Happy New Year

OK, I know that it's way past the new year, but we've had a rough few days around the Pauer household. Kate caught a crouping cough on Tuesday night. She was having a hard time breathing and sounded like a barking seal when she coughed. Dr. Auntie Deb gave some suggestions on Weds and on Thursday Kate went to see a pediatrician just to be safe. She's doing much better now, but still is a touch raspy at night.

In the meantime, Tim got sick right around the same time as Kate (just a bad cold), and Anissa caught whatever Tim had by the end of the week. What a long week! (And Tim is working 6 day weeks until the movie finishes at the end of January.)

What's been going on otherwise? Let's see - Kate has started making some words out of all of that babbling that she's been doing. "Bababa" has become "Bob". No immediate family members are named Bob (unless those Valcos really made an impression!), so we're assuming that everything that doesn't have a name is "Bob" for now. "Mamama" is now usually a desperate cry for her mother (mostly while in her crib or in the hands of her father). "Dadada" is reserved for her dad. "Up", or something like it, may refer to her standing, or wanting to reach something up high. There is still an indescriminate babble that sounds like "that", but it could mean anything - we'll have to wait and see. "Nanana" is another sound she's playing with, but she didn't produce for Nana, so we can't assign it to her just yet.




















She can motor up a flight of stairs like nobody's business, but she does get tired of it pretty quickly, so we haven't had to put up the baby gate just yet. The stairs/platforms at the parks' playground equipment keep her occupied as well.








She can hold her sippy cup or water bottle on her own, now, and can manage to tip the bottle up so that she gets the water out of the bottle.








She is also quiet adept at pulling open drawers at her height or higher, so more babyproofing still needs to get done on that. And she likes opening and closing doors - just the motion of pulling the edge of a door, or pushing an edge of a door, makes her smile. Thankfully, she can't turn a doornob yet, but it's just a matter of time I fear!

Christmas tree and decorations are still up, but we'll need to put them away soon, or Kate will bring them to ground level for us!