Splish, Splash

Katherine, you have taken your first swimming lessons. I am so glad I got to be part of it!

Not only did we enjoy time together in the pool, but you already learned how to hold your breath when going under water. We had lots of fun – I got to pull you through the water and you even “swam” a short distance on your own when the instructor and I passed you between us. There were lots of giggles and a few tears along the way (yes, I have learned that you do not like to drift through the water on your back). You love chasing balls and rubber ducks in the water and you even reached for rings below the water line. By the end of the week you had earned your Starfish level swimming designation – I am so proud of you.

You are teaching me to enjoy the summer days and live in the moment. Lots of moments to live for this summer, lots of memories being made. I love you always and forever.

Love of Technology

Katherine, they say that child development depends part on nature and part on nurture. Well, when it comes to you and technology, I’d say both play a big part in your young life. Both your daddy and I love technology, and learning it comes easy to us… and for the nurture part, well, we encourage you to play with technology and our “tech toys”.

Your favourite? Hands down my iPad. Yes, I am still claiming it as mine – just so we’re clear on it. Even though I had to explain in a couple of business meetings last week why my portfolio case had a nice old fashioned paper notepad in it, but my high-tech iPad slot was empty.

You are having so much fun playing with it – we have installed some great toddler games on it including some simple puzzles, animated picture books and my favourite – fun German word games, all of which you effortlessly navigate. Watching you over the past few months, I have watched you go from randomly tapping onto the screen to today, where you know exactly how to swipe your finger over the screen to flip between the pages and to tap on the icon of a specific game you want to play.

What I love about watching you play with the iPad is that it’s nothing special to you – you’ll seamlessly switch from playing with it to building something with blocks to running around outside or “reading” a book.

You are teaching me that life never stands still – new things to learn, new technologies to embrace. For you it’s normal to see and be exposed to new things every day, but as we grow older we sometimes tend to stay still with the knowledge we already have. Life is about growing and learning, every day.  I love you always and forever.

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.

A Little Walk

Katherine, this evening daddy and I went for a little walk with you. Yes, we have gone on lots of walks before, but this one was special. It was our first walk together without a stroller.

Yep, we went for an actual walk – all three of us walking! We went down the little walkway along our property and strolled around the cul-de-sac behind us. We stopped to look at fences, rocks on the ground and you took a break sitting down on the road (yes, it’s a very quiet cul-de-sac).

Pointing to the green grass, the blue sky and many things in between, you were taking it all in and we had lots of fun together. You were concentrating on every step you were taking, holding daddy’s or my hand for most of the walk… but once in a while you let go for just a few moments and began to explore the area around you on your own.

You are teaching me that it’s important to take time out to have fun together. It doesn’t need to be complicated or involve lots of planning… just “being in the moment” once in a while, being a family and laughing together is all I need. I love you always and forever.

One Step at a Time

Katherine, you are learning new things every day. Some days they are little things like figuring out how to take off your bib we just lovingly put on you before starting to eat (adults don’t wear bibs when they eat, why should you?)

But then, there are some days, where months of trying and failing and trying again lead to having a lifelong skill. This past week was one of those days. You have been walking by holding daddy’s and my hands for quite some time, you have been cruising along furniture and walls, you have been standing up, fallen down and gotten back up many, many times, sometimes even taking a little step or two. But this past week everything changed. One evening we were playing in the living room, you stood, holding my hands when all of a sudden you let go and you walked, on your own – putting one foot in front of the other one as you walked across the room.
Just like that you got it, and the look on your face, full of joy, said it all. I am so proud of you.

You are teaching me that no matter how hard we have to try to learn a new skill it’ll be worth it. If we fail (and fall down) at first, we’ll have to try as many times as it takes, but never, never give up. You remind me every day to look at life’s possibilities not its limitations. I love you always and forever.

Taking Control of your Life

Katherine, I am amazed how you are taking a little more control of your life every day. You have a strong opinion which food you like (or don’t like)… and in which order you like me to hand you your food – you are very good at gestures clearly signalling yes or no. And feeding you with a spoon is not an option at this point, it’s all about finger food that you can put in your mouth yourself (however, we have agreed to compromise when it comes to soup – thank you for that).

There is one other area of your life where you have made it very clear that you are in control. You love to put music on when we are at home. Your daddy has programmed our stereo equipment so that you have access to a Bavarian Kids radio station which is your absolute favourite and has upbeat German kid’s music – he has set it up for you so that you have one-button access to turn it on yourself (in a height that you can reach)… and you often crawl over to the stereo system to start the music on your own. One the tunes are playing, some days you sit on the floor for a while and tap your hands on your legs to the beat, and other days a big smile appears on your face as you crawl back to your toys to play.

You are teaching me that being in control of our lives is important. There are many things you cannot control, yet you have found simple, but important ways for you to feel that you have a say in what’s going on. Thank you for reminding me that it’s not always about the big things, little things matter too. I love you always and forever.