Well, I missed Kylee's 17-month update during the move...I know, I know, monthly updates are a little much, but I love looking back & reading what she learned each month. Kylee turned 18 months old at the end of January. I just have to warn you, this is a very long post. I thought our families would appreciate hearing how much Kylee has changed since we moved, though...so here it is!
Kylee is talking like CRAZY...in English & Spanish! She mostly just copies the Spanish words...but she does know "hola", "gracias", and "adios" and uses them in the right context. As far as her English goes...Kylee speaks in sentences & has good grammar. It is so weird to hear that many words coming out of her little mouth! Of course, she doesn't talk nearly as much around other people as she does around Linc & I, but we definitely get a kick out of the things she has been saying lately.
Kylee's favorite show is Dora The Explorer. She even watched it in Spanish the other day. It's quite the experience watching Dora in Spanish. The dubbing is pretty bad and Dora sounds like she sucked on helium balloons. Plus, it just sounds so funny hearing them speak Spanish with random English words interjected throughout their conversations & songs. Kylee loves to watch it, regardless of the language it is in though. :) She does a good job (when watching the English version) of following the instructions on the show, yelling "Map!" or "Backpack!" when prompted. She also loves saying, "Man!" after Swiper says "Aw, man!", and says it in the cutest tone. In fact, during our first week of church here, a man was praying (in Spanish of course) and finished with "Amen", pronouncing it "Ah-men". Well, Kylee thought the guy said "Aw, man." and yelled out "MAN!" It was REALLY funny.
Kylee has also been practicing her colors. Lincoln has a shirt that has pink, black and blue designs on it, and Kylee loves to point to each color and name it. She also has a talent for remembering people's names. I'm constantly amazed at how many people she calls by name now. Since being around her older cousin Kirtlyn, Kylee is suddenly very into Barbies & the Disney princesses. She loves to go on walks with Daisy, Duke & I during the day and we often end up at the little park in our coto, where she loves to swing & run around. She also enjoys finding cigarette butts on the ground, pointing to them, and yelling "yuck!". She has developed a habit of saying "Bye pool!" & waving to the swimming pool every time we leave the park too.
Kylee's favorite foods right now are yogurt, peanut butter, crackers & pizza. She also really likes spicy foods. She even ate the bell peppers & onions that I picked off my supreme pizza today! She is afraid of some of the loud noises here, especially the buses. When we are out walking & a bus drives by, she screams "Aaghhh! Bus!" and runs to me. We like looking at the different flowers in our neighborhood & naming their colors. Kylee also likes to copy the made-up songs that I sing during the day and will sometimes sing random words to me. It cracks me up!
Kylee adores Daisy & Duke. She tries to walk them with their leashes, gives them each a treat after their walks, throws their tennis ball to them & gives them kisses. Daisy & Duke are getting to be quite protective of her too. Kylee can finally tell the difference between the two dogs & calls them each by name, instead of calling both of them "DaisyDuke".
So now that I've written almost EVERY detail of what Kylee is doing at 18 months, here are a few more things that she has been up to:
She still LOVES jewelry & puts some on every day...
Her coloring skills are improving...
And she takes great care of her dolls...
(Linc shares his earphones with Kylee when he listens to music, so she decided to do the same for her baby. How funny is that?!)
Kylee also likes to wear Mommy's hat...
And she loves taking baths with her new tea set from the $1 store.
Kylee asks for crackers all day long. The first words out of her mouth when she wakes up in the morning are, "Mommy, I want crackers." Those are also the last words out of her mouth each night before she falls asleep. She also likes to see how many crackers she can fit in her mouth at one time...
She still loves her bottle.
I'm hoping to have her off the bottle in the next month. She is great at drinking water out of a regular cup, but refuses to drink milk unless it is in her bottle!
Kylee is still really good at making messes...
She loves to read books...
And just got a new Winnie the Pooh toilet seat!
This past month she randomly started telling me when she needs to go to the bathroom & which one she needs to do. :) She still ends up going in her diaper, but I'm excited that she thinks to tell me without me ever asking her! She will sit on her toilet seat for about 30 seconds & then wants to get off...but I figure it is a good step. Luckily she is so young that I don't feel the need to rush it. However, not having to buy diapers anymore sounds pretty heavenly to me!
We are so thankful for the little things that Kylee does that bring us so much joy. We love having a child in our home! I have thought multiple times since she joined our family, how much I love seeing her toys & shoes & everything else laying around the house. As funny as it sounds, that is something that I dreamed of for a long time. When I was pregnant with Jackson, I always visualized his clothes laying out or his toys all over the floor...and then when I had him, his clothes stayed in his closet & his toys stayed in their boxes. Seeing Kylee's things being used makes me happy. Seeing her grow & learn & develop makes me thankful. Seeing her point to Jackson's picture & say "Baby Jackson" makes me feel so privileged to have her as my daughter & to have a sweet son in heaven. Life doesn't get much better than this. You're awesome Kylee. Thank you for everything that you do for us!!!
