Ok, my sister demands it, and I immediately cave and make a damn video montage.

Catie’s 2nd Year from poobou on Vimeo.

I went with Vimeo this time instead of my usual YouTube because of a licensing issue – I really wanted to use that Jason Mraz song (“I’m Yours,” for those of you who haven’t heard it ten gajillion times already). It seems to fit the tone, and Catie loves the song; every time it comes on the car radio (which is, um, basically every time we’re in the car), she kind of bobs her head and tries to sing along. So it was perfect. But apparently the rights are owned by [insert major record company name], and there was some lawsuit between [said record company] and YouTube about copyright infringements, so YouTube flagged my audio file and wouldn’t let me upload the video with any audio. So, hey! Vimeo! That’ll work. Suck it, big corporate music giant.

(And yes, I do feel totally rebellious by violating somebody’s copyright laws somewhere. It’s kind of making me nervous, I’m waiting for the cops to show up at my front door and either arrest me or slap me with some huge fine over a bunch of videos of my kid. But I also feel good about it, like I’m sticking it to The Man somehow. God, I am so pathetic.)

Anyway, hope y’all enjoy the video.

EDITED 4/7/2009: Apparently that corporate music giant found my video after all, and Vimeo removed it. Argh. I’ve hidden the file on my site, so if you want to see it, email me and I’ll send you the link. But I really don’t need to get sued for some stupid copyright infringement b.s., so I’m not posting it here.

It’s official, I give up. I cannot make a video montage because it’s too hard. I can’t pick a song that accurately fits her year, I can’t narrow down which videos are my favorites, and I certainly can’t pick just a few seconds here and there to narrow it down even more. I’m just stuck. Also, the grandparents are waiting for the year-end DVDs that I make for them (a compilation of all the movies I’ve filmed throughout the year), and that’s going to be enough of a time-consuming project for now. Apparently I established a precedent by making DVDs for them last year, so now they’ll be expecting them for each year from now on, for the rest of my life.

Plus, someone apparently sent the child a memo that being two means she needs to kick the behavior issues up a notch. She’s the same as she’s always been, 95% of the time she’s completely hilarious and delightful. But the other 5%… wow. I think there are probably dogs hundreds of miles away whose eardrums have shattered because of my girl’s tantrums.

Who, me?

So instead of a montage video, I give you the video we took of Catie’s birthday celebration at home. It was very quiet, just the three of us, but it was fun. (Be warned, it’s kind of a long-ish video, 4 & 1/2 minutes. This is one of those things that’ll probably only interest the grandparents.)

Also, I finally uploaded the video we took of her playing in the snow on Inauguration Day. (This one’s shorter, 2 & 1/2 minutes. And infinitely funnier for all of the cackling with glee she does at the snow.)

Yesterday, the weather was crummy (windy and rainy), so to let her burn off some energy before naptime, Catie and I went to one of those indoor play spaces. She had a great time.

After we played for a while, we met up with my across-the-street neighbor, Kimberly, and her baby, Morgan, for lunch. The girls had a great time playing with (or rather, near) each other, and when we got home, Catie went down for her nap with no trouble. I love it when that happens.

A couple of random vocabulary things she’s said lately that have cracked me up:
1) This afternoon, I noticed that Teenie had barfed on the couch (AGAIN! Cats in their golden years can be a major pain in the you-know-what sometimes). I muttered, “oh dammit,” to myself. Catie looked at me and said, “Wass wrong, Mommy?” That was mind-blowing enough on its own. But then I told her that Teenie had gotten sick on the couch, so she comes over, peers onto the sofa to inspect the situation herself, and says, “Oh no! Mess! Mommy, Teenie did mess!” Yes, baby, Teenie made a mess. And I have no idea where on earth you learned to say all that.

2) A couple of nights ago, she slipped and fell in the living room. I wasn’t watching that closely when it happened, but she landed with such a thud that I thought she might’ve hit her head on the coffee table. (She was right next to the coffee table at the time.) I picked her up and was trying to comfort her, and I asked her if she hit her head. Through her sobs, she said, “No, my tushie!” and grabbed her own butt to illustrate her point. That, my friends, is completely awesome.

Catie is two years old today.

I’m sorry, I’ve got nothing else profound to say. I’ve been trying to think of something to write all day, but my mind is just blown. She’s TWO, y’all. Two!

I mean, good lord, didn’t I just take this picture last week?

And now she looks like this?

How did that HAPPEN???

I’m trying to put together a little video montage of the past year, like I did last year, but I’m having a hard time because there are so many videos to choose from that I absolutely love.

Like this one.

She started off this year as a crawling, generally non-verbal baby – she had a few words here & there, sure, but I wouldn’t say that we exactly communicated with each other.

Now, not only can she walk, she can run and dance. And she can talk your ear off.

It might be a couple of days before I get this montage video put together. Right now, I’m going to go make dinner for my birthday girl: chicken pie, her favorite. And then we have cupcakes (and a number 2 candle) for dessert. More pictures pending.

Just… two. My god.