baby signs

I knew I wanted to do signs with Callie once she became old enough to understand. I started using them with her when she was still quite little. Signing "milk" when I would get a bottle. Signing "more" when I would give her another bite of baby food.

Over the summer, while I was home with her every day and she was more able to do signs herself because she was 9 months old, I started forming her hands into the signs to try to get her to do it herself.

She never would.

She would more often giggle at me. Almost like she knew I wanted her to do it but just wouldn't. Maybe not. Maybe she was just still too young.

Fast forward a few months...school has started and Callie's has started her new daycare. I didn't even know they were working on signs with her. But since we had gotten into school and gotten busy, I wasn't doing them with her at home very consistently.

Thankfully, they were.

One day, she signed "more" at me when I was feeding her dinner! She did it perfectly!

Now, she signs "more" and "milk" very consistently. This morning she was fussing around and reaching out like she wanted something off the counter. I said, "What do you want?" And she responded with the sign for milk. So off to find her sippy cup we went. So much better than trying to give her a million things before figuring out what she wants! She will sign when she wants me to keep reading a book or keep doing airplane with her. It's too cute!

Another great time signing is handy is in the car. I give her puffs or cheerios in the cup holder of her car seat. When she runs out, instead of screaming and me not knowing what she needs, she signs more at me in her mirror (she is still rear-facing) and I know she has run out.

She also blows kisses and waves good-bye very enthusiastically now! It's so funny! She loves to blow kisses at the dogs before we leave for school. When we walk out of her daycare room, she starts blowing kisses down the hall at the receptionist. Melt my heart.

Such a smart, sweet girl!!

Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas! That's probably because my mom loves

Christmas and passed on that love of it to me.

So I was so excited to put our Christmas tree up and start

to instill a love of Christmas in Callie.

We hung her baby's first Christmas ornament

from last year on the tree first.

So special.

This is sure to be one of many, many Christmas

memories we will make this year.

I < heart > winter.

I <heart> winter.
Especially when it means that we get to sit in the pressbox at the play-off football game and watch from the window.

I <heart> winter.
Even when it means we need to get bundled up (a lot) for our walks.

I <heart> winter.
Especially when it means time to put the Christmas tree up!

I <heart> winter.
Even when it means that my child gets congestion and coughs more. And has to go to the doctor in her jacket and diaper after throwing up in the car 3 times on the way to the doctor appointment and therefore exhausting all the change of clothes options I had for her.

I <heart> winter.
Especially when it means basketball season and Christmas break are on their way!

Callie <hearts> winter too!

socks and shoes

Our girl loves loves loves shoes! She also loves socks. If she's in a mood for some reason, I can break out the socks and shoes and she gets happy. Hilarious.

At any given time, she can be seen walking around with 2 different shoes on or just one shoe or a shoe that doesn't fit anymore.

Or a ton of socks that don't match.

I say "a ton of socks" because she is notorious for bringing me sock after sock and wanting me to put them on her. Today she had on 4 different socks on each foot in the first picture!

Here she comes with those socks in her hand, ready to "ask" me to put them on her.

She is my little fashionista already! That is, she will be once she figures out how to match!

masterpiece

Callie has been spending some time in the older class (18 months +) lately because she has not been taking a second nap very well so they take her in there while the babies nap.

While she was in there last week, they did some fingerpainting. She did not so much like having that paint on her hands, they said. So much that she only got a few swipes of her fingers on the paper before she let them know she did not want anything to do with it!

Here's her masterpiece! HA!

However, I have figured out that she will fingerpaint with much excitement if you change the paint to green beans and the paper to her highchair tray.

Then? She's all in!

 Oh this girl makes me laugh on a daily basis!

blowing kisses and basketball

Callie got all decked out in her itty bitty cheer outfit tonight to go to the first girls' basketball game of the season.

As we were getting ready to walk out the door, she started blowing kisses to the dogs. Complete with the mwah! sound and everything. Adorable. Completely and totally adorable!

I can't believe it's already basketball season. Courtney's boys' team can't start playing yet because the football team is in the play-offs, which is also very exciting. It's going to be crazy this basketball season chasing Callie around in the stands. Crazy, but fun.

And just for fun, here is our girl last year during basketball season in the same cheer uniform.

:) There was no blowing kisses or chasing Callie around the stands this time last year. What a difference a year makes!!

iPad

I'm blogging from my iPad while Callie naps, using the blogger app.

Callie is napping... See?

I took the picture with my iPad too... Seeing how this will work.

I can do it!

Callie can do many new things!

-She can hold a whole cheese stick (or piece of bread or graham cracker or strawberry, etc) and take bites off of it. This one may seem a little strange, but before if I handed her something, she would shove the WHOLE thing in her mouth (or attempt to) no matter the size. So, I had to cut everything up into tiny bites for her so she wouldn't choke. Now, I can give her a graham cracker and she can carry it around and take bites off of it. It's very handy!

 -She can take her pants and socks off all by herself. She does this very often in her bed. She has also learned to (almost) take her shirt off. It's hilarious! She tries very hard to put her pants and socks back on after she takes them off.

(she went down  for her nap with pants and socks on...and both arms in her shirt!)

-She can put shapes in the holes they go in on her sorting toys and she can put the balls in the holes they go in on her play house. She wasn't able to do that before. I would have to show her where they were supposed to go and she still couldn't get them in there. Now? She's got it down.

-She can push around her push toy around and when she runs into something, she can turn it all by herself. Before she would just run into things and throw a fit because she couldn't turn it. Even when she was walking well, she still didn't know how to turn the toy. I remember asking a friend when she would finally grasp this skill because her little boy was 18 months old and he could do it. Now, Callie can too!

-She can shake her head "no" when she doesn't want something. I'll say, "Do you want a bite of green beans?" and she will shake her head no at me. She knows too! She actually knows if she wants more of not. It amazes me. She's got an opinion! HAHA! She will also point to what she does want sometimes. So, she'll shake her head no at the green beans and know that she wants something different.
-She can give a killer high-five! I love it! She gives a great big good slap. It's adorable and sweet! She gets excited to give a high-five too. :)

-She waves good-bye pretty consistently now.

-She says momma all the time now.

-She tries to put shoes on everyone. She picks up all our shoes and tries to put them on her own feet all the time. She also works very hard to get her own shoes on her feet (without success) every chance she gets.

It is a true joy to watch all the new things Callie is doing all the time. She makes me smile all the time.

Momma....finally

Tonight, I asked Callie to say Momma...and SHE DID! Finally! She looked up at me and sweetly said, "Momma." Clear as a bell.

Then I asked her to do it again and she said Dada. Again and again. ;)

Right now, I'm relishing in the fact that she said it at all. What a sweet sound!

mac and cheese, please!

Callie is a silly girl. Meal times are no exception.

When Callie is finished eating, she has gotten into quite a habit of throwing her food into the floor. I've tried to teach her to do the sign for "all done," but she thinks throwing the food is a better option. Of course, it is effective because I stop giving her food when she starts throwing it over the side. It's no wonder Lambeau and Braddock stay close by when she's eating.

Sometimes that means the dogs get caught in the line of fire.

Today the mac and cheese didn't just wind up in Callie's hair....

Callie thought it was so funny that it landed on his back. She continued to throw it at him and she landed quite a few more pieces on his back. Poor Lambeau could smell it but he couldn't find where it went. Poor dog!

Turning ONE is TUTU fun!

Our little girl had her big day!

She turned ONE!

 Such a big girl now!

She enjoyed walking around with her cousin Cale.

And snuggling (we think that's what she was doing...ha!) with cousin Jayla.

She loved opening presents!

And she especially....

loved....

(not the hat)

digging into the cake!

family photo

 Callie decided Nana needed some cake on her face!

 All done! Get me out!

It was a great day! Callie celebrated with family and friends. She got tons of fun new stuff to play with and she had a ball!

Can't believe she is already one! But it was tutu fun!

Callie turns 1!!

Callie Tate is 1!!

I can't believe it! One year ago today, we were welcoming our sweet baby girl into this world. This year has gone so quickly.

Stats
Then: weight - 8lbs 1oz, height - 20 inches
Now: weight - 21 lbs 4oz, height - 29 3/4 inches

What a blessing she is to us!

Blankie

Callie is going to be just like me in a lot of ways, I can already tell.

One way....she loves her blankie.

It goes just about everywhere with her. Much like my blankie did. For many (many) years.

When I get Callie out of her crib after a nap or in the mornings, she always reaches out for me. As I get close to her to pick her up, she leans down and grabs her blanket to bring with us. It is so sweet!

She wasn't sleeping great at daycare for the first few weeks and I thought having her blanket there with her would help. I didn't really want to mess with taking the blanket back and forth everyday so we bought her another one. The original blanket was a gift. It has her name embroidered on it. It is sooo soft. It's thirty-one brand and you have to order through a consultant to get items from thirty-one. I couldn't find one through a few consultants because it is discontinued. Luckily, I found someone who could find one for me and we got it. Not sure if it was a coincidence or not, but she slept great at daycare after we got that extra blanket. Probably not.

Nothing is sweeter than seeing her snuggle up with her blankie!

We've got a WALKER!

Just one week shy of her 1st birthday, our girl has decided that walking will be her way of getting around now. She is D-O-N-E crawling and only WALKS now.

Look at her GO!

She just decided this morning that she is going to walk everywhere. I love it!!

Callie loves her "dods"

Callie knows the uses of items now. Like she will get a brush and raise it up to her head and try to brush her hair, often with the bristles facing up and the plastic part on her head. HA! She will get her shoes and put them down at her feet and try to get them on the best way she knows how, which would never actually get them on her feet but she knows that they go on that part of her body. If I give her a diaper to keep her content during a diaper change, she will shove it down between her legs. She pulled my toothbrush out of my travel bag and put it up to her mouth. I love to see her learning so much!  

She LOVES buckles right now. She is OBSESSED with the buckles on her carseat and high chair. She always tries to buckle them when I am putting her in or taking her out. 

“I can do this momma, I know I can.”

Callie has also started to call things by name. Often her name for them sounds nothing like their real name, but I notice she calls items by her same name for them each time.

She calls the dogs “dod” and she says it and points to them now.

And boy does she ever love her “dod.” When she wakes up from a nap and is crying, all I have to do is take her in to where the dogs are and she smiles and laughs and loves on them. She is getting better and better at petting them gently. We went through a stage where she would hit them, but now she pat-pats quite nicely. J