Happy 16 months Kaylee!

Happy 16th Months Kaylee! We are having so much fun with our little girl. She is so cute and playful, playing peek-a-boo, making funny noises, giving kisses and dancing and spinning. The dancing and spinning is so cute because it is still sort of uncoordinated and after a spin, she is very dizzy yet she has to give it another try just seconds after recovery. Like I said she is climbing everything, she can jump off the couch now but still needs to be watched since she could have a fall.

We had a bad night with Kaylee last night with a lot of waking. She wouldn’t take a bottle and wanted the comfort of nursing only. After nursing, she still wasn’t happy and Eric had to hold her for a long period and every time he put her down she woke up again. This morning I let her sleep a bit late because I anticipate she’s going to be real tired today. Hopefully she will take a long nap and catch up so that this evening will be okay.

New words: “Strawberries,” “Updown,” “On and Down “ (we’ve been teaching on and off with light switches,) “Eat,” and for a while she’s been saying “ear,” “eye,” “nose,” “shoes,” and “sock.” She talks the most around Eric and I and gets shy around others. She also seems to talk the most in the morning. At daycare, they were excited to report to me that she said a cow says “moo” and a dog says “arf,arf.” Also her teacher was amazed that Kaylee said “Thank you” to her once. News to them not so new to us since we’ve been hearing her speaking skills getting cumulatively better everyday. Happy 16th Month my beautiful and smart little baby! We are so proud of you!

Update and outcome

Now Kaylee likes to climb on everything. Especially her highchair and her exercauser. The exercauser is that toy she stood in when she couldn't stand yet, when she was about 6 month old, she's much too old for it now. But she loves attempting to launch her whole body up and over it, into the seat bucket.  I have had to fill the thing with teddy bears to deter her, and that's not really working I may have to hide the thing away.

New words:

"cracker"

"here you go"

"there you go" (while handing something over)

"mine" (this one will be fun I'm sure)

She still calls me Jenny from time to time, but is also getting better at calling me Mommy. And not only when she's crying, which I love more than I can tell you.

We got Kaylee one of those toys you can ride outside, it converts to a walker. She doesn't really seem to get the riding thing, and cries when I have it converted. She wants the walker back.  We also got a wagon she has been pulling around.  

One of the neighbor girls (6 years old) said something cute a couple months ago that I forgot to blog about. She said "I think Kaylee should be in a baby walking contest. She is so good at walking she could probably beat all the other babies  in a race. We would just line them up and let them go, and Kaylee would win." Very very cute.

We took Kaylee to a park to play this weekend, a group of people stopped us after we'd passed them asking us to come back so they could see our cute baby. Then the lady said that she thought we should enter her into a beauty contest because she thought she would win.  Of course we are prejudiced and totally think our daughter is gorgeous, and with strangers verifying it for us too...suffice it to say we are very proud parents of a lovely little girl.

I have not written here yet that we are researching in-home daycares a bit. I have done an interview last week which went very well. And will do another of a different person's this Thursday.  We love our current daycare but it is very expensive. If we go in-home we would save $120 a week!  Of course the daycare provider must be loving, fun, licensed and trained, skilled, not have too many kids and not too many in the less than 2 age range. (We are finding a lot of them have way too many kids licenses allow them to have 10 kids!)  Also the home has to be clean, organized, fenced yard, non-smoking, with lots of evident appropriate toys and activities available, and close to a park. So we have certain criteria we're searching for, I really liked the lady and her home so Eric will meet her this week, i'll check references and we'll go from there... we love her current daycare so this is very hard to do.  If we leave, it will be on good terms so that we can use them for backup on days her provider may be sick or on a vacation that doesn't match with ours.  Wish me luck on the search! 

"I love you"

Yesterday I squatted down in the kitchen to get face-to-face with Kaylee and "talk" to her. She came around to my back, gave me a big hug and a little kiss. So sweet. I reached over to her, kissed her and said "I love you" and for the first time ever, she repeated "I love you." I was overjoyed. Of course I tried to get her to repeat it to Eric but it was a no go, but whoa what great words to hear!

Kaylee wakes up in the morning very talkative and said a lot of things this morning. She said "Dogs" "Puppies" "Jackson" "Go" "no doggies" "arf-arf" and her new word "Rico" pronounced in Kaylee-speak as "Ryco."

"Rrrryyyco, Rrrryyco, Rrrryco!" dog walks away "No puppy!"

Kaylee has started experimenting with spoons and forks. It started when she seemed to want her face wiped between each bite of spaghetti so I handed her a spoon. She's seen them before but is wildly distracted by them as playthings and so I keep them away to keep her eating. She scooped it onto her spoon, and then picked it up with her finger and then into her mouth. hopefully it'll connect soon.

I got Kaylee some crayons to play with this weekend, she spent over an hour with her floor pad of paper trying to color on the paper with some success. She doesn't quite have the coordination to make a mark everytime but from time to time she did. I colored with her. She smudged her hands over my marks, trying to spread out the color and share. She must have some experience with fingerpainting at daycare, they do art projects almost everyday. Her teacher said she is the most attentive student during that time, always excited and with a lot of patience for it.

Then we went outside to try chalk and blow bubbles outside. Out came the neighbor girls and they tried to blow bubbles. At first, we all shared then Kaylee threw a big tantrum because she wanted her turn and wouldn't let go of the wand (no bubbles were blown successfully). The bubbles had to go away so that the playing could continue and now we have a very decorated driveway. It's good that the neighbor girls like Kaylee so much. They invited us over to watch a dance video they made. They laughed as Kaylee danced to their music video.

p.s. You can really see in the above photo her cute gap between her two front teeth!

15 mo check-up

Today Kaylee and I went to her 15 month check-up.

She is 21(or 20? Can’t remember) lb 5 oz (22.5%)
She is 31.5” h (61%)
Her head is (77%)

The first thing the doctor said that while she respects the allergist’s findings, she has some new information from another credible doctor that you shouldn’t pull food until the child has actually demonstrated real-life intolerability to it. Therefore since we haven’t actually seen that Kaylee has an egg allergy (other than what the blood test said) we have been instructed to go ahead and give it a try. So we’ll do that this weekend. The doctor said Kaylee’s got to gain weight. She said we have to see about butter to and if she’s allergic or not, and then try adding it to her meals for extra fat. She said we should try to give her one extra bottle/sippy cup a day to increase her weight, but that by the way we should be trying to get them into sippy cups instead because she says we need to phase bottles out. She said developmentally Kaylee’s doing great. She tested her with building blocks, quizzed me about the number of words Kaylee can say, how she walks, runs, walks backwards and goes up steps. She was very satisfied in all those areas.

I personally think that one of the biggest reasons we’re having issues getting her to eat is because she wants to simply wonder around, not be restrained in a highchair. She wants to play and explore and arches her back throwing a fit when she gets put in her highchair. We’re thinking of getting her a booster seat to bring her closer to the table and make her feel like a big girl. We tried it with a phone book and she seemed to like it. So we’ll see…we sometimes feed her in the living room trying to capture time she’s playing with snacking and munching on things. It’s not ideal but we’re trying to get something into her. We are moderately successful. She seems like she will eat one good meal a day, usually where she eats all/most of her food. We also have to keep the dogs totally separate, because she gets distracted by them and wants to spend the time feeding them instead.

Kaylee had three vaccinations today. The first one stunned her but she didn’t cry, she started to cry hard with the second and was screaming by the third. I had to intervene a couple times because the medical staff totally had her vaccination schedule wrong and they were going to give her the wrong ones twice. I’m glad I’m up on what’s going on with her, else she would’ve gotten the wrong stuff! Argh!

Glad to have that over with, the 18th month is just a check up. I am looking forward to a doctor’s visit with no shots and no crying!

Everybody have a great weekend! We're supposed to finally get up into the 80's this morning was chilly enough for a sweater and didn't feel like July!

15 mo check-up

Today Kaylee and I went to her 15 month check-up.

She is 21(or 20? Can’t remember) lb 5 oz (22.5%)
She is 31.5” h (61%)
Her head is (77%)

The first thing the doctor said that while she respects the allergist’s findings, she has some new information from another credible doctor that you shouldn’t pull food until the child has actually demonstrated real-life intolerability to it. Therefore since we haven’t actually seen that Kaylee has an egg allergy (other than what the blood test said) we have been instructed to go ahead and give it a try. So we’ll do that this weekend. The doctor said Kaylee’s got to gain weight. She said we have to see about butter to and if she’s allergic or not, and then try adding it to her meals for extra fat. She said we should try to give her one extra bottle/sippy cup a day to increase her weight, but that by the way we should be trying to get them into sippy cups instead because she says we need to phase bottles out. She said developmentally Kaylee’s doing great. She tested her with building blocks, quizzed me about the number of words Kaylee can say, how she walks, runs, walks backwards and goes up steps. She was very satisfied in all those areas.

I personally think that one of the biggest reasons we’re having issues getting her to eat is because she wants to simply wonder around, not be restrained in a highchair. She wants to play and explore and arches her back throwing a fit when she gets put in her highchair. We’re thinking of getting her a booster seat to bring her closer to the table and make her feel like a big girl. We tried it with a phone book and she seemed to like it. So we’ll see…we sometimes feed her in the living room trying to capture time she’s playing with snacking and munching on things. It’s not ideal but we’re trying to get something into her. We are moderately successful. She seems like she will eat one good meal a day, usually where she eats all/most of her food. We also have to keep the dogs totally separate, because she gets distracted by them and wants to spend the time feeding them instead.

Kaylee had three vaccinations today. The first one stunned her but she didn’t cry, she started to cry hard with the second and was screaming by the third. I had to intervene a couple times because the medical staff totally had her vaccination schedule wrong and they were going to give her the wrong ones twice. I’m glad I’m up on what’s going on with her, else she would’ve gotten the wrong stuff! Argh!

Glad to have that over with, the 18th month is just a check up. I am looking forward to a doctor’s visit with no shots and no crying!

Everybody have a great weekend! We're supposed to finally get up into the 80's this morning was chilly enough for a sweater and didn't feel like July!

Chatty Kaylee

Kaylee has in addition to saying "butt-on" managed to say "thank you" (TANK YU) and "bless you" (BATCHU) as well lately. She seems to like to try to say words that are fun to say. She likes "yellow," obviously "button" and lately she's been trying to get out "banana" (NANA).

I don't know if I've mentioned but Kaylee has been sleeping a bit better lately. Although lots of times she still wakes up once during the night. She is easier to put back down. She can now be laid down in her crib while still pretty awake, she lets out a few cries, you can pat her and leave the room once she's quieted and she's fall asleep on her own. It makes putting her down much less of an undertaking but unfortunately for me, she seems to be attached to me right now and does it much faster for me therefore I've been putting her down mostly. Eric of course always is helpful where he can be :).

Other words she says:

"Elmo"

"Rico" (not Rio anymore) Now she calls both dogs Jackson and Rico and seems confused that they each have their own special name.

Kaylee's Jargoning

Kaylee now lifts up her shirt and points to her belly button. She then looks up with a little smirk, smiles and says “butt-on.” Her little belly is so cute and fat, it hangs well over her diapers and her pants. It’s amazing with how picky an eater she is how she has that big belly. It’s very reassuring to us that she’s doing just fine. She ate a great dinner last night , she ate all her spaghetti and then afterwards all her strawberries. She had no interest in the cookies on her tray however (fine with me). She started to like bananas and pineapples. I’ve been trying to teach her how to say banana. She seems to like it best when I feed her the banana straight from the peel, like a big girl.

She has said “good dog, good girl, good boy” to the dogs in the last couple weeks.

It was cute the other day Eric had gone off to get us root beer and ice cream for floats. We were playing over by the neighbor’s house and she stood up off the trike she was playing with (she can’t ride it) and shouted “Dad’s back!” across the street. Everybody looked to her disbelieving, and asked me if I had said that. I said “No that was Kaylee.” Disbelieving it myself!

Kaylee tells long stories now in her other language, a proficient jargoner. She sounds like she’s saying sentences for sure, with all the inflections and questions are definitely being asked as well. Now she’s even started to put in fillers which is making me try to omit the ahhs and umms from my speech patterns. It’s cute though. She starts with a tongue click and then “Ummm, iopeiopeo diopd ioppb ioggo og laudududud. Auaug ahh?” We have no idea what she’s saying but sometimes it’s obvious she’s making a joke, because she smiles and lets out a huge peel of laughter and we all join her laughing like we all get the joke.

KaylBop the Impatient

Kaylee has been sleepy lately when she comes home from daycare. I don't know if her schedule got really screwed up while we were on vacation or what - but at daycare today she only slept 40 mins and she's already asleep this evening. When I come home from work, I want to see her so I miss her a little. I'm hoping soon her schedule will be back on track. She seems to still sleep pretty well at night, without long wakeful periods.

It seems like everyday we're are hearing her say more words:

"Jenny" yes she's been calling me Jenny. I've been saying "That's my name, great job, but you should call me Momma."

"Nope"

"Rio" while referring to "Rico".

She's continuing to say "water" whenever someone says it, and when I open the refrigerator. Now I'm trying to teach her "milk." Oh she said "cookie" earlier today too.

Eating remains not too steady since vacation. She has been loving pretzels, which don't have a lot of nutrition. Today I offered her two great meals she wouldn't eat until she saw the pretzels and ate a few of those. I continue my efforts because I never know when all the sudden she's going to want it. It's so satisfying when she finally does eat, she smacks her lips a lot. It's so cute. Until then, she's doing great on her milk and we'll have to add vitamins on days when she's resisting eating her meals. I hear this is very common in her age group when they are mobile, don't want to be pinned down and simply would rather be off exploring things.

Kaylee seems to want to actively play more with us. She wants our attention and cries when not getting 100% because we're doing chores or whatever. She's impatient, but again this is exactly how she's supposed to be at this age. We can now not going out to dinner without first knowing it's a family restaurant and inexpensive, in case of a fit or she just refuses to sit still. When we went out to celebrate my LEED exam, we had to pack up our food and leave. It was nice on vacation having multiple people there so one person could watch her while the other eats/relaxes/converses. Now I see the real need for a babysitter when Eric and I want a nice dinner out. When I grocery shop I need to hurry because I know her patience will only last about 20 minutes before she wants to get down and run around.

Kaylee also has been crying for about 3 months during diaper changes. Diaper changing is now "going to see Elmo" (oh by the way she says "Elmo" which I can't say I'm entirely proud of). Her Elmo dolls talks and moves and distracts so that it's not a constant crying, rolling, running, arching of the back fiasco. Sometimes she has unexpectedly arched her back and cracked her head on the door frame. It's so sad and I feel so bad but honestly, you can't see it coming. I have managed to get very good at changing diapers while she's standing or running across the room. I also have trouble putting on her shoes and tying them. She hates been restrained. She loves to kick her feet - I call her my little "Kangi Kaylee" because she reminds me of a little Kangaroo how much she has always (since the very beginning) loved to kick her feet. Now I see the value of velcro.

I just want to record here where she is developmentally for our own family history - not so that I can complain about her behavior. The good times with Kaylee well outweigh the fussier times, and her smiling, happy, babbling, giggling, silly, dancing, gleeful times are so precious you can barely remember that she was ever crabby.

A poem from Grandpa - how special!

Soft as your blankets
sleeping in peace.


Then stomping and spinning
while laughing and shouting.

I stand back and ponder
what am I seeing?

Something so precious
I don’t want to miss it.

Watch and listen
think and remember.

Back from vacation!

We made it back to MN after 22 hours in the car yesterday and a speeding ticket! We are all doing fine and Kaylee was very glad to run around with her toys and dance to her fridge farm music last night.

We had a great time in NM. and oddly and inadvertently, felt there was a baby missing when we arrived back home. Eric and I both were looking for F around the house, we got used to him being around and checking in on him. It was very fun to see the Iza's! Their life is currently a whirlwind and we marvel at how well they are dealing with the transition to CO! I loved playing with E and F, and seeing home much Kaylee did worship E, following her around, stoking her hair and face and laughing histerically at her antics.

These are the new words we heard this past week:

Water

Missy

Mesa

Sebastian

Abby (all dogs were "Abby" for a few days)

Open
Shut

(by the way there were 7 dogs there and relative peace was maintained most of the time thanks to Eric and his Mom and Dad)

Kaylee seemed a little stunned to go back to daycare today, but didn't cry. Hopefully I will get a good report at the end of my workday today!