Our Sweetest Lil Pea: August 2011

Wow how the months just keep flying by. As usual so many new things happen in Kailyn's life each month. Too much for me to be able to remember or write about everything in the last few months since my last post. So I am just going to try and recap on a few important things I would like to have posted for memories, or what I actually still remember. lol

Breaking the Bottle

I wouldn't say this was hard to do, as we really didn't push it. I just don't want her to grow up too fast. But we have now packed away all Ba Ba's and she only has her sippy cups. She has only been using the bottle at night since she turned one. It wasn't until about 2 weeks ago that we tried the sippy and she did really well. She didn't finish all, but even now some nights she just doesn't want it all. And then others she does. It really seems to depend on how big of a dinner she has. This girl can eat and Sunday night after a huge plate of lasagna she just was too full for more than a few sips of her milk.

She also no longer needs rocked to sleep. I still miss those nights and probably will for a long time to come. :*( Even when I try now she just wants you to put her in her crib. She is great at self soothing now.

Too tired to make it through lunch!

Rear facing car seat

Not too much on this subject besides the fact that she is still rear facing. New studies suggest keeping them rear facing until two now instead of changing at one. After doing a lot of our own research on the subject we felt what was best for our daughter is to just keep her rear facing for now. It doesn't bother her at all. She doesn't know any different so why would it. Plus around her 1st Birthday we bought a portable DVD player that mounts to my head rest on my car. I have head rests on the back seats also so we just put it there for now, and when we turn her we will put it on the front seat headrest. She just loves watching her movies now in the car. It's really the only time she will pay attention to movies/TV. She just doesn't have the attention span for TV yet. Would rather be running around at home than sitting in front of the TV, which is fine by me.

But she is still constantly growing and her legs are starting to get a bit cramped. More so in Chris's truck than in my car. So I can't say for sure if we will keep her this way until she is two, but for now she stays rear. Also for those that have little ones that are still rear, you may know how it gets to be a bit difficult getting them in their seat as they get bigger and still being rear.

Watching her Word World

Talking, babbling

Since she started with sounds this girl loves to "chat". I mean she is a girl. ;-) She now has many words in her vocabulary. And the last month it's amazing how much she is starting to understand so much of what we say. She knows where almost all her major body parts are. She says various words and animal sounds such as duck, quack, dog, JD (one of our dogs), good ole Mama and Dada, Nana, Up, please, ball and a few others. We have these flash cards I just love. Baby's 1st words, animals, ect.. They are big, thick and sturdy so even when she tries to crumble them they really don't like the other thin ones. It was through these cards that she has learned a lot of her words. Show her the fish and she still won't say that word but will immediately make fish lips, dog she knows and will bark, cow she moos, cat she meows and so on. She had a little cold over the weekend and I said Eww you have boogies, so she starts picking her nose. I can give her a tissue and she will try to blow. After dinner now she likes to have a napkin to wipe her face.

Never a dull day with her, she will always put a smile on our face each day.

Swimming, water slides. Lot's of summer fun

Most kids I'm sure love the water, Kailyn is definitely no exception to this. Pool, water slides, water table, bath, puddles. If it's water she loves it. We had our first trip to a local water park with Kailyn's cousins and Aunt and Uncle. Of course she had a blast. Wanted to go down the slide without me! She also now goes down the slide by herself on the home water slide blow ups. My brother has a big one that we had at her birthday party and she loves going to their house to play on it. Her and her two cousins will play for hours on that thing. We just recently bought one for our house we found on sale. She has a blast.

In the bath now she constantly tries to kick, swim and float on her back. This she learned from her swim classes. She will definitely miss the water once it is winter again. Although our winters don't last very long so water fun will not be missed for long!

Having a popsicle with her cousin

Swim class w/Mommy

Those pesky dang teeth

Kailyn now has all her teeth except the four two year molars. She got in her four canines shortly after she turned one. Those were NOT fun for Kailyn or Mommy and Daddy. Up all night, horrible red butt, diarrhea and even low grade fevers. I even bought her an Amber teething necklace to try out to help with the pain from her teeth. Of course, not realizing how long mail take's from Europe to get here, I received the necklace two days after her last canine broke through. Oh well, we still have the 4 two year molars. I am sure the two year molars will start coming in soon, seeing she got the rest of her teeth so young.

Bumps,bruises and bloody lips

Shortly after walking then comes running.......or at least trying to! Kailyn started really walking right when she turned one. I say "really" walking because this is when she started to really take off on her own. She had been walking short distances a few weeks before that, but suddenly she got the hang of it and was everywhere. Then just a few weeks later she was trying to walk quickly, run. This is when the real accidents started to happen. She has had not one, not two, but three bloody lips from falling and her teeth cutting her upper lip. And boy do those bleed! First time Mommy freaked out. Second time I freaked out but not as bad. Third time I calmly took her to the sink and got out her Elmo boo boo thing from the fridge and handed it to her, which immediately stops the crying. I have learned she is a pretty tough cookie. I know this is just the beginning of many accidents to come, I just pray none are are too bad.

Some not so fun phases

Since Kailyn turned one we have started experiencing some not so pleasant "phases". Screaming. Everywhere. All day. Not exaggerating. I am happy to say this phase has ended for now. It lasted about 3 weeks and was not fun for a very stressed out Mommy and Daddy. I read a little about it and realize it had a lot to do with her wanting to express herself and communicate with us, but obviously not able to speak to us yet. It was so bad we didn't even go to dinner or anywhere we couldn't leave real fast. I think it also had a little bit to do with her teeth that were coming in at that time. Sometimes when she would scream she would try to shove her fist or any object in her mouth to bite on while yelling.

Taking off is another phase (not sure this is actually a phase) she is still going through. Anywhere we go now she wants to be down. She no longer likes to sit out to dinner. She used to be so good when we would take her as long as you had food in front of the lil porker. Now she wants down after 5 minutes. Same thing with going to the store or anywhere for that matter. Now that she is a very experienced walker she wants to do just that.....everywhere. She is a little girl on a mission somewhere everywhere we go!

Kailyn also can be so affectionate now. If you ask for hugs or kisses she will come and give you one. I just LOVE this. I have been waiting for this. She also now understands when she hits it can make people sad. So if she hits you and you make a sad face she will then rub your arm or face and try to give you a kiss. It almost makes you want her to hit you, it's so dang cute when she does that after. She is definitely not your mild tempered, sit like a good girl and behave type of toddler. She also is not the most horribly behaved child, but she is very determined and such a personality. And even though she can be such a pain at times, I wouldn't change a thing about her and love her just the same. We just try and hope our parenting skills mold her into a wonderful individual as she gets older.

Last piece of news is that Kailyn started preschool last week. She still cries every time I drop her off, but we knew this would take some time adjusting for her. Also going only three days a week it may take a bit longer to get used to. She loves kids but definitely takes some time for her to warm up to adults. She has never been the type to let someone she doesn't know just take her and hold her. She has to know you pretty well to feel comfortable being alone with you. She is getting better, though. She even likes for my brother to hold her now. :-)