McKamy – 23 Months

Really, only one more month until Kamy is two?!?

While I know it’s just a monthly milestone, it seems like she really is two as far as her abilities, language, and understanding is concerned.

• Complex thoughts and sentences are spilling out of her mouth constantly now.  She’s still big into possession, and she loves to clarify who something belongs to.  For example, she said “Katie under Caden’s play gym” this morning.  She remembers what we talk about days earlier and will often bring up conversations or things we did out of the blue.  She has also started to group people into categories, including using “eh buh dee” (everybody).  Two of the funniest things she says right now are “Mer Tismas, eh buh dee” and “go touboys.”  Granted, we haven’t brought up Christmas since, well, Christmas time … and the poor Cowboys haven’t played in months.  Lol!  I don’t know what brings up Christmas, but anytime she sees something related to football, she remembers the Cowboys.

• One of our favorite things Kamy says right now comes at the end of conversations she has with herself.  When she’s getting ready to do something, she’ll often say it out loud.  This is what we hear “Kamy go outside.  O’tey?  O’tey.”  It’s super adorable!  Keller and I have added “O’tey? O’tey” to our conversations as well.  =)

• Kamy is one tough little girl.  Keller and I decided early on that we were not going to make a big deal out of bumps and bruises.  It’s part of growing up and we wanted Kamy to be able to handle a scrape without having a meltdown to go with it.  We’ve seen too many kids that fall down, glance at Mom or Dad and see they’re concerned, and promptly break down.  Kamy’s not like that.  While she does want some reassurance when she scrapes her knee or bumps something, we have a quick fix … “tisses.”  One little kiss on the “hurt” location fixes nearly everything.  She is milking “tisses” pretty hard right now, but if what she really wants is a kiss from Momma or Daddy just because, I can’t fault her for that!  A good tiss and a hug will usually fix the major hurts too.  While playing at Adventure Alley (a playground in Southlake that Keller and I used to play in, see photo below), she bit her lip going down a slide and made it bleed pretty good.  I’m sure it hurt and there were real tears involved.  I picked her up, asked her if she wanted a kiss and got a tearful “yeAS?,” kissed her little lip, gave her a hug, and she was on her way.  What a tough little girl.

• Kamy is still a great little eater.  She is very flexible and eats pretty much anything we put in front of her.  I don’t really worry about what she’s eating each meal because I know if one meal is light she’ll just eat more at the next one.  Sometimes she isn’t hungry, and that’s okay with me, we don’t try to make her eat more than she wants to.  She’ll usually ask for whatever she wants, so it makes her easy to please.  Fruit and cheese are always a safe bet, with pasta and bread running a close second.  Kamy’s decided she prefers “built” sandwiches over the deconstructed ones I’ve been giving her the last few months … she is a big girl after all and she wants to eat the same thing Momma does!

• One treat we’ve been giving her is splitting a chocolate shake when we go into town.  She knows she can keep the shake as long as she leaves the straw in.  As soon as she pulls the straw out, it becomes Daddy’s shake.  Every time we give it to her, the conversation goes something like this — Daddy starts, “Who’s shake is this? … Kamy’s shake! … That’s right, Kamy’s shake.  But what happens if you take the straw out?  Who’s shake is it then?  … Daddy’s shake. … That’s right!  Here you go Kamy.”

• As long as we give her clear guidelines to work with, she is the most patient and flexible child I know.  As I mentioned in last month’s update, we let her play on the Nook for a little while each day if she wants to.  She nearly always does, but we wait until she asks to offer it.  If I do ask her, I get an emphatic “YessS?!” that makes me laugh.  I usually set a 15 minute time limit for playing.  I give her a countdown as the time passes and when time is up, she gives it up without any fussing or protesting.  For being two, it’s a minor miracle.  I have to keep telling myself that just cause Kamy is super duper easy, doesn’t mean Caden will be, nor that something is wrong with him when he’s not so simple.

• Kamy loves to listen to us sing, and now she’ll join in!  She pays so much attention to the words we say and what the songs mean, she can learn new ones pretty quickly.  Her favorites right now are the ABCs, Pop! Goes the Weasel, Happy Birthday, Winnie the Pooh, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  She usually won’t sing a whole line by herself, but she’ll fill in the last few words if you pause.  Kamy’s words are in bold:

All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel, the monkey thought twas all in fun, Pop! goes [the] weasel.

• Reading is making a comeback right now.  Kamy loves to go to the library and pick out a few new books to bring home.  She’ll get stuck on one and we’ll read it over and over and over again.  She will also sit and read to herself more frequently now, and I can hear her talking through the story out loud.  It’s super cute!  When we’re reading a favorite book, she’ll also fill in the blank in the stories that she’s got memorized.  One of her favorite books right now is Pete’s White Shoes.  One part of the story says “Did Pete cry?  Goodness no!”  I love hearing Kamy’s answer … “Goos’no.”  So cute!

• One of her Christmas gifts was the memory game.  She loves playing with it and she’s remarkably good at it!  Kamy usually picks up one card and then starts searching for the match.  When she runs across the second card of another set while looking, the first card gets set down and she picks up the two matching ones.  Followed by … “Kamy di’ it!”

• Kamy is so observant!  She constantly sees details that I don’t.  She loves to find stop signs right now and will chant “sop sine” over and over until you acknowledge her comment.  Then it’s a project to find the next one.  When we drive in the car, there’s a constant commentary on what we’re passing and it makes us smile.  (Granted, I know this will eventually get old, but it’s great for now!)

• In preparation for her birthday coming up in a few weeks, we’ve been practicing “How old are you?”  It’s super cute, cause she says “two!” and holds up her pointer fingers on each hand, with a huge smile.  She’s also learned how to sing Happy Birthday and will sing it by herself now.

• Kamy thrives in routine, though she is super flexible and will adjust to anything that we’re doing at the time.  At home, here’s our general routine:  awake around 7:45 or 8am, up at 8:30 followed by breakfast.  After breakfast she goes back down for her quiet time for another hour (9:15 – 10:15 or so).  Then lunch around 1pm and nap time at 3pm.  Dinner is usually between 5 and 6, then either playtime or bath until 7 when it’s time for bed.  She remains the easiest toddler to put to bed ever — kisses and hugs and good nights all around and she’s put in bed and out like a light as long as she has her bahs and her seahorse Seace.  She hardly ever wakes up at night, so she’s set until the next morning.  If she does wake up, she’ll usually turn on Seace and put herself back to sleep.  All these times will push back by about an hour with daylight savings time next weekend, but that’s our general routine.

• Another huge change is Kamy remembering to say “thank you” without prompting!  It’s not every time yet, but more than 50% of the time she’ll say thank you when you give her something or do something for her that she’s asked for.  It’s super sweet and I’m so proud of her.  If she does need a little prompting, usually asking “What do you say?” will remind her.

• Lastly, Kamy’s doing really well playing outside.  Daddy and I have been working on a lot of projects in the yard lately — especially getting our garden going.  Kamy’s finally old enough to entertain herself and doesn’t require a constant eye on her to watch what she’s doing.  It’s allowed us to get a ton done and it’s made a huge difference.  She loves to play in the dirt and she’s been using the large pile of soil as a slide!

One more month (two short weeks from when this is actually getting posted, oops!) and little Kamy will be two.  I can’t believe it … our little girl is not so little any more.  We’re having such a fun time with her at this age!