16 months

There's finally artwork on our fridge! Its something I've been looking forward to for a long time... the day Kayla's artwork adorned my walls. As her "firsts" these will definatly have to be saved in a box. You can bet there won't be too many more days from here on out that I don't have artwork on my fridge. (Yes, I realize that if I'm this excited over a few scribbles my basement may be full of boxes waaaaaay sooner than later).

Kayla is a child who does not like to get dirty. I really hope this is a phase she grows out of. Any speck of anything that's on her hand she holds up and says "yuck, yuck" until it gets wiped off. This week we had unseasonably warm 70 degree weather and to take advantage of it I raked a pile of leaves in the yard to jump in. It turned out to be more like "standing in" because Kayla was so concerned about all the leaves stuck to my pants, she kept saying "Uh-oh, Uh-oh, Uh-oh" and was not content until she brushed all of them off. We moved on to another activity...

Spinning that into a positive, we do have a little girl who likes to clean. Its hard to find our dish towels we hang on the stove handle because likely she's got them laying all around the house from all of her cleaning adventures. You can usually find her with a dish towel, broom or dust buster in her hand "cleaning" up.

Kayla is a very independant little girl! She is discovering new abilities every day and you should know that she's going to do it and do it all by herself. That includes opening and closing doors, using silverware, holding a cup, going up and down stairs, putting on and taking off shoes and socks, and reading books. If we interfer with any of her activities there's sure to be a scream not far behind. The staff in the nursery at church told us she's going to make a good cheerleader.

Kayla's vocabulary is growing daily. I was keeping a running tally of the words she was learning, but there's new ones being added every day. Some that come to mind - Mama, Dada, kitty, cracker, up, off, boo, blankie, Pa (Grandpa), Kaakaa (yucky), pumpkin, bird, moon, book, cracker, bottle and movie.; she identifies and says quite a few body parts - eyes, nose, mouth, ears, tongue, hands and toes; she imitates some animal sounds - cow, cat, dog, pig, horse, dog, sheep, snake and duck. She still signs 'please', 'thank you' and 'all done', but she speaks rather than signs 'more'. The fun part of this age is her ability to comprehend and act on something we say, like "Let's get your shoes on", "Go get your puzzle", "Brush your teeth", "Where are your markers?" or "Do you want to eat?"


Kayla keeps us on our toes, keeping up with her interests, her development, her abilities... and her clothes. It seems just a few months ago - and literally it was - I got out all her 12-18 month clothes after putting away all her summer clothes and realized there wasn't much there for her to wear. So began the never-ending task of adding size-appropriate clothing to her closet. Now here we are, the beginning of November, only two months since summer's end, and already she's moved into 18-24 month clothes and size 5 shoes, and it looks like those size 5's won't fit her long either. Its impossible to keep up without spending insane amounts of money on a new wardrobe every few months, which is why I love - no, I'm addicted to - Mom-to-Mom sales. Great items at great deals!

Kayla shows her approval for something by laughing and claping her hands - it lets us know she agrees with what we're saying. We'll ask her "Kayla, do you want to go to bed?" and she'll clap and laugh, say blanket, and grab our finger and lead us to her room. Even as I type this the busy pitter-patter sound of her feet on the kitchen floor makes me smile. Could we ask for anything more?