Daddy Daycare week 2, Mommy returns, and a great 4th in the A-T-L...

Age of Lady Kaitlyn:  15 months and 28 days

Family,

And a good Tuesday evening to you from the Queen City, where I am THRILLED to report that

K receiving a gift from Aunt Kim and Uncle
Matt - so far we've named him Owlie.  Yep.
we are nothing if not original."

Sammy the Bull and Jenny the Striker are celebrating EIGHT YEARS OF MARRIAGE.  That's right, sports fans, 2922 days ago Team Taylor officially tied the knot, and WOW - what a ride it's been.  But since this week's post is tied to the week ending 7/6, I'll park those comments for now. :-)

So last week was another GREAT one - talk about a whirlwind!  As you'll remember, I had the sneetch on my own until Sunday evening, at which time GRAMMIE ARRIVED!  We had a terrific Sunday playing with K, and it was great to have some help again.  As I said with the last post, this weekend of daddy daycare was a lot easier than the first installment when JT went to Asheville, but this guy was still thankful for the help!  My one funny note is that, while waiting for mom, I needed to pee.  Also for some odd reason, the pack 'n play wasn't set up and wasn't an option for holding K, meaning that I had to just set her in the living room and leave the door open to listen to her.  Well, as you can imagine, K did NOT want to be somewhere daddy was not, and about 10 seconds later she's standing on the threshold of the forbidden inner sanctum (that would be the powder room), watching her father use the bathroom.  While this made me chuckle (as she was quite clearly amazed), I did NOT find it funny when she started walking toward me and trying to touch "the stream" - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!!?  So needless to say we had to "cut that session short" and get her out of the hot zone.  And the father of the year award goes to...anyone but THIS GUY.

"Daddy tell ME what to do?  I don't THINK SO."

The week itself was wonderful.  Obviously it was AMAZING to have mom and K here and to have so much quality time with them, and mom/Grammie spoiled us both rotten during her stay.  We ate like kings, K was a princess who got to play with anything and everything (but in a good way - I loved watching her and mom interact), and mom took care of EVERYTHING around the house.  Between Jenny, her mom, and my mom - I have become one lazy individual. :-)

A photo for the ages - LOVE this one.

The highlight for me on Monday was playing in the bonus room with K.  She now loves the "I'm gonna get you" game, and in particular she loves it when you "lie in wait" for her at the end of the couch.  She makes a loop around the couch and keeps walking toward you (knowing you're there, of course), and then when you jump out and "tackle" her she just cackles.  It's always funny as well when she's crawling away from you, as after a second or two she'll realize that no one is in front of her and look back to see where you are.  If you give her the open mouthed, coy "I'm coming after you" look, she will make this CUTE little smirk she now does and then take off like a bat out of hell (but never so fast that you can't catch her - by her own design).  When you catch her and pull her to the ground, she just howls - LOVE THIS KID!

Munch's first dance with chef boyar-dee...
Ravioli, baby - it's what's for dinner.

Tuesday morning K was up at 6:35, and I happened to be awake as well (I think I'd been up early to work out).  I walked into her room to pick her up silently and play with her, the goal being to let my mom get some sleep (she's had a tough time sleeping in the year and a half since being treated for breast cancer, and so I hate to wake her in those rare moments when she's out).  Well, no sooner did I get into K's room than she stood up and leaned forward to me.  I bent down to kiss her, and THUNK - K hits her head on the crib.  Two seconds later a blood curdling scream ensues, and 4 seconds later my mom is already in the room.  Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men...

Mom working with K and teaching her
how to match shapes and colors to
the openings.  She learned most of them!

Tuesday evening wasn't my finest hour either, as I committed my biggest feeding blunder to date - I gave K a bit of black bean burger that was too hot.  She ate the first one fine, and while I thought they might be a bit too warm, she was starving and they really didn't feel too hot in my hand.  She was about three chews into the bite when she started screaming, and the poor thing didn't know how to get the food out of her mouth (it was hot so she was afraid to touch it).  I ended up pulling it out of her mouth, and needless to say she did NOT want any more of that (she is very clear about saying "no" when she doesn't want something these days).  The good news is that she isn't scarred for life, as she did have a few more bites of it on Wed and Thurs.  Insert HUGE sigh of relief here, as I wouldn't know what do to if garden and black bean burgers were removed from the food list!

Two other cute items to note during mom's stay. The first was that mom brought a teddy bear from my college graduation, and K LOVED it.  She hugged it and even carried it around.  This was interesting to watch, as to date K hasn't really associated with any stuffed animal or toy.  And while it should be noted that she hasn't picked it up much since then of her own accord, she will always hug it when you hand it to her.  More to come on whether or not the "Hassle for a Tassle" bear becomes a staple for travel. :-)

The other item was that K would say "DA-DEEEEEE" whenever I did.  She did it a LOT during those 3-4 days mom was here, but it's been intermittent since then (she did it tonight for example).  It was just so cute to hear her do it, as she would GRUNT the second syllable - hilarious!  Luckily I got a few of them on video.  And on that note, I should say that I've been trying to do a lot more video lately vs. just photos.  My goal is certainly to still have more than enough for the blog, but she's changing EVERY DAY now, and so much of her development can only be captured via live recording (movement, speech, actions, observation, etc).  In the last week we've seen her head go straight in front (vs. to the side for balance as was previously the case), and we've seen her start taking stairs with a step vs. raising her knee and using that to pull up.  JT's actually been an ANIMAL lately in working her abs - it's so cute to watch her try to sit up when she's either in a decline position, on a bed, or at an odd angle.  Most of the time she still needs to roll to the side and then use her arm to help her push up, but there is NO QUESTION she's getting stronger every day.

In terms of body parts, that kid can now rattle off teeth (she opens her mouth and gives you a hilarious smile), eyes, toes, fingers, and hair - how crazy is that?  We're working on shoulders, cheek, and chin now - just amazing to watch how quickly she's learning.  Of course, that also means daddy will probably have to tone down his language and what he says pretty soon, as this kid is switched on and VERY observant (case in point is that mom noticed she can tell that a stuffed monkey and a puzzle piece monkey are the same animal).  Granted, I don't think she's gonna drop an F-bomb anytime soon, but it's probably best if I don't take that chance.  Then again, she would certainly be the talk of Romp 'n Roll...

"You know, dad, we should really think about
investing in a lake property - returns are huge..."

JT arrived home on Thursday, and it was SO GREAT to have her back.  K had been in the car seat for awhile (and it was already 90 min past her bed time when JT cleared customs), and she was a bit shell shocked to see mommy.  However, there was no question she was happy to see the woman she's most familiar with back with daddy.  We got K home and down about 9:30, and then JT and I got to bed about 11.  But no rest for the weary, as Team Taylor was up at 5:30 on Friday morning to start packing for the ATL.  We got on the road about 8:30 and rolled straight through, arriving about 12:45 (have I mentioned again how AMAZING IT IS THAT WE CAN FEED K IN MOTION?!?!?).  It was then the start of a WONDERFUL weekend for Team Taylor and Team Hunsucker, as we had 48 wonderful hours filled with laughs, great food, fabulous wine, and a 6-pack of Terrapin Golden to boot. :-)

Friday was a cookout, which K loved because a) she had new surroundings to play in and b) had a cute little dog who was very chill and friendly.  On the food front, K tried sausage for the first time (I'd like to lie and tell you it was vegetarian, but this stuff looked straight off the boat from Prague or Munich), as well as having a bit of burger and some veg.  She is ALL ABOUT watermelon now as well, so she happily gorged on that.  Again, we didn't get her to bed until about 9-9:30, but she slept great and was a champ, sleeping in until about 7:15.

"From this range I would CRUSH this game."

"So it's grass...but not really...hmmmm..."

JT and I both got 5 mile runs in on Saturday morning before attending the featured activity of the trip - MONDAY NIGHT BREWING, BABY!  K even enjoyed herself, as she got to pet dogs, crawl on corn hole boards, and even make a friend.  We then went to another bar called Ormsby's, where K was HILARIOUS.  She crawled all over the bacchi ball area and even climbed UP the skeet ball machine - TOO CUTE!  And it was funny to watch how nice folks were about it.  They would walk up to the bacchi ball, see K, and then quietly say (I was watching the game away from K and JT which is why I heard this) "Oh, we can't do this now.  There's a baby there."  Thank you, Atlanta citizens!  You definitely made our afternoon easier.

Dinner that night was back at the casa, where Matt made AMAZING tacos.  K slept like a champ yet again, and she even slept in until 7:45!  Realistically I think the pack 'n play is becoming a little tight for her, but she's been GREAT about it to date - angel baby. :-)

We got out and about around 11 on Sunday and made it home by 3 PM.  We were then treated to the

last big milestone of the week - K'S FIRST USE OF A FORK!  Now I will be honest, I thought this would be a disaster that had the trimmings of an ER visit.  Of course the fork was plastic, but still - there are prongs on that puppy!  But as fate would have it, K figured it out in almost NO TIME FLAT. She did have trouble spearing the food (but she's already made dramatic improvements there), but once it was on the prongs, she knew exactly what to do.  It was AMAZING to watch how quickly she picked it up - so proud of my daughter!  And for that matter, so proud of my wife for continuing to work with K on trying new things and continuously developing new skills - my girls are the perfect team. :-)

This week should be a lot more chill, as Team Taylor is back together with no plans to go anywhere or do anything all week.  We have a sitter on Saturday night, but other than that we are back in the swing of things, and MAN - does it feel good.

That's all the news that's fit to print.  Chat soon!

Love,

Sam and Jenny