My sisters visited Katerina and I this past weekend. Mike was traveling so we had free reign of the house. Katerina loved having so much entertainment. We ordered Chinese, did some girl talk, and my sisters taught Katerina how to dance like a ballerina. She stands up on her tip toes, puts her arms in first position, and turns around. So cute! Unfortunately, we haven't been able to capture the moment on camera yet, but stay tuned.
On Sunday we took full advantage of having Aunt Aileen around (the official baker in the family) and we baked cookies (well Aileen actually made those for Meghan to take back to campus) and together we all made a carrot cake for Mike's Name Day. Aileen was the lead chef for the carrot cake and Meghan and I were the "sous" chefs. It turned out great--making carrot cake is not really that hard! :)
I made the cream cheese frosting after they had left and Katerina fully enjoyed licking the bowl. It was a relaxing fun weekend with the girls.
Katerina truly participated in Halloween this year. We went out around 5pm. She was a little timid at the first house, but then she seemed to get the hang of it. She would follow the other kids on the street, walk up to the front doors and hold out her candy pale. We only went to a few houses, but she loved it and so did Mike and I. I had forgotten how much fun this holiday was.
She was a Buffalo Bills cheerleader--everyone thought she was so cute ...although I don't think most of them were big football fans because we didn't get any condolences. I tried very hard to encourage her to keep her pigtails in...but they were only in her hair long enough for me to take a quick picture and she had them out.
Back at home, Katerina got excited every time the door bell rang, looking forward to seeing the new visitors. She seemed very curious as she watched Mike or I give out candy to some 153 kids--yep, that's right, we keep track! LOL. It was a fun night! Happy Halloween.
Katerina appears to be doing a lot more "talking" these days. She still doesn't say much-her vocabulary really consists of Ba and sometimes Mama, and "uh oh." But she is starting to make noises that sound like other words.
For example, she LOVES dogs. She says "doh" whenever she sees one. Although, she says the same thing for duck...but its a similar sound so I applaud her effort (literally). :)
And tonight she was playing with the phone and Mike and I turned when we heard her say something like "hello."
Mike loves to tell the story about when we were in Newark airport coming back from Greece. Mike raised his hands and said "touchdown Buffalo!" Katerina did the same thing, including saying something that sounded like "touchdown." Mike was ecstatic because he thought it was her first real word. But I don't know if you can count that as her first real word because she hasn't said it since. But in Katerina's defense, maybe that's because Buffalo hasn't been making many touch downs.
Regardless, I think we might start hearing some real words in the next couple of months, which will be great. It can be frustrating when she points and says "ehh" and I don't know what she wants. But as Mike says, I better be careful what I wish for. If she's anything like the Nyman girls...once she starts talking, she won't stop! :)
Our trip to Greece was wonderful. Every day we had fresh squeezed orange juice from our uncle's trees, fresh eggs from Yiayia Olga and fresh figs from the neighbor down the street. The weather was hot, but with a cool afternoon breeze perfect for our naps!
Katerina loved her trip as well. She loved "swimming" in the ocean, and towards the end got very good at kicking her feet. She enjoyed taking walks on the beach as well. Our last day, she found a shell that she particulary liked and held onto it for a good hour. Finally, I convinced her to give it to me for safe keeping-we brought it home.
She became particulary fond of all of the animals in Greece: the horse next door, the donkey down the street, the goats across the street and the chickens and cats at Yiayia Olga's house. It was as if we had our own petting zoo in our backyard.
She has started to understand some Greek too. In fact, the other day at home, Mike had to say "come here" in Greek in order to get her to come in from playing outside.
Katerina's affinity for singing, dancing and listening to music grew while we were away as well. Papou and Yiayia would often sing to her...this video is of her dancing!
Now about the traveling--it was not as bad as it could have been. Katerina was well tempered. We had lots of toys she had never seen before, and also used the portable dvd player. She took some walks up and down the plane and played with random objects: my water bottle, a plastic cup, the magazine in the seat pocket..etc. The only "negative" was that she barely slept, which meant Mike and I were up for about 24 hours on both trips, with a few 10 minute naps. We were pretty tired.
Katerina adjusted well to the 7 hour time change. The fact that she didn't sleep much on the plane really helped I think. She woke up in the middle of the night the first few nights. The first night she got a small snack and some milk, the second night just milk, and the third night she had water. After that, she was back on the new schedule. Kids bounce back better than the adults I think. All-in all it was a great trip! We are looking forward to the next trip to Greece.
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!
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?
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.
