And again

Four steps today. Not bad for a little sick girl.

Kaylee today: Still crappy.

Steppin' out

Kaylee finally decided to take a couple of steps in my presence. And Rae just happened to be snapping pictures at the time. This is really more of a before and after ... but you get the general idea.

In other news, the girl is a bit under the weather. She's got a case of Montezuma's Revenge – without the benefit of a vacation south of the border. She's got it so rough - no diaper can contain her. As a matter of fact – she just crapped in my lap. (I'm sure she's going to love reading that in 10 years.) She's been cranky all week – even waking herself up at night. And that hasn't happened for a long time.

On the up side, kinda, she's ravenous. She's been eating and eating and eating. Maybe she'll actually fill out those pants we just bought her. (Right now they're the same fit as what you see on the average teenage boy at the mall.)

Kaylee today: Crappy.

A couple of pics from The German

Rae taking a picture of ... well, I'm not sure. It looks like she's shooting the wall. This is why you rarely see me in a picture.
You can't trust Rae with a camera.

I don't know what Andreas was thinking with this shot. He really should have cropped out that doofus on the right.

We climbed the mountain

Actually, we drove it. Because My Favorite German was in town. And because we wanted pie.

The drive was great. The weather was better. The pie? Not as good as promised ...

Andreas doing what he does best. Or used to. He's just an editor these days.

It is important to teach your children how to act appropriately while in public.
This is clearly a "do as I say, not as I do" situation.

Don't worry. It wasn't dangerous. It's just a couple of feet down.
Really.*

Rae and Andreas don't approve of my parenting skills.

Before you decide that I'm a horrible father, I just wanted to point out that Rae didn't even bother to hold the kid. She just let her crawl all over the rocks. For shame!

*Note: This photo is REALLY deceptive. At no time was Kaylee at any risk. Or at least not any more risk than she is already at simply by being my daughter. Given that – we're actually lucky she didn't jump.

Kaylee: By the numbers

2: Number of teeth currently working their way through her gums.

4: Number of consecutive steps she's taken (before just giving up, sitting down and crawling).

5: Maximum number of minutes you have to get her changed and dressed in the morning before she goes crazy wanting to eat.

6: Number of "words" she uses on a regular basis. Mom (rather obvious), Dad (again), dog (usually when she is chasing or has cornered them), no (usually heard around bedtime – or when she's just being ornery), done (at the end of a meal or a bath) and what (her most common word – used when encountering anything new – or just for the hell of it.)

12: Number of big nasty bug bites up and down her legs.

75: Percent of dinner that ends up on the floor or in the dog when she feeds herself.

4: Hours she naps on any given day during the weekend.

0.5: Hours she naps on any given day during the week.

Too many to count: Number of times I've had to watch the singing kitties.

More steps.

This time at day care. So once again I don't get to witness them.

When Rae picked up the kid yesterday she asked how her day had been. The teacher told her, kind of sheepishly, that Kaylee took a few steps a few days ago. When Rae told her that she'd already done that at home the teacher was very relieved.

One of the things we worried about when we put Kaylee into day care was missing out on "the firsts." It's good to know that our day care people understand that and are willing to put off telling us about them in hopes that they will happen "first" at home.

Kaylee today: Still sleeping.

Bring the noise

First Rae shows her the toilet paper. The she willingly gives Kaylee a wooden spoon and a pot. I'm not sure that I can trust my wife any more.

Nothing to report

Nothing much going on here. No more steps or other firsts of note to report. But I do have photos. And I know how you guys like photos:

I've got no witty caption for this one. I just thought she was cute.

Can't ever get enough pictures of her lovin' on the Eddie.

Oh yeah, she found the toilet paper. Thanks for that Rae. :-P

Kaylee today: Fickle.

A left, then a right ...

"Congratulations. You have taken your first step into a larger world."

First official steps today.

While I was out of the room, of course.

She's been standing on her own for quite a while now. Well – seems that isn't enough. She wanted Mom. Mom was far away.

So move the left foot ...

Now the right foot ...

Now fall on your butt.

No pictures or video because, as I said before, I was in the other room. Rae is more interested in actually witnessing these firsts than trying to capture them for all of you.

Mom's can be so selfish. You may begin poking fun at her ... now.

Kaylee today: Wobbly.

Twins!

Looks like Kaylee's tooth has a friend moving in next door. Just in time for the weekend!

Guess who's going to be watching the singing kitties all day?!

...

Kaylee today: Cutting.

Shoot me now

Baby + teeth + fever = One grumpy monkey.

Kaylee is in a pretty foul mood most of the time. Fever this weekend. Didn't want to eat last night. Doesn't want to be held. Doesn't want to be put down. In fact, I've only stumbled on one thing that will appease her.

I found this on another blog. It's owner was as disturbed by this as I am.



But Kaylee loves it. She stares, laughs, reaches for the kitty ... And as long as it takes her mind off of how bad she feels, I'll continue to play it.

Hell is filled with singing kitties. Won't you join me?

Kaylee today: Meow?

Beauty and the Beast*

Normally, Pork Chop is a bit skittish. Just a bit. Especially when it comes to Kaylee. But every now and then he allows himself to be man-handled.

"Love the Pork Chop."

"Dug. Dug. Dug. Screech!"

"OK, that's enough. I'm taking my ball and going home."

Kaylee today: Medicated (that tooth isn't done with her yet)

* The dog. Not me. I'm looking at you Maggie.

Clink, clink, clink

So we took Kaylee over to our friends' house this evening for dinner (burgers and hot dogs) and a movie (Blades of Fury – I highly recommend it). Kaylee sat on my lap and happily munched away on bits of hamburger and bun.

Then she wanted a drink. So I offered her my glass of water.

"Clink, clink, clink ..."

After a moment of trying to think of what could possibly be causing the noise I stuck my finger in her mouth. And – being a baby, she did what babies do when something goes in their mouth – she bit me.

Only this time it hurt a little.

You see, the monkey has finally popped her first tooth. (In front, on the bottom.) After months of speculating that she was teething – and daycare speculating that she was teething – she gets her first incisor with nary a whimper. Though that could have been what the late-night grumping was about this week.

I was surprised by how sharp the little bugger is. I guess it did have to work it's way up through her gums. All I know is I'm thankful I'm not the one breast feeding.

Kaylee today: Toothy.

A visit with the Doctor of Babies

Nine month checkup. Time flies, eh?

Doc was very impressed with Kaylee's physical development (crawling, standing, etc.) and not so worried about her lack of teeth. When we told him she doesn't "talk" much he said she was probably just going to start out quiet or shy.

Since the appointment she's been Little Miss Chatterbox.

She's weighing in at just over 17 pounds now. And she's 27 inches tall.

That means Mini-Me only has four inches on her. But I'm pretty sure her vocabulary is more extensive than his.

Cranky baby

You know – she just really hates getting out of the bath. Especially when you try to dry her hair. And body lotion? Forget it.

Kaylee had her first rough night in a loooong time last night. She was a little cranky all evening – but nothing too out of the ordinary. When she went to bed at eight, she went down like a rock. But sometime around 11:30 she decided it was cranky time.

And even though it's never fun to listen to a screaming child when you're trying to sleep – she was still cute. She'd fuss a bit, sit up, let out a good scream and double over and sleep. Wait 30 seconds and repeat.

Never did figure out what her problem was – but after an hour or so she finally settled down. Maybe she's finally working on some teeth?

Kaylee Mike today: Sleepy.

Kaylee weekend update

* She's up another diaper size. I can't get over how big they seem on her. But I was saying the same thing about her size twos – which you can barely get around that belly these days.

* Her first real word (witnessed by two people) is "dog." She said it about 5-7 times today. All while she was loving on Eddie or chasing Pork Chop. Granted – it sounds a lot like "da" but different enough to satisfy even a skeptic like me.

* She's getting too big for her car seat – it's about time to go buy a new one. Problem with that is I drop her off at day care and Rae picks her up. Her current car seat travels with her – the new one would stay in the car.

Which means we would need two. And those things aren't cheap ...

* Speaking of seats – she hates her highchair. So it can be difficult to get her to eat. Though she is very interested in whatever is on my plate. So she gets a little bit of food there ... not much though.

Kaylee today: Screaming. (We say it's bedtime – and she doesn't agree.)

Feeding Herself II: The Spaghetti Incident

We decided to try letting the kid feed herself again. Spaghetti this time.

She's still not real sure about this whole "feeding herself" thing.
She only ate about five "bites" – the rest of the time she was just trying to flip her plate over.

Kaylee today: Sauced.

Poor Eddie

What do you think of Kaylee's new Dog Skin Rug?*

*Just in case you're wondering – Eddie is fine. No need to panic.

From the editor's desk

This isn't the kind of blog where you would expect to read rumors and hearsay. I like to think that this site has a certain level of integrity when it comes to things like that. We do not cite anonymous sources and each fact that we publish must be corroborated by two independent and credible sources.

Unless it is the editor's opinion, which is 99% of what makes up this site. But I digress.

A story was brought to our attention today. It is alleged that Kaylee spoke her first real word this afternoon. This story is backed up by only one source – the child's mother. We have only agreed to publish her account after a certain "special interest group" weighed in during an unsolicited phone call this evening. We are not claiming that we fear for our lives – but the caller has threatened us with physical harm in the past.

Rae claims that at approximately 2:30 this afternoon, while feeding Kaylee in the dining room, the child began to get fussy. As she often does, Rae asked "Are you done?" and held the empty spoon to be seen. She claims that the child clearly replied "Done," and looked quite proud of herself after the fact.

We cannot confirm the child's actions as the father was in the other room doing something we are sure was very important. No other credible witnesses were available at this time – dogs don't count.

Kaylee declined to comment for this article.

Oh - by the way

Saturday started the official 100 day countdown to Kaylee's first birthday.

Mark your calendars. Punch and pie will be served.