Unbreakable - The Munch Rises Again...

Age of Lady Kaitlyn:  2 years, 1 month, and 2 days

Family,

And a good Monday evening to you from the Queen City, where the Bull is trying to get a jump on the

blog ahead of his impending flight over the Pond.  As per standard, all kinds of craziness to report, so let's get amongst it, shall we?

First off, the biggest news to relate - KAITLYN IS WALKING ON HER OWN AGAIN!!!!  That's right, sports fans, after a few hiccups (right on queue as predicted by the doctor), Kaitlyn started walking again in earnest 8 days after her cast came off.  And let's be clear - the progress has been positively meteoric.  The first 2 days were rather timid, and she was actually on her toes until Saturday. During the week, she would stand on her heel (but much preferred to be on her toe unless she was on the carpet upstairs) but wouldn't walk on it.  However, on Saturday I simply said, "Can you put your heel down?" while we were in the bonus room, and WOW - the magic started.

First, K dropped her heel.  Then, after steadying herself for a moment, she suddenly lurched away from the couch.  The first few steps were a bit all over the place, but after that she was off like a rocket - AMAZING!  K went from couch to couch, throwing in some of her favorite phrases, such as "Turning around" and "TT walking on her own again" while she walked.  It was SO GREAT to see!  Throughout the day she got faster and faster, and by yesterday (Sunday) she was actually jumping!  She's back to climbing almost everywhere, has NO FEAR whatsoever at the playground, is climbing up and sliding down all the slides, and basically running at this point.  Her stride on Saturday and Sunday was a bit choppy, and

her foot was very turned out on Saturday (less so on Sunday but still noticeable).  Jenny said that today (4/13), she was running around everywhere and having a blast.  She also said that her stride and foot position were almost back to normal.  Considering that the doctor told us should could limp for a month, we're thinking this is GREAT news.  In days previous, big bursts of activity like this have led to her being a bit sore and not wanting to put her foot down the following day, so we'll see if that holds true tomorrow.  Based on what I saw this weekend and what Jenny's told me, I'm hopeful we're over that hump and truly on the mend.  Watch this space!

In terms of other development, I witnessed (what I deemed to be) a big first on April 7th (last Tuesday) - K successfully turned off the lamp in her room for the first time!  Now she's been able to reach it for awhile and clearly understands the concept of turning off the light.  However, given the torque required to turn it off, I'd always helped up up until this point.  Truth be told, I was ready to help her this time when - CLICK! - she pushed it all the way over and plunged us into near darkness.  I was so proud I could have tackled her, and it was another good lesson for me to not always try to do everything for her on the assumption that she's not yet capable.  She's quite the clever and resilient child, and I definitely need to find ways to keep pushing and developing her.

K is also getting more comfortable sitting on the "big girl potty," and it's clear she does understand what's being asked of her.  In fact, she's actually straining a bit when she sits on the potty, clearly trying to either pee or poop.  And while I don't want to encourage straining, I must confess it's pretty darn cute (and worthy of video if I can remember to trot the Go Pro out. :-)).  And speaking of poopy, we had a classic moment last Monday when, at a play date, K pooped in her diaper and yelled out "Steamer!"  She did this again for me one night last week, and I must confess - I could NOT stop laughing.  Too cute!  And if I may, "steamer" was DEFINITELY an apt description of what she deposited on both occasions. :-)

On the word front, I've obviously fallen off pace trying to keep up with her vocabulary development.  However, I've managed to capture a few nuggets:

1.  "Big Dump!" - And NO, this does not relate to toilet humor. :-)  This is actually what we've always said to Kaitlyn in the bath before we pour water on her head to wash her hair.  In the beginning she hated it, but now she's actually embraced it and even wants to help.  In fact, several times this week she said "Big Dump!" and then poured a cup full of water on her head.  And while it's really cute, she always forgets to close her eyes and mouth, with the result being a coughing fit and K rubbing her eyes while saying "eyeball!"

2.  "Big Splash" - this came from NOMAD, where Team Taylor went for a family swim last week.  As an update, K is LOVING the pool and is really getting comfortable in the water.  She's doggy paddling a lot (with a noodle tied around her), is splashing and moving her arms, and she is even enjoying putting her head into the water and getting water in her ears.  She loves blowing bubbles in the water - she just always ends up drinking it (notice a theme here?).  But hey - we're making progress!  Oh, and side note from the pool:  there was a little girl playing with her, and while the gal was right there, K looked at my bare chest and said "Nipple!" followed by "Chest hair!" Absolutely priceless.

3.  Steam (rising from coffee)

4.  Pancake

5.  Syrup

6.  Story time - K said this to me tonight in the bath.  She had "story time" at Chik-fil-a today, and Jenny sent me the CUTEST photo of K sitting with other kids in a circle during story time.  This was a big moment, as it marked the first time that K's ever say with kids without Jenny right there beside her.
Kudos to wife muffin - all of this socialization is paying off!  Best wife ever!

7.  "Nose sucker!"  Now seriously, I know that we are lucky parents and we have an angel baby.  I know that we are blessed because she LOVES medication and never fights us when we ask her to take it (this has been VERY helpful this week and weekend because she's fighting a cold and has been running a fever - likely from teething).  But we achieved a new level of "perfect childness" this past week when K actually BEGGED for the snot sucker.  Seriously, she would actually reach for it and press it up against her nose!  And after you'd basically rattled her brain sucking out mucus, she'd ask for more and fight you if you quit doing it!  I mean, you gotta love this kid, right?  Between that and her actually REQUESTING the medicine (she says, "Red one white one," meaning the Benadryll and then the Advil), how could be get any luckier?

8.  "Daddy working from home today" - she rocked in and said that to me before trying to click a few icons with my mouse last Wednesday.  Again - TOO CUTE!

"TT tickling baby 'Teth feet!"

As for the rest of the week, it was actually quite the blur.  The toughest moment was on Wednesday, when I drove up to Dublin, VA for a funeral.  It was Alice's father, and as you can expect it was obviously a very emotional day.  I won't go into the details of it, as that's obviously another story for another time (and not my tale to tell), but what I will say is that, again as expected, I found myself thinking so much on my own mortality and how quickly life passes by.  Now obviously I'm a (relatively) young man still (37 as I type this), and I expect to have many, many years of adventures left (hopefully more to come than I've had to date!).  But as I looked at Bud in that coffin, all I could think about was making every single second count and maximizing my time with Jenny, Kaitlyn, and the rest of my family.  A funeral is a flood of emotions, and I think every single one of them passed through me during that service and on the drive home.  It was a reminder of how quickly K will be a teenager and then out of the house, at which time I'll be the one scrambling after her for a bit of attention (to quote the movie "Hook").  It was also a reminder that some day in the (hopefully distant) future I'll be in different roles as that scene plays out, and ultimately my race will be run.  When the bell tolls for each of those moments, it is one of my sincerest hopes that I will be able to say I made every second count.

It is always said that God works in mysterious ways, and there are messages and signs all around you if you're really looking.  With that lens on things, I don't think it's a stretch to say that God used Bud's funeral to help me rebalance my life, as over the past couple of weeks I'd had trouble balancing all of the priorities and moving parts, not the least of which was trying to be a good father and husband while trying to knock off everything on the perpetually expanding (and self-imposed it should be noted) to-do list.  Particularly with regards to K, I've found it tougher and tougher to give her my full attention lately given that she's been staying up later.  While I've certainly continued to give her dedicated, focused time, on more than one occasion I've found myself distracted or multi-tasking.  Largely this has been a product of her 7:45 bedtime (vs. 7 previously), but all the same, I know that I need to really switch on and re-shuffle/"de-scope" some of the items on my list.  One of these days I'll learn that not all of my goals and milestones aren't feasible in the timelines I've delineated.  Until that fateful day comes, however, I'll just keep thanking God for giving me reminders on rebalancing and giving me a wife who tolerates all my idiosyncrasies.

Wrapping the week, some of the other fun moments (not the least of which for JT and K was a visit to

Rompy good and secured for the BJ's run.

the Cheesecake Factory last Thursday):

1.  Hide and Seek - so K is starting to LOVE hide and seek now.  In fact, whenever she sees dada she says "Dada, more hide and seek!"  This involves me hiding behind a door or in another room counting loudly to 10, with K pre-empting each number before I say it (she's getting really good, although she often forgets "six" in the count).  The funny part is that, when I enter the room, the one thing K has NOT done is moved - ANYWHERE.  It's hilarious, as she is ALWAYS in plain view in the room.  I mean, we're talking about not even making the ATTEMPT to cover herself.  Consequently, I say, "Ready or not, here I come!" and then start turning over everything in the room until I magically "find her" sitting right on the couch.  One time she did let Jenny and I hide, and when she came to look for us, it was PRICELESS.  After she counted to 10, she said, "Readeeee not he I come!" and then barreled into the room.  Now JT and I weren't well hidden - she could see us.  However, instead of going straight for us, she started picking up random objects like the little map of Mickey Park and saying "Are you under the minnie map?  Nooooooo...." before moving onto the next item and saying, "Are you under the basketball?  Noooooooo."  It was hilarious!  She was completely imitating me, all the way down to the length of time I would say "No" after turning over each object.  Too cute.

Meeting "Mel Mel Pup Pup."

2.  "All through the town" - So K is definitely starting to sing more.  In fact, she was at the library today (4/16 at time of writing) and apparently did a lot of singing and dancing.  She can sing "Open Shut," "Twinkle, Twinkle," Happy Birthday, and most recently - "The Wheels on the Bus."  We had a book of it, and she would single and motion each page appropriately before saying at the end "All through the town."  It was absolutely adorable.

3.  Reading at bedtime - so this has now evolved.  K now enjoys sitting on the floor (vs. in our laps) and reading the books by herself.  Sometimes she'll let me read them to her, but more often than not she wants to turn every single page at her own pace.  She's also recognizing more of the titles, as last week she actually said, "Good night, Boston" before picking it up and flipping through it.  Genius, I tell you!

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print in this edition.  The Bull is off to London in 48 hours, so the next post will likely be on or around April 27.  Stay tuned!

Love,

Sam and Jenny