Master of redirection

I have realized that my days have become quite repetitive. You see Miss Kiya has a knack like most children her age for getting into EVERYTHING!

She is now 15 months old and has the biggest, most dramatic personality. If we tell her "No" talk about serious water works. So we are working on not saying that word and just redirecting unless she is hitting then we say "No thank you we don't hit." (side note: she isn't hitting as much lately :) ).

She has discovered the dogs food and water dishes. Usually there isn't any food in there as our dogs eat it right away but oh how she loves to play in the water dish. GROSS. I have seen her hands in there, her toys, her shoe, it is great fun. I think yesterday alone I told her "we don't play with the water dish and picked her up and moved her away from it like 100 times". I even tried giving her a Tupperware container with water in it to play with but that was a no go and of course got dumped on the floor.

The laptop is hands down one of her favorites. She likes to bang on the keys, play with the cord, etc. If she sees you even near the laptop she will drop what she is doing and scoot her little heart out to get over there. Super adorable but not good for the laptop.

I am so tired by the end of the day just moving her from one spot to another or trying to keep her occupied. I can't even imagine what it will be like when she actually decides to walk.

On the walking note, I thought for a moment yesterday she might try it all by herself. She loves to walk between our couch and love seat by herself. She even turned around to come back to where I was. She got the end and was going to have to let go. She took one hand off and kind of took a step and then slid to her butt and started to laugh. It was almost like she was saying "ha ha mommy, you thought I was going to walk but nope". Silly girl. One day she will just get up and do it. I am secretly hoping it will be soon but I have come to learn that my daughter is VERY stubborn and likes things done a certain way and will do things when she wants to.

So we spend our days trying to keep Miss Kiya out of trouble and reading books. Man does this kid LOVE books. So much so she has many favorites. It is so cute to watch. There will be a stack of books on the floor and she will sort through them and toss aside the ones she doesn't want and hand you the one she wants you to read. Or she will point at her books and say "dat" or that until you get the right one. The only issue comes when she wants to read the same book over and over. Some days it is "Barnyard Dance" other days it is "The Belly Button Book" and others it is the"Everywhere Babies" book. She knows these books so well. She dances with the barnyard book. She points to her belly button right before we say it and she covers her eyes for pat a cake in the Everywhere Babies book before we get to that part.

Kiya is one smart cookie, let's just hope we can keep up with her.

And she says Mama

I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT!!! KIYA FINALLY SAID "MAMA"!!! CAN YOU TELL I AM EXCITED?

Ok, got that off my chest. But really she said "mama" 3 times in the bath tub last night. It has always been "dada or baba or lala or recently nana but never mama" Until last night and I couldn't have been more thrilled :)

Now whether or not she knows that I am actually Mama remains to be seen. If we say Mama she sometimes will look at me but that could just be coincidence.

My bet is because I want to hear her sweet voice say Mama again she won't for awhile but that is okay. I know she can say it and that warms my heart.

Now if I could just get her to stop hitting me that would be wonderful. Not sure why she hits only me but usually I bare the brunt of her slapping. She doesn't hit me if I am holding her but if someone else is. Last night, we told her "no" firmly and of course she cried but we don't want her to hit. She usually will hit and then grin as she thinks it is funny.

We got the same result the other morning when we told her "no" as she was kicking Sebastian. He didn't seem to mind and has been a trooper with the whole baby thing but the kicking went too far. She of course cried again. And it is the most pathetic cry I have every seen. There is a slow build up and then big crocodile tears. It is kind of funny really but we don't dare laugh since at least she is understanding the word no and responding to it..

I know it is an age thing and I know we need to be consistent and set limits. So we are. Together we have agreed to tell her no when she hits and kicks. Like it or not she will have to learn that that is not okay and that mommy and daddy don't find it funny. I hate to see her upset but it is part of the learning process.