The Nineteenth and Twentieth Months

Here we are, only fourth months away from Kaitlin's SECOND BIRTHDAY. Excuse me while I go cry in the corner. The last two months were very exciting for Kaitlin as she got to experience Thanksgiving and Christmas as a toddler, and could participate and start to enjoy these holidays. I don't think she was too excited about Thanksgiving, but I was able to get her to eat some turkey so I was pretty pumped. But Christmas...ooohhh Christmas. Kaitlin absolutely adored all the Christmas lights, decorations and especially the Christmas tree. In fact, she started crying when she saw that the Christmas tree had been taken down and for WEEKS afterwards she would point to the bare spot in the living room and wave "bye-bye".

She did not have a great experience with Santa, but that is to be expected at this age. I think this photo will say it all...

One thing that she did love was getting lots and lots of presents!! Her Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Colleen came down to visit in December so she got to open presents two times, and I think she was starting to get used to being showered with gifts! She was an extra good girl this year and Santa rewarded her handsomely.

Kaitlin is turning out to be a GREAT little helper. There is nothing that she loves more (ok, maybe I can think of a couple things...) than for you to give her a task or ask her to help you with something. Some of her favorites include helping me "fold" laundry and empty the dishwasher. If I say to her, "Kaitlin, do you want to help me fold laundry?" She says "Yup" and walks up the stairs, opens the doors to the utility closet, tries to open the door to the dryer and then will help me "fold" the laundry! She shakes all the clothes out and will put all of her socks away without me asking. Unloading the dishwasher is, apparently, just as fun. She will put all of the spoons away in the silverware drawer (well, as best as she can reach) and then wait for me to empty out the rest. She also loves sweeping the floor. Hmm...I'm starting to see how this could work out quite nicely for me...

Other things Kaitlin likes (in no particular order):

- Dogs and Bunnies

- Watching TV (particularly Harry the Bunny on the baby channel). Its amazing how quickly she went from not interested int he TV at all to asking several times a day if we can turn it on! It's a slippery slope my friends.

- Coloring and playing with Play-Doh.

- Going to the park and the swings. Oohhh how this girl loves to swing.

- Reading books.

- Giving kisses and hugs to all of her favorite stuffed animals, toys, books, food...pretty much anything.

She is such a sweet, caring girl and makes us laugh all day long. Her vocabulary has really started to expand (at the moment she says 16 words regularly) and it is so fun hearing her express herself and learn new words. I have to say, ever since she turned eighteen months she has been, like, abnormally fun and awesome. This is my favorite age to date :) I can't wait to see what the next few months bring!

The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Months

Eek! I seriously cant believe that it has been over TWO months since I last posted an update. Let's get to it, shall we? I can't believe that Kaitlin is now a year and a half old. Weren't we just celebrating her first birthday?! To say that the last couple of months have been would not be entirely accurate, but they sure have been fun. Kaitlin's personality grows and expands every day. Her likes - and dislikes - become all the more clear and she becomes all the more vocal about it. The past two months, although super fun and full of laughs, were also very challenging as Kaitlin tries to find her voice and express herself without very many words. She only has about 5-6 words that she uses consistently, but she manages to get her point across very well. One of the words that she uses most often is a full, confident "YEAH". She only means to say "yes" about half the time that she actually says "yeah", but it's hilarious just the same.

"Kaitlin, do you want to go outside?"

"YEAH"

"Kaitlin, do you smell like dirty socks?"

"YEAH"

Its a fun game, really!

And - I am excited to announce - after eighteen loooonnngggg months Kaitlin is finally saying "Mama". Hooray!! And she says it when pointing to me or when she wants to tell me something. You have no idea how happy this makes me! She still says "Dada" all day long but I am happy to have a few "mama's" thrown in there too.

Getting her to eat is one area that is not fun at all. She has reverted to the standard beige toddler diet and it is incredibly frustrating for me, she doesn't seem to mind at all! She won't eat anything if it is any color other than white, beige, yellow or sometimes orange. Except for pouches. She will only eat green or yellow pouches. But only certain green and yellow ones, not just any one you give her. She is addicted to carbs, milk/cheese and eats mostly "snack" type foods rather than actual meals. She will take two bites of her meal and then push away her plate and exclaim, "UP!" (which means she actually wants to get down). It seems like I am always trying to push, encourage or trick her into eating more. Somehow she is getting enough calories though because she jumped back up to the 15% at her 18 month doctors appt for weight (she dipped down to 5% at her 15 mo check up). So the doctor encouraged me to "keep doing what I'm doing" to get her to eat. ACK! Doesn't she know how exhausting that is??

Hands down the best thing about the past two months is watching Kaitlin's little personality grow and flourish more and more each day. She is an adrenaline junky already - demanding us to push her higher on the swings and throw her on the bed more and more (which makes for a very nervous mommy). She is starting to learn when she is being funny and will try over and over again to get us to laugh and do something funny. She does a happy dance and she is as loving as ever to all of her stuffed animals and dolls. And now in addition to giving the sweetest kisses ever, she now gives the best hugs in the world. Real hugs where she holds you tight and buries her head into your neck. Oh how I love all of those sweet hugs!!