Holiday Greetings - December, 1997

Holiday Greetings to our friends and family!  This last year has been an exciting year for us as Katie turned one last March and stormed into “Toddlerhood”.   We will attempt to limit the “Katie update” to only 95% of the letter.

Karen has had a very busy year.  Katie keeps her busy at home with numerous tea parties, books, games, library trips, and countless other games.  Meanwhile, Mayo still expects her to schedule a few patients – maybe between “Hop on Pop” and “There’s a Wocket in my Pocket” she could fit a few in.  Seriously though, she has found it challenging but rewarding being a doctor and a mother.  She has little time for tennis but she has been able to continue to do medical student teaching and pursue some of her research interests.   The most exciting news of the year is that we are expecting another child in April.  The early word is a sister for Katie but our ultrasound wasn’t positive.

If you ask Katie what Mom does, she will reply “Doctor….people better”.  If you ask her what Dad does, she will tell you “Baby sit”.  Her Uncle Terry did us the favor of teaching her the second response.  It is true though – Katie goes to daycare 3 days a week and Tom gets to spend the other two with her.  On days when Katie is at daycare, Tom mostly works on his hockey software that he hopes to successfully market (hopefully soon!).  Tom also continues to do some custom programming and work with the Society of Actuaries to develop actuarial exams.  He continues to play some tennis and hockey.   He is feeling a little old though since he lost the city tennis championship to a 16 year-old.  (Never mind that the 16 year-old towers four inches taller than him…)
 
We are fortunate that Katie has proven to be a great traveler since we took several trips this last year.  We went to Denver, Canada, Tucson, Sanibel Island, Scottsdale, New Orleans, and San Francisco.  Katie, at age 21 months old, has been to more places than Tom had been by the time he was 21 years old!

And now, a quick summary of Katie’s year.  You could say she started the year on the right foot as she took her first steps on January 1st when she was almost 10 months old.  Her first word was “duck” in January but more notably, her second word was “hockey”!  Since then, her vocabulary has grown impressively and now she sings the “ABC” song and can count to 15 on a good day.   One of Katie’s favorite activities is swimming.  She loves to go underwater (especially with goggles) and she will fearlessly jump into the pool with 100% faith that Mom or Dad will come to the rescue.

Another favorite activity is “Name that Tune.”   One bonus to being parents of a toddler is all the great music that you get to hear 12 times per day.  Neither one of us can remember the last time a song other than a nursery song, Barney music, a Sunday school song, or a silly song went through our head.  So, with that theme, we began playing Name that Tune where we whistle a song and Katie tries to name it.  She is quite good at the game – she can name about 40 songs (including “Macho Macho Man” that Karen taught her).

We still get together once a month with the families we met though our PAIIR class.  The group consists of five girls, all within a month of age, and the parents.  The get-togethers are getting wilder but also more fun.  Katie also started a “Growing with Music” class recently which is a music class for toddlers.  They learn how to play instruments like the Glockenspiel, Chiquitas, and Clovets.  Karen thinks she already has more rhythm than Tom.

We hope that you all have a great holiday season and we hope to see you all in the New Year.

-Tom, Karen, and Katie