You CAN teach a baby new tricks

I spent a few days away from home last week in Portland with my journalism students. We had a great time networking and learning wonderful ways to improve our newspaper.

J held down the fort superbly. Yia-Yia, Papou, and Cugina (cousin in Italian) L helped out a bit, too. Of course Kate had to learn a few new tricks while I was gone. I guess it is only fair as J has missed a few of her firsts, too, while he was away on business.

Before I left, Kate had mastered a few fun new skills.

Kate has really gotten the hang of waving hello and goodbye. I will add a video as soon as I have a good one. I showed up at daycare on Monday and she started waving goodbye to Miss A as soon as I picked her up. She loves waving at Willow, Mommy, Daddy. Pretty much anyone who will wave at her.

For Easter, Mr. Terry gave Kate a stuffed dog named Violet who plays songs. Kate loves to sit and dance to the music. Obviously, she isn't dancing the tango, but it is fun to watch her enjoying the music.

When I returned home from Portland, Kate had been practicing her most fun skills yet. We keep all Kate's toys in a box on the floor. Apparently, she has figured out what we hide in the box, because she has started to help herself to her toys. She wiggles her way over to the box, lifts the lid, and digs in.

First, she lifts the lid and takes a peek at all the wonderful toys inside.
By the way, Kate is a bit spoiled in the toy department.

She finally figured out that it would be a lot easier to just throw off the top
for maximum reach-ability.

Success! Looks like she had her eyes set on her ball.

Cugina L from Iowa came to visit this weekend. I am really disappointed that I wasn't home to enjoy her visit, but I heard that everyone had a great time. Cugina L brought Kate some great gifts including a baby cell phone.

Pretty soon she will be as talented as my students who think that I don't see them hiding their phones underneath their desks so that they can text their friends.

When I called in for my nightly report on Saturday, J informed me that Kate had picked up her coolest trick yet. For the past week or two, Kate and I have been playing peek-a-boo. I would put a blanket in front of my face or over my head and she would pull it off.

Apparently, Kate wanted to get in on the fun. J and the family were sitting at dinner. At one point, he looked down and realized that Kate was trying to play peek-a-boo with everyone. She is quite good at it and it is her new favorite game.

Next on the to-do list is crawling. I have been trying to practice with Kate and she seems to be making progress. Maybe we will have her up and mobile in the next few weeks and I'm guessing that I will regret teaching her this new skill shortly after. We definitely have some babyproofing to do before she really gets moving.

J is on location this week, but we have a ton of new pics that he will upload once he gets home. There are some gorgeous pictures of little Miss Kate. She is becoming very photogenic (if I may brag a little).