain. Such is the status of living in a maritime climate. Time will tell…

We are reading reports of Raleigh having a massive amount of snow on the ground. We got an email from the Tangerine Cafe that they will be closed today due to all the snow. Good thing we were able to make it out…

This evening I was telling my wife about one of the kids shows we had on television growing up. The Friendly Giant was very low tech, but enjoyed by many a Canadian child…

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Little Katie experienced her first Boxing Day today.

We delayed our Christmas breakfast this morning so that little Katie could sleep. The longer she sleeps, the more rested she will be, and the easier it will be on all of us.

2010-12-25 - Christmas Presents

Around 9:30am we started our Christmas breakfast. My sister and her husband came down to join us. She brought an egg casserole dish for us to enjoy. After eating our fill it was time to open the gifts…

Little Katie had a great time! She was crawling from package to package with so much visual stimulation she didn’t know what to make of it. She got some plush animals (see photo to the left), nice clothes, and other fine gifts to add to her collection. My wife and I gave my mother and sister and brother-in-law some 2010 Christmas ornaments to hang on their trees, along with a book of photos of little Katie’s first year.

This afternoon we all had a much needed nap. This evening, after the Christmas breakfast had settled, we dug into the Christmas dinner. The usual cast was in attendance, and we invited my brother-in-law’s mother to come as well. She brought some lovely books for little Katie and a cookbook from her hometown for my wife and I. My mother loved the turkey…it was very moist and tender. I saved the cooking instructions on her computer so she could make one at another time.

This evening little Katie was a “fussy mussy”. I thought she would go to bed, so I went to bed, but it was not to be. Around 1:22am my wife woke me up suggesting we go for a drive. We packaged our little chipmunk up in “swaddling clothes” and laid her in the baby seat in the car (as opposed to a manger). We drove to some land that I own in the Falls area and back, and around 3am we arrived home again. My wife nursed little Katie, but that didn’t quite do the trick. A little yogurt and some baby tylenol (for her teething) and she was rested enough to fall asleep…

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Little Katie had her first Christmas today.