Three Weeks 'Till Christmas?

We just cannot believe that Christmas is already here. It seems like this fall just flew past. Every time we blink, Kyla is acting more and more like a little kid and less like a baby. She is at such a fun stage as she talks more and more and lets more of her personality come out. Some of the new things she's doing include:

• Pretending to "read" books (and saying some correct words on each page, mimicking what we read);
• Singing along with entire songs and doing hand motions that go along with some of them (Ex.: Wheels on the Bus, Winnie the Pooh theme song, songs from Gymboree classes, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Five Little Monkeys, etc);
• Sometimes speaking in simple sentences, like "What's that?", "Kyla do it", "Dash, stop!", and "This is ball". Her first sentence was "Da-Da, where are you?", said a few weeks ago at breakfast;
• Catching a ball every now and then;
• Counting to 10;
• Trying to be more independent by doing things herself (like buckling her booster seat and brushing her teeth).

I think we forgot to mention Halloween in a previous post... Kyla was a princess--of course! She enjoyed playing at our church fall festival, especially in the bounce house. We had to practically drag her out. On Halloween night we stopped by a few neighbor's houses and then handed out candy at ours. Kyla enjoyed seeing everyone and want to follow the neighbors around.

Thanksgiving was fun with Jen's parents and her brother and sister-in-law. We also saw Jen's aunt and uncle and more extended family. Kyla certainly enjoyed all of the attention.

Snoozing after a busy Thanksgiving weekend!

Tea party!

Laughing and Dancing

Here are two videos we thought y'all might enjoy!  We just love her laugh, and we think we might have a budding dancer on our hands!

Pumpkins, Mums, Fall...Oh My!

The weather has been beautiful lately, so Jen and Kyla made a trip with friends to the Dallas Arboretum. We explored the new children's garden, enjoyed all of the fall flowers and pumpkins, were surprisingly excited to touch the animals at the petting zoo, and ate a picnic lunch overlooking the lake. One of her favorite activities was playing with a broom inside a playhouse and shoveling sand. Kyla also enjoying listening for airplanes (which she can hear and spot very well). It's fun to see her explore new things and take it all in.

Goodbye Crib

Well our big girl has surprised us again. After attempting to take away Kyla's pacifier at night and caving by giving it back two days later (no judgement!--she was sick and mama just felt sorry for her), we assumed the transition to a toddler bed would be difficult. Since Kyla had climbed out more than a month ago and increasingly began to swing her leg up to straddle the crib rail, we decided we had better make the change.

For more than a week we talked about her big girl bed, then we bought her a Minnie Mouse doll to be her special friend while sleeping. We added the toddler rail, went through her normal bedtime routine, put her in bed, and left the room. She cried for just a minute, walked around the room, and then climbed back in bed. She got up once or twice more seemingly just to check it out, but within about 15 minutes was sound asleep. She has slept so wonderfully since then, we almost can't believe it! A few naptimes have included an hour or so of playing before finally falling asleep in the rocking chair or on the floor, but otherwise she has done such a great job! Our little girl just keeps growing up...

Hi, Remember Us?

OK, so our good intentions on writing a blog kind of went by the wayside since, oh, about 5 months ago. But we are determined to do better to help keep friends and family informed and to help us chronicle our fast-growing girl.

Since our last post in April, we moved closer to Jeff's office and kept busy for a few months unpacking and updating things around the house. In July, Jeff went on a week-long mission trip to the Bahamas with a group from our church. This was the longest time he and Kyla (and he and Jen for that matter) had been away from each other. To stay busy, Jen and Kyla spent the week in Austin and Houston with family. The rest of the summer was pretty much business as usuall with our normal routine and trying to find ways to stay cool.

The last few months have also seen Kyla grow and grow! By May, Kyla was running and climbing, spoke at least 15 words, and could make the correct animal sounds when pointing at a picture. She also loved to blow kisses and tried to say "love you". Kyla and Jen also began attending Gymboree classes, where Kyla could climb and jump and slide all over everything as well as sing and play along with the teacher. She enjoys going to the class, but acts a bit timid, ensuring that Mama is right by her side. Kyla loves to do all the things the other kids do, but generally waits until the large crowd of kids has dissipated before she attempts the activity. This class still proves to be a saving grace on days when the house just seems a little too small for our energetic child!

 In June, Kyla attended her first week of VBS while Jen taught fourth-graders. Kyla did very well and even brought home a few crafts to illustrate the roller-coaster theme. One new thing Kyla began to enjoy was playing hide and seek with a stuffed animal (with Jen's help, of course). Mama also discovered that Kyla likes to "help" clean and do laundry, so we are definitely taking advantage of that!

July seemed to take a slightly negative turn in Kyla's temperament, which seems normal for that age. Of course she's still a happy child, but her independence began to show itself more--leading her to prefer saying the word "no"  and showing off a few tantrums now and then. We have certainly had to learn new parenting skills as we figure out how to encourage her to do the right things, steer her clear of the dangerous ones, and let her exhibit her growing assertiveness in appropriate situations. Time-outs began to be more common and our patience began to be tested!

This month seemed to be a big development in her speech, too. She started to "babble" longer conversations, often using her hands to gesture along with her "words." She also got all four eye teeth and the first four molars--8 in nearly one month! She had her first overnight stay at Nana's and Papa's (Jermaine's parents), and did really well. We spent a lot of time in the pool and early morning time at the park. Kyla learned to throw a ball and to do hand motions along with a few songs. By July she also had at least 35 words, and began using a few more two-word combinations, like "good throw" and "all done". Oh, and she also climbed out of her crib one day, which isn't surprising given her height and her arm strength, but a little dismaying nonetheless.

As the heat wore on in August, Kyla came down with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, which was not very fun. She also had her 18-month checkup, where we learned she was at the 98th percentile for height! The doctor said she was doing great. A few new things Kyla learned this month included identifying her body parts, saying her own name, and kicking a ball.

In September, days just kept on flying by, with Kyla seeming to grow up more and more each day. One of her favorite things to do was for someone to ask her if she was a baby. She would then laugh and say "no", while shaking her head. Then if someone asked if she was a big girl, she would smile and say "yes" enthusiastically. She seemed to be engaging in some imaginary play (pretending to serve cake and tea to stuffed animals, talking to dolls, taking her purse and saying "bye-bye", etc), which was fun to watch.  Putting shapes in the correct holes and doing simple puzzles became practically easy for Kyla. Trying to jump up and down was also great fun. One of her favorite things to do was watch Winnie the Pooh on TV; we heard tearful, desperate pleas to watch this movie multiple times a day. She continued "attempting" to climb out of her crib, but we thought it's just what she did to get mama to come running. Physically she could certainly do it again, but we thought she must still be a little unsure of how to get down once she's up over the crib rail. Still, we knew her crib-days were numbered.

Whew, it's been a busy few months but we have tried to soak in each moment and remember our time with Kyla as a toddler is limited. Some days enjoying every moment can be a challenge, but we wouldn't trade this time for anything!

Birthday, Dedication, Skiing and More

 So it's been quite a while since we've updated the blog but we've managed to stay pretty busy. So here goes the last few months in a nut shell...

In January, Kyla went fully mobile and gone were the days of her staying in one place for very long. She keeps us on our toes and we love it. Her personality is really starting to come out and it's clear she is going to be a very determined child.

We celebrated Kyla's first birthday in February. We were amazed to look back at how fast the first year had flown by. We had a huge Winnie the Pooh themed party with family and friends. It was the first time we'd had parents/birthparents and grandparents/birth grandparents all together and everyone had a great time. It was incredible to see how the love for this one little girl has brought so many people together. We also attended our church's baby dedication ceremony the day after her birthday party. It was very meaningful to officially stand before our friends and family and commit to raising Kyla to understand God's love.

In March we took Kyla on her first ski trip to Colorado (Mom and Dad did all the skiing thanks to Jen's parents tagging along as the babysitters). Kyla was able to meet some of our friends from Denver and it was great to see all their kids too.
 
Also in March we decided to put our house on the market. Ever since Kyla arrived Jeff had been getting more and more tired of the long commute so we decided to look to move closer to Jeff's office. Our house was only on the market for two days before we accepted an offer. Since it sold so quick we had to kick our search into overdrive. We were able to find a new house and are excited to move into it this weekend.

We see Kyla's birthgrandparents (Jermaine's parents) once or twice a month and we've continued to build a relationship with Jermaine and Danielle. I think just about everyone in our family has met Kyla and everyone adores her. Both of our parents have enjoyed having a grandchild that lives just a few hours away.

So that's a quick update of the last few months. We're looking forward to the next year with Kyla and how much she's going to grow; it seems like she learns something new everyday. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out a way for this next year to go by a little more slowly.

The Happiest Place on Earth

DisneyWorld's tag line is certainly true in some aspects. We had a wonderful time in Florida with family over New Year's!

After a fairly easy plane ride (Kyla's second trip on an airplane), we spent a few days at the beach, where Kyla enjoyed showing off and receiving tons of attention from family. She definitely loved playing with her cousins, although every now and then she needed a break.  :)

Then we went to Disney World, where Kyla did wonderful--as expected! She enjoyed looking around and watching all the people. She never needed to go back to the room to take a nap; she just snoozed in her stroller and in someone's arms. She even stayed out late a few nights and had a good time.

Her first ride was the Haunted Mansion, on which she was asleep the entire time. Obviously she was exhausted from all the excitement, and it had only just begun. She also rode Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, the People Mover, the Great Movie Ride, It's a Small World, Journey into Imagination, Jungle Cruise, Living with the Land, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spaceship Earth, The Spirit of Norway, Studio Backlot Tour, Toy Story Midway Mania, the Seas with Nemo and Friends, and the Carousel of Progress.Whew--we were busy!

She also met Minnie, Daisy, Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger. She seemed to enjoy Daisy but was a little more leery of Minnie. While in the line to meet Pooh and Tigger, she was saying hi and waving, but once we got up to them she wasn't quite sure. Tigger kept trying to play Peek-a-boo and she didn't know what to do about that. But she eventually gave a little smile.

While Kyla won't remember this trip, Jeff and I certainly will. We had such a great time seeing her explore and see new things! We can't wait to do more with her as she grows up.