Big Steps

Katherine, tonight you have decided to take some big steps - literally. You have been experimenting for a while with the stairs in our house, and you have become a pro at climbing upstairs.

Lately you have been doing really well at climbing downstairs by going backwards, but over the last little while you haven't been happy going downstairs backwards... it's been clear you were wanting more. We have done ok a few times for you to step down facing forward, but it was always contingent on me holding both your hands - you are so tiny still that each step is tall enough to reach higher than you knee.

Tonight you stood on top of the stairs, and you weren't turning around to get down. Standing a few steps below you, I was holding out my hands to you, but I saw this determined look in your eyes and knew right away that you wouldn't take them. After a moment of standing still, you stepped down by almost sitting down and moving your legs on by one carefully down to the next step. Then the next step and the step after that, wobbling and fighting to keep your balance at first, then becoming more and more confident in what you were doing. Step by step you made it all the way down, arriving at the bottom with a big smile and a sparkle in your eyes.

You are teaching me that sometimes we just have to take a leap of faith and believe that we can do anything we want. When we are determined to do something, and believe with all our heart that we will succeed, nothing stands in our way. Thank you for reminding me of that tonight. I love you always and forever.

Heavy Lifting

Katherine, the last weeks have been so busy – we have been moving offices and gone through quite a transition with our businesses… and you were there right in the middle of it.

As you are fully mobile now… I mean “right in the middle of it” quite literally. You were walking and toddling around the office, having a great time especially as we started to pack boxes - sometimes you outpaced us unpacking what we had just put in a box and sometimes you added items to the boxes; we just often had different ideas what should go into a particular box.

You even made it through some shelving rails sliding on your foot – even the bruising it caused didn’t keep you sitting still for long; a few tears and many hugs from everyone in the office and you were off and running again.

It was so much joy watching you “help” in so many ways – you even “assisted” daddy with the assembly of new chairs… there was not a screw you didn’t re-organize for him. But the coolest thing to watch was that you repeated what he was doing; you took screws and put them into the pre-drilled holes. Ok, so the assembly took a little bit longer, but who would complain with such a great helper!

You are teaching me that adapting to any change in life is easier when you do it with a smile on your face and expect to have fun and new adventures along the way. I am excited to find out what adventures are waiting for us around the corner. I love you always and forever.