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 :)

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.

Pictures

Here is some proof that Miss Kiya doesn't hate water. She just hates swim lessons. That water was FREEZING cold and when we first put her in she was not happy. We took her out to just play with the water and then after awhile we put her back in and she loved it. Cold water or not the kid loved being in the pool. So much so that when we took her out because she was shivering so much she got very mad.

Nothing is better than watching Kiya smile and laugh. Only to be beat maybe by her new found singing abilities. She has always been a singer but now that she knows a lot more words it is even cuter. For example, she still loves Ring Around Rosie and can now sing the Ashes Ashes we all fall down part. However when Kiya sings it, it sounds like "Asses, Asses, all all DOWN." Yes my daughter says ass instead of ash. Too cute. And she usually screams down. Truly nothing better. Our goal is to get it on tape which is challenging as Kiya is fascinated with all things electronic and either stops what she is doing or makes a grab for whatever it is you have.

We will try though as it is just too funny. I will also try to post some video from Kiya's first wagon ride. She LOVES the wagon. Being the daredevil that she is, the faster the better and lots of laughs and screaming of "weeeee" were to be heard throughout the neighborhood. Totally adorable.