Happy 22 months, baby girl!

Happy 22 months today (Feb. 10) to my baby girl, who is quickly turning into a toddler, and NOT a baby, anymore. *sniff*. It is going by much too fast for my liking.

Our girl is continuing to make CJ and I smile at each other on a daily basis, for she is one smart cookie. She continues to love her fur siblings, and still says good morning and goodbye to them each and every day. She is always very concerned about "where Sager go?".

K is continuing to show some interest in being potty trained, but it's a very slow process. She will tell us,and Elaine, after she has pooped in her diaper. The few times she has warned us that she has to poop have not been successful once we've moved onto the potty chair. Well, we'll get there. However, she is very interested in mommy or daddy if she sees us going potty. "Mama, bum" she'll say, as she reaches over to try and see my bum. Um, no, sweet girl. Last week, I was trying to quickly go potty before I left for work, but I had Keifer lounging between my legs, playing with my belt, while Sage and Treble decided to take their rowdy play into the bathroom and go under my legs. I yelled for CJ to come and relieve me. What a picture we made!

Last week, Keifer was in the back seat when out of the blue she said, "mama, I love it!". I turned around and said "You love it?". She answered, " I love it" with her big cheese grin. Where in the world she got that, I have no idea. My own guess is one of the older kids at Elaine's must have said this about something, and little parrot girl picked up on it.

K continues to bless me and CJ if we sneeze, cough, or sometimes even if we yawn. The other night Sager sneezed under the table when we were eating dinner, and Keifer promptly said, with no hesitation, "bless you, Sager". Ahh, what a sweetie.

She continues to be Miss Drama girl, as well. Her latest act of drama is to make her excited "OHH" face when we ask her questions about going out or talk about going somewhere. Then, she'll cover her mouth with her hands, in an act of excitement. I can so see her performing on stage someday! LOL.

Each morning is an adventure in our house, as we are clamoring to get ready, with our busy girl running around. K loves to be a big helper, and lately she has taken to retrieving all my sandals from the closet, and some of my belts as well, and piling them at my feet in my bathroom as I prepare for the day. "Here go, mama" , she'll say, as polite and helpful as can be. The amazing part to me, though, is that she'll then take Chris's shoes out and knows that they are HIS shoes. She knows the difference between a daddy or a mommy shoe!

Our big girl also wants to be so independent on the stairs going up and down to our bedrooms. It scares us to death, but we are letting her practice (with us there to spot), as she goes up and down with just her hand on the wall to give her support. "No, mama, go go go!", she'll say, in efforts to shoo me away from her. Oye. She also enjoys climbing up on the bottom stair (where she so famously will run and sit and say "cheese" for a picture!), and then jumps off it. "Ready, set, go!" is a common phrase we'll hear, and then a little hop step jump that cannot be imitated is completed.

Our girl can now read the book Bless Me to us in its entirety. It blows us away.

Last weekend, we asked Keifer if she wanted to visit her cousins. We didn't mention names. She sat there, and then said "Mason?". She knows who and what a cousin is! She is in LOVE with Mason!

When K and I pull into the parking lot for baby ballroom on Mondays, she now says "Yay, ballroom" or "Shake shake, mama, yay!". She sooooooo loves going and is beginning to dance without me, or holding my hand, and can sing and dance along to many of the songs we sing all on her own. My peacock feathers are starting to spread now. LOL.

And, little Keifer has turned into a clingy mama's girl. I'm not sure when this started happening, but last week I had to work late for two nights. Chris said the second night, she cried and moaned and called for me to read her the Thank You Prayer book (I read while Chris holds her, and we all say it together and then do kisses and hugs goodnight, over and over). It broke my heart to hear this, and that she cried for about 10 minutes for me. Ugg. A few times now, at Elaine's in the AM as well, she'll say, "C'mon, Mama, sit down" and motion me to follow her into Elaine's and sit down to eat breakfast with the kids. My heart hurts to leave her, although I know she's OK. I guess the other day, when some one's mom picked them up before I came to get her, she also started crying for me. Ugg. Not the things I want to think about. She's also much more shy in person with people, as she is becoming more aware of her surroundings and what is different or new to her.

Only two more months and our sweet angel girl is going to be Two. It breaks my heart that she is growing and changing so rapidly, but it is a fun adventure to go through life with her by our sides.