ktg: 2 years*

What. A. Year.

Watching Kate grow this year has been an absolute pleasure. I just cannot seem to tire of her incredible functioning hands, her ever-growing vocabulary and her bursting-from-the-seams personality. She just moves with ease and it is amazing to watch. Kate is a spunky, smart, silly, stubborn, two-going-on-twelve year old girl.

Today she took a bath in her birthday suit (my favorite suit), ate cookie dough and frosting for breakfast, went to music class, opened some presents, had a 2 year photo shoot (where she did everything but look at the camera and smile) and had cake and ice cream (with our friends the Flahertys).

These days, you can usually find Kate running in the opposite direction you have asked her to go, speaking in third person and just generally moving.

She is only marginally interested in books and coloring (Leah's two favorite loves at that age). You can instead find her stacking, climbing, running, organizing, engineering, separating and collecting.

She is constantly chatting to herself (and anyone who will listen to her) in a low, sultry voice. Unless she is praying, when her voice rises about four octaves. Her vocabulary is getting quite extensive. She can copy anything we ask her to say (including words like Mississippi River and Bettendorf) and she definitely speaks in sentences. She also loves phrases like "okie dokie," "sorry Charlie," "no way Jose," and "dang it." She is a listener...and a repeater. She knows her full name and has referred to her mom and dad as Maren and Ryan once or twice which just makes me laugh.

She eats like it is nobody's business. But only treats. She cannot be bothered with the usual three times daily meals. Though we are improving on that front and can usually get her to eat a bowl of cereal now without her leaving the table at some point...for some reason.

After only knowing the inside of the house all winter and not remembering anything about nature from last summer and fall, she is all about anything OUTSIDE. And she lets us know all day long. "Outside, outside! Kate outside NOW!"

Kate loves being naked. And she loves telling others that various members of our family are naked...even when they're not. Especially at church. She can take her pants off by herself and I think it is the greatest achievement of her life thus far. She continues to try to get her shirts off, to no avail. She can buckle most of her shoes all by herself and especially loves her "toms," "jellies," and "fip fops."

Her favorite songs are "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" aka the "bird song" and "The Color Song" aka the "pink song" even though 99% of the time you'd think she was color blind. She also loves singing to herself and dancing in the car and playing little games like "This Little Piggy."

She now has 16 teeth and loves, loves, loves to brush them with "oof paste."

She is very much attached to a tie dyed pink bear given to her by one of the lovely ladies in my water aerobics class. And she is rarely found (at home) without her red blanket. She was weaned from her binky in February but still asks about it every once in awhile. When I ask her where it is she responds, "binky broken" in a very matter-of-fact way.

Kate weighs 23 pounds (which means she hasn't gained any weight since her 18 month checkup! Oops!) - 12th percentile. She is 32 1/4 inches tall - 19th percentile. She wears size 2T clothes (with an occasional 3T shirt to provide ample room for her belly and an occasional 18 month pant for her stubby legs). She wears a size 4 diaper and has shown no real interest in potty training and I'm not about to rush it!

She is definitely a mama's girl and I love it. She loves to give kisses (of the regular and Eskimo variety), hugs and to cuddle.

Kate is intense in every way. She is intensely happy. Intensely dramatic. Intensely energetic. Intensely sad. Intensely endearing. And she can go from one extreme to the other...and back again...in half a second.

She has an amazing relationship with Leah. Kate already understands and sees things that I could never have even imagined at her age. She seems to know when Leah does things out of her control. And she also senses when Leah might need help and has come to find me on occasion.

Kate has added a lot of life to our home. A lot of excitement. And a lot of normalcy, which is probably the best thing we could have ever asked for. She is definitely a gift. And I can't wait to see her continue to grow.

*...and a little bit as this info includes some of June 2014 as well.