Quick Milestone update

Katen's been busy learning lately!
Here are some of her new tricks....

Her bottom teeth are definitely in. They're really cute and she's been feeling them with her tongue. She's also started biting so that needs to stop.

Much to my surprise, she's going from sitting to standing all by herself without leaning on anything. She just gets up on her knees, squats and then stands like a big girl! She can stand alone for quite a while and is coordinated enough to wave at me and not fall over.

Did I mention that she's waving now? Yep, that's cute too. She's also fully caught the swing of using the sippy cup. Too bad it automatically gets thrown overboard every time she uses it though. I ended up tethering it to the high chair tray with a suction cup, and a bungee cord.

Each night before bed we read a book. Usually I point things out to her on the pages but now she gets out her little pointer and points things out to me. That lonely little digit is so sweet.

What else? Ohhh... how could I forget? For mommy's birthday Katen said her first word. Guess what it was.

"Dada."

Oh she's a turkey. Now that's all she says over and over and...

Our music classes seem to be paying off. Play a little music at our house or sing a song and little Pickle immediately begins rocking back and forth or if she's standing she has to do a little dancey dance. I need to get some video.

We're working on weaning from overnight feedings this week. At 10mos Katen should be able to make it through the night without a bottle. She's great about going to sleep in her crib by herself but really pushes for that bottle around midnight and 4am. I've been successful at patting her behind and giving her a lovey to get through the midnight feeding. The 4am one hasn't been so successful so I'm going to start putting half water and half formula in the bottle. If her body learns not to expect the extra calories at night then it won't signal her to wake up hungry. (I have no doubt that she truly does feel hungry.) If she can make it from 7pm to 6am without waking this will be one happy momma!


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Pickle VS Swiffer

Here's a little video of Katen making her kitty sound, and also she and Swiffer "playing" with each other.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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Katen is a Finalist!

UPDATE: We Won!!

Here's Mommy talking with the morning radio personalities

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And Here's the magazine cover that Katen is on.



Funny story about this. As you can see from the original message below, I thought that I'd submitted a different picture. You'll hear me tell the radio station that she was 6 months old in the picture. I'll bet they thought Katen was the smallest 6 month old they'd ever seen. Oops!

*************** The previous message below ************************

I just got a message that we've been picked as one of three finalists in our local radio station's baby picture contest. They're going to put the winning mother and baby picture on the cover of their magazine. It's a spoof on "People" magazine called "Person Magazine." I can't remember the exact details, but the winner gets a savings bond and something else. They'll announce the winner on Monday so we'll know then if we've been picked. Cross your fingers!

This is the picture I submitted. (I think.)




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Two parental traits linked to academic achievement

I found this article interesting and thought I would share.

"Recent data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has found that two parental traits-warmth and what researchers term "low intrusiveness"-are linked to academic achievement in first grade. Warmth, that is, showing affection and emotional support, is important to encourage a baby or toddler to explore, persist, and learn. "Low intrusiveness," or letting a child play and to try to solve small problems on her own, also adds to cognitive growth. Sometimes being supportive means moving a desired toy within a baby's reach, rather than handing it to her. And sometimes learning requires a moment of frustration. A study showed that anger was associated with active attempts to overcome an obstacle, while sadness was related to giving up. So, while it may be hard to watch, know that when your baby gets angry when she can't do what she wants, it's a healthy response."


--Week 43 of your baby's infancy; Mercy Medical Center Newsletter
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10/10/08 Headlines: Dow and Gas $ drops after US Financial Bail Out Plan

Katen, some day you're going to look back at this and wonder what the heck our President was doing during his time in office.... (I think he was busy picking his nose instead of leading the country but you make the call.)

Headlines for today -

• Investors have shrugged off an array of market-stabilizing efforts by world governments, including a $700 billion U.S. financial rescue plan, several bank bailouts and a coordinated interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and central banks around the globe.

• The $700 billion US Financial Bail Out Plan, passed by the House and quickly signed into law by President Bush Friday(10/03/08), was supposed to jump-start the crippled credit markets and get the money flowing normally again to consumers, businesses, corporations and governments. But it remains to be seen whether it will work.

• Frozen credit markets and a loss of confidence in the world’s financial system have caused the Dow to drop 21 percent in just 10 trading days.

• Oil prices plunged in another violent sell-off today, briefly tumbling below $78 a barrel as investors grow more pessimistic about the prospects for resolving a mushrooming global economic crisis. Gas price as of Friday, October 10, 2008 is $2.899/gallon in our city. A barrel of oil hasn’t been this cheap in 13 months. These steep losses came as Wall Street extended its staggering decline for an eighth straight day and headed for its worst weekly drop ever.

• The Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 500 points in mid-afternoon trading.

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