This is the last month before Keira is a year and a half. I just can't believe it! She is just so much fun and is my little buddy! I'm so amazed that she can do things when I ask her, like throw away trash on the floor, go to her room to get her shoes, sometimes put some of her toys back, get things for me, and so on. It really is just the most wonderful thing ever to see your child learning, talking, and doing new things.
Keira has quite the personality. She is so sweet but can be quite a little stinker. I've realized that she does best when just one person takes care of her and I think when she's with other people (if someone is babysitting her because they always say she was an angel.) I think when Chris and I are both home or Laurie is over, she doesn't like not having all of the attention or something. Another reason we NEED another baby, Chris! :o) She is usually really happy but will let you know if she's not.
She can ask for a lot of the things she wants which is so nice. Now instead of getting frustrated she can ask for "help." Her talking amazes me! I think one of the reasons that she has such a good vocabulary is because she's so curious and asks "what's that?" to everything. She tries to repeat almost everything, well the last word of a sentence or an object, and usually does a pretty good job with it. Some letters she's not good at are Fs and several more that I can't think of right now. Many of the words she says I wouldn't even understand if they weren't in context. But she sure tries, and she'll usually say the word until I understand what she's talking about or nod yes if it's the word she said. She also has a good memory and remembers what so many things are called. It's so cute to hear her name things when I didn't even realize she remembered what it's called. If she wants something she usually says "please" and is getting better about saying "up please" or whatever she wants followed by "please". Today Chris didn't say "thank you" so she reminded him with her form of "you're welcome." I usually have to remind her to say "thank you" but sometimes she remembers. She often blesses us when we sneeze or cough. Yes cough, I know, but when she coughs I just feel like I should say something. :o) But sometimes she fake coughs so I'll bless her. Just yesterday SHE reminded ME twice to say a prayer, a little embarrassing! What would I do without my little helper!
She actually does like to help, with some things. She tries to dust, use a sweeping brush, or wipe things with a paper towel, put silverware away, throw away trash, and sometimes put things away.
I'll be so excited to see how Keira's growing later this month. She's doing better eating now and is too tall for some of her 18 month pants and a sweater. She has 11 teeth now that she has four molars. You still can only see the three bottom teeth when she smiles though but I think I know why. I think it's because the frenulum of the inside of her upper lip attaches low on her gums, so her upper teeth don't show when she smiles. I need to bring her to a dentist sometime because I think they would want to snip it. Not sure though.
Her favorite toys are animals and babies. And she loves books. Every night she picks out different books for me to read and tries to get me to read as many as she can. But if the books have too many words she'll want another book or just flip the page before I'm done reading. Her favorite thing to do is to look at pictures on our phones or computer. She always says "Pictures? Pictures, babies?"
Keira can run, dance, has jumped twice, can throw balls, climb onto couches and off beds and couches, and can now walk down the stairs without holding on = frightening! Luckily she doesn't do that very often, usually she uses the wall or railing for support or she's started sliding down on her bottom. I liked it better when she went down backwards.
Potty training is not going well. She hasn't actually gone on the potty since I blogged about it, over two weeks ago. She often says "potty" and sits there for about 30 seconds at the most inconvenient times before she gets bored. She did have one accident in the bathroom while I was taking a shower. Pretty much every time I'm in there she suddenly needs to use the potty, maybe because she's playing right by it. So after she said it several times I decided to undress her and pop her on it. She hadn't gone a couple of minutes later and had gotten off and I wasn't going to get out of my shower to put her diaper back on, so I left it off. She was squatting down playing when all of the sudden she started crying and said "dirty" and was trying to bear crawl away. I looked down and saw she had gone #2. Luckily it was on the tile and didn't get anything else dirty. I really need to do more research to see how I'm going to attack potty training. I kind of feel like she's too young now and can't tell before she needs to go. I think she tells me after she goes. But maybe I should just be trying harder. I'd love to hear any advice!!!
I'd also love advice on another thing. Keira is still hitting. I don't know what to do. It's especially concerning since she's going into nursery at church at the end of the month. I really hope that since it's a new environment and I won't be there, she'll be really good. She KNOWS she's not supposed to hit. It's mostly me she hits and I've really been trying to come down on her, even if she hits me lightly. I tell her "no, do not hit" or something of that sort very stern and put her in the pack n play for a few minutes with the door closed. The last time this happened was yesterday and when I went back in there she said "hit." So she knows what she did wrong and why she was in there. Before I take her out we have a conversation about why she was in there and I tell her that she can NOT hit, that it's not nice, that it's mean, that it hurts. But she continues to do it. In fact, she hit Jason about 10 minutes later. She hit three times yesterday. I feel like I need a different type of punishment. I've thought about swatting her but that might make it worse since she might think I'm hitting her. Any suggestions, please? Sometimes it's not one obvious hit. If I take something that she won't give back, she sometimes flings her arms, hitting me. Unfortunately sometimes she's just mean. Sometimes if an older kid is kind of in her face trying to play with her or tickle her or something she'll push them away. Or if another kid or Jason is in her way she'll push them. What should I do? :-( Hitting, pushing, or being mean to other kids is something I will not tolerate. I know she's young and most kids do it (besides us Mother), but I don't think she's too young to realize that it's wrong and she can't do it. And we might as well stop it now before she can actually hurt someone else. Advice? Please? My friend who would have given tons of advice is no longer here, so I need you to step up! ;-) You can say anything, it won't hurt my feelings! If you don't want to leave a comment on here, e-mail or call me! :o)
Keira loves babies! This is Nicolas, Mariana's one month old cutie!
All of these pictures are from an indoor playground at a local mall. It was sooo much fun and perfect for winter. There were all kinds of fun toys to play on. I met my friend Mariana there so the kids could play. Her oldest son Gabriel is two months older than Keira. Keira talks about him a lot.
She loved the slides!
Sliding down with Gabriel
She's a climber! Gabriel is seeing if she needs help. ;-)
