understanding things

I feel like katie is really starting to understand what we are saying and for that matter she is starting to really be able to communicate with us more and more. Her vocabulary is expanding every week. She of course says MA MA and DA DA and UP has been one she has known for a while but she is starting to use it correctly like when she wants to get out of her high chair she raises her arms and says UP! Its really cute! Her newest words seem to include PUP PUH which means PUPPY but she can't quite get the Y sound so its more like PUP PUH, occasionally she will throw in a Y on accident and it really sounds like PUPPY but I don't think she means to do it. But she definitely knows it means dog. Every time she sees a dog coming up the street when we are on a walk she freaks out and starts saying Pup Pup Pup and then when he gets closer I say where is the puppy and she will point right to it. She also has a huge stuffed puppy and I say 'where is your puppy katie" and she will go right to it, even her stuffed animal dogs that are small she calls puppy so I know she understands the word which is really neat to see something we have worked so hard on she is now understanding.

Another word she is working on is BIRD and BALL but they tend to sound the same, usually just BAH BAH but she only makes the noise when she sees and points to a bird or when she wants you to throw her the ball so I'm thinking she gets it. Who knows. She is loving her balls that she has gotten for easter and her birthday, she loves throwing them back and forth to us and she loves when i hold her hands and walk her over to the ball outside and she will kick it over and over and over again. Good exercise and good learning I think.We have been spending a ton of time outside because the weather is so great lately. We were supposed to have storms all week and really only one day it made us stay inside!
Katie loves when we go on walks, her anti-stroller phase is just about over but I have gotten used to carrying her in the bjorn so i don't mind it so much, too bad my neck is all knocked out of whack from it but she sure loves feeling free! She loves seeing the birds and squirrels run across the street. One day when we were walking I stopped and picked a leaf off a tree and handed it to her, boy was that a MISTAKE!!! Now on every walk without fail, she points to the nearest tree and starts whining until I get her a leaf. she will carry the leaf around for a little while then drop it and want another one from the next closest tree, and when she is feeling goofy she wants to hold 3 or 4 leaves at a time! Makes me crazy, especially when she starts putting them in her mouth and i can't see cus she is facing forward, i usually catch her when she is chewing or starting to spit out the pieces but it makes bri especially crazy when she chews the leaves. When the three of us are on a walk, Bri usually catches her putting them in her mouth and he says "KATIE!!!" and she just laughs at him and takes a bigger bite. Its really funny. I swear she is really starting to understand what makes us jump which cracks me up!