16 Months

Hey little you.

You have been 16 months old for all of 9 days and you are a world away from the baby you were a few short months ago when I wrote you on your first birthday.

Your language skills grow every day. I couldn’t list all the words you know if I tried and you love to enthusiastically repeat the things we say.

At lunch time today Dad called and I had him on speaker phone – it went like this…

Dad: I’m on my way home, be there in a second
Me: Ok
You: OK!!
Dad: She still awake?
Me: Yes
You: YES!!

You’re really into putting “a” before things right now. It’s never just “dog” or “car”  it’s  “A CAR!” or “A DOG”! 

This morning you pointed to your mouth and told me “Tee. Out-ch.(Teeth. Ouch.)” I hope it’s true – you still only have 6 teeth and could really use some more. We have to cut everything up for you – you can’t take bites of a sandwich like we see other kids your age do. 

But still you amaze us more and more every day.  You are an absolute sponge. You know the alphabet and have taken to excitedly pointing out (read: screaming out) letters anywhere you see them. We waited in the car for Dad to buy something in Walgreens a few days ago and sitting under the sign that said “PHARMACY” you declared “A!”.  I said “Yes, good job, that IS an A!” to which you responded with a frown “NO!” We went back and forth for a few moments – with you growing increasingly frustrated until finally you said “NO! TWO!”. 

Now, here’s the truth Kiersyn. I don’t really know what to do with a 16 month old who can tell me there are two As in Pharmacy. Your aptitude is intimidating and I fear being unable to help you reach your full potential. In addition to knowing the alphabet (albeit not perfectly, you sometimes confuse similar looking letters like E and F) you know eight basic shapes, animals and the sounds they make, your body parts, understand the concept of counting (wanting me to help you count things constantly and tell me you have 2 of something any time you do) and your creativity is impressive. Last week you took to stealing dog food out of Lexie’s bowl when she was outside to make trails – one tiny piece by piece - from the dog door down the hall or to wherever you saw fit. You squealed in delight when she followed along stopping to crunch on each one. I have no idea where you got this idea as you definitely haven’t watched me or Dad do anything like that. 

When you don’t know the word for something, you find a way to communicate. You’ve been playing in the baby pool (sans clothes) in the backyard quite a bit as it’s over 100 degrees right now. Yesterday you stood at the back door, pointed at the pool and said “Baf peebs (bath please).” To which I responded “You want to play in the pool?” you looked at me surprised “Ohhh. Jess (yes). Pool.”

You’ve begun to enjoy pretend play; rocking and feeding your baby dolls and pretending to drink (along with slurping noises) too.  You’re REALLY into animals that “roar” – lions, tigers, bears… and will crawl on all fours roaring at us until we roar back. You also really love to “scare” us (Lexie included) with a sudden “BOO!” – you especially love to fling open the shower curtain and yell it while I’m in the shower. I assure you this is indeed occasionally truly startling which you of course absolutely love. 

You are still an incredible sleeper. At night we read a book, say a bedtime prayer (which you end with a resounding AYYYYMEN!), usually we rock a few minutes and then I tell you night-night, give you a kiss and put you in bed. You either roll over and go right to sleep or talk to yourself and whatever stuffed animals you’ve weaseled into bed with you that night for a few minutes before drifting off. You sleep 12-13 hours at night and recently have been taking a 3 hour nap in the early afternoon. Crazy…but no one’s complaining.  

Now, reading over all that you sound like a dream child. Hate to break it to you… but you aren’t.

You may have inherited your father’s need for sleep but despite my praying and bargaining with the Lord, you did not get his consistent, even keel, laid back personality. You move from deliriously happy to inconsolably upset in a heartbeat– fortunately it is usually the former.

You are ridiculously adamant about your independence. You are a stubborn, hard headed, strong willed, free spirit and Heaven help us if anyone gets in the way of it. If someone touches you when you aren’t in the mood or you think there is a threat of being physically guided you will shriek or pick up the hand touching you and throw it off. You’ve even been known to casually remove my arm around you while sitting in my lap reading a book. A gesture that confirms our relation in a way that rattles me to the core- I know you’re gently saying “Don’t confine me”. Thankfully, you do love to give affection on your own – you will walk up and say “wuv (love)” hugging our legs and leaning your head against us (Lexie too). 

You are seeing just how much control you really have lately. You have taken to shrieking at the top of your lungs for minutes at a time to see if I react. It makes you absolutely furious when I don’t get upset. It’s hard not to laugh at your expressions of irritation when I don’t follow your agenda. 

You also have a need for constant stimulation. You get bored in an instant and every second you are not fully engaged or challenged is a countdown to meltdown. You will play by yourself for a total of 5 seconds, tossing whatever you’re playing with to the side and stare at me with a bored “Ok now what?” You demand continuous interaction. When I try to do my makeup in the morning you bring a pile of books into the bathroom, flip through each one and then begin to repeat “Mom. Mom. Mom. Mo-om.” increasingly insistent until you either lose it or I give you something new to do. 

You’ve begun telling yourself “No, no, no” when you approach something you are not supposed to touch. And then… you touch it anyway. Almost. Every. Time.  Kills me.  Fortunately your little pep talk with yourself serves as a fantastic warning system in the event that I don’t happen to be in the same room. 

There is so much more I’d like to tell you about the ways you keep us on our toes but you’re waking up from your nap and calling me ever so impatiently so it’ll have to wait til next time.

Love you goober fish.

Happy 16 months!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Video Update!

Weekends with Dad!

The fort

Playing in the fort with Dad

Diapered in organic cotton, playing in our new organic garden!

Dad has pudding!

An Easter Update

It has been a very busy couple of months. Danley has been so busy with church events - float building and Easter prepping we have hardly seen him lately. We're looking forward to things settling down for a short time before Summer takes off.
Kiersyn's been busy too - we went to see Country Critters when they came to visit the dayschool and she went to the butterfly exhibit at the Fort Worth botanical gardens with her KK and Poppi.

We were in the Rodeo Parade last weekend. Dayschool had a Noah's Ark float and the kids dressed as animals to ride on the Ark.

Yes that's the front page of the newspaper! Tell my husband how awesome his float idea was!

Mr. Dan in costume, working the crowd.

Notice K decided this was a great time for a nap

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We took bluebonnet pictures right down the street from us. They are amazing this year! The "good" pictures are of course on Facebook but here are some outtakes. 

I love her face. Straight out of Calvin and Hobbes.

Drowning in Bluebonnets. Told you they were amazing!

Today was the "Easter Eggstrazaganza". Kiersyn was having somewhat of a rough day but still hunted eggs like an old pro! Check her out in the video below!

"I said, no pictures."

Sweet Baby.

Then we went to see the Easter Bunny at the mall (ugh). I was afraid K would freak out. Instead she thought the bunny was hilarious, hugged the bunny, cuddled the bunny and shed a few tears when we had to leave.

K has been seeing a chiropractor for a few weeks and we have seen wonderful results -- Heaven help us she's been sleeping through the night (12-13 hours) for nearly 2 weeks. All is not entirely well though - she still has reflux trouble with citrus and fruit and we are waiting for the results of some GI tests to see if they can pinpoint anything else that might be exacerbating her problems. She also continues to display food seeking behaviors that can be downright exhausting. It seems to be simply habit leftover from comfort eating at the height of reflux - something that we hope, like the rest of it...will simply get better with time.
Thankfully, most of the time she is just a very happy toddler. It just amazes me every day how big my baby is getting. She has started to randomly repeat things we say, she nods yes and shakes her head no, she's climbing on everything, running, kicking and throwing a ball, she can point to all the parts of her body and say most of them. She's been going to classes at The Little Gym and loves climbing all over the gymnastics equipment and walking on the balance beam!

 Below is a video of time with Dad before bed tonight - they're playing some ridiculous game where shoes are bombs. I'll have it be known that I did not condone this activity ;)

Time In vs. Time Out

Spoke straight to my heart.

Where did we ever get the crazy idea that in order to help children behave better, first we have to make them feel worse?

To My Daughter on Her First Birthday

I saw an amazing Jewish movie a few years ago called Ushpizin. There’s a part in the movie when the Rabbi is asked how he has been. He answers “Terrible. Blessed be He.”  It has stayed with me and never has it been more real than this first year of your life.  Looking back, by Grace it is already hazy and seems like a bad dream - those days of trying desperately to keep you from screaming in pain. It was awful baby. You would cry and cry and writhe in pain and beg to eat without ceasing because it helped your throat feel better. For months Daddy had to swing you in your car seat for half an hour to calm you down enough to sleep. It went on and on – til you were 7 months old when it finally started to get better. So many hurdles we had to climb over. 23 doctors visits in 6 months. Reflux, Sandifers, an upper GI, feeding problems, a swallow study, an upper endoscopy, Torticollis, Plagiocephaly, Surgery… it was one thing after another and there were times when it felt like too much and so many times that if didn’t seem fair for someone so little to go through so much. How thankful we are to have made it to the other side. That’s not to say there weren’t wonderful moments because there were. Good days when you smiled more than you cried with moments when I was able to just hold you in wonder. All the hard stuff may have been terrible for us and for you – but Blessed. Be. He.  Never have I known grace, love, awe, wonder, pride like I have come to know in the past year. You have taught me so much: that sometimes praise is sacrifice and that breathing can be prayer. That rejoicing is a choice you make even when you don’t feel grateful. That there will be times when people think you are crazy or stupid for doing what you know to be right (which makes it both more difficult and more important to do it anyway). That the most love and beauty is found in unexpected places and the tiniest people. That love still overwhelms me - there are so many things I love about you: Your easy smile, the way your nose crinkles when you think something is silly, the precious way you whisper “hi” behind your pacifier in the middle of the night, the hug you greet me with every single morning that traps me against the crib til you’re ready to let go, your bright blue eyes and your sweet sloppy kisses. As your personality has become evident, I am continuously amazed that I get to be your mom. We’ve learned so much about you already:

You are affectionate. You LOVE to give hugs and kisses. You will seek us out just for a hug and a “MUAAH” kiss.

You are a very social being. You love to people watch – to smile and wave at everyone you see. Your first time at The Little Gym you tried to talk to and hug the other babies (who either looked at you like you were a bit crazy or didn’t notice at all!).

You are intelligent, curious and observant. You said your first word at 7 months and surprise us with the new things you know and understand every day.

You are independent. You want to do things by yourself, on the other side of the room, without help!

You love music. Before you were born we went to a concert and you went crazy - kicking and flipping in my tummy. After you were born you would smile when music played. Now you dance to any beat!

You love being outside. You stand at the windows, watching and exclaiming over the birds and trees, and when your reflux was still awful just being outside often helped you relax.

You are tenacious and unyielding. When you want something, you don’t give up until you are heard. If someone tries to take your hand when you are busy, you just sit down until they understand – you’re doing it on your own. Sure makes it hard on mom and dad when we have a different idea of how things should be done. But oh, how your passion makes my heart swell with pride. You have a fierce spirit – the kind that makes a fiery warrior who will stand for truth and justice without compromise. Those are the kind of people that change the world baby. I pray every day that God gives us the wisdom and patience to guide your heart. Blessed be He.

I am so blessed by you and can’t wait to watch you grow and learn in the coming years.

I love you more than you could ever know.

Happy first birthday baby girl.

By the way – this video? We try to give the best to you – we only feed you organic and the closest you had come to a dessert was a tiny bite of ice cream. This was your first inorganic, sweet treat and I thought you wouldn’t know what to do with it. Turns out, you knew EXACTLY what to do.

Camera Fun

I'm a little (read: WAY) behind on blogging but I had to share these videos. After nap time today,  we were figuring out the webcam on my computer so we can learn to use Skype. I may be biased but this just gets cuter and cuter...