Vacation

Our family arrived in NM after 24 hours in the car. It took Eric two days to recover. Kaylee did pretty well in the car, her limit seemed to last about as long as a tank of gas so we are very lucky! I sat in back with her entertaining her, I was very squished but she was happy that way. We are happy to finally be here and to be on vacation! We have just been hanging out, going to the coffee shop in town and eating great meals my Mother-in-law has made.

Kaylee started to say "Pa Pa" for Grandpa. She also started to say "more." That is such a wonderful word for her to know! I am hoping that soon she will say it during meals telling me she wants more food, but that is probably wishful thinking to bestow upon my picky little eater.

Kaylee has become obsessed with the straps on the little booster seat they have here for eating in. She spends a long time in it, saying "mom more" asking me to unstrap them so that she can fasten the clips. She loves when we clap for her and takes a breath of pride when she's accomplished her goal.

Kaylee has had a great time with her Grandma and Grandpa, they have a swing on their swingset that she really enjoys. And also she has used a sandbox for the first time ever while we're here. She loves to throw the sand, which we are trying to deter. She loves the feel of the sand on her bare feet. Who doesn't?

Kaylee has gotten a bit of sun but no sunburn. She has a farmer's tan now.

Kaylee has been flirting with the people at the coffee shop when we go, if someone doesn't notice her. She waits by them until they do, and gives them a giant smile!

I can't wait to see what her reaction is going to be to her cousins arriving on Thursday. When we saw her 4-year-old cousin in December, she worshipped her so I'm sure there will be more of the same. I am very excited to see the kids (and their parents too of course), especially excited to see my 18 month old nephew. It's a unique preview into what I can expect for Kaylee in the coming months.

I'm excited too to see how things go at the fireworks display on July 4. I hope she does okay, it will be her first since I thought she was too little last year and I also thought it would be too much work. So we'll see! Yay!

Take care everybody. Have a safe and happy July 4! :)

My baby Daddy...

I just wanted to take a second to talk a little about Eric and Kaylee's relationship, and how special it is to honor him around Father's Day. Eric is very attentive to Kaylee and a lot of times notices things about her, or patterns in her behavior before I do. He tells me what he's noticed and it helps in getting to know who she is and what to expect.

He and Kaylee have so much fun together. They have fun together in a very different way than Kaylee and I have fun together. That's what makes me so happy Kaylee has an involved and loving father. He'll chase her, throw her up, tickle her, make her laugh belly laughs through some sort of specially-invented Kaylee entertainment he's thought up.

I don't know what I'd do without his help, he helps out in the middle of the night with feedings, he takes her for a while each morning so I can do the ironing, getting ready what I need to do to go to work, he takes part in feeding, picking her up at daycare and obviously like I said playing with her! Phew! Too many things to name!

Kaylee's face lights up when she sees her Dad when he comes home from work, she can't wait for a hug and a kiss. When he goes outside to work on the pool, she shouts "Dad, Dad!" out the back door. Sometimes she cries when he leaves the room. It's very sweet.

Eric I love you and so does Kaylee! Thanks for all you do!

(Thanks for taking her during hours of studying, you were integral to my passing the LEED exam! Thanks for always encouraging me to grow!)

Someone went and got LEED certified. Way to go!

Test music class

Well, we did try out the music class this morning as "test." I was there for it, to observe and help. Basically at first she just wanted to get in the buggy (the multi-seated buggy with all the infants in her class in it) and was trying to climb up into it. Then I went and sat in the music circle with Kaylee on my lap. She jetted off immediately to try to go back to the buggy and then off to whereever... After about 10 minutes of trying to keep her under control, I said to the teacher "I think we better wait another couple of months." The lady was really nice about it and tried to incorporate Kaylee into the class by giving her a turn on the keyboard and also by using Kaylee as a model of how to make letters with your body (nice way to restrain her for a bit). She agreed and I put Kaylee back in the buggy and off they went to continue their day.

So I think I'll try again with her at 18 months. The teacher said in September that the older kids will be going off to kindergarten and it then it would be a good time for Kaylee to join with some of the other younger kids. I didn't know what to expect exactly and her response was one of the things I thought she might do - to try to bolt right out of there! The teacher told me that it would probably take Kaylee a couple months at first of really learning how to sit in the circle. She said they all get it after a little exposure. Sitting in the circle, I realize that the other kids are a bit old too and learning their letters which is way way past Kaylee's age group. Maybe I'll have to find her another class to participate in (with me) during the nights/weekends soon. I am definitely considering a swimming class since I am nervous about our pool, and want to expose her a little to learning how to be in the water.

Hugs and Kisses

Kaylee waves her hand very well now - it resembles the kind of wave a princess does on a parade float.

Kaylee asked "what?" in the bath tub last night - she wanted to know the word for her shampoo and for the cups she was playing with.

Kaylee slept through the night the last two nights - we haven't woken up either and it's been heavenly. Eric and Kaylee are both sick with colds so hopefully they'll feel better soon.

Kaylee now runs across the room if you open your arms to give you a hug (for the past month or so). She also gives kisses and has done so for a while. Lately she's gotten better at giving kisses and gives them to us about once a day. Which we love and cherish so much of course! :) When her grandparents (all 4) met at a bookstore a few weeks ago, she had a ball running across the stage in the kid's area so greet each grandparents with a hug! Very darling!

I was listening to music with Kaylee the other night. I was tapping my foot to the rythmn and she started moving her foot in time with mine, mimicking me. She does a lot of mimicking lately which is why we need instituted a swear jar in our household. I think I owe Eric $35 already! Ouch!

Itsy bitsy spider and color

Kaylee can now do (or try to do) “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” It’s really very cute and she has more dexterity than I thought. She especially likes to do the spider climbing up part and isn’t very consistent about which part she signs other than that. She mixes the other parts in according to her own memory rather than necessarily mimicking my exact movements in harmony. It’s adorable and I love seeing her do it – my personal favorite is when she does the “out came the sun” part with her hands encircling her head. Her head fills the space her arms make – it’s so cute.

Kaylee is taking an interest in color and asks us to tell her what color things are. She points a lot now too interested in her surroundings. She can say “green, orange, blue and gray (oddly).” She loves looking at her expandable colors book and especially delights in the last page with all the colors on one page. She loves art in daycare and her teacher said she is the only baby that pays attention all the way through the daily project. (Future artist, architect or designer?)

Meeting Baby Ronan (second cousin)

Marching, shimmying and spinning

Kaylee is doing a couple cute new things, she's been exercising in her new ability to walk and express her personality:
1) She is marching in place. It started the other day when we tried some tennis shoes other than Robies. She had a good time making a lot of noise and soon learned, everyone in the room thought it was funny and adorable when she would stomp in place or march across the room.
2) She was showing off to her Grandparents this morning - spinning! What this really was was Kaylee taking one arm and putting it behind her and then fall out of balance so that the rest of her body would follow her. It wasn't a classic spin but was more of a drunken-looking, meandering movement around the room. She fell over at one point, probably very dizzy.

She knew that both of these were very entertaining to us all and loved getting all that attention.

I don't know if I mentioned earlier that she doesn't use her walker all that much now, but when she does she does a "shimmy" with it. She takes it's handles and shakes it side-to-side, sort of like a biker doing a wheeley - this was Kaylee's trick she was very proud of.

Sleeping Baby

"Sweet dreams baby" I say as I lay you down to sleep,
For just a little while from you I won't hear another peep.
You can rest now, so tired since you've learnt to run,
Your beautiful, peaceful face is aglow in the setting sun.
Kaylee, cuddly cutie, you are so snuggly in your slumber,
The joy you bring to us is something we cannot number.

I think there's something very special and exquisitely beautiful about a sleeping baby and above is my small attempt to try to capture those thoughts in words...she so pure, innocent, spent and sweet all rolled up into one...

Kaylee still loves to kick her legs onto her mattress when she first wakes up, just like when she was a few weeks old. I call her my "Kangi Kaylee" because she's like a little jumping kangaroo.

Kaylee has been a bit sick the past couple of days, we are still trying to figure out what she has. Probably the flu again. Very bad timing since we want to be healthy for a visit from her second-cousin in from Ohio and to make sure she's healthy around her Greatgrandma who's having surgery today. We'll have to see how things go.

Kaylee is starting to understand more and more, this morning Eric said ," Kaylee bang your toys together" and then she picked them up and did it. It's amazing what she's beginning to understand. This morning I said, "Kaylee do you want to sit again with Grandma and eat some O's?" She looked at me as she reached for the cherrios, and said "Yea!"

The other day her Grandma looked outside and said, "Kaylee hey look do you see the squirrel?" And Kaylee said, "Squirrel." I was amazed because this is a very hard word to say for a beginner. Kaylee has been calling a lot of things "ball" lately. Oh and by the way, we had to take all the spices away because one opened up - it was white pepper - and after a few minutes of sneezing everything was fine. I'm going to replace those with tupperware so she can still explore in the drawer.

We found out today that Kaylee can be enrolled in the "growing with music" class at daycare when she turns 15 months, which isn't too far off. So it will be her first academic adventure - we are really looking forward to her first class and to find out how she reacts to participating in it and not just watching. The teacher for the music class and I talked and she said she's sure that Kaylee will be a great little student, and she's already noticed how transfixed and interested Kaylee is in the music when she observes class.

Kaylee had a ball looking out the window of the new camper her grandparents bought, she loved to say "hi" to everyone who passed by. Be sure to scroll down and view all the beautiful photos that my Father-in-law has been taking of Kaylee during their visit to MN.

In the Camper with Grandparents! and Chocoholic Like her Mama?

Discovering her Volume

Kaylee loves to walk on the driveway, she loves the new way it feels to be on an incline and be slightly propelled by gravity, faster and faster downward. She also loves making lots of noise outside, she's figured out that the noise she makes outside and in rooms like bathrooms, is a lot louder. She raises her head to the sky, opens up her mouth and shouts over and over, exercising those little but powerful lungs she's developed.