All Over Illinois!

Kathleen was literally all over Illinois last week. She flew into Peoria and then visited Kewanee, Bloomington, Dwight, Joliet (okay, that was just lunch), and Morton. She's a well-travelled little girl, that's for sure. But Kathleen didn't just see lots of Illinois, she saw lots of people!

For one, Kathleen got to see her Grandma and Grandpa Golby in Kewanee.

Plus, Grandma and Grandpa Golby organized a lovely open-house event, so Kathleen got to see a lot of extended family, too. While we were in Kewanee, we stayed with the Gustafsons, so Kathleen got to see her cousins, Matt, Ali, and Lizzie. Kathleen had lots of fun playing with the vanity at their house. I can only imagine how much time she'll spend getting ready when she's sixteen, since she has spent a considerable amount of time playing at it already!

Kathleen thinks her cousins are the best entertainment ever. When we went to pick her cousins up from school, Kathleen was getting a little fussy. But when they piled into the van, she lit up like a Christmas tree.

After staying in Kewanee for a few days, we headed to Bloomington, so that Mommy and Daddy could go to Tom and Lannie Boswell's wedding. On our way there, we stopped at Tanner's Orchard, so we could have a full autumn experience. Kathleen checked out the pumpkins, discovered that she adores apple cider, and fed some goats.

The fun continued for Kathleen. While Mommy and Daddy went to the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, Kathleen stayed first with Aunt Angela, and then with the Stewarts. Aunt Katherine, Uncle Eric, Sarah, Ethan, and Melissa Stewart came to Bloomington from Dwight and spent the whole day with Kathleen. She even took her first trip to the zoo!

(Special thanks to cousin Sarah, who spent the night at the hotel with us, so that Mommy and Daddy could stay and dance at the reception.)

From Bloomington, we headed up to Dwight, so Kathleen could continue playing with the Stewarts. Upon arriving at the Stewarts', Kathleen was excited to discover not one, but two dogs! It really was Kathleen's own version of heaven. Our time in Dwight was too short, but long enough for Tim, Shannan, and Megan McFadden to stop by for a visit.

We met friends Paul and Alison Krattiger for lunch in Joliet, then stopped back in Dwight before heading to stay with Aunt Angela in Morton. We flew out the next morning, narrowly missing the storm that closed down Denver airport (which was one of our layovers). Wow! We're tired just typing about all that!

Headed for the Hog Capital

Piggy Back
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Mommy, Daddy, and Kathleen are headed for the Hog Capital! We'll be visiting Grandma and Grandpa Golby and Kathleen's aunts and uncles and cousins. Kathleen is very excited to be able to play with her cousins, because all she could do the last time was lie on her back and watch them! Watch out, everybody, here comes Kathleen!

Stepping Out

Kathleen has been taking some tentative steps, but today she really got the hang of it. Good job, little girl!

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Candlelit Dining
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen experienced her first major earthquake yesterday morning, when a 6.6 magnitude earthquake shook the Hawaiian islands. The last earthquake Kathleen was in didn't even wake her from her nap -- it happened this summer when we were visiting her grandparents in San Francisco. There was no missing this one, though. It shook long and hard. Kathleen was already awake, but it definitely woke up her daddy! (It was his first earthquake, too.)

We're thankful that the damage on Oahu seems minimal. We lost a couple picture frames, but nothing else. Well, the only other thing we lost was the power! The power was out until late last night, so Kathleen enjoyed a late supper by candlelight. By the time she awoke this morning, everything was back to normal.

Play Ball!

Kathleen shows off her nascent athletic abilities. She knows she's supposed to throw and she gives it a good try, but she doesn't have much of an arm (or aim) yet. Still, she's far more excited about playing ball than her mother ever has been.

Dreams of Flying

Matt and Kathleen
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

This weekend Kathleen had a vist from Jim's friend Matt Driskill. Matt's a Naval Flight Officer, and his squadron was stopping through Hawaii on their way home from a deployment in Japan. He stayed with us overnight and got to watch Kathleen watch football on Saturday morning. (I'm sure that's what most people want to do when they visit Hawaii!) We've been trying to teach her to say "touchdown," but all she does is squeal. Still, we think that's pretty cute.

Kathleen did some flying of her own recently. She doesn't need a plane, though -- she's Supergirl! We'd found the costume through the wonders of ebay and had hoped that Kathleen would be able to wear it for Halloween. (Not that she needs an excuse to wear a superhero costume. We knew that Kathleen would be a superhero before she was even born!) Sadly, our giant little girl has outgrown the costume already, so we're on the lookout for yet another Halloween costume!

It's a bird...
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

All Wound Up

Kathleen's post-dinner, pre-bath playtime. She's so excited she can hardly stand it. She can hardly stand, either!

Cruising

Kathleen shows off her cruising skills on the living room ottoman. When she tumbles down, she crawls off for other adventures.

Into Everything!

Kathleen's Shelves
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

As a concession to Kathleen's growing independence and curiosity, we finally emptied the books from the bottom shelves in the living room. Those are now filled with Kathleen's books and toys, and she loves to stand at the shelves, alternately playing with her toys and throwing them on the floor. Once too timid to venture beyond the living room carpet, Kathleen now explores the condo with surprising speed. She's always on the hunt for something that didn't get properly put away -- Mommy's wallet or a pair of flip flops or (best of all) a magazine. She still likes to test things out by putting them in her mouth, so we occasionally have to fish wads of paper out of her little mouth. Whoops!

One of Kathleen's favorite games is to be chased around the ottoman in the living room. Perhaps that's how she's acquired some speed! The combination of peek-a-boo, standing, crawling, and tickling (when she's caught!) make her laugh hysterically. She'll begin to giggle as soon as you approach the ottoman, and in no time at all she's nearly knocking herself over from laughter. When she's not laughing too hard, though, she's getting pretty good at standing. We haven't convinced her to try to take any steps yet, but she'll happily stand and clap for us.

Kathleen still enjoys pestering Daddy when he's lying on the couch and stealing the remote control or his books from him. Now that Daddy's doing a little better and can sit up for a few minutes, Kathleen likes to read her own books with him. Her favorite books are "Feely Bugs," "Touch and Feel Baby Animals," and "Spot's Touch and Feel Day." She gets very excited to touch the fuzzy animals or find Spot under his curtain. She likes other books, too, but she mostly likes to chew them!

Dad and Daughter
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Supervising Her Patient

Checking on Daddy
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Nurse Kathleen

Kathleen
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Jim had back surgery last week, and is now home recuperating. Surgeons removed pieces of bone from his spine to try to relieve pressure on Jim's nerves, which was making his leg feel numb. Everything seems to have gone well. The medicines are helping him with the pain, and he seems a little more comfortable each day. Jim's not allowed to sit, because that'd put too much pressure on his spine. But he can lie down, or he can stand and walk a little. So he spends most of the day in bed or on the couch, although he's very good about getting his walking exercise.

Kathleen likes that she can get right up to Daddy when he's lying in the living room. Kathleen likes to stand at the edge of the couch and harass her Daddy, stealing his books or magazines or drinks from his table. This is the view of Kathleen that Jim gets when Nurse Kathleen checks on him!

Even though Jim's laid up, Kathleen's very much on the move. Her crawling is smoother and faster and now takes her all over the condo. She's beginning to stand on her own, pulling herself up and then letting go of whatever's supporting her. She doesn't last that long, but she's getting better!

Welcome Home, Daddy!

Welcome Home, Daddy!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Jim arrived home this week, much to our delight. We were able to pick him up at the airport, and we met him with a lei and lots of hugs and kisses. Jim's time in Kuwait was busy, but went well, and his trip home went well, too. He even got to fly first class for part of the trip!

Now that our family is back together, we're settling into "real" life. Kathleen seems to remember her Daddy, and hasn't been too shy around him. She continues to grow like a weed, and is learning new tricks every day. This week she has learned to drink through a straw (Jamba Juice was the perfect incentive) and drag books off the bookshelf and crawl to previously unexplored corners of the condo. She's also very chatty lately. She says "da da da" a lot, but hasn't quite figured out that that's Jim.

We're All Ready!

Pondering Her Art
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen finished up Daddy's welcome home sign this afternoon, so we're all ready for him to come home! He called us from Phoenix this afternoon, just as he was about to board his flight home. We can't wait to see him...

Whee!

Flying Kathleen
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Just before lunch today, Kathleen and I visited the park in our condominium complex so that Kathleen could have a little time in the swing. She loves that! She laughs, she kicks, she looks around. She loves being outside anyway, so the swing is just a bonus!

Some of the pictures might look a little perilous, but that's only because I was sitting on the ground photographing her. I promise, she was safe the entire time!

Whee!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Keeping Busy and Getting Messy

Kathleen's adjusting to life at home. Without an entourage to entertain her, she's busying herself with her toys and with standing at the edge of the sofa and exploring her house. She's very busy and generally very happy.

Bathtime has become a perilous undertaking, since all Kathleen wants to do is stand in the sink or climb onto the counter. I'm beginning to think it's time to move to the bathtub, but I haven't quite decided whether more room would be better or worse for our little monkey!

What's certain is that Kathleen needs a bath. Meals are super messy lately! Kathleen's working on more finger foods -- Cheerios, pears, bannanas, cheese. Cheerios seem to be her favorite, although she's a big fan of cheese, too. She hasn't quite mastered the pincer grasp to pick things up, but is surprisingly adept without it. She somehow grabs the food in her little fist and manages to work it up to the top of her fist and into her mouth. I wouldn't have thought it would work, but she happily crunches away on her Cheerios.

We Left Our Hearts...

Red's Java House
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

We finished our trip to the mainland by meeting Uncle Kevin and Grandpa for lunch in "The City." We ate at Red's Java House, a San Francisco icon and home of the delectable double dog. Yum! We sat outside, enjoying the warm afternoon sun (really, it was gorgeous!) and the view of the Bay Bridge. Kathleen was particularly impressed with Red's pigeons. They kept her entertained the whole time!

Thanks to everyone for a great visit. Hopefully the whole family will be back soon.

A Mind of Her Own

Through with the Sunday Paper
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen has recently discovered her own little will, and she's exercising it for all it's worth!

She's decided that she no longer likes peas, for example. If she's fed peas, she makes a rather dramatic gagging sound, sticking out her tongue for extra effect. Green beans are iffy. Yogurt, however, is always okay.

At other times Kathleen can't be bothered to eat, because eating is boring. She will open her mouth only if entertained! Her Gram is particularly good at tricking her into laughing, so we can sneak bites of food into her little mouth.

Cruising
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen shows a distinct preference for certain toys, particularly toys she's not supposed to play with, like the camera and the television remote! And she's not as easily distracted, either. She's not going to be tricked into accepted a "lesser" toy!

Kathleen will sometimes crawl, but is really only interesting in standing. She has gotten far better at pulling up on furniture, and can now bend over (with one hand still on the supporting furniture) to grab a toy. She's beginning to cruise, tentatively inching along furniture. She spends her days standing up and sitting down, worrying her grandfather when she comes close to hitting her head. She laughs at herself (and at her mother) and is generally a happy little girl -- especially when she gets what she wants!

How Do You Change the Channel?

Looking for a Better Show
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame

Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

You're never too young to cheer for the Irish! Grampa is hard at work teaching Kathleen the Notre Dame fight song and other important life skills. Now that she can clap, she's that much closer to being the perfect fan. Go Irish!

Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Aunt Caroline introduced us to a new type of teething biscuit, which Kathleen promptly fell in love with. She'd gnaw on them all day if we'd let her! The cookies are pretty strong, but do occasionally break, and she'll work on the little pieces, too. She chews and chews and chews and makes a big, drooly, pasty mess, as you can see. If she weren't so cute, it'd be disgusting!

A Round of Applause

This morning Kathleen discovered that she can clap. She likes it a lot, and clapping seems like it might replace arm-waving as her way of expressing excitement. Let's have a round of applause for applause!

Discovering the Discovery Museum

Yummy crab.

On Friday Kathleen and Mommy visited the Bay Area Discovery Museum for the first time. We were guests of Kathleen's Aunt Caroline and family friend Dana Aughney. It was a neat chance for Kathleen to hang out with twins Daniel and Sophia and Dana's girls, Keira and Devon.

The Bay Area Discovery Museum is very hands-on and there were even activities for children as small as Kathleen. There were fun places for her to crawl around and lots for her to see.

Leenie's Giant Lizard .

She tried out a crab (the plastic kind) and even rode a lizard! Kathleen would have loved it, even if there weren't all sorts of fun things to do, because it was the perfect spot to do her favorite thing -- watch other children play!

The museum is in historic Fort Baker in the Marin Headlands, and it has a great view of the Golden Gate, so Mommy and Kathleen posed for a touristy picture!

Puppy Love

Kathleen is super excited to see Caroline and Craig's dog!

You Can't Keep Kathleen Down

Leaning Tower of Leenie
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Now that she's figured out how to pull herself up, Kathleen's practicing her stand everywhere. She pulls herself up on the sofa, the toy basket, in the pack 'n play, on Mommy's legs -- just about anything that will stand still. She's still awfully wobbly, but she's getting better every day. She doesn't really crawl, although she has all the right motions down. She rolls, instead. She can get pretty much wherever she wants to that way. And this afternoon she used her crawling/rolling skills to get over to the television armoire, where she pulled the drawer open!

Get Me Up!

In addition to becoming increasingly mobile, Kathleen has become increasingly vocal. She's making noise all the time now, and her ability to do so delights her. She says something that sounds surprisingly like "hi" -- the inflection is almost exactly like Mommy's.

Playing at Gram and Da's

Taking Off At Logan Airport

Kathleen worked out some energy before boarding a plane back to San Francisco. She's moving around a lot lately!

Nothing New Under the Sun

Digging In
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Arriving in Quonnie in time for the record temperatures, Kathleen tried to beat the heat on Central Beach. Her cousin Amanda supplied her with the cute sunsuit so that she wouldn't burn. (Too bad those don't come in Mommy's size!) Between the sunsuit and a gallon or two of sunscreen, Kathleen was set for hours of fun in the sun, sand, and surf.

Kathleen loved the sand. She'd fill her little fists with it and roll around in it. (She only ate a little, I think.) She was delighted with a bucket of sand and water. She not only enjoyed splashing around, she also used it to try to stand. Amanda shared lots of fun beach toys, which was great. Kathleen also enjoyed the surf. She seemed a little surprised that the water was cold, but she liked to stand with Mommy as the waves came in.

Sun, Sand, and Babies
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen's summer days on the beach were just what Mommy remembered from being little. I guess it's true: there's nothing new under the sun!

Kathleen Meets the Frosts

Gram, Kathleen, and Nana Frost
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen never got to meet her great-grandfather John Frost. He passed away a little more than a week ago. Sadly, it took her Poppy's passing to get Kathleen to the East Coast. Having made a hop across the Pacific, Kathleen then flew across the country to be with family in Quonochontaug, Rhode Island.

It was sad to say goodbye to Poppy, but it was exciting for Kathleen to meet lots of family for the first time. Kathleen got to visit with Nana Frost and to meet her great-aunts and uncles. And there's been a bit of a baby boom among the Frost cousins, so there were lots of little people to meet and play with.

Kathleen's Poppy had a long and full life, and left lots of people who loved him. We like to think that he lives on in our hearts, and in his great-granddaughter's blue eyes.

To Grandmother's House We Go

Gram and Girlie
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen and mommy are visiting California, spending time with Gram and Grampa O'Connor. Normally a little shy, Kathleen has warmed up to the O'Connors with surprising speed. She likes to sit on Gram's lap and she likes to listen to Grampa sing "The Teddy Bears' Picnic." She's just thrilled with the different toys in California, and she's been spending a lot of time playing on the living room floor. The extra time practicing seems to be paying off. She's gotten a lot better at rolling and sitting herself up. She gets closer and closer to crawling every day!

That's Just Ducky!

Biting Off More Than She Can Chew?

Bagel
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen's adventures in table food are beginning! She's not sure what she thinks of this new food, but she's willing to give it a try. She still prefers yogurt and jars of baby fruit, but we might make a bagel-eater out of her yet.

We miss you, Daddy!

Snuggling before Goodbye
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Jim deployed to Kuwait last weekend. His journey there was long (he went through crazy places like Iceland on his way!), but he arrived safely and is already hard at work.

It was hard to say goodbye, but it is comforting to know that we won't really be separated for that long. We think he should return in about two months. Kathleen's working hard at not growing too much while he's gone. We'll see how she does at that!

I Love Music!

I Love Music!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Given Kathleen's love of paper, it's no surprise that a pile of sheet music headed for the recycling bin brought out big smiles. She happily crunched up the music, and waved it up and down, and chortled with glee. She's very industrious when it comes to destroying paper!

But aside from her fascination with paper, Kathleen has a real love for music. Singing is one of the few things that will calm her down if she gets upset while in the car. But don't try singing any lullabies. She'll cry right through those. Instead, try oldies. It's a little unbelievable, but "Hey, Baby" and "The Witch Doctor" have instant results. In fact, she's only quiet as long as you keep singing. We feel a bit ridiculous, but we'll confess to having sung those songs over and over for a whole car ride. (Thank goodness we live on a small island and don't have to drive very far!)

This week we also discovered that Kathleen likes praise music. Kathleen and Dad hung out during Mom's rehearsal for Sunday's service, and Kathleen loved it. Her current favorite is "Your Love is Amazing." She gets so excited when it's sung! She kicks and smacks her arms up and down, and as soon as she can talk, we're sure she'll be singing along!

On Her Own Two Feet

On Her Own Two Feet
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

This morning after breakfast, Kathleen was playing in her crib while I put away the clean laundry in her room. As I finished, I turned from the closet and looked over at her in the crib. To my surprise, she was standing at the railing, smiling back at me!

Kathleen has been standing hanging onto her parents for some time, but this was the first instance of her pulling herself up in her crib. (Thank goodness we'd lowered the mattress already!) In my excitement I yelled for her daddy to come see, which startled her and ended her brief stint at standing. Whoops! I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty more, though, in the days ahead!

Hooray for Cousins!

Hooray for Cousins!

Kathleen has been quite distraught the last two days. She's upset because she has only her two boring parents to entertain her again; her cousins had to go back to Illinois.

After nine days of fun, sun, and excitement, life is back to normal...or as normal as it gets at the Golby house. We had a wonderful time with Craig, Margaret, Matthew, Alison, and Lizzie here. We went to the beach, celebrated the sacrament of baptism for Kathleen, went snorkeling at Shark's Cove, watched the fireworks on post, went to the beach again, hiked to a waterfall near Waimea Bay, golfed at some terrific golf courses, and went to an authentic Hawaiian Luau...all before going to the beach again. In fact, I may have understated the amount of time we spent at the beach. Just ask the kids, if you're not at the beach, everything else is just one big waste of time!

Daddy and Sleepy Leenie at the Luau

Actually -- beach or no beach -- the kids loved entertaining Kathleen, and Kathleen loved entertaining the kids. She really does miss them. We feel so blessed that we had the chance to spend so much time with them. Hopefully, it will be the first of many trips, by the Gustafson's and by everyone else. We love visitors...and Hawaii is a great place to visit.

For the Promise Is Unto You and Your Children...

I Love this Gown!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

This morning Kathleen was baptized, and received the sign of belonging to the family of God. She wore the same christening gown that her mom, her Aunt Caroline, and her Uncle Kevin all wore -- the gown that was purchased by her namesake, her great-grandmother Kathleen. Since Kathleen is older than we had thought she'd be when she was baptized, we were a little worried that she might be too big for the family gown. But, to our delight, it fit like a dream. And Kathleen loves to play with the skirt, as you can see. She was an angel during the baptism. She didn't cry at all.

After Service
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Her mom, on the other hand, did tear up a little bit. We were glad of the opportunity to publicly dedicate Kathleen to God, and promised to pray with her and for her, to teach her the doctrines of the church, and to bring her up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We look forward to the day that Kathleen can declare her own faith in Jesus.

Having Margaret, Craig, and the kids with us made the day more special. We'll celebrate this evening with a special dinner in honor of Kathleen!

Six Month Statistics

Coming at you!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen had her six month check-up yesterday. Here's the quick rundown on how she's growing:

Height: 27 inches
Weight: 18 lbs, 6 oz.
That puts her in the 97th percentile for both height and weight. She's a big girl!

The only other development of note: Kathleen has teeth! Her two bottom front teeth have finally broken through. She seems a lot more comfortable now that they're in, and we can appreciate why. Those little things are sharp!

The Hostess with the Mostest

Kathleen's been having a great time hosting her aunt, uncle and cousins. Everyone arrived safely on Wednesday. We greeted them with flower leis and lots of hugs and kisses. Since they were exhausted from a long, long day of traveling, we had quiet dinner and called it a day.

On Thursday, though, we were off and running! We took advantage of the jet lag to get the whole family up and out of the house before 6:30 am. (Who would have thought that was possible?!) We headed for Pearl Harbor and jumped into the line to visit the USS Arizona Memorial.

Our early start worked out perfectly; we were in the second group to tour the memorial. In addition to seeing the memorial itself, we watched a movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor and visited the museum, learning about some of the men who lost their lives that day. It was a fascinating morning. And speaking of fascinating, a group of Japanese tourists found Kathleen fascinating. They each wanted pictures with her! She's going to have a starring role in some Japanese scrapbooks, I think.

In the afternoon we finally indulged the kids in what they'd been wanting since their plane landed -- a trip to the beach!

They had a great time at Ko 'Olina and put their new swimsuits to good use. Kathleen loved watching them splash around in the water. She'll have lots of opportunities to do that more this week!

Kathleen, the Superhero

Kathleen, the Superhero
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Before Kathleen was born, Jim had a plan for our family. This plan included five boys, born within four years of one another (so that they could play on the same high school basketball team). These boys were to be named after heroes or superheroes -- Indiana Jones Golby, Bruce Wayne Golby, Flash Gordon Golby, etc. Once we'd fielded a basketball team, we could start in on the girls.

Fortunately for us, God had different plans for our family. But, as the picture above illustrates, that plan still seems to include superhero children! She's found a cape, and she's ready to begin crime-fighting. Kathleen Golby is just her secret identity -- she's still working on a superhero name. For now her super powers are limited to ripping up magazines in record time, eating enormous quantities of baby food, and performing Jedi mind-tricks on her parents. Perhaps new powers will emerge. We're pretty sure the Jedi mind-tricks are here to stay, though!

Getting Ready

Mischievous Grin
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

We're getting Kathleen all cleaned up for her aunt and uncle and cousins to arrive. She'll be pressed and dressed and ready to meet them at the airport this afternoon. Kathleen has leis ready for all of them, but she's still working on being able to say aloha. She can't wait to play with her cousins!

Giggling Girl

First Father's Day

Father's Day Dinner
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Sadly, Jim didn't get much a break for his first Father's Day. We'd have planned a lot of fun things, but he had to work all night long! Instead we went to church and had a quiet afternoon so that Jim could stay awake until the morning.

We did manage to squeeze in a quick supper on the lanai, though. Kathleen enjoys sitting at the table with us, and made quick work of her strained carrots and rice cereal. In fact, she likes them so much that she thought we should feed them to Daddy for Father's Day. But we didn't have enough jars for Jim, so he had to settle for steak. Poor guy!

It was a real blessing to be together for the day. We know we won't be able to spend every "first" or every holiday together, so we treasure the ones we get. Happy First Father's Day, Daddy!

Splish Splash

Kathleen has logged another first this week: her first swim! We'd been eager to get her in the water, because she loves to take a bath and because obviously one can't own a swimsuit as cute as Kathleen's and not use it. So we took advantage of a warm, sunny morning and trekked down to the pool. Kathleen could hardly wait to get in the water.

Kathleen took to the pool like, well, like a fish to water. She absolutely loved it. She was happy sitting still or moving around. In fact, she liked it so much, we did it twice! We swam for a bit, then played in the shade for a bit, and then swam a bit more.

She figured out how to splash (something she hasn't done at bathtime) and would surprise herself when the water got on her face. She'd sputter for a moment, look concerned, and then simply resume splashing.

There was a trio of young girls at the pool (I'd guess they were twelve or so) and Kathleen was absolutely enamored of them. She smiled at them. She babbled at them. She watched them move around the pool. There's no doubt -- we've got a social little swimmer!

Keeping Up With Kathleen

Daddy's Girl
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

We can hardly believe how fast Kathleen grows and changes. She's eating a veritable smorgasbord of solid food now: squash, beans, peaches, pears, apples, carrots, sweet potatoes. She's gotten a little bored of rice cereal, I think, but she'll tolerate it as long as it's being served with something else. I'm consistently astonished by the volume our little girl can consume. She loves to eat!

Kathleen has her own sense of humor lately. She finds unpredictable things hysterical -- mommy sneezing, for example. Daddy singing is also pretty funny, particularly when he sings the "ooh-aah" in "Hey, Baby." ("Hey, Baby" was a favorite at fests and biergartens in Germany. Kathleen would've fit right in. Maybe she'll like "Country Roads," too.) And saying "Singha" (a Thai restaurant in Waikiki) practically guarantees a chuckle or two. Go figure.

Kathleen's developing her balance (something her mother hasn't quite mastered), and so she's getting better at sitting unsupported. For now, she can manage maybe fifteen or twenty seconds on her own before she topples over. Luckily, she finds the falling over fairly amusing. If she's lying down, though, and you offer your hands to pull her up to a sit, she'll bypass sitting altogether, preferring to pull up to a standing position. Only after she's stood for a bit and surveyed what's going on around her will she concede to sit. She still scoots around on her back and on her tummy, but only a little. She's been pulling her knees up underneath her when she's on her tummy the past few days, though. In a month or two we'll be dealing with a crawler, and then we'll really be working to keep up with Kathleen!