McKamy – September Update

Another month has passed.  Sweet Kamy is officially two and a half!  She’s getting so big and she surprises me daily with her little commentary on our lives — I never know what’s going to come out of her mouth.  She certainly is an observant child and she’ll pick up on everything going on around her.

• Over Labor Day weekend, we went to Linden to spend the afternoon with Oma and Opa.  While swimming, Kamy expressed an interest in “jumping” in the water from the ladder.  Since she’s been sort of skittish in the water lately, this was a big step for her.  She had so much fun lunging to Oma who caught her before turning around to climb out and do it again.  I was so proud of her!

• Kamy’s grammatical use of pronouns is getting very accurate.  Now she’s only mixing up “he and him” and “she and her” in context and will often say “I’m petting he” when she’s paying attention to Charley.  I know it’s only a matter of time until that little piece clicks into place too.  Otherwise she’s got her pronouns worked out.

• We have been reading a lot of books lately.  Thank goodness for stocking up on new books while we’re in town;  we burn through so many it’s crazy!  I know I like reading different books occasionally.  =)  Kamy’s current favorite is “The Halloween Play,” a book that I pulled out with the fall decorations.  I’ve been hunting for holiday and seasonal books to stash in the decor boxes so we have “new” books to read each year.  Kamy’s been testing me a bit lately, especially while reading.  She intentionally puts her hands in the way of the words so I can’t read.  I’ve started to issue one warning to stop or we’ll be done reading for a while.  That seems to keep her hands back for a while, but they inevitably come back.  Then we’re all done for a bit.  =(

• Two year olds are famed for their energy.  If there was a way to capture that energy, I’m sure we could power the world with it!  Kamy blows and goes all day long;  it’s no wonder she naps hard and sleeps hard at night, she definitely needs it.  Here she is, dancing up a storm!

 

• Her new skill of the month is counting in Dutch … because counting to ten in English and Spanish isn’t enough apparently.  =P  She can consistently count to twelve, though she sometimes skips 8 (acht).  Her interest in Spanish words comes and goes, and at the moment it is gone.  Lol!  I’m trying to keep challenging her with new skills and ideas and letting her decide which ones she’s interested in — counting, spelling, Spanish, etc.  That’s not always easy to do considering how quickly she can pick something up.  And you never know what she’s going to latch on to.

• The concept of color matching is really getting a lot of attention right now.  Kamy makes a point of trying to wear or use the same color item that she’s wearing for the day.  We keep two bibs in the kitchen for meal time and each meal Kamy gets to pick which color bib she wants.  For now, Caden doesn’t care which one he uses.  If she is wearing either color, she’ll automatically choose that one and say “It matches!”  She’ll also choose a matching cup if it’s one of the options.  Shades are irrelevant, just the general color is good enough.  While this does work for clothing as a general rule, sometimes the pattern or shades of pink don’t always go … together.  The other day she totally looked like a hobo wearing her pink and brown polka dot dress, her pink, white, and silver snowflake sweater that is missing a button, lime green cropped pants, and tennis shoes.  Oh well, that’s what she picked out and it really would be fine.  I was just hoping she and Daddy wouldn’t see anyone they knew at the park!  =P

• And speaking of going to the park — Kamy loves to play on the play ground!  She is such a little climber and she has no hesitation trying new things.  She’s not particularly afraid of heights, as long as there isn’t chaos around her with other kids running around, she’ll take her time and figure things out.  When there are other kids around, Kamy tends to back off and watch them.  She’s so petite that most kids are bigger than her and she seems to get a little overwhelmed if it’s too crazy.

• Kamy’s imagination is kicking into high gear right now.  She’s really big into pretend play, including flying a kite, being a princess, and having tea parties.  She’ll also bring you food she’s made or ask you to pet her baby animal she’s holding.  For tea parties, she’ll spread out one of her quilts in her room and set up her animals to have a tea party with her.  I still have my china tea set that my Oma gave me years ago, so I’m excited for the time when Kamy’s old enough to take care of it and we can have tea parties on real china.  =)

• Possibly tied in with said-imagination, McKamy is now sleeping with a night light in her room.  We took down the moon light switch a few weeks ago when Kamy started turning on her light at night and leaving it on all hours … and thus not sleeping well.  She couldn’t articulate why she wanted the light on, but I’d guess it has something to do with her imagination and dreams.  After repeated warnings not to turn on the light at night, we compromised by putting a night light in her room instead.  I plan to put the moon back up soon and see if her self control will leave it alone at night now that she knows it can go away (and Momma meant what she said).  Speaking of sleeping, I’ve found Kamy asleep on the floor of her room several times … silly girl!  The bed is much more comfortable than the floor.

• Our bedtime routine is very structured right now, and it makes for easy nights.  After putting on jammies and brushing teeth, we feed her fish Violet and then read two books.  Then Daddy gets hugs and kisses, particularly on his head.  =P  I chase Kamy back to her room, we sit on her couch and I sing her song before putting her to bed.  It’s amazing how a daily routine makes things run so much smoother in our house!  Kamy is definitely a Momma’s girl right now and always chooses me when given the option of who’s going to put her to bed.  It makes Daddy a little sad, but he’s Caden’s favorite and they’ve started their own bedtime routine lately that has been going well.

• McKamy is my little helper!  She has always expressed an interest in helping me do things around the house, but we’re really getting to the point where things are going quicker with her help and I can “send” her to go to a task for me.  She helps with the laundry — filling and starting the washer, moving the clean clothes to the dryer, cleaning the lint screen, and starting the dryer.  She also runs the dish washer and helps unload it by handing me the everything except the silverware.  I can ask her to pick out a water for Caden at meals and she puts it on his high chair for him.  She likes to pick out a bib for him to wear too — he’s cutting molars right now, so he needs a new bib several times a day to save his shirt.  =)  Speaking of shirts, Kamy likes to choose what Caden is going to wear every morning too.  She’s such a great helper and I want to encourage her in every way possible.   Her sweeping skills still need improvement, but the attempt is certainly appreciated!

• Ever since checking out “Play Ball Amelia Bedelia” from the library, Kamy has been hooked on the concept of a “baseball game.”  Anything that involves throwing is automatically a baseball game.  While house-hunting in Arkansas a few weeks ago, Keller and Kamy and Caden amused themselves by throwing a stick for a german shepherd to fetch while I took photos of a house.  Kamy was a little skittish of the large, enthusiastic dog, so she spent most of the time standing behind something … until Daddy threw the stick for the dog.  Then she’d run out and would ask “Are you playing a baseball game,” laugh, and would promptly run back to safety.  It was pretty funny!  I guess we need to take her to a Rangers game next year so she can actually see what a baseball game is, huh?

• For Kamy’s second birthday, she got a harmonica from Oma and Opa.  She’s never really liked it and would always ask you to stop playing it when she was around, but something changed this month.  Now she loves it.  We call it her hyperventilator … you’ll see why:

 

 

What a busy month!  I knew this would be a long post, hence part of the delay in getting it ready … there’s a lot to talk about!  I am so proud of Miss Kamy and all she is learning and doing right now.  She continues to amaze me!