Playing in the Rain

One of the best parts about being a parent is being able to act like a kid again. We had a chance to do that on Sunday when visiting family in CT. We went to a cook-out visiting the CT relatives as well as Great Grandma and Great Grandpa who were up visiting. It was warm and sunny for the first part of the party, but it started to rain a little before dinner.

Katerina didn't mind the rain one bit. We were both still in our bathing suits, so we just stood out in the rain and Katerina took great pleasure in splashing in the puddles. Here's a video that captured the moment.

Katerina also enjoyed spending time with cousin Jack, her great Aunts and Uncles and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa who I think she remembered from visiting a couple of months ago. Here's a picture of her trying on Grandma's hat...how precious!

Hairs Cut

One of my high school teachers used to tease me by saying that I didn't get my "hair" cut, I got my "hairs" cut. He was incorrect of course,
because as we all know "hair" can be either singular or plural. Either way, Katerina certainly got her "hairs" cut yesterday.

It wasn't technically her first haircut. We had given her bangs a trim a couple times before. But this was her first full haircut by Papou. Papou moonlights as a barber (well not exactly, but he cuts Mike's hair, Strat's hair and Yiayia's hair). So, instead of going through the hassle of going to my hairdresser, we decided to let Papou cut it.

I have had several traumatic haircut experiences in my life and as a result, getting my haircut always makes me a little apprehensive. I didn't realize though that my apprehensiveness would extend to my daughter. During Katerina's haircut I was a mess, especially after her bangs were cut short. I wasn't crying, but I was on edge. And the cutting kept on going and going and going...I thought she was going to look like a boy! Then finally I couldn't take it anymore so I made him stop, probably sooner than necessary.

Luckily when she woke up this morning she still looked like a girl. But now she looks like a big girl--one who can actually see because her hair isn't in her face. See, it wasn't so bad, right Katerina?

Who's in charge?

Katerina is learning to get and do what she wants around here. Tonight at dinner she was almost finished eating. She signed "all done" so I was about to get her out of her high chair when she started pointing to the jar of Greek cookies. I tried to first give her some cheerios which were next to the jar--but she didn't want the cheerios, she wanted the cookies. She was telling me that she was all done with her dinner, so now it was time for dessert!

While she's been climbing stairs for sometime, but now she is trying to go up and down like a "big girl" by "walking" either by holding onto a railing or my hand. Whenever we are out in the backyard she will try to climb the stairs up to the kitchen door. Last night, we ate dinner outside and then let her run around in the yard. We blocked the stairs with the patio chairs by laying them down. Did that stop Katerina? Of course not. She pulled herself up and climbed over them. She is certainly persistent!

She does have her fair share of accidents though. Yesterday at church she was sitting on the pew eating bread after communion. A piece dropped on the floor and so she reached for it and fell flat on the floor! Poor thing...she cried a lot, but only for a few minutes. And it's only a little bruised today.

While she isn't talking, she certainly understands what you are saying. She knows her ball, and stories, and where Baba and Mommy are, but some things she still doesn't quite understand. I was trying to take a dish out of the oven today and I needed Katerina to stand back. I kept saying "No Katerina, Danger"....she just laughed. I eventually just had to pick her up, move her to the family room and run back to kitchen to take it out before she got there.

First Ice Cream Cone

Katerina had her first ice cream cone last night. It was a beautiful summer evening. We had cooked out on the grill and thought it would be a perfect night to get some ice cream. We got Katerina her first kiddie cone. She liked it--or at least she liked the cone part. The ice cream was a little too cold for her I think.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there. Last year on this day Katerina wasn't yet a week old. :)

We were in Rochester this weekend to celebrate Theo Strat's graduation from Nazareth with his Masters Degree. During the ceremony today, they kept referring to the Mothers in the audience and I couldn't help but think that someday Mike and I would be sitting in the audience and it would be Katerina getting her degree...

Happy First Birthday Katerina

Today is Katerina's first birthday. She was born today at 11:05am one year ago. While we celebrated last weekend, today, Katerina, Baba and I stayed home a little later and enjoyed a yummy breakfast of eggs, toast and sausage.

Then Katerina brought in cup cakes to school. Her teacher, Ms. Sharon, said she didn't drop one piece of that cupcake--I think she really liked it!

She must have known it was her birthday today because she only napped for 15 minutes at school, but despite that she was all smiles when I picked her up at the end of the day.

It is hard to believe an entire year has passed. It has been a wonderful year. Parenthood is a blessing and it certainly teaches you a lot about yourself. In this blog post, in addition to writing about Katerina's milestones, I have also included some of my own.

Here are some of Katerina's recent milestones:

• She is legitimately walking now, even on grass
• She has fallen in love with a stuffed Kitty, and sleeps with it at nap time and at bed time
• She now drinks whole milk out of a sippy cup (although we are still struggling to get her to drink enough during the day)
• She no longer drinks out of bottles (although sometimes I wonder if she misses them)
• Sometimes she will try to repeat a sound you are saying...such as "Ba" or "Kitty"...or at least it sounds that way

In the past year, Mommy has:

• Learned that babies change every day
• Learned patience... and that sometimes things do not always go according to plan... and that's okay
• Learned that a child can make you smile even on your most difficult days
• Learned that there if often not one right answer when parenting...sometimes its trial and error and each child is different
• Learned to appreciate the little things in life such as Katerina's good morning smile, her laugh when playing a game and how much fun it is to simply watch her observe and explore the world around her

Happy First Birthday Katerina!

Katerina's First Birthday Party

We held Katerina's first birthday party this weekend. It was a hot summer-like day. Katerina enjoyed all of the attention from her aunts, uncle and grandparents who came to visit her. And she thoroughly enjoyed the food-- she ate a hot dog and had a HUGE piece of birthday cake that her Baba made her (It only took about 3 hours to make the night before). She made a wonderful mess, which was fun to watch. Mike cut her quite a large piece, and she ate three quarters of it. I think she was on a sugar high for the rest of the evening. :)

Katerina received wonderful birthday gifts too...although at certain points she appeared to be more interested in the card envelopes, ribbons and the bows that came with the gifts. In fact, in one card contained a gift card to Toys R Us...she grabbed onto the gift card, and didn't want to let it go! She got a bunch of clothes, some new books and some cool toys.

Mommy and Baba got an outdoor castle for her, with a slide and swing. Grandma gave us the idea. It only took Baba, Papou and Uncle Billy 1 hour to put together, even though the box said "Only 20 minutes to assemble." She loves it--well certain parts of it. She likes the swing, and she likes the "landing" where she can stand up high, and turn the 'captain" wheel, but she HATES the slide. She cried and cried and now she won't go near it. Maybe by the end of the summer she'll enjoy it.

She'll be turning 1 officially on Thursday at 11:05am. It doesn't seem possible sometimes...she is such a big girl now.