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ktjrdn at yahoo dot com

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Friday, 22 April 2005
chins and cheeks
I'm been teaching Ally the secondary parts of her body - like chin, knees and stuff that you work on after you've got the major stuff identified. For some reason, she thinks you have to pinch to show where stuff is. She pinches her legs which isn't so bad, but she pinches cheeks hard. She doesn't yet know th difference between chin and cheeks. You ask where her chin is and she pinches it, but you ask where Mom's chin is and she pinches my cheeks.

Posted by ktjrdn at 07:23 CDT
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Tuesday, 19 April 2005
testing
I'm working on putting the photo albums on the pictures page. This is just a test to see how to do it.


Posted by ktjrdn at 07:59 CDT
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still sleeping
Went right to bed again last night. Rob is so smart, he's annoying. Saturday night before her bedtime, I was tired, so I laid down on the floor next to her playing. She ignored me, but right about 9:00, she grabbed her refrigerator ABC thingy and attacked me. -- The ABC thingy, Ruth bought for her. It's a lot like the animal one Glinda and Bob got her. The letters fit in a spot on the base, and when you put it in and push it down, it sings a song. It also has a button you can push to hear the alphabet song. -- Her mobile plays "Twinkle, Twinkle" which, we all know is the same tune as ABC. So anyway, she came and laid down on me, got comfy, pushed the song, and laid her head down. So I asked her if it was night-night time, and we got up to go to bed. I turned her mobile on and she went to sleep. After the fights we've been having about bedtime, I'm left with a feeling of "Is that all???"

Posted by ktjrdn at 07:24 CDT
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Sign Language
Well, I guess Ally knows more sign language than I had thought. If you tell her to say please, she wipes her hand across her belly and/or chest. If you ask her if she's hungry, she puts her fingers to her mouth for eat. I've seen "more" many times (mostly in regard to cheese) and last night, I said thank you and she started playing with her chin. I think that's close to the right sign for thank you???

Posted by ktjrdn at 07:16 CDT
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Monday, 18 April 2005
School project
Okay, one of my classes had me do a web-site. The assignment was to create a one-page web site that details a non-profit organization. It could be an existing one (and you would have to research what to put on it) or an imaginary (and do no research just imagination). You can guess which one I picked. Anyway. This is it-> M.A.T.H. It is mostly finished. Soon, I will add a couple pictures of Marisa and Naomi.

Posted by ktjrdn at 08:20 CDT
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speakers and uh-oh
I played a kids CD on the stereo on Friday night. I've done this many times before, and she's never paid any attention to the mechanism of it. But Friday, she learned that the music actually comes out the speakers! She stood near one dancing, and everytime the song ended, she said "uh-oh" and turned up her hands for "where'd it go". Then 2 seconds later when the song started, she got a big smile on her face and started dancing again. Then, on Saturday and Sunday, if she wanted her music on, she would walk over to the speaker and point and poke it.

Posted by ktjrdn at 07:32 CDT
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Pooping Monkeys
Bob and Glinda got Ally a Little People lift-up-flap book - or whatever it's called. One of the pages has 9-10 flaps with monkeys hiding underneath. I taught her that monkeys say "ooo-oo-ooo"" and did the monkey arm thing. So when you ask her what the monkeys say, she flaps her arms like a chicken and grunts like she's got to poop. I love it. The other day, she was sitting at her table making the monkey noise. A couple minutes later, I realized from the odor in her pants that it wasn't actually the monkey noise at all.

Posted by ktjrdn at 07:26 CDT
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Sleeping
For my probation period at the new job, I had to change my hours to 7:45 til 4:15. (previously 7:00 - 3:00 w/ 1/2 hour lunch) Ally would wake up at 5:20 - an hour before I needed to get up, we'd go upstairs, she'd sit with me for 5-10 minutes, then want breakfast. I could get her somthing to eat, flip Disney Channel on and go take a shower. I hate getting off that late in the day though, so I switched my hours to 7-3:30 (hour lunch). You wouldn't think that would affect our schedule, right? Wrong. Now, she either wakes up at 6, or doesn't wake up at all 'til we get to daycare, and I start changing her clothes. I think she does it on purpose just to drive me crazy.

We were having problems again with bedtime, but I think that was linked to my hours too. Getting home that late in the day made it seem like I had a lot less time with her in the evening, and wasted an hour in the morning, cause I was too tired to do anything. Rob pointed out to me that I wasn't being consitant with bedtime, and was confusing her. So anyway, we're back on track it seems. 3 nights in a row with absolutely no crying at bedtime. Hope it keeps up!

Posted by ktjrdn at 07:21 CDT
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M-O-O-N That spells Moon
Last night, Ally discovered the moon. We ate supper out on our patio and she was climbing between Rob and I. All of a sudden, she stopped and stared up. It was a clear night, so she had a great view. She was amazed! She just kept pointing up. She kinda slumped down a little and laid in my lap looking up. It was so cute.

Posted by ktjrdn at 07:08 CDT
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Friday, 15 April 2005
I kinda like this
Ive been playing around with the neat stuff available. I can do photo albums and everything here. I'm converting all my old stuff to this. It doesn't require membership. I can set it up as an entire web site that can be accessed anywhere. I'm not finished yet, but once I am, I'll have links that will take you all arond what I've posted.

Posted by ktjrdn at 12:52 CDT
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Ads
It's a free site, so there are bound to be pop-ups. Sorry about that. I think it's going to work though. Let me know what you think. You can post comments, or drop emails

Posted by ktjrdn at 07:23 CDT
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Check it out
Ok, so this may be the new format for my updates. I don't really like the idea of being one of those people who keep a blog, but I've got to face it. That's mostly what I've been doing before. This format may be a little easier though. We'll see. I'm experimenting with the system now.

Posted by ktjrdn at 07:12 CDT
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Thursday, 14 April 2005

Last weekend we stained some more, but were kinda burnt out on the whole thing, so we didn't get a lot done. It's getting closer though. Rob has to work all weekend coming up, so I probably won't get much done. Ally doesn't leave me alone outside for too long, although she does play pretty well by herself with her outside toys. She runs from one slode to the other..

Ally learned sign language for "more" at day care, but I didn't know it. She sat down at her picnic table, with nothing to eat the other day while I was doing dishes. I looked over at her and she was just sitting there, so I left her alone. A minute later I looked closer. She was signing "more" and patiently waiting for me to figure it out. I felt to bad. Now that I think about it, she might know please too. (it's rubbing your belly) She's all the time touching her belly, but it may be that she just likes playing with it.

We have clothes galore! You all know how many newborn clothes I had. Well, I have quite a bit more than that for her now. For one thing, I have both seasons out now. Some days we still need long sleeves and pants and some days it's shorts weather. For another, she's in two sizes. New 18 months clothes fit her just right. Some of the garage sale ones are getting a little tight. New 24 months are a little baggy (some of them. Why can't they make sizes the same size???), but all the hand-me-downs from Marley are 24 months and 2T, and most of them fit great and Ruth gave me A LOT. Plus, last year, I hit the clearance racks and got some cheap 18 and 24 months summer clothes. We're set. We could probably go 2 months without wearing the same outfit twice. We're kinda hurting in the pj department right now, but that's only because it's too warm for fleece, but too cold for summer pj's. I just hope Marley grows faster than Ally. In a couple years, Ally may be giving Marley the clothes she outgrows!

Her hair is getting really long. I almost have to put it in pigtails now. Otherwise, it's always in her eyes. Most of the time she lets me do it now that she has gotten used to it, but sometimes, I just have to walk around the room following her trying to brush it on the move. Lately, she's started finding the ponytail holders and pulling them out. Then, she looks at them at them and tries to stick them to the top of her head. I put them back in and she pulls them out. She gets so mad when they won't stay in when she does it though.

The other night she threw a fit 'cause she wanted to go outside. It was raining and cold, though so we wouldn't let her. Rob took her out to the garage to prove it to her and she saw the car and got excited about a car ride. So, we decided to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream. On the way Rob mentioned that he was getting a milkshake and she perked right up. She loves milkshakes! She started signing more, more!

I went to take a bath the other day and after about 5 minutes, She was looking for me, so Rob brought Ally down to see me. She tried her best to get in the tub with me. She rubbed my bubbles all over her shirt and dripped water on her feet, and reached over the side to splash me. But that wasn't enough for her. She tried to throw her leg over the side and get in. Well, she couldn't quite do it (Mostly because Rob and I were trying to stop her), so she leaned down and tried to pick her foot up with both hands and put it over the edge. She kept losing her balance and falling down, but she'd get right back up and try to pick up the other foot. Rob could barely keep her out. She has such a good time in her bath. It never fails though. If I take her diaper off before I fill the tub, she pees on the rug and we have to wash it again. Im' thinking about getting a potty seat for her to sit on. It's still too early to be pushing potty training, but it would be a good opportunity to get her used to the idea for the future.

Posted by ktjrdn at 00:01 CDT
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Friday, 8 April 2005

Okay, so last week, Ally got tubes in her ears. They had her for about 10 minutes before the doc came out and told us it was done. Then, after another minute or so, they said she was awake and I could go get her. Oh, so was mad. Mad doesn't even cut it. I'm not sure there is a word for how mad she was. She screamed and screamed and screamed... She just didn't understand why her head was so foggy, and where she was. When we started to leave, she calmed down a little, but only til we got to the car. Then she started up again and screamed all the way home. It about broke my heart. Rob was driving as fast as he could and people kept getting in our way. I think we broke a record getting home. Then, she screamed for a little while longer and fell asleep. After about 1 1/2 to 2 hours of nap, she woke up a changed little girl. She acted like she had no rememberance of the morning. She played with Darra (she came up to help through the surgery and stayed the weekend) all morning, while I slept on the cuch. I was exhausted. Rob had to go to work. That night I heard her say "no". Saturday, Darra heard "duck", and sometime during this week, she learned "moo", "neigh", and"bzzz". I think (I hope) that the surgery is helping her hearing, so helping her speach. We'll see

It's so cute when she makes the animal sounds. for cow, she puckers up real big to moo. It's almost like she's making a fish-face. And for the horse, she doesn't really neigh, so much as she says "naaa" and shakes her head from side to side. We were reading on the couch the other night and she mooed for me. I told Rob that she did and he said "Sure she did" and didn't believe me. Then I asked her what the horse said and she did it. He was shocked. That'll teach him to doubt me :)She can point out almost all the animals in her books. She even knows zebra. She realized the other day that the gold-bug book is a story loaded with pigs, and now flips through the pages finding them all. I swear, we read about 20 books a night.

Darra taught her about birds this weekend. She knows they live outside. Now, if you don't want to go outside and look for them, you have to be careful not to ask her where the birds are. I made that mistake last night, and she showed me where they were in the book, grabbed my finger and took me to the door, put her hands facing up at her sides and said "go?" (where did they go). She didn't especially like it when I told her they all went to sleep cause it was nighttime. But if it's daytime, and you can find some, she just laughs and laughs at them.

Tihs weekend, we worked our butts off staining/sealing our deck. I never realized just how much wood there is there! It's a giant pain in the butt! Well, Darra helped watch Ally, and when Ally was outside playing or napping, she also helped paint, but we still didn't get done.We probably got 3/4 of the railings and spindles done, but they take forever. We got a first coat on two of the deck floors, but not the stairs. We figure the flat surfaces will all probably need 2 coats. Sunday, Bob and Glinda came over, and Bill come up. Bob and Bill helped with "the great gravel project" moving mulch and dirt around where it goes, Rob dug a hole for extra drainage for the pool, we got the cover off the pool, and the pump running, and we made a lot of progress. You'll all get to see it this summer at the cookout, if not sooner. Thanks everyone!

This week Ally learned kisses. She gives real good kisses. She even kisses the books and her Beanie Bears and dogs. She's been really cuddly lately. We've been getting extra hugs. Sometimes her hugs kinda turn out to be headlocks. She slings her arm around your neck and tucks you under her arm like a football. At daycare, they've got a round window looking out to the playground outside. I've seen some of the kids in other classes looking in. Sometimes, they put their lips to the window and blow and puff up there cheeks real big. Ally learned that from them. We have big slobber marks on our door now.


Posted by ktjrdn at 00:01 CDT
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Wednesday, 30 March 2005

Arggggg!! Another ear infection this weekend. Friday night, she screamed all night, so Saturday morning, we had to go to the doc for an antibiotic. They have Saturday hours between 10 and 12. Unfortunately, our neighborhood easter egg hunt was at 11:00. So, we didn't get to go. I was so disappointed. Then later I found out that there was one at Knights ActionPark we could have gone to. Oh well, I'm sure Ally didn't really notice. I was worried how it would affect her surgery, but they say it won't. So, Friday moring sometime, we're getting tubes. I hope so much that this will stop the ear infections!! I also hope it'll help her to start talking more. The doc was getting on me today about how she doesn't say 5 words yet. Keep you fingers crossed.

Ally absolutely loves her sandbox. The other day, I put it together and threw some sand in. She was in it before I even got finished. I had to take her out 3-4 times just to be able to fill it up without duping it on her. She always has a good time when they go outside to play at day care. Their playground is sand everywhere. They have little cars to drive and lots of slides and swings. She's never in as much of a hurry to leave when she's outside when I get there. If they are inside, she runs for her coat and pulls me to the door.

She loves to read. Lately, she's been obsessed with a oversize book "the night the toys came to life". I'm so tired of it. For any of you that know gold-bug, it's kind of like that, except it's a board book. It's really busy. There are stuffed animals everywhere doing all kinds of things. On every page, she has to show us the pigs and the dogs. She has really liked pigs lately for some reason. Maybe it's from her piggy bank. She really likes to put money in it. If she sees any on the table, she tries to get it and runs over to the entertainment center where the pig is. Anyway, she brings books to us constantly. Sometimes we read to her, and sometimes she "reads" to us.

She's getting really good at communicating without words. She tries to put her shoes and coat on if she wants to go outside. She tries to put the faucet pad cover things on if she wants to take a bath. If she wants cheese, she brings you to the fridge and pulls on the door. If she wants a refill for her drink, she bangs it on the fridge door. If she wants to color, she goes to the cabinet I keep the crayons in and tries to get it open. She nods yes or no to most of our questions.

She's even getting a little better about eating. Not meat of course, but other stuff. The other day she ate a half container of yogurt out of a bowl using a spoon all by herself . She also used a spoon for a bowl of oatmeal, but had a little more trouble loading the spoon up since it is thicker. I think maybe the trick is to get her spoonable food to eat. She won't let me near her with a spoon though. She's got to do it herself.

At her 15 month checkup, the doc said something about ezema, but I think he's full of crap. She has a little dry skin because it's winter. We switched to adult lotion, and it's getting better. It's mostly on her sides around her belly and it's not too bad, but she loves it when we run lotion on. She's got to have some on her hands to she can smear it on her belly too. She doesn't rub it in very well, but it's pretty funny watching her try. She doesn't quite understand when we've had enough and it's time to quit though.

Ally found another use for her couch. She discovered that it's fun to "fall" over the back of the couch and land on the folded out bed part of it. Then she gets up and runs around to do it again. After a while though she gets lazy and starts "falling" too soon. Then she lands all folded up. She gets herself loose by kicking and pushing and sliding along the couch on her face. It doesn't even slow her down. Then she's circling back to the back of the couch so fast that she gets dizzy and runs off course into Rob or I. We catch her long enough for her head to clear, then she's off again.

I guess that's it for now. You can tell from how much I write whether I have soemthing to do at work or not. The past 2 weeks, I've been involved in a project that's taken up most of my time. I just have a couple little things to do, then start a new one. I love having something to do at work. It's so boring to sit here with nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs.

Posted by ktjrdn at 00:01 CST
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Monday, 14 March 2005


Since I was pregnant, I've been a member of BabyCenter.com. Most of the stuff in there is the same fluff you read in every magazine and article about babies, but some is actually useful, and some is just fun to read. Like the journals they have. There is one journal written by a mother of a boy and a girl a little over three years apart in age. She started the journal soon after she got pregnant with the little girl. Catherine, the author of the journal, is much more focused on the day-to-day life of raising kids than the "right" way to do things and does a good job of pointing out how you can feel like you're so full to bursting with love for your kid, but a second later be praying for someone to offer you a month long vacation somoewhere - anywhere- away from it all. I've been reading past entries most of the day (since they haven't found any work for me to do yet) and it just keeps cracking me up. Kids do the funniest things. It makes me feel good that I'm writing all this stuff down to remember later. You guys just all get the added benefit of being able to read along too.

We're going through an repetitive phase right now. Like the fascination Ally has with "a spoon and a jar of cherries". This contraption is supposed to "feed" a baby doll I imagine (I got it at a garage sale with a bunch of kitchen stuff). You stick the spoon into the jar and, magically, when you take it off, there are cherries on it!!!! (If you spent time with Ally and the spoon, you would see why that warrants four exclamation points) then, when you touch the cherries, they slide back into the spoon handle and disappear real fast. We had to take the spoon away from her and hide it a few months ago, because she always wanted to run with it in her mouth. Well, she found it the other day, and we sat for at least 20 minutes, just pushing the spoon in, pushing on the cherries, watching them disappear, and doing it all over again. We went through just about every different way possible of "eating" the cherries - from pushing on them with her finger, to using my finger to push on them, to feeding them to the bear, to stepping on them - and so on (and on... and on... and...) She had such a good time with them that she took them to bed with her that first night. She was so cute. She had her little fist curled around the jar, arm thrown out above her head, with the rest of her body sprawled out.. I thought that maybe, she'd wake up in the morning and play a little in her crib and let me sleep. Ha

Ally can now identify her mouth (which she thinks means her tongue. You ask her where her mouth is and she'll stick out her tongue and point down her throat.), eyes, ears, nose, head, hair, belly, fingers, toes and feet. You have to be careful asking about her eyes or ears though. With the eyes, it's pretty obvious - what isn't is how fast she goes from poking herself in the eye to finding mine. One second I'm clapping and praising her on how big she is and the next, I'm trying to get my contact to come back from where ever it disappeared to. The ears, though, are a different story. I never realized what a problem it would be. She usually can't see your other ear when she's got her finger in one. So, instead of walking around, or stepping back a bit, she grabs your head and pulls on it til you're turned enough that she can prove that Yes, you do have two ears. But, once she loses hold of the first ear, all bets are off. she'll go back and forth all day -or until or point out that Dad is right behing her and -surprise- he has ears too! Or sometimes, she'll get positioned just right so that she has both ears within grasp. Then she pinches. The other day at Famous Dave's (restauant in Bloomington) she was eating corn-miffins which are delicious there. Yummy We always order lots extra. She was chowing down. After almost eating 2 whole ones, Rob told her she didn't have any more room in her belly. In answer, she lifted up her shirt and showed him just how big her belly was and how silly was he to think she'd eaten too much already. Then she smiled and went on shoveling in the last of the muffin.

We bought her a little fold-out couch from Wal-mart the other day. At first, she got mad (otherwise known as furious) if we folded it out, but now she enjoys it. She's found that if she tries to walk on it, she falls down. so, she steps up onto it and walks around until she falls down, or somehow makes it to the other side and off then runs around me and does it all over again. of cuorse, I have to be involved in this. I'm not sure why, but it seems to be integral to her enjoyment. Maybe she likes knowing that when she falls, she'll have a big fistfull of my hair to slow her down. Maybe it's because she likes to dig her toes into my leg and watch me make funny faces in pain as she walks across me to get to the unfolded couch. Maybe it's something simple. Maybe she just likes to share her happiness with me, and make sure that we're both having a good time.

If you ask her dad, she gets it from me. He is always asking me to please put the camera down and just enjoy the time together. I haven't managed to explain to him just how much more enjoyment I get looking at the pictures later, and sharing them too. Which is just a lead-in to the easter bunny story...

We went to the mall Saturday and had her picture taken with the easter bunny. The highway bandits posing as photographers will only let you use your own camera if you buy one of their packages (which start at $12.99 for 1 5X7). She couldn't wait. She ran up to him and gave him a big hug and then sat on his lap studying him so much she barely would smile. So, we bought a picture and I took 3 or 4. Once I get around to getting them off the camera, I'll stick them out here. Of course, I'll probably be too busy getting my eyes poked out.

another note: She actually ate Mcdonalds chicken nuggets this weekends. 2 of them! For those of you thinking "Why is this a good thing?" that just shows how far I've fallen in the struggle to get her to eat some protein.

Posted by ktjrdn at 00:01 CST
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Thursday, 10 March 2005

So Ally's teeth are still working their way in. The top right one is about halfway and the left has just barely broken through. she loves to hold cereal between them and crunch them.

At her 15 month checkup a couple weeks ago, she couldn't get her shots because she had an ear infection (again). She's had enough of them now that we had to go see an ear, nose, and throat doc. So, we called up Rob's and went to see her yesterday. She says that it's likely that when her ear infections clear up, her ears aren't clearing all the fluid. This means that she may be hearing a little muffled and may be why she doesn't say much yet. I guess we're going to get tubes put in for her. Rob's pretty hesitant because of all the trouble he had with his. They say it makes a huge difference in most kids. God, I hope so. It's about a 15 minute outpatient surgery. They say there are no water restrictions with this age group (It's not like they are going to be diving under water anyway). So I can't see it doing anything but good for her. Plus, it will stop her from having to constantly take antibiotics.

Ally is getting really good at going down the stairs. We tried for a long time to teach her to turn around and go backwards, but she always thought that we were trying to get her to go up instead and threw a fit. So what she does is sits down about a foot from the first step and scoots her way to the stairs. She drops her feet to the first step and scoots off the step basically unto her feet. Then she pulls them out from under her and drops them to the next step. She thinks she's big stuff. She loves going downstairs now. She drags us to the stairs all the time. She doesn't trust Rob anymore though. He's told her "Go ahead, I'm right behind you" and not followed through, too many times. She now makes sure he goes first. She pushes him forward in front of her before she'll start scooting.

She had a blast this weekend went it was so nice Sunday. We went out to our playground at our subdivision. The slide is surrounded by little gravel that she had a good time with. Well, we (mainly I) decided that she needed a bucket, so off we went to Toys 'R Us. We got a couple shovels and buckets, and found a cute little wheelbarrow. Got to checkout and found out it was only $0.05!! But that was a long time later... We got sucked in by the ride-on toys. Long story short - we also brought home a power - trike for her to ride. The battery had to charge 18 hours and it got cold again, so she hasn't gotten to use it yet, though. I hope she likes it.

One thing I know she'll like is the sand box we also got for her. They have a sandbox at day care that she had a great time with last week. We didn't get the sand yet, because we knew it was going to get cold again. She loves playing outside. She'd wander around the neighborhood all the time if we let her. I can't wait until garage sale season again!

Well, that's it for now...later

Posted by ktjrdn at 00:01 CST
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Tuesday, 1 March 2005

They love me!! I finally got a copy of my evaluation. I just thought I'd share with you all how much they love me at my new job (any typos are mine!):

"Katie has learned how to use Websphere Studio Application Developer (WSAD) and successfully demonstrated proficiency with WSAD by completeing programming exercises and development assignments using WSAD.

Katie has demonstrated her knowledge of application analysis, design and programming using Java, JavaScripts, and HTML to complete several programming exercises. In addition, Katie has shown exceptional ability to absorb technical information thru on-line tutorials and reference materials and successfully applied the knowledge gained in completion of programming activities. Katie has also shown impressive initiative by reading, studying, and practicing to inprove her knowledge and programming skills.

Katie has become familiar with IID section practices and consistently paterns her work to adhere to established program models.

Katie has learned how to use Rational Clear Case and has successfully participated in team development projects using WSAD and Clear Case.

Katie has successfully participated in the development and testing of applications, and has exhibited a positive and enthusiastic attitude when interactiving with coworkers while working on individual and team-based development activities.

Katie has become familiar with the IID section application portfolio and has successfully participated on development projects involving several applications.

Katie's positive attitude, willingness to take direction, and desire to improve have enabled her to make valuable contributions to IID development projects."

Whoo-hoo! I got 2 out of 8 exceeds expectations(which is very abnormal for a 1st certification review) and was told that since he didn't expect me to meet his expectations, the other 6 "meets" were outstanding. It's nice not to hate your job for once!

Posted by ktjrdn at 00:01 CST
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Thursday, 24 February 2005

yay! Ally is finally getting more teeth. I can't see them yet, but I can fell something coming in at the top. I was beginning to think she was never going to have moee than 2 teeth!! Now it will probably take another month for them to be visible, but they're on their way.

Posted by ktjrdn at 00:01 CST
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Tuesday, 22 February 2005

Well, -knock on wood - Ally is still pretty healthy. Her nose is still running and stuff, but she's sleeping better (except one night that teething kept her awake). She slept from 8:45pm to 6:45am last night. Of course, Rob was at work. She doesn't sleep that well while he's home. She doesn't like for him to sleep or something.

Yesterday was a big milestone for her at day care. Since she turns 15 months this week, they moved her over to a cot at naptime. The cot is a foot off the ground at most, so it doesn't worry me much. They said she didn't try to get out or anything. Also this week, daycare starts costing $10 less per week! It's not much, but I can definitely find something else to do with that $520 a year! Let's see, what else is new...

  • Last night Ally was trying to say night-night. It was real quit, but definitely distinct from the usual nan-nan-nan. She also tried to say either cheese or please the other day. She wanted cheese, but the day care has been working with her on "please", so I'm not sure which it was.
  • I was reading a book last night on the couch when she grabbed my finger and dragged me over to her shelf. She decided that if I was going to read, I was going to read to her and gave me some books and sat down on me.
  • Whenever she wants something or wants us to go somewhere, she grabs hold of a finger and drags you where she wants to go. At G'pa Bob's this weekend, she kept taking everyone on tours of the house. I think she was exploring, but wanted someone with her. She just kept getting different people and walking through different rooms over and over again.
  • She's been playing a lot more with her LeapPad. One book has animals around the world. When you push on the picture, the animal barks, roars, etc... I don't know if she thinks she can't do it or what, but if she wants to hear them, she takes Rob's or my finger and makes us point at them. She just sits and steers our hand around. Then with the other hand, she'll turn the page. Last night reading to her, I asked her where the baby's nose in the book was. She took my finger and pointed it instead of doing it herself.
  • She knows where her head is. I think she knows most the parts of her face, but she doesn't always point to them when you ask her. If you ask about her nose, half the time she'll grab mine. And once she grabs

    Posted by ktjrdn at 00:01 CST
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