Sliding

For Christmas my dad and stepmom got Kayla a fun little slide to go in her play room. We finally got around to asking our friends, Chris and Heidi, to pick it up for us at the store (the box was way to big for our little car) this last weekend. Kayla was soooooo excited, she just wouldn't give the guys room to put it together!

And she definitely could not wait to go down the slide!

Thanks again dad and Phyllis, she loves it!

I just realized that I haven't updated Kayla's developmental accomplishments lately. So here it goes:

• Age - 17 1/2 months
• Words - hi, hello, bye, lunch, daddy, doggy, mom, bath, nap, turtle, duck, thank you and uh-oh both in the appropriate context.
• Growth - approx. 27 pounds and 32 inches.
• Personality - From the get go Kayla has been a little firecracker! She is fiercely independent and always trying to do things on her own. Which unfortunately leads to many bumps and bruises ie: stitches at only 9 months old! She is LOUD and PASSIONATE and let's you now without hesitation when she likes or dislikes something. She is very kind and loving and showers us with hugs and kisses. She also enjoys sending her love to others, saying hi and bye and blowing kisses to strangers, and once she knows someone, actual hugs and kisses ensue. She is quickly learning her boundaries and reluctantly obeys mommy and daddy a little more each day. Temper tantrums right now, unfortunately, are also a part of her personality. We usually can get her to snap out of it quickly but sometimes they get a little out of control and mommy and daddy are working on that.
• Food - So far we have been blessed with a NON-PICKY eater. Let's face it, the girl loves to eat. And she rarely turns her nose up at what we put in front of her. Honestly though, I put A LOT of thought into what I give her. She has a wide wide wide variety of the various food groups and is eager to try new things. She is all ready learning however, that I am not a short order cook and what is put on her plate is what she's gettin! If she wants to she is welcome to have seconds of the SAME THING but nothing more.
• Cognitive -Kayla is starting to recognize certain shapes and loves to play with that old school red and blue tupperware shape-sorter. Although her speech is very limited, her understanding of what we are saying is vast. She is able to follow simple instructions like 'go get a bib for lunch' or 'please give this to daddy'. She throws her trash in the trash can and dirty dish in the sink when told to. We use signs for milk, all done, and more, and she uses them appropriately.
• Imagination - It is so fun the see Kayla's little imagination starting to bud. She gets a kick out of putting a bib and diaper on her stuffed monkey and pretends to feed him a meal with one of her spoons. We'll jokingly say 'nap time!' and Kayla will throw herself on the ground and make the honk shoo snore sound.
  

Ok so that list was longer than I intended! But anywhoo, that's Kayla in a nutshell right now. This is a really fun age and we're just looking forward to having actual conversations with her someday soon. Won't those videos be interesting!