Kylie is 33 months!

Kylie is 33 months old...That's 2 years, 9 months!

 She's saying, "cheese," but that makes her smile look silly!

How, oh how, can my little, preemie, sweet baby girl be 2 years and 9 months old?! Incredibly, her next blog update will be her THIRD birthday! What a big girl! As you can see from the pictures, she is definitely starting to look like a skinny, little kid and not a chubby toddler anymore. Kylie's personality is really starting to shine! She is still a sweet, loving, flexible, happy little girl. She is an amazing big sister who loves to help take care of her baby brother. She is smart, and her memory always surprises me! She is funny, and likes to "tease." She will often say things like, "Daddy's a big girl," then laugh and say, "I'm just teasing. Daddy's a boy!."

Kylie has many favorites these days, and she is starting to vocalize them, which is awesome. One cute thing that she says sometimes is that she wants to be a dentist when she grows up. This started with her trip to the dentist in June...We'll see if she feels the same after her next trip to the dentist! :) Her favorite color is purple. Her favorite food is pizza. Her favorite fruits are grapes and bananas. She loves milk and water, even over juice. Kylie told me this morning that, "I love Caillou," which is an obnoxious PBS Kids TV show that she is not allowed to watch. I think that's why she thinks she loves it. She actually watches Dora, Barney, and Sesame Street the most. She likes to play at the park, and go for runs/walks. One of her favorite pretend activities is "going for my run." She puts her pink headband and red Toms on, and runs around the apartment. Eventually she will say, "I'm so tired, mama. I need to walk." Ha! She likes to shop, especially at Target! A girl after my own heart! :) She likes to have her nails painted! She loves to read books and color. She likes to play in the sink. She calls it, "makin' dishes." Her favorite song is "Happy Birthday." She will put something on her head, or my head, or Brooks' head, like it's a birthday hat, and sing "Happy Birthday dear _______." It's very sweet!

Kylie is pretty easy-going, and doesn't have too many things that she dislikes or won't do. In general, if we are in a store, she doesn't like to ride in the stroller or shopping cart. She ALWAYS wants to walk. It can be a little slow and painful at times, but for the most part she does a good job. We have a rule that if she touches anything, she has to get back in the stroller/cart. She HATES that, so it usually works to keep her from getting into trouble. She doesn't like having her hair combed! She cries and says that it "so hurts" even before I touch the comb to her hair! She still does not like garbage trucks when we are outside. If she is inside, they are okay. She is a typical two year old, in that she has her moments when she disobeys, says "No," hits her brother, or won't eat something I want her to eat. Whenever any of those things occur (usually a few times each day), she goes to time-out. She is supposed to think about why she is in time-out, and has to tell us about it when she is done. If she can't do that, she goes back to time-out until she can. She is also supposed to apologize, and give a kiss and hug to whoever she committed the crime against. Some days it works, some days it doesn't...we are just going with it! :)

As for milestones, her language development continues to be the most obvious and most fun! She learns new words everyday, and her sentence structure is becoming more complex. She tells stories in many sentences linked together. She sings songs. She almost knows the whole alphabet song, and can recognize about 1/3 to 1/2 of the letters. She can count to 10 with help...If she is counting alone, she skips 3, 4, and 5 every time. She knows how old she is ("two and half"), that she will be 3 at her next birthday, and that her birthday is November 19th. She knows lots of colors, and many body parts. One thing she has started doing that is a little worrisome for me is stuttering. From what I have read, it is pretty common for kids her age since their little brains are working faster than their mouths, but it still makes me a little nervous. I hoping that she outgrows it soon! As for gross motor, the changes are more subtle than when she was younger, but she is running really well now. She rarely trips and falls, which for those of you who were around her a lot just a few months ago know, that this is a HUGE accomplishment! She is jumping really well, and can balance on one foot for a few seconds. She is still really slow on the stairs, but I feel comfortable letter her walk both up and down as long as she is holding a railing versus making her sit and scoot down. She is becoming extremely independent and likes to do everything, "by myself," especially brushing her teeth, and putting on her shoes! Socially, she is pretty shy when she first meets someone, but warms up after 5-10 minutes. She likes to play with one other kid at a time. If there are a lot of kids around, she sticks pretty close to me. She is in between the parallel play stage, and the actually playing with others stage. I see a mix of both when she is with other kids. Unfortunately, we haven't had too much interaction with kids her age here, so I think her social skills could suffer. I'm working to get her involved in some classes this fall...Hopefully, she (and I) can make some friends! Kylie is still my flexible, little sleeper. Through all of our moves, she has maintained her excellent sleep schedule. She still takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon, and 11-12 hours at night. She shares a room with Brooks, and manages to sleep through his outbursts! :) Her potty training, on the other hand, has regressed a bit. She does great during the day, and never has accidents. During nap time, however, she will wake up wet about twice a week, and over night she wakes up wet everyday. So she is wearing pull-ups for night time and nap time. :( She is still sleeping in her crib, so I am hoping that when we move her to a toddler bed, she will be able to get up and take herself to the bathroom rather than going in her pull-up! She eats pretty well, but is becoming pickier in her old age. She is easy to please for breakfast and lunch...She likes most things that typical toddlers like (PB and J, pizza, mac n' cheese, fruit, carrots, etc...), but at supper time she will put up a fight, especially if we are eating a hot dish or casserole. Something about having all of the foods mixed together freaks her out a bit, I think! :) Kylie is still pretty tall for her age, and has really thinned out recently. She is wearing all 3T clothes. Some of her shirts are even getting a little short, so I bet she'll be wearing some 4T things by her birthday! She is also wearing size 8 or 8.5 shoes.

I had to include just one more picture!
This is during nap time the other day.
She took her pillow case off of her pillow and is wearing in like a sleeping bag!