09.01.2005

Kaitlynn had her top right tooth pulled today stemming from the fall back in March. We took her to the dentist the day Shelby was born to see if the tooth was having problems because it had started to discolor some. The dentist wanted to watch it for a month, and see if there was any change. I watched it over the month and it still continued to darken at a slow pace. She went back to the dentist on Monday, and he thought the nerve was dead.

There were a few options we could explore at this point. He was saying that the nerve might be dead and the tooth will just stay in place, or sometimes it will fall out, and some times if becomes infected. The problem with this is that it affects everyone differently, and he couldn't promise how it would affect Kaitlynn. He was saying that it is like a ticking time bomb that might go off, and might not. He just does not know when or if it will happen for Kaitlynn.

Again telling him that this is somewhat of a problem for me since we live in Africa most of the time, and they do not have pediatric dentistry there. If Kaitlynn's tooth suddenly got an infection we would have no way to treat it, and would have to be med evaced to the closest area that does have pediatric dentistry - Germany, London, Sicily. Taking that into consideration, he recommended that we just go ahead and pull the tooth as a precaution. This was a heartbreaking decision to come to, but I agreed.

Today she went in for the procedure. She had a hard time at the dentist on Monday, so I did not even tell her where we were going. Just that we were going bye-bye in the car. As soon as we pulled into the dentist parking lot, she started saying, "NO DOCTOR! NO DOCTOR!" From that we tried to distract her from what would happen by teaching her the word dentist instead of doctor. She insisted on "doctor" so we tacked "tooth" to the beginning to get her to understand that there are different types of doctors.

She was fine while we were in the waiting room, and other children were being called back. However, when they called her name she started to have a little meltdown screaming "NO DOCTOR" all over again. As we were walking back, and she saw the toy room she wanted to just go in there. Poor girl.

We took her back to the exam area, and they did local anesthesia with Novocain. This got her all worked up because we had to hold her and force her mouth open some to make sure the nurse got enough medicine on the area they were going to insert the needles in. After the nurse finished and walked away Kaitlynn got much calmer, and stated again and again, "NO DOCTOR". I agreed, and distracted her with books and toys in our little exam area. Eventually the books and toys in our area did not satisfy her needs, and we moved to an exam area a cross from ours that had a large toy box filled with toys, and was not occupied by other people.

We played and read books in this area for about 15 minutes when they had us come back to do the numbing with a needle. This was so painful to watch because they had to physically restrain her while the dentist did the shots. The shots where hard to watch because he had to dispense the medicine slowly, and he had to do it in 3 different locations. Kaitlynn hated being restrained and screamed her little head off. The shots caused some bleeding in her mouth, and she could no longer feel her upper lip. It was sweet to watch the confuse on her face as she would touch it with her tongue, and then her hand when she could not feel anything.

By this time she refused to come to our exam area, and just stayed in the other exam area with the toys. I think she had caught on to the fact that if she was in our exam area they were going to do something to her mouth. We played for about 20 more minutes before the dentist came back to pull the tooth.

Again she had to be held down, and hated it. The tooth pulling itself only took a minute tops. He wiggled it loose with pliers, and then pulled it out. After the pulling pressure had to be applied to the area because it was bleeding. Kaitlynn was distraught so I held her and restrained her at the same time, while a nurse applied the pressure to her gums. When we were done doing this Kaitlynn went into a rage. She was screaming her head off and thrashing about all over the exam area. It took her a few minutes to calm herself down, and then she was fine when we walked out of that area.

She was a real trooper the rest of the day. No complaining or irritability. It was surprising because we went to the store after the procedure, and we both thought that she would fall asleep in the car because she was emotionally worn out. However, she remained awake despite it.

08.27.2005

It has been so long since I updated Kaitlynn's page, or the site for that matter. I really thought that with us being stateside for the summer that I would be so much better at it. However, with so many people in the house and so many responsibilities it is hard to even find a spare second for yourself.

Kaitlynn has been having a great summer. She has become so vocal! She knows anywhere from 300-500 words. It is incredible to see what she picks up on. She is really into knowing how things relate. She is always questioning things. For example, she will say, "Uncle Dave's truck. Where it at?" I will reply, "In the driveway." Then she will follow with, "Uncle Dave's truck in the driveway. Where it at?" I will then reply, "In the driveway at Aunt Dawn's house." She will then question, "Uncle Dave's truck in the driveway at Aunt Dawn's house?" When I confirm this she goes on to repeat it several times as if to understand how it all relates to each other.

On top of all over her vocabulary that she has picked up this summer, she also can count to 10, knows about 10 colors, and all of her alphabet. She identifies the alphabet by the letter itself and by the object that belongs in the letter spot on her puzzles. That part is very cute. Again she is noting how things relate to one another.

Kaitlynn has loved having a playmate in Meridian. Almost every morning the girls look for one another when they wake up. If one is still sleeping the other wants them to wake up. It is very sweet to see this friendship blossom between them. It makes me wonder how things will be when we get back to Tunis. Kaitlynn has really taken to Dawn, David, and Meridian and you can tell that she views them as part of her immediate family.

I was not sure how Kaitlynn would take to having Shelby in the house full time, but she has taken to her even more than I could have hoped for. She has such a deep love for Shelby that warms my heart. Every morning she asks for her. If she sees Shelby her face breaks into an instant smile, and she says over and over, "baby Shelby, baby Shelby." She wants to help in every aspect from burping to diaper changes to calming Shelby. She loves to hold her, especially when we allow Shelby to lie on Kaitlynn's belly. This is her favorite ritual! I can only hope that this sisterhood of theirs will turn into a friendship close to what Dawn and I have.

05.26.2005

Even after two years there are times when I look at this little girl, and can hardly believe that she is mine. That I helped create her, and that I brought her into the world. It is an amazing feeling that is so hard to put into words. If you are not a parent, I am not sure you can fully appreciate the type of love I am talking about. It consumes you! This morning I was just looking at her and marveling in the fact that I love her so much. As she gets older and is able to express her love to us it gets even better.

Kaitlynn started saying "thank you" verbally about two weeks ago, and she really has the concept down. Granted she has said "thank you" through sign language for about 10 months or so, but at times when she was signing "thank you" we would have to coach her to say it. Since she has started to vocalize it we rarely have to coach her on saying it. Instead we do more coaching with "please".

It is funny to see that people have gotten used to her signing certain words though. We had the Marines over for dinner earlier this week during Dan's Semi-Annual Inspection, and John, one of the Marines, was sitting next to Kaitlynn. She asked for more bread. (Our little carb baby!) John gave her the bread after I coached her with "what do you say?" and her replying with "please". Instantly she said, "thank you," but John is so used to her signing it that he was looking at her to sign it and did not hear her say it. So John said something to the effect of "can you say thank you, Kaitlynn?" and did the sign for it himself. Then I had to tell him that she no longer signs "thank you," but instead vocalizes it. He was too engrossed in watching for the sign that he completely missed her saying it aloud.

Here is another large list of words that she has picked up recently. I might be repeating some of them. I let my computer disk with all my web entries at the Marine House, so I can't double check previous entries for her words. I also know there are plenty that I am missing because she is picking them up so rapidly, and it is not always convinent to write them down.

• goat
• sun
• rat
• Big Bird
• Zoe
• Cookie Monster
• Thank You
• Andrew
• butterfly
• ladybug
• dragonfly
• dirt
• yucky poop-poop
• pee-pee
• milk
• spoon
• bowl
• orange
• Ree for Meridian
• cereal
• wipe
• tissue
• school
• pizza
• Ernie
• Bert
• mouse
• rabbit
• elephant
• giraffe
• fox
• spider
• caterpillar
• monkey

As she picks up more words, she also forms more small sentences. Lately the things she has put into sentence form are possessions. She really has identified when a specify items belongs to someone. For instance, she has a ball outside and so does Andrew. Every time she sees Andrews ball she says, "Andrew's ball". Whenever I am doing laundry she identifies who the clothing in hand belongs to. This is funny to watch because she even knows our clothing items down to our socks. That right there shows you how much she really picks up on that you just don't expect. When we pull into the garage she identifies both of the Kneeland's cars and Marianne's car. After she identifies the cars she wants to go visit them knowing that the cars parked in the garage means someone is home. Her other favorite thing to say right now is bye-bye to whatever we are passing or no longer looking at. If we are doing flash cards she will identify the item in question, and then say, "Bye-bye ….". If we are coming inside from playing in the yard she will say, "Bye-bye Andrew's ball". It is too cute to watch.

05.23.2005

Kaitlynn had her third Rabies shot this morning at the Embassy. Again she was a trooper, and did not make a peep when she received the shot. She did get a little upset after the shot though because Aicha had given her a Sesame Street band-aid to distract her during the shot, and Aicha took it away to put on the shot site. So Kaitlynn gave some loud objections to that, and we just let her wear the band-aid on her shirt like a sticker. This pleased Kaitlynn very much, and got her all quiet and happy again. Sometimes her willpower and toughness amazes me.

05.18.2005

I wonder if we can get through one day this season/ clothing size without Kaitlynn staining her clothing. Every single outfit I have put on her in this size she has managed to stain somehow, and they seem to be worse on the new clothing. It is so frustrating because I hate putting stained clothes on her or for her to go out in public with stuff on her clothing, but at the same time I don't have the money to be spending on clothes to replace the ones she stains up at this rate. Not to mention I have not really bought her much summer stuff since we are going back to the States so soon. I am trying to stretch out what she owns until we get back to the States so I can go shopping in person, and not have to worry about the colors not matching or shipping cost. Not to mention I can hit the clearance racks.

So this whole issue came to a head today because I was in the kitchen making our lunches. In the short amount of time it took me to get out the blender and put the ingredients to make a smoothie in it, she got a green marker and colored her entire arm from above her elbow all the way down her hand. By coloring her arm and I guess holding it still to complete her masterpiece she got the marker all over her other hand too. Not to mention all over her brand new shirt I had on her for the day. I had Dan look up the stain remover process on crayola.com, and we are going to try that this weekend. Hopefully it will work. Looking back on this incident now I should have taken a picture of her masterpiece before I scrubbed it off. For now we have taken the markers away, so she only has her crayons and special color-safe markers to use for artwork. The funny part is that I have the cabinet with her coloring supplies in it childproofed with a zip-tie sort of childproofing lock. However, the evening before we had loosened it some to get her crayons out for her, and just stuck our arm throw the top of the cabinet. She must have been storing that away for future use because that is how she got her markers out this morning.

Another thing that happened today is Kaitlynn took her Big Bird backpack outside with her, and Andrew saw it and started going crazy for it. I have never seen him upset like this, and of course Kaitlynn did not want to share it with him. Whenever he would try to touch it she would snatch it away and shout "MINE". Now we have been trying to work on her saying "mine". That word drives me nuts for one. It gets under my skin worse that "no". Not to mention that we will be spending the summer with Meridian, and they have a lot of similar toys. I don't want Kaitlynn going there thinking everything belongs to her since the last time we were there they basically were hers since she was the only one playing with them. So we have been trying to teach her to no avail that "mine" is a no-no word.

05.08.2005

Here are a series of photos that show how quickly Kaitlynn goes from happy to mad-as-hell. These were all taken within a few seconds of each other.

05.05.2005

I really think that Kaitlynn is getting the understanding of a baby in mommy's belly. Today at lunch I was asked her, "Kaitlynn, do you want to have a baby live with us?" Her reply was to lift up her shirt, point to her belly, and say happily, "Baby, baby, baby." I confirmed, "Yes, a baby, but the baby is in mommy's belly," and I proceed to lift my shirt up too and rub my belly saying, "See baby." Again Kaitlynn pointed to her belly, and said, "Baby, baby, baby!" This is progress!

Also, I think that Kaitlynn makes color associations now. She has this toy from Parents that has four colored balls that go into colored slots at the top, and you hit the balls with a toy hammer to get them to go through this maze and pop out at the bottom of the toy. Yesterday she played with this toy for about 45 minutes with only the blue ball, and she would only put the blue ball into the blue spot. I found this very interesting. Even if she is not saying her colors or even realizing that different shades had different names, she does realize when things are the same color and should go together. We always make sure to call colors out to her when she is playing and the color is dominant in a toy, but we have not gone any further in trying to teach her the colors. Maybe we should.

05.03.2005

Even with Kaitlynn's massively expanding vocabulary there are days when we have conversations that I don't understand at all. It is astonishing to watch this little person want to communicate so much. Even when I can't understand a thing she is saying, she says it all with such determination and conviction in what she is saying. It is as if she knows exactly what she is talking about, and by her being so passionate when she is talking she will some how communicate what she means to me. When she is talking like this I can see her little brain working, and it is a wonderful feeling to see her become more and more independent.

This afternoon we heard an airplane flying overhead, and Kaitlynn gets excited about planes nowadays. I asked her if she heard the airplane, and she immediately started saying, "plane" over and over again. She has been saying plane for about a week or so now, but today when she said it she did her own sign for airplane. I have been showing her the sign for airplane since we left the States in October. Now she says "plane" vocally, and she hold her fist up in the air and moves it back and forth for the sign of airplane.

Also this afternoon Kaitlynn was playing with her newest birthday toy from my Aunt Jeanie, and she held up the magnet letter Z saying "horsie". ON the Z card is a picture of a Zebra that Kaitlynn always calls a "horsie". We have been correcting her, and hoping that soon she would pick up on the difference. I always point out the different colors, and that Zebras have strips. So after getting the card out to show her a Zebra and saying it, she repeated me. She went on to say it several times throughout dinner to Dan.

Tonight we went for a walk with the Kneelands, our upstairs neighbors. Our intention was to take Andrew and Kaitlynn to the carnival they have set up right near our house, but it was closed. Instead of turning back we continued on a nice walk around our housing area. It was nice for Dan and I because we have never walked in the direction we went, so it made us realize how close some places are to us. It was also nice because while talking to Liz I realized that she walks every morning. So I asked her to knock on our door to join her anytime. This is an exciting development because I have not been walking with Kaitlynn like I was in the States due to not knowing anyone who walks. Exercise and fresh air all in one is just what the doctor ordered for Kaitlynn and myself.

During this walk we ended up at an area full of restaurants and cafes. When we were leaving we passed something that Kaitlynn apparently really wanted, and she went into a full-fledged fit. It was very embarrassing and annoying at the same time. We took her out of her stroller to try and calm her, but she went got even more wild throwing her arms and legs. Dan set her down, and she did a huge temper tantrum right there on the sidewalk. Mainly it is embarrassing because you never hear Tunisian kids acting our. It must be a cultural thing. I have only once in the 6 months we have been here heard a Tunisian child crying. Thankfully, Kaitlynn settled down after a few minutes, and Dan carried her for the rest of the walk.

Very close to our house we saw a kitty cat, which Kaitlynn has been saying for about 8 months now. However, she would never say meow for the sound a kitty cat makes. We have been trying to teach her this for about 4 months now. Tonight she finally said it when we saw a kitty cat. It was very nice to hear.

Andrew is 8 months younger than Kaitlynn, and not really talking except "dada". Being around Kaitlynn makes Liz and Jason wishful for his vocabulary especially when she is picking up words so quickly. We have been assuring them that at the same age Kaitlynn only said 3-4 words herself. So there is hope.

05.02.2005

Kaitlynn had her second Rabies shot today, and she was a pro at it. She was nothing like last weeks episode of screaming grouch. Before the shot, Aicha, our Tunisian intern, blew up a balloon, and drew a lady's face on it. After getting the balloon we sat Kaitlynn on my lap, and got her ready for her shot. During the shot Kaitlynn looked at the needle with curiosity, and did not make a noise. After the shot she got up and played with the puzzle table while I waited for her shot record to be filled out. This is the third time since we have been here that she has reacted this way to getting shots. I think the main part is that she gets them in the arms now, and can look to see what is going on. Always the medical staff is impressed, and I am very proud. Last week I did not know what to do with her when she reacted so horribly. She has her last shot in 3 weeks, and we will see how she reacts to that one.

04.30.2005

Last night Kaitlynn finally vocalized "please". She has been saying please through sign language since she was about 15 months old. To hear her little self actually say please is something else. When we say, "what do you say?" she automatically replies in sign language, but if we ask her to use her big girl voice then she will vocally say, "please". Yipee!!

Of course we have other word development for the week. The newest words or ones that I forgot to included in previous entries are:

• Cow (She used to only moo for cow.)
• Nemo
• Teeth (which she identifies as a body part along with tongue)
• Elmo*
• Poppi (for paci)
• E (for Marianne)
• Jacob
• Peddie (for Freddie)
• John (one of the Marines)
• Larry (one of the Marines)**
• Lenny (our newest Marine)**
• Chair*
• Shirt*

*Has been saying for some time, but forgot to include in previous entries.

** These two sound very similar, but she looks at the right person when saying their name. Thus confirming she knows who is who.

Other developments in Kaitlynn-land, this week we got her birthday present from my Aunt Jeanie. She sent her this toy from Parents that is a metal farmhouse. Inside the house are these sturdy cards to use as a puzzle along with chunky letter and number magnets. Immediately Kaitlynn knew what to do with the letters, and started to put them into the holes of the cards. She got all but six letters correct. She had trouble with the C & G, the O & Q, and the M & W. Pretty good for a newly turned two year old if you ask me. This toy is very neat, and one that I would definitely recommend to other parent friends.

Earlier this week I did a big shopping trip, and did not get home until 5:15 PM. So I told Dan he was taking me out to dinner. When he got home he asked who was watching Kaitlynn. An odd statement since we hardly ever leave her with someone, but this let me know we were going to a nice restaurant. I suggested he call Anita, this is Rose's sister and the person that normally watches Kaitlynn when we have something not kid friendly going on, but he suggested that I ask Marianne. You can tell that we have been hanging out with Marianne a lot, and that Kaitlynn has taken to her. Whenever she sees either Marianne or Freddie her whole face lights up, and she starts to giggle. It is really cute to see her forming attachments to people other than Dan and myself.

It is nice to have someone so close that Kaitlynn has taken too, and that Dan and I trust with her. We left for dinner, and did not worry the entire time knowing she was in great hands. When we got back that night she has laying on Marianne's bed listening to Freddie read a story. We got a nice report that they all had a great time, and since Kaitlynn copies Freddie she ate a great dinner. Maybe I should borrow Freddie more often for dinnertime. Another great thing about leaving her at dinnertime without having eaten yet is that I know Marianne does not feed Freddie junk. He eats well for a 7 year old. This is something that I really respect Marianne for. It is something that is very important to me for my children and something that I try hard to enforce on Kaitlynn; however, at times convenient items overrule in our household. When Kaitlynn was smaller, and we were in the States it was easier for me. For some reason, here I find myself feeding her more junk than I would like. It does not help that the natives what to give her whatever she wants often leading to sweet treats.

I have noticed this sweet trend in the last few weeks, and I am working to rectify it. One of my goals for the coming week is to move the snack cabinet to a higher up cabinet. Right now it is on level with her, and she goes right up to it wanting in. After cleaning it out and moving it, I am hoping to gear her towards healthy choices. We do great for breakfast and dinner. However at lunchtime and snack time I have realized she is not eating the more healthy choices but the convenient ones. I know going to Dawn's will help with this because there will not be so much junk in the house, but at the same time I would like to already have her on the right path when we get there. Going through junk food withdrawals with so many other changes would not be good.

04.25.2005

Kaitlynn had her 2-year baby-well check-up today. Unfortunately this was not an appointment I was pleased with Kaitlynn's behavior at. She did not let them take her head circumference or her blood pressure. To top that off, she did not want to get undressed or examined. So instead she screamed at the top of her lungs at everyone. I know she was acting this way because she would not go to sleep last night, she could not get comfortable in her sleep during the night and kept waking up, and then on top of all of that she woke up an hour and a half earlier than she normally does. Needless to say, she was overtired and grouchy thus making us deal with a screamer for most of her appointment.

We did get her weight and height taken. She liked the weight part because she got to take her shoes off, and get weighed how mommy does on the large scale. She weighed in at 23 pounds, 8 ounces. This was a good sign for me because she had not been gaining weight for some time, and she has not been eating well. She has turned into a picky eater, and will not eat things that she does not want no matter how hungry she is. Very annoying, but we also know it is age appropriate. Her height we had to take on the height mat because she would not stand still on the normal scale to record the height properly. She is 32.5 inches long. Another good sign since she has been on the short side. We have noticed her height growth here because she is actually wearing some 24 M/ 2T clothing. In pants she still tends to wear 18 M unless it is a company that makes 18-24 M clothing. So percentage-wise for weight she is in the 10th percentile and for height she is in the 25th percentile. When we first got here 6 months ago she was off the charts in weight, and only in the 10th percentile for height.

Everything looked good at the appointment. We also discussed age appropriate behaviors and how to deal with them. Most of which Dan and I both already knew from reading parenting books and magazines. She is right on target developmentally, and is hitting new milestones all the time.

We decided to have her get the Rabies and a Hepatitis A shot. These are both recommended for the area we are in, and we figure better save than sorry. My main concern was the rabies shot since there are so many stray animals here, and Kaitlynn loves them. I am scared that when I am not looking one is going to come up to her and bite her. I know this is probably irrational, but something that is easily prevented for causing too much harm. This shot is a 3 shot series. So we have to go back on day 7 and day 28 from the original to close out the series. The Hep. A shot is a 2 shot series, and we have another 6 months before she needs the last one for this. When she gets her last one, mommy will also get her second dose.

During the flu shots, Kaitlynn was a perfect angel. The medical staff was amazed because she did not even cry when she received the shot. Instead she would stare at the shot going in as if in amazement. During these shots since she was already in such a foul mood she cried and cried. We will see how she does next week with the second Rabies shot.

04.21.2005

Kaitlynn has been developing so quickly these days, and so many new things have been happening that I am writing more and more about her.

We bought a potty for her a few months ago, and would occasionally place her on it when we were going potty or right before bath time. We were trying to get her used to the idea of sitting on the potty. She took to this very quickly, and soon wanted to sit on the potty every time she saw it. She would even strip down to get on the potty herself. At times, like when we had just dressed her or were about to go somewhere, it could be very annoying, but we did not want to make her think it was a bad thing. So we allowed her to get on the potty whenever she wanted.

Occasionally she would actually even pee-pee on the potty. We know that this was not intentional at this point. However, a few nights ago I could see that she was getting into her squatting position to go poop-poop. So I asked if she wanted to go on the potty. She quickly said, "Yeah, yeah," and ran towards the bathroom. We sat her on it, and she went poop-poop in the big girl potty for the first time. This was very encouraging for both Dan and I.

One problem with the potty that we have run into is that once she gets on the potty she really does not want to get off. Normally if I know she has just gone I do not make a big deal about this either because it is a good sign that she wants to be on the potty. So after she went poop-poop in the potty, I showed her how to wipe, and cleaned up the mess. Then I let her continue to sit on the potty. I went back into the kitchen to finish washing the dishes. A few minutes later Kaitlynn came into the kitchen saying, "I potty, I potty." She was obviously proud of herself, and I praised her again. Then I picked her up to kiss on her. In that moment I realized that she was telling me that she went potty a second time. Apparently she was not through going poop-poop. However, this time she got up and walked around the bathroom while going. So there was poop all over her potty seat and the floor, which she stepped in thus putting it all over her shoes and the carpets in the bathroom. From walking around like that she got it all over the inside of her outfit, and it got all over me when I picked her up for kisses. Gross to say the least!

I quickly rushed us to the bathroom to find the rest of the mess, and stripped us down. I placed Kaitlynn in the bathtub to hose her and the potty down. Then I took all the clothes to the washer. After getting all the poop-poop off of her and the potty, I gave her a nice long bath. I know this is just the beginning of poop instances, but I am not looking forward to more.

Last night Kaitlynn came up to me, and pronounced, "I poop-pooped". I checked her diaper, and sure enough she had. It looks like potty training is going to become a regular thing in our house.

04.20.2005

I figured with all the new vocabulary being expressed in our household that it was time for me to make another list of the new things Kaitlynn is saying. She is being so vocal. It is neat to see how quickly she picks up on vocabulary. Now we are really have to watch our mouths around her. Especially since both Dan and I have potty mouths. So the words she has learned in the last 3 weeks that I remembered to record are:

• balloon
• all done
• all gone
• I potty
• cheese
• cookie
• cake
• car
• bus
• mine
• again
• cup
• bath
• pants
• mouth
• nose
• cheek
• head
• I did poop-poop
• lion
• bird
• frog
• color

When saying all done or all gone she is not really signing with these words anymore. Occasionally she will, but for the most part she just vocalizes them. Now she says verbally "more" and "help" when signing it.

Three words that I forgot to record last time that she has been saying for some time now are:

• ball
• baby
• water

Since she is picking up language so quickly now, and she is retaining so much knowledge I have been trying to teach her colors. She will repeat the colors after me, but when I switch around the colors she does not always remember what they are. I think she might still be a little young to "know" her colors, but it is something new and fun for us to work on. And since we are coloring so much, it does not take too much more effort to try and teach the colors. Some of her learning toys that she received for her birthday will help with this too.

04.18.2005

We went to Happy Hour last night at the Marine House. We normally go to all of these to show support for the Marines, and to socialize. This is the prime time that Kaitlynn gets to play with other little kids. Although, I do have to say that she favors the older kids.

Last night we brought her soccer ball with us. We used to bring her really large ball that you can buy at Wal-Mart or Target, but some of the older kids popped it a few weeks ago while playing with it. Then we used to just get a soccer ball from the Marine supply closet, but then the older kids would end up taking it when she was not playing with it. Last week a bunch of little kids brought their own balls, and Kaitlynn was the one taking them. So I decided this week that she needed to bring her own ball, and I would just keep a good eye on it. If the older kids wanted a ball they could ask one of the Marines for one.

Kaitlynn was playing with her ball, and there were several younger kids around between the ages of 8 months to 5 years. She was playing in the same general area as this kids throwing her ball up in the air, and saying "wow". Well this one little boy that I have never seen before that was around three to four took her ball when she threw it up in the air, and started to run circles around her saying " Nannie, nannie, na…" to her. Needless to say, Kaitlynn started to cry. Her crying took me out of the conversation I was having 3 feet away, and over to the problem. At this point the boy was standing by her, and I said in his hearing range that she just needed to ask for the ball back nicely. She rubs her belly to say "please", and the boy runs off. He again picks up his "Nannie, nannie, na…" comments. I begin to walk towards him, and he starts to run away. I look into the crowd of adults on the terrace to see if anyone in particular is paying attention to their child, and is going to do something about him being rude. Well I see no one paying any sort of attention to us, so I continue up to the boy. I stopped him, and said, "You need to give me that ball. It is not your ball, and you are not being very nice." I reached out to take the ball, and the little boy again tried to walk away. This time I said, "That is not your ball now give it to me!"

I could not believe that little boy was acting that way. On top of it, I could not believe that there was no adult even keeping an eye on him. I expected some angry parent to walk up to me and confront me, but I did not hear from anyone about it.

I felt so bad for Kaitlynn and her first bully experience. The rest of the night I stayed within a foot's range of her, and if she was not playing with her ball, I was holding it. I know I irritated some of the older kids because at one point they were playing basketball with one of the Marine soccer balls that was extremely flat. They sent 3 different kids up to me to ask if they could play with Kaitlynn's ball. I do not think that they knew it was her personal ball since they had taken control of it earlier in the evening. I kept refusing to give it over to them even though she was not playing with it at the time because I did not want her to get upset at someone taking her ball again. Not to mention that playing basketball with at soccer ball can mess up the inside lining, and that these are older kids that know there is a basketball hoop. So if they really want to play a good game of basketball they should bring a basketball with them. Dan says, "They probably think you are some mean lady."

04.11.2005

Kaitlynn became a parrot while we were on vacation. Once we said something, she repeats it. For example, Kaitlynn has been saying "I love you" for quite some time now, but now if we say, "I love you" to her she replies with "I love you". If we say "oh no" she will reply "OH NO". It is too cute to see her mind working. To see that she is putting words together, and realizing that those words are the way we communicate is amazing. It is even more amazing to see what her little mind picks up. She astonishes us everyday.

She repeats things even more if we ask her if she can say something specific. For example, today we were at the Embassy eating lunch. We sat with Michelle, and I asked her if she could say "Michelle". She normally will not say someone's name when asked unless it is "Daddy" or "Mommy". However, today she repeated "Michelle" over and over again. Then this evening when we were leaving the Embassy we were walking out with our neighbor, Jason, and I asked her if she could say "Jason", and she did. It will be neat to see if she retains these names in the coming weeks.

03.31.2005

We have not been as continual with reading to Kaitlynn as we should be. We used to read to her every night before bed, and I would read to her throughout the day. Lately we have been slacking in that department. We put all of her books on higher shelves of the bookshelf because she was making such a mess with them, and that ended her bringing them to us to read. Well a few days ago Freddie, the little boy who lives behind us, was over here visiting and playing. It was close to dinnertime so I was in the kitchen cooking, and they were entertaining themselves running around playing chase. It got very quiet so I went to see what is going on. I walked up to Kaitlynn's bedroom door as quietly as possible, and they were both sitting on her bed reading books. I smiled to myself thinking how sweet of a picture it was, and then went back to cooking. Again I checked on them and this time they were in Kaitlynn's play tent house reading to each other. It was a very sweet scene. So last night Kaitlynn wanted to be read to all evening. Dan read at least 10 different books to her, and this morning she starts giving them to me to be read to. This is a sign that we need to stop slacking on the reading front, and get back into a regular routine of reading everyday.

Also another new thing for Kaitlynn is that this morning I was going through her animal flashcards with her. We do this almost everyday, but I am never able to get through the stack of 28 cards because she wants to play with them. This morning she let me go through all of the animals with her, and I asked her to repeat their names after me. She knows the names of about 5 of these animals from her books, and will say them all day. However, today she repeated after me the names of 14 other names that she did not know. This is great progress for her. I am hoping that if we keep working on this daily she will know the names of these animals too.

It is amazing to see how much her little brain can absorb. She picks up on everyday activities that you do not even realize she is paying attention too. We shredded all of our paperwork that we are going to throw away. Before we shred our junk mail we let Kaitlynn play with it thus building up a pile to only have to shred papers once a week. Well she was playing with her junk mail a few days ago, and when she was done she went over to the shredder to try and shred it. It was so cute.

03.30.2005

Kaitlynn is doing well with her missing tooth. She is starting to smile again. The swelling is down, and the bruising inside the mouth is not as dark. So everything seems to be healing. She still bleeds a little on occasion. I mostly notice it when she gets up from sleeping. I have noticed faint blood spots mixed with drool on her bedding. I am not sure if the pacifier is the result. She will not go to bed without the thing though. See added picture for her new smile.

She is speaking more and more. I have realized that I have not kept good records of her newest words. These are the words/ phrases that she has learned in the last few months:

• horsie
• Aunt Dawn
• alright
• oh no
• yeah
• oh yeah
• sit
• shoe
• hair
• eye
• duck

I am sure there are even more that I am forgetting about. It seems like she learns a word a day.

She is also learning to dress herself. She loves to put on her jacket, but about half the time she puts it on upside down. She can get shirts over her head, but is not too good at getting both arms in the correct holes. Most of the time the arms go in the head hole too. With pants she normally tries to put both feet the same leg opening. It is all progress for her though, and it keeps her very entertained. I can sit her down with a basket of clothing, and she would be entertained for hours.

She really loves her Sesame Street videos. We have two of them. One is Kids Favorite Songs 2, which she has watched for about 3 months now. At first she would watch just because of the music. Whenever Elmo or the other Muppets would talk during it, she would lose interest. Now she even shows interest in them talking. The other day she wanted me to put in her Elmo in Grouchland video. I really did not think she would watch it since she will not sit still for Disney or Baby Einstein videos, but she sat and watch the entire 73 minutes of video. I think it must be the Muppets that she likes so much. So we might have to buy more of them just so we don't go insane from those two. I think I am going to ask around at the Embassy to see if other parents have any that we can borrow. This way I can see if she is interested in that particular one without having to spend the $10-$15 on them. That might save me some money down the road. Although I did not want Kaitlynn to start really watching T.V., I do have to say that these videos are a big help for me to get to take a shower, cook dinner, or clean house.

03.26.2005

Tonight was the scariest night of Kaitlynn's life for me. The weather has been beautiful here for the last two weeks, so we have been leaving our front door open with the security grill closed. I was getting our things ready to go to the grocery store with our neighbors, and Dan was out running to get back into shape. Kaitlynn was playing with her push toy inside the hallway, and I was writing a note to Dan to let him know where we are. Suddenly I hear Kaitlynn crying, and it sounds like it is coming from outside. Apparently Kaitlynn has figured out how to open our security grills, and wanted to play with her push toy outside. Well she was either pushing it or riding it, and it went tumbling down the first flight of marble stairs outside of our house. Of course she went tumbling after it. I ran down to her, and at first she seemed to be okay except for a scare.

I picked her up to comfort her, and blood started to pour from her mouth. I ran us into the bathroom, and got a wet washcloth to try and clean her mouth out. I could not see where the blood was coming from, and it was just oozing out. So I ran to our neighbor's house, and was completely freaked. Her son answered the door, and I rushed Kaitlynn into the bathroom. Marianne was on the phone, and Freddie informed her that Kaitlynn was hurt and bleeding. So Marianne came in, and took over. Good thing too because I was not handling the situation too well. I was pitying myself and regretful for the pain Kaitlynn was in. I guess the best way to say it is that I was feeling guilty that something happened to Kaitlynn, and I felt like it was my fault. So there I sat on the ledge of the bathtub crying right along with Kaitlynn. Marianne tried to get Kaitlynn to take some ice, and called the Medical Officer here at the Embassy. She explained what happened. By this time we could see that one of Kaitlynn's front top teeth was crooked in her mouth, and that was the source of all the blood. Mari, the Medical Officer, explained that there was not much we could do since it was a baby tooth. She recommended that we try anything cold such as ice, Popsicles or ice cream. She also recommended freezing Kaitlynn's pacifiers and using teething rings to help with the swelling. We also needed to give her pain medication to help with the pain. She said that Kaitlynn would probably lose the tooth, and not get a new tooth until her adult teeth came in around the age of seven. She said that if we felt better bring Kaitlynn to her house to look at the injury we were more then welcome. After Marianne got off the phone we tried the ice and ice cream to no avail. Kaitlynn was still screaming bloody murder. So we gave her infant's pain medication, and Marianne went to borrow a teething ring from our other neighbors.

After she came back and Kaitlynn was still screaming, she decided that it was probably best to take her to Mari's house so she could be examined. So she left a set of house keys with our other neighbors, and asked them to fill Danny in on the situation when he came back from his run. During all of this time I was really of no use. I was just scared and worried, and so thankful that Marianne took control of the situation. On the way to Mari's house I gave Kaitlynn her pacifier, and she calmed down.

When we got to Mari's house she explained that Dan had called, and he was on his way over. So we waited a few minutes for him to get there so he could help with the exam. Mari has two cats that Kaitlynn was playing with, and she wanted to try to use them as a distraction during the exam. The problem is that Marianne is highly allergic to cats, and I am pregnant.

Dan got to the house, and was worried right along with me. But he was a trooper! Mari examined Kaitlynn's mouth, and said that the gums were bruised, that she would probably lose the tooth, and have a swollen lip for a few days. Dan took Kaitlynn to snuggle him while I asked questions. As we were talking, Kaitlynn took her pacifier out of mouth to talk to the cats. Then she shoved it back in, and slowly took it out again. As she took it out again her tooth fell into Dan's hand. She lost the tooth, and the whole root with it. That relieved some stress because one of the main concerns we all had was her losing it in the middle of the night, and then choking on it.

After we left Mari's house we decided to quickly stop by the grocery store since we all needed items to bring to the Ambassador's house for our Easter Egg Hunt. Well to top off the evening I locked our car keys in the car. Thankfully Marianne gave the extra set of house keys to our other neighbors. So we called them and asked them to go into our house to get the extra set of car keys. Then Dan had the Marine driver go to our neighbor's house to get the keys and bring them to us. As we walked into the grocery store Freddie and Marianne were able to see inside of Kaitlynn's mouth, and we realized that she did not lose the tooth that was crooked. She lost the tooth that was straight.

When we got home and after she fell asleep, we looked in her mouth at the wound. We also looked at the other tooth. It is still slightly crooked, but seems to be sturdy. So we are not sure if she will also lose that tooth. It is a wait and see game now. Our poor baby!

When we were at Mari's house she was saying that Kaitlynn is the fifth child she has treated for this same thing since she has been here. When we first got here and were in temporary housing, we were in a 3-story house. While staying there my greatest fear was that Kaitlynn was going to fall down those marble stairs. I was so relieved when we moved in here because it is a single level apartment on the inside. So I did not predict us having a problem since we don't allow Kaitlynn to play outside alone. To prevent future accidents the plan is to put a baby gate between the door and the security grill on nice days when we want the front door opened.

03.22.2005

There are a few more new photos up.

02.26.2005

There are a few new photos up.

01.08.2005 (back entry)

Kaitlynn has official learned to say the word “no”. Danny and I were so happy that she had yet to pick up on that word. However, earlier this week she was playing with her baby doll with a receiving blanket. She was getting very frustrated and throwing a fit because the blanket would not go exactly how she wanted it to be. So she would bring both the doll and blanket to me to fix.

Well apparently I was not doing it the way she wanted it either because she was still frustrated, and repeating the same “d – oh” to me as she was to herself when the toys where not doing what she wanted. Later on that morning she was playing with her mega blocks, and when she could not get them to go in the exact location she wanted she was so “d – oh” to them also. That is when I put two and two together, and realized she has started to vocalize “no”.

So now she is constantly tell either Danny or myself “d – oh”. At times we think it is rather cute because she is so expressive when she says it. Not to mention the pronunciation is adorable. However, having a 20- month old constantly telling you “no” can get old mighty fast. I know we are lucky that she has pick it up this late, but I was still holding out hope that it would be a while longer before she started to use that word.

11.28.2004 (back entry)

I think Kaitlynn has an internal timer for when Danny is supposed to be getting home from work. For the past two nights right around 6:30PM she has been going to the door, and saying “Dada, dada.” The funny thing is that that is the time he did normally get home from work in the states. However, lately here he has been standing in for a Marine that is on medical leave. We are already one Marine short, and then this Marine is recovering from a surgery. So Danny has been standing duty. His schedule changes every two days, and I am not sure that Kaitlynn is adjusting to it too well. She does not get to see him as often. We know around the first of the year things should cool down for him. So we are looking forward to that as a family.

01.11.2005

There are a few new photos up. Not much news other than that Kaitlynn is a tornado who regularly unpacks the cabinets. Hurricane Kaitlynn. -Dawn

11.06.2004

Kaitlynn's diaper rash is gone. Woohoo! And her bowel movements are back to normal. That is a relief. Changing so many diapers a day became stressful. I wanted to change them as soon as she went to the bathroom because I did not want the rash to get worse. However, it made us go through diapers at an unforseen rate. Plus there has not always been a convinent place to change her. You would think that with 83 children under the age of 5 here at the Embassy, they would have changing tables in the restrooms. Nope! Maybe time will change that though. Until then there are only 3 places I feel comfortable changing dirty diapers, and those are in the medical unit, Dan's office, and the Marine house. Needless to say the less diapers the happier I am.

11.03.2004

Kaitlynn has had diarrhea for about 5 days now, and it comes out every time she eats or drinks anything heavier than water. The constant diarrhea has caused her to get a severe diaper rash. Her poor bottom looks like it has a large welt on it covering all of her bottom and private parts. And now it is starting to crack. Poor girl. I have been putting Destin Creamy on it, but it has not done a bit of good. So I started baby powder last night, and it is starting to look a little better. So when I go grocery shopping I need to see if I can find some more of it. I only brought a travel size with me since Destin has always worked on her. We are trying Pedialyte today to see if it helps clear the diarrhea up. Hopefully we shall overcome this soon. I am not sure how many more poopy diapers I can change without vomiting.

10.28.2004

Jet lag is still an issue for Kaitlynn. She is not going to sleep on time, and is still waking up several times a night thinking it is time to get up. Hopefully we will overcome this hurdle soon.

On a happier note, Kaitlynn said "I love you" several times today. The first time she said it was were in the medical unit at the Embassy waiting on Rose, our sponsor, and I thought I was imagining her saying it back to me. So I kept saying it, and so did she. Later I tested it against Danny, and he actually agrees that she is saying it.

10.26.2004

Kaitlynn did so well on the flight over to Tunisia. She slept on the first flight; which was a short ride to Philly. On the flight to Rome she was better than I expected. She played and looked at her books most of the time. She did fuss some at bedtime. Instead of fighting with her to go to sleep and possibly disturb the other passengers, we let her stay up. She finally fell asleep and slept a few hours. She tosses and turns so much in her sleep that after awhile she was uncomfortable to the point hat it had woken Danny and me up. We both tried to cuddle her, but she still could not get comfortable. So she eventually woke up. It was not too bad because it was getting close to our landing time in Rome. However, by the time we got on our last flight to Tunis she was struggling to stay awake. After fighting the sleep all through take-off, she finally fell into a deep sleep in my arms.

10.19.2004

Kaitlynn is having a great time with Meridian. She gets so excited when she walks into a room, and sees her. It is so cute to see her love for Meridian grow with each visit.