Kate learned to growl this week. It is hysterical, she is growling at everything and everyone. She doesn't know context, so she's growling just to hear herself growl, but it is cracking us up. Whenever she learns a new sound or noise, she practices for a week or so, but never has the noise been so comical. Grrrrr. Grrrrr. Grrrrrr. It is hard to picture that cute baby face growling. Maybe she got it from my reading "The Bear Snores On" to her at night. There is a point when the bear growls, maybe I made the growling noise, or maybe she invented it herself. Regardless, I'll have to get it on video the next time she growls. Grrrrr.

Kate cut a new tooth this week, for a grand total of TWO teeth. What a painful event it was for her! There was so much screaming, fussing, and chewing involved with this tooth, I've been calling it mean tooth for days. It finally broke a couple of days ago, but she's still fussing about her teeth, so either there is another one coming soon, or her little mouth is just still sore.

Friday she had her 9-month pediatrician checkup. She weighed in at a whopping 16 lbs 10 ounces! That put her in the 25th percentile for weight, and she was 27 1/2 inches long (50th percentile). Dr. Baker was impressed with her new tummy, and kept asking her what she had been eating! She was surprised at how advanced her motor skills were, with all the furniture cruising and crawling she's doing. She told me to start serving her food from our plates and transition her to real food instead of baby food. Kate also had a lead and anemia test done, and she was such a trooper for it. She barely complained, just a little cry and whimper. Her lead and anemia results came back fine.

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I had such a great Mother's Day yesterday, thanks to my wonderful husband and sweet daughter. The day started with Joel doing all of the night feedings so I could get some much needed REM sleep. They woke up at 7:30 while I slept in until 10 am! While I was sleeping, they went out on their own adventure through the neighborhood, picking out the perfect flowers and bagels to brighten my morning.

When I woke up, I had the house to myself. I watched a little tv and lounged on the couch. When they returned, I had some bagels and took a shower to get ready for my day. Kate and I dressed alike, both wearing navy pants with a white top. We puttered about the house for a long time, and finally ventured out for brunch. We went to Miriam, a mediterranean style restaurant a few blocks from our house. I had a burger and fries (mostly it was breakfast stuff on their menu, and hey, I had already had breakfast!), and Kate sat in a high chair and charmed the neighbors.

We made a quick dash to the Bergen tile store on Flatbush, which we now dub the "high margin" tile store, given its prices compared to what would at first glance appear to be a much more expensive store, Garfield Kitchen and Bath. We found tile that we loved at Garfield Kitchen and Bath for $15/sq foot, and thought we'd compare it to Bergen's stuff. Instead, it was almost $21/sq foot. But that's beside the point of this article. (more...)

Today Kate had her Spanish class and was such a teacher's pet I couldn't help but notice. She kept crawling up to the teacher and climbing on her, she was just fascinated with la maestra. Kate followed her around the room and kept smiling at her vying for her attention. What was I, chopped liver? La maestra was very good natured about it, and Kate wasn't the only one trying to be a teacher's pet today. I had never seen her act like that before. It was really cute.

I have to say I'm getting sick of some of the kids in her class, though. Older kids are drawn to her, and while sometimes it can be endearing, they're not always gentle and are sometimes mean. I had to intervene twice today, once when a three year old snatched Kate's musical instrument out of her hands, and another when a kid was hyperactively bouncing off the walls and landed on her foot. Last week they were all playing with colorful scarves, and the same hyperactive kid tried to snatch Kate's away, and one twisted around her waist and almost knocked her down. I don't think we'll enroll in this class again, although I may try to find another one. I don't like her being in the mixed ages classes, because the older kids are given free range in class by their parents and allowed to be mean to the little ones. The French class is age leveled, and it is much more civilized. I don't think Kate should be with the two and three year olds until she is as able to react and play like they can.

It is so amazing to watch language develop. Every day I know Kate understands more words than the day before. This morning she made it clear she understood two words, and said one of them!

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