Milestones

Kayla is 19 months old. There are two important milestones that will forever be remembered with this month. One is good...and one is not-so-good.
The first milestone is the not-so-good one. It is when Kayla first climbed UP and fell OUT of her crib.

Aaron was putting her down for a nap this afternoon and she wasn't too happy about it. That's not normal because Kayla is a great nap-taker... but climbing out of her crib is also not normal. After putting her in her crib he came downstairs and I heard her screams getting louder and closer... and then I heard her door open. I said to Aaron "Did you leave her just in the room?" Of course he didn't. Aaron and I looked at each other in complete astonishment, "What in the world just happened?!" I went upstairs and gave it a try and it wasn't more than a few seconds that we heard her fall to the floor, crying and the door open. We surrendered the nap because we couldn't have her keep climbing out, she clearly was not going to stay in, and were still in shock with our Houdini. An hour later we tried it again when she asked to go "night-night", but sure enough she came walking out of her room again.

We have one more level we can lower the mattress and I think I will take out the bumper. I have never seen her attempt to climb out before so I have no idea how she's doing it. I can only imagine she's using the bumper as a stepping stool to launch her legs over the side of the crib. I refuse to put her in a toddler bed yet!!!

The second milestone is a better one. Kayla is finally over her night-time bottle. Taking her off her bottle was not something I was forcing with her, but I was beginning to wonder IF and WHEN that day would come; I wanted it to be a natural process. I know the "experts" say take them off the bottle at 12 months, but I think that's just a nice even number they threw out there. Because why? Just because they had a birthday and turned 1? They certainly don't stop being babies after 1, so why do we force them to grow up so fast? I didn't really see the point. Kayla did not walk around with a bottle all times of the day, nor did she ever whine and cry for it; the bottle was simply a comfort measure during her bedtime routine and I had no problem with it. (Although I am glad to finally be done washing bottles!) We went up north last weekend, I packed her bottle as I always do, but when it came time for bed she took her sippy cup, had a few sips and. that. was. that.

On another note, something new Kayla has done a few times is yell for Aaron by saying 'A-nee! A-nee!' Not sure if I should think its cute or not, but its definately funny. Hmmmm, I wonder where she learned it?

Our friends Jeff and Laura are here visiting us for the weekend with their beautiful 4-week old baby, Jack. Another baby for Kayla! She is enjoying having him here, she brings him his blankets, trys on his clothes, pats him on the head and lays her head on his back. She is very sweet and loving towards babies, she's a natural with them!