Where has 2011 gone? It seems like just yesterday we were coming into January and we were looking forward to Kamy’s first birthday in a few months. Now we’re 1 month out from her being a year and a half old! Oh my goodness!
Kamy is full blown toddler at this point — there’s really no “baby” left in her any more. It kind of makes me sad, but it is such a fun stage and she is in constant learning mode. Almost daily she seems to pick up a new word, sign, or animal sound.
- Food words are really coming in strong right now. We’ve recently added: bread, pasta, peach, grapes, and Cheerios. In fact, Cheerios are a huge hit right now and she’s frequently going to the pantry and pulling out the box to get some. I gave her a bowl of Cheerios today and she was so excited she kept dragging Daddy and me over to the bowl exclaiming “Chee’s” like it was the biggest news ever. It was pretty funny. =) And she was really concerned earlier when there was an empty box of Cheerios sitting on the dryer to go out with the trash. She didn’t seem to understand that it was an empty box and there were more in the pantry and that it really was okay. Lol!
- McKamy has learned to sign “thank you” and will do it pretty often when prompted. She’ll also sign it when Daddy and I are thanking each other for taking care of things. She’s one of the most observant little girls I’ve known, so I don’t know why that still comes as a surprise.
- Kamy is learning all about body parts right now and knows where they are. She can say and point to her and your head, hair, hand, feet, toes, teeth, eyes, and ears. Nose gets mixed up with mouth, but we’re still working on that one. I’ve been singing “head and shoulders” lately and she’s picking up on those new words pretty quickly. Clothing is coming along too, with hat, pants, shirt, skirt (sounds a lot like shirt), socks, and shoes of course. She’s still helping me with the laundry and will repeat after me as I hand her clothes to move from the washer to the dryer. Underwear is a hard one though!
- Animal sounds: dog, cat, cow, bird, elephant, bunny (it’s “hop hop” but really what other sound does a bunny make?), sheep, tiger and lion, snake, and horse. We’re learning monkey, bear, goose, and pig right now. She will say “duck” but doesn’t say “quack.” She’s got a book with 100 animals in it, so we’re working our way through it to learn the names and sounds of each animal. She’ll identify a ton more animals than she attempts the sounds for too — if I ask her “where’s the ___,” she gets it right 90% of the time (if she’s trying of course).
- She’s getting much more adept at categorizing things that she’s seeing — especially when they aren’t mirror images or super similar. For instance, she knows what a dog sounds like and what a dog (roughly) looks like, so she can identify one when she hears one barking, sees a realistic photo or picture, or even sees a cartoon drawing. It amazes me how she can find similarities and make inferences. She knows the yellow block with the letter L on it is a lion and will roar when she’s walking by and sees it. It’s the cutest thing! She’s also recognizing things out of context — seeing the cows on the Blue Bell ice cream container and mooing at them, while Tony the tiger gets a “roar” at the grocery store in the cereal section.
- Surprisingly to me, she’s learning about letters really quickly. One of the gifts Kamy got at Christmas was a letter puzzle. I’d had it put away for quite a while and only recently pulled it out of a box since moving. She’s learning that each letter has a special spot and it has to go in in a particular way or it won’t fit. She knows the “w” goes on top of the whale and the “x” goes on top of the x-ray. She’s also started to say the letters out loud, particularly b, d, o, r, t, v, x,y, and z. She even pointed to the “B” button on Daddy’s Xbox controller and said “beee” quite clearly. Smart girl!
- The next major concept we’ve been working on is colors. She’s never really shown much interest in grouping items of the same color and doesn’t seem to grasp what I’m asking when I ask her to pick up a certain colored block. I’m sure we’ll get there, but I am kind of surprised she hasn’t picked up on it yet. =(
- Counting is getting stronger too! She knows one, two, three, four, and six. She knows that five fits in there between four and six but so far she hasn’t made any attempts to say it on any sort of consistent basis. If she’s counting alone, they don’t always come in the right order, but we’re working on that. Kamy’s favorite game seems to be alternating counting with Daddy — he’ll say “one,” she’ll say “two,” he’ll say “three,” and she’ll do “four.”
- One of Kamy’s favorite “toys” is our cell phone. There’s a nifty little program for our phones called Toddler Lock which locks out all the buttons on the phone, prevents unwanted calls, and turns off the reception antenna. Since our phones are touch-screen, it chimes and puts colored shapes on the screen when she touches it. She’ll carry our phones around everywhere. “Fwaa” is her word for phone, while laying her open hand along her ear — it’s super clear what she wants! She also gets really interested when the phone rings or if it dings from a notification … she makes sure we know about it!
- We’ve officially transitioned to one nap after lunch. While we occasionally have a second nap in the late afternoon, it’s really only when she takes a short nap after lunch and she’s still tired. I’m still putting her in her crib first thing after breakfast for 45 minutes or an hour, even though she’s not sleeping any more. It gives me a chance to clean the kitchen, get dressed, take a shower, and maybe do something un-interrupted for a little while. She tolerates the morning “quiet time” really well considering, so I’m loathe to give that up. Hehe! We’re back to a 6:30 or 7pm bedtime for now too — since we’re down to one nap, she’s ready for bed just after dinner. It works out well because it gives Keller and me about 2 hours together in the evening before he starts work. Kamy’s been waking up at 7am on the dot lately, so I’m not sleeping in quite as much in the morning. Considering she’s sleeping for 12 hours straight, I really can’t complain though!
- Kamy is trying her darned-est to figure out how to open doors. She can reach the door knobs now by standing on her tiptoes and turns the knob a little back and forth. Once she sees she just has to turn it further one direction, I’m afraid it’s all over. A closed door won’t keep her out any more! Fortunately our exterior doors are Kamy-proof for now. The sliding glass door takes quite a bit of “oomph” even for me to open, so she won’t be strong enough for that any time soon. The back door has a dead bolt higher up, so that one’s safe too. The weakest of the doors is the front door where there’s no dead bolt. However, the door sticks like crazy glue and takes quite a tug to get it to open. Plus there’s a swing screen door outside with a hook way out of Kamy’s reach. Eventually we’ll have to deal with it, but we’re safe for now.
- Kamy is really concerned about knowing where everything is, all the time. If I ask her where Daddy is, she’s right about 80% of the time without looking (either in bed or at his desk usually). If I ask her where Charley is, she’ll find him and then promptly go looking for Katie and won’t stop until she finds her too. She knows where her stuffed animals are and will go directly to them if asked. She wants to know where my phone is and where her keys are at all times.
- Chase is really big right now. Daddy and I will sometimes trade off chasing her while the other is “safe” and it’s a great reliable way to get some great Kamy-hugs in for the person who is “base.” She’s starting to chase me when I run away and that’s a fun game too.
- Kamy’s recently learned how to tickle Daddy. It’s the cutest thing to watch her run up to him, put her hands on his tummy, shake them back and forth and say “ya ya ya ya.” Then Daddy rolls around laughing and “ya ya ya”-ing too and that’s just the funnest thing ever! Sweet Kamy laughs are so precious.
All that to say, we’ve got one little bundle of energy in this house. She’s in near-constant motion and bounces from one thing to the next in no time flat. If there’s something new, she’ll keep asking you over and over to show it to her and to let her have it.
When she wants something, you’ll know. She’ll grab your finger and drag you all around the house in search of the right toy, book, or a snack. If she wants you to read to her, she’ll walk over to the couch or chair, pat the seat, and say “sit.” Then she’ll hand you the book and say “up.” Any doubts on what she wants? ‘Course I love reading to Kamy, but I think I need to get some new books for my own sanity — the fact that I can recite most of them sitting right here at the computer tells me I’ve read them a time or two. =)
In just two more months we’ll have another little baby in the house. I’m sure Kamy will be a great big sister, though it’ll certainly be a big transition for her. Learning how to share attention from Momma or Daddy is going to take some time. We’re certainly excited, but I’m making a point to spend as much focused time with her as I can during the day now, while I can. Life’s only going to get busier!
