Part 2

So of course after I published my last post I thought of 100 more things I could say about Keira and all the new things she's been up to since becoming a toddler. I'm going to post them here - mainly for my sake and my memory (I'm still amazed at how much I've already forgotten of both my children's developmental stages!). So feel free to skip this post if you wish - no hard feelings :)


Singing - Neither Ari nor Keira are big singers, but Keira has picked up on a few lately. Her first was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and her newest includes bits and pieces of the ABC's, the clean up song and "Row Row Row Your Boat." It goes something like this: "Low low boat. Jenny team. Mew Mew Mew Mew..." I'll catch her singing as she's going about her business and it cracks me up every time!



Jumping - she tries to do this a lot. She finally got airborne the other day and I think it caught her off guard. She crouches down low and gives it all she's got.

Counting - Keira is starting to pick up on numbers and counting. When she goes to jump she says "bour, bive, ayte GO!"

More Vocabulary - You can definitely tell Keira's vocabulary is influenced heavily by Ari. One of her first words was "mine." To this day she refers to herself as "my" as in "my do it." Just this week she picked up a new word. I couldn't believe it when she came up to me and said "Awi boder (bothering) me." The sly little smile she added was all Keira, though.

Why Oh Why - When we respond to a question Keira's asked us her response is "Oh." I need to capture it on video because her inflection is the best part. She's also started asking "why" a lot. I'm pretty sure it's early, but again, she's influenced by Ari. I'm not completely sure she knows what she's asking, but she does use it appropriately and is satisfied with our first answer.

Ok...I'll leave it at that for now :)

21 Months

It's been a long time since I've done an official Keira update. Today she is 21 months old - just 3 more months until she's 2! It really seemed she became a toddler overnight once she started walking just 4 months ago. She has been so independent including proficient use of the word "no." :) Her vocabulary has definitely blossomed although she didn't seem to have the "word explosion" that is common at this age. It was more of a gradual increase. Keira mostly talks in 2 or 3 word sentences with one of the words typically being a person (i.e. "Mommy do-docks" translated "Mommy's shoes and socks"). I can only understand about 80% of what she says, but it's getting clearer each day.

Keira has the typical toddler attention span only sticking with an activity for 5 or 10 minutes. She keeps quite busy following one of us around. She likes to make sure everything's taken care of - cabinets and drawers shut, Ari's juice cup in his hand - and can be quite helpful if given direction. She loves when our cat Obi comes in the house. She follows him around saying "Obiobiobiobi" and loves on him as long as he'll let her.

Stat-wise, she's still as healthy as ever. At her 18 month check-up she was holding steady in the 50th percentile for height and weight. She now weighs as much as Ari, but is still a few inches shorter.

I'm sure there's a lot more I could say about our sweet little girl, but I'll leave it at that for now. It's hard to believe it's been almost 2 years since she came into our lives. It's been such a joy and blessing watching her personality reveal itself and to have her in our lives.

Here are some pictures from the past few months that haven't made it on the blog before today.

Camping!

We went on a one-night camping trip last weekend.  This was Keira’s first time and she took right to it.  Both kids loved being outside so much, playing with dirt, rocks and sticks and, of course, eating hot dogs and marshmallows. 

I can’t think of any stand-out stories from our adventure.  Well…I guess there was the broken tent zipper at 10:30pm.  After some minor “surgery” involving a knife and zip-ties we made it through the night.  Now we’re in the market for either a new zipper or a new tent.  We’re hoping to make at least one or two more trips this year.

On to the pictures!

The tent was a big hit.

Our set-up.

Another highlight – throwing rocks in the lake.

 

I got to do a lot of this – ahhhh.

We found some nice scenery on hidden trails.

 

Luke and Carly joined in on the fun.

 

Mmmmm….s’mores!

The chocolate was Keira’s favorite part.

Sunset on the lake.

Going on a morning hike (a little chilly).

We found bluebonnets.  Keira’s still not sure of them.

Want one?

 

Ari was the leader on our hike.

Peek-a-boo!