A VERY big weekend - Our first night away from the Sneetch...

Age of Lady Kaitlyn:  17 months today!!!!

Family,

And a good Monday afternoon to you all from the Queen City, where the Munch has just rolled 17

K's new favorite animal - Harrod's bear!

months!  But I realize that's a blog for next week, so I'll bite my tongue for now.  Instead we have plenty of other topics to cover from the past week, so let's get amongst it.

"You shall not Pass!" K's new favorite toy -
JT's muscle roller. She basically uses it
as her walking stick while attempting to
punch holes in the hardwood.

This past week was a CRAZY one for the Bull, as I was in South America all week with work.  And since the flight down required a connection, I had virtually NO Sunday with my girls (or my dad, for that matter).  However, JT was great to give me all the updates, and a lot of what I'll relay in this post was originally provided by her (and then observed by me on Friday).

For starters, K can now get to EVERYTHING on the counter.  Seriously - just when you thought the
house was baby-proofed, so grows about 19 feet, develops an insatiable curiosity streak, and begins running at a place you hadn't expected from someone not quite 3 feet tall.  Seriously - the kitchen is no longer the innocuous place it once was, and Team Taylor (the adult contingent, that is) is now having to make a concerted effort to keep all plates, knives, and pot handles out of reach of the sneetch.  It's amazing to watch her with door handles as well.  She KNOWS what they do, and she is always trying to open the door (particularly when you're in the bathroom).  Since they are the rounded knobs vs. the handles, she can't yet open them.  But something tells me the shape of the knob won't be a deterrent too much longer...

The art of war...the art of tic-tac-toe...same thing.

And speaking of the kitchen, K is FINALLY interested in the contents of the cabinet.  For MONTHS we could leave the child-proof clips unlocked, confident that she had NO INTEREST in what was behind door #1.  Suddenly, however, she is ALL ABOUT the dish washing detergent under the sink, the dessert plates under the flatware - you name it.  Now granted, she's not reaching in and taking anything out yet....but I think you can see where this is going.  Team Taylor is going to have to get smarter!

"Sittin' in her rocker, eatin' Betty Crocker..."

In terms of K's development, I did get the chance to witness several new things this week.  For starters, she grabbed a stuffed dog out of a pile of toys and said, "ruff, ruff" - I was amazed!  Seriously - that type of association was a surprised to me, and I was SO PROUD of her for figuring it out.  I know that mom had mentioned it previously, and I thought I'd seen it before with one of her monkeys. This, however, was unmistakeable...and too cute!

Being a kid in this house is EXHAUSTING.

Also, there is no denying that this week marked the moment when she was absolutely able to identify "mama" and "dada."  She is pointing at us and saying it, and she's right 90% of the time. :-)  What's funny is that, whenever one of us isn't in the room, she is constantly saying that person's name.  However, the second you show up and reach for her, all she wants is to be back in the other person's arms. :-)  Personally, I just love hearing "dada" - talk about absolutely MELTING your heart.


She is definitely starting to run now, and when she walks she actually does so on her tip toes!  She has fallen quite a bit lately, but that's just part of a) her learning balance and b) her being so distracted as she learns the world around her.  I will say that she had a scary fall in the garage on Friday (went head over heels apparently), but JT caught her and all is well.  The sneetch does have some scrapes and bruises to show for it (check the pic), but I think it probably bothered JT more than Munch Munch.

JT spent the week down at her parents, where she took K to the pool and said K was absolutely gaining more confidence and testing both her balance and buoyancy.  She continues to be fearless - JT said she kept wanting to walk deeper until she was literally drinking the water, but even then she'd scream when JT picked her up to move her to safety - love it!

K trying to slip into her shoes - such a
fashionista.  Which I'm ok with as long as
we're only talking $4 shoes and hand-me-downs.

I got home on Friday to find a very fussy and clingy (but absolutely adorable, for the record) daughter.  Jenny had warned me that K had become increasingly clingy this week, but I wasn't quite prepared for the leech-like attachment exhibited on Friday.  It really didn't matter if it was JT or myself - K just wanted to be held and carried around.  And whilst this was fine in long pants, as she simply tugged at the fabric, in shorts it was an entirely different matter, as K has now figured out that if you pull and twist leg hair long enough, you will ALWAYS get what you want.  Seriously - I was washing dishes when she did it the first time - crept up behind me and started pulling.  When I looked down, she just looked up with that innocent smile and raised her hand to me (the signal that I was to pick her up).  When I went back to washing, she politely re-commenced her hair-pulling.  Rinse-repeat about 7 times until I capitulated.  I mean, this gal probably has a future at Gitmo as a professional water boarder - just sayin'...

The highlight of the week was actually the weekend, as JT and I FINALLY embarked on a much

needed milestone - parents' first night away!  That's right, folks - as crazy as it sounds, this past Saturday was the first time that both Jenny and myself had slept somewhere else.  Hard to believe that took 17 months!  However, as we've both had plenty of trips and love being with the Sneetch, the time has flown.  JT and I had about 24 hours in Asheville, where we hit 5 breweries, slept 11 hours on Saturday night, and basically went hard with reckless abandon, safe in the knowledge there were no nappies to change or 4 AM wake up calls that could disturb us.  Now Sneetch, do NOT get us wrong - we love you so much we can barely stand it and LOVE every second with  you.  It's just that mommy and daddy very much needed this adult time to recharge after one of the craziest months of our lives (at least it felt that way), and so I hope you'll forgive us for abandoning you for 24 hours.  But hey - you had Nanny and Grandpa, and you had a blast!

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print for this edition.  As the bull didn't eat lunch and has gone 12 hours between meals, I need to sign off and get some grub.  Plus there is a long to-do list tonight, as Team Taylor has packing to do!  Why, you ask?  Well, you'll just have to tune in next week. :-)

Love,

Sam and Jenny