21 Months!

 Kylie is 21 months old!

How is it possible that Kylie is only 3 short months from becoming a two year old?!? Believe it or not, she is 21 months old now...and a full blown toddler complete with a mind of her own, temper tantrums, and lots of love to share!

Kylie has many favorite things. Now that she can walk, she cannot be stopped, and she loves it! She walks, she (tries to) runs, she twirls, she spins, and it's super cute! Kylie loves playing outside...Whether she is just chilling on the deck, swimming at the pool or climbing at the park, she loves the great outdoors. She loves reading and being read to...I bet we read 15-30 books every day! She loves playing with her stroller and dolls and her new (to us) kitchen. She likes to be funny and laugh, and she is starting to joke around with us by making funny faces or pretending to give us something and then taking it away at the last minute. She is becoming more and more social and loves to play with her friends like Ella, Witten, Helen and Annabelle. Of course, she still loves her "na-nee" (bunny) for bedtime and nap time.

Kylie has a few new things that she just doesn't like. She is sadly starting to become a bit of a picky eater. It's not too bad, she still eats plenty of good foods, but she will refuse several foods. To name a few, she doesn't like sweet potatoes (anymore), corn, bananas (sometimes), apples (sometimes), chicken nuggets (sometimes) and ground beef in anything! But we'll keep working on it...I won't let her live on macaroni and cheese alone! :) We are also still struggling with bath time. She does great, and actually likes it, until it's time to wash her hair. Then it's a scream fest, and not fun for anyone. I'm not exactly sure what to do about it, but hopefully she will learn to be okay with water on her head one of these days! Finally, she is in that stage in which she does not like to share. She can often be heard shouting, "mine" to anyone who is in the same room as her and sometimes to no one at all. It's painful, but I think we'll get through it.

As far as milestones go, like I reported in an earlier post, Kylie has met the big one..She can finally WALK! YAY! What a relief it has been! She is also learning more and more words every day. Many of her words are "words" that only she and I can understand. But she is saying lots of real words, and trying to mimic pretty much everything else we say. My current personal favorites are, "hereyayo" (here you go), "ab-ba" (Annabelle), "meow," and, "eeya" (see ya). She is starting to try to put two words together too. She still has a small hesitation between words, but will say things like, "Bye bye, Na-nee," which translates to, "Bye bye, bunny," and "Ya Ya, Na na," which translates to, "Jacob, milk." :) Another new skill that Kylie has acquired is winking...It's actually a long blink with both eyes, but it's super cute! She knows lots of body parts and lots of animal sounds. She is starting to demonstrate some problem solving skills like putting shape puzzles together, and sometimes she will pretend play by pretending to eat her play food. She shows some signs of moving out of the parallel play stage too...She likes to chase and be chased by other kids, and will sometimes share her toys with her friends. And to the pride of her mama, her throwing motion is starting to look like an actual throw rather than a push and drop...Catching is a different story, but we'll get there! :) As far as her schedule goes, she is officially down to one nap a day, and it's typically a loooong one! At night, she sleeps from about 8/8:30pm to 7:30/8am, and then naps from about 1:30-4/4:30pm. She eats three meals a day like a normal person, at about 8:30am, 11:30am and 5:30pm, and still gets a 4th sippy cup of milk before bed. I suppose I'll have to cut that out at some point, but she likes it, so we'll keep it for now. I still try not to give her many snacks, because it seems to ruin her meals, but I will often let her eat dessert after her meals...That's kind of like snacking, right?!? She is really growing in to a tall, skinny girl. I'm not sure of her height and weight, but she sure is changing shape these days. She is still wearing size 4 diapers, and 18-24 month clothes, and she wears size 5 shoes. And she has 12 teeth, as her 4 molars finally grew in.

Kylie is our pride and joy and we love watching her change and grow! She is so AMAZING! We love her more and more everyday!