What's new with Kiya?

I know it has been awhile again so here are some highlights as to what is new with Kiya.

1) Dora or should I say "Gora" is a HUGE hit around here. I thought she would get over it but no. This kid is seriously in love with Dora. She can spot her on balloons, at Target and can turn the TV on and ask for it. So 2nd birthday theme is likely you guessed it Dora.

2) Baby dolls. She is so fascinated with all things baby. She yells baby every time we see a baby and she has started putting her doll in her high chair and trying to feed it. So cute. Let's hope this love for babies sticks around for awhile as in a year or two so she will be instantly in awe and love of her brother.

3) Talking. Yup she is still talking or singing pretty much every waking moment unless she has food in her mouth and even then that isn't a guarantee. She is trying to repeat and say everything so we are very careful to spell certain words, not say things we don't want her to know and watching what music is on in the car. I have completely lost track of how many words she actually knows as everyday it changes. She is getting closer and closer to being able to say the dogs names. She almost has Badger down and well I don't blame her for not being able to say Sebastian but the other day it sounded like she said "bastian" which is pretty darn close. As for singing, she is really quite good. She is the singer in her daycare class as she is the only one that will sing along and sometimes rather loudly to the music. Her teacher is convinced she will be a rock star :)

4) Walking:  I don't even want to talk or think about it anymore. We have hit a MAJOR road block. She totally can walk we have seen her. I have watched her in the living room and if she sees me she stops. We make her walk everywhere and are using the tips given by her therapist like not holding her hand above her head, etc. She is just a very stubborn and crooked kid. Scoliosis is definitely part of the issue but she is also just hard headed. I am anxiously awaiting our Birth to 3 therapy session...oh wait guess they have to call and schedule that first....sigh....we need help big time. She is very content getting the attention from others at home and daycare by not walking. People have to come to her and she loves that. She loves the attention. So while she insists on feeding herself or brushing her own teeth (don't worry I still do it too) she won't give it up and just walk. sigh....

5) Puzzles. Kiya LOVES puzzles and is really very good at them. Her favorite is her Animal Sounds puzzle. It makes the animal sounds when you put the pieces in. Kind of annoying but she likes it. She knows where all of the pieces go and can put at least half of them in correctly without any help. She also loves her shape  sorting toy. She can do all of the shapes by herself and usually on the first try. She turns the cookie jar around to find the right shape and then puts it in. She used to get frustrated with the heart shape as it is harder to do but not anymore. She then claps for herself and says yay when she has all 5 shapes in. She also has a buckle bunny that has 5 different types of buckles on it. She can't open them yet and isn't supposed to be able to but she can now match the right sides together and even buckle 2 or 3 of them all by herself. She used to get frustrated with this toy so it would go in timeout sometimes but now that she is figuring it out it isn't as bad.

6) Napping. Yeah, she has been on this kick of nap fail for awhile. She didn't nap 3 out of 4 days last week. If it is one day here or there she is usually okay but 2 days in a row was tough. She was crabby. I have a bad feeling that she may give up napping well before this Mama is ready for her to.

7) Daycare. We got word that Kiya will be transitioning to this make shift 2 year old room at the end of September. There are a lot of kids turning 1 prior to Oct. so they need the room in the 1 year old rooms but there are a lot of kids who don't turn 2 until the end of the year like Kiya so they are making an 18 month old + room. I think Kiya is ready. She is one of the oldest kids in her class and she is hands down the most talkative. She sees and calls some of the other kids babies even though they walk and she doesn't. It also means new teachers which frankly I am kind of excited about. She needs a change and maybe the new teachers can challenge her in a way her current ones aren't. My one fear is that there is going to be a lot of change in a short period of time. New classroom, new teachers, new kids and let's throw in the high possibility of her being in a body cast. It may get a little interesting this fall....

So I think I have rambled enough :)

Wordless Wednesday

Brief update

Kiya got accepted into Shriner's Hospital today! Our first appointment is September 1st. We are relieved and scared and nervous and excited to start this process.

We are entering a world of unknowns but we are strong and we can do it. Kiya is a trooper and a fighter and I know she will do great.

Ok--so more updates to come once we get started and I will post those in Kiya's Kare Korner with a brief note in a regular post letting you all know there is an update.

Growing up

This weekend it hit me. My baby girl is growing up. She doesn't look like a baby anymore. She doesn't act like a baby anymore and she sure doesn't have the attitude of a baby anymore. How did this happen so fast....in less than 4 months she is going to be 2.

That said we overhauled the play area this weekend. We cleaned out all of the baby toys and put them in the basement. We, okay well Dave, put together her new table and attempted to put the chairs together. We wound up having to return the chairs so for now those are still in the box.

We purchased our first baby doll stroller. Kiya is very much in love with her baby, her doll and a toy at daycare. Yes she distinguishes between her baby (which is a little stuffed baby that came in a Peanut shell) and her doll which is a black cloth doll. Sometimes she asks for doll and sometimes baby. There is also a baby doll at daycare that she LOVES and holds onto most of the day. She has progressed from the stuffed lizard to the baby doll....can we say girly girl :)

Anyway in talking with her therapists and teachers, one of her teachers suggested getting a baby doll stroller for Kiya to push around the house. We did. She loves her babies and she loves her stroller and has showed A LOT of interest in pushing her own stroller around. Maybe this will help but either way she needed some big girl toys.

I also got her a pink fabric bin on wheels for her stuffed animals. She hates it. She cried when it was empty. She cried when it was full. She has a completely irrational hatred of this fabric bin. I have no idea why. Maybe she doesn't like the new organization of the play area....not sure.

And today I started researching potty seats. Wow, there are a lot of them on the market. I just can't decide. I got a lot of great feedback from other parents. My main concern is with the casting in the future if it will be too hard for her to sit on a stand alone potty seat....maybe we would be better off with a seat the fits right on the big people toilet.  I have no idea and I have a feeling we will purchase both and she which she likes best.

Next up a garbage truck and a kitchen play set. She is fascinated with both of these things :)

11 years ago

11 years ago, I married my best friend. I am a very lucky girl that is for sure.

I met my husband over 14 years ago and I just knew. I just knew this was the man I was supposed to spend the rest of my life. I am looking forward to the years ahead and the many more happy memories.

These last 11 years have been quite a ride. We have had good times and crazy times and luckily have only had one really terrible year. Through it all we stood by each other, supported each other and loved each other. It hasn't always been easy but it has definitely been worth it.

I love this journey we have been on. To see our relationship grow and change and to finally reach our dreams of parenthood.

My husband is my rock. He picks me up when I am down and he can always make me laugh and the best part of it all is he is the most amazing father. I love this. I kind of knew he would be but seriously he is a pretty great dad. He gets up with Kiya, he changes poopy diapers, he reads her stories, plays with her and you can see just how happy having a daughter makes him. This makes me love him even more.

I am so blessed to have this amazing family and I look forward to many more happy years of marriage. I know we may have some rough years ahead but I know we are strong enough to get through them together. I know I don't walk alone in this world and that makes a difference.

Chatty Kiya....

Oh my is this girl a talker. We always knew she was a talker but wow oh wow. Lately, it has been non stop for hours. She will either be talking or singing. It is adorable but it would be nice if she would stop for air every once in awhile.

I can't imagine what life is going to be like when she is 5....I think ear plugs or the quiet game may be in our future.

A good example of her talking came on Wednesday afternoon. We had our Birth to 3 follow up meeting and she talked or sang for the entire hour. The teachers thought it was great and I did too but a little distracting.

The worst part is that she has learned to ask "why" and she will say "mommy" about 10 times each time with me asking her what she needs and finally she just says "hi". It was really adorable the first time she did this and after about the third time I was going bonkers. Though I must admit it is nice that she says mommy again and not bobby or boppy or moppy.

All complaining aside, Kiya is such a joy and I love it when she learns a new word. Just yesterday she said peach, cheese, roll and probably others but I can't remember. Everyday she is learning and saying multiple new words. She LOVED to say peach and said it through out the whole grocery store yesterday. It was pretty cute and others thought so too. She is also saying "bad" and trying to say "Badger". She even tried to tell Badger twice yesterday that he was bad. Which to her credit he was being naughty.

Kiya started to get mad and was saying bad and pointing and I found Badger eating a dryer sheet in some laundry. Then later Kiya started again to get mad and point and said what sounded like "bad Badger" and Badger was eating a baby wipe. She doesn't like it when the dogs are naughty. We say, Kiya are the boys being naughty? And Kiya responds "naughty". Too cute. But she does get upset so we have to show her that while the dogs did something bad it is still okay to be nice to them and not be afraid of them. So after she told on Badger we had them kiss and make up. It was adorable.

On the shadow front, she is no longer afraid of her shadow. She says hi and bye to it. Fist bumps it and even looks for it on the wall or in the bathtub. Whew...that was easy.

I'm Back....

I know it has been almost a week but things got a little hectic. Starting with me getting pretty sick. Sicker than I have been in quite sometime. I am feeling better now and am anxiously awaiting the antibiotics to really kick in and get rid of this nastiness that has all but consumed me in the last week.

So here is what has been going on:

+ Kiya is officially 20 months old :) She is just a dream really. So sweet and eager to learn. She can count to ten and sing the ABC song with you. Sure she doesn't get all the correct words or letters but she is so excited to do it with you. She can accurately complete her animal sounds puzzle and she LOVES to stack all 10 of her stacking cups and then of course knock them down. She is quite fascinated lately with baby dolls. She will hug them and rock them and kiss them. So sweet. She also likes to play pretend. I watched yesterday as she "poured" herself a cup of tea and then "drank" it. She has also become quite fascinated with Dora the Explorer. We only let her watch it occasionally but her potty book is Dora and she asks for that a lot. She is also really into Yo Gabba Gabba, a show I swore I would never let her watch as I find it annoying. She loves it. She dances and trys to imitate motions, etc.  We also think that Kiya might be getting the concept that she has a messy diaper. Sure we ask her if she has a poop and she says yeah and sometimes she is right and sometimes not. But she has started to grab at her diaper when it is really wet or messy. This is a good sign. She has noticed her shadow and is not a fan. She first noticed it in the bath tub and totally freaked out. She frantically did the sign for all done and wanted out of that tub. She has since noticed it on the wall by her changing table and on the wall of the stairs. She is getting less afraid as we are telling her it is friendly and she can fist bump it. She says hi to it and bye to it. It is pretty cute really.

+ Check Kiya's Kare Korner for an update on our Shriner's process

+ Birth to 3 is coming for a follow up meeting tomorrow. Based on the evaluation they sent me, it looks like Kiya will qualify for physical therapy. We are anxious to get started with this and help her move forward. They estimated her locomotion skills at about a 14 month age level which given her muscle tone issues she is really right on track but hasn't caught up yet. In all other areas like speech, problem solving, fine motor, etc Kiya was at age level or higher. We are so proud of her.

+ Saturday is a big day. 11 years ago Saturday, Dave and I got married at Mission Santa Clara surrounded by all our friends and family. I cannot believe it has been that long. To celebrate we are going to the Brewers game :)

So I guess that is about it for now.