K2 is 19 months

Kyla's 18 month old stats from November's check up:

Weight: 24 1/2 lbs, or 50%ile

Length: 33 inches or 85%ile

Head: 18 1/2 cm., or 65%ile.

Dear Kyla:

I apologize for being the "that" mom- the mom who feels like SUCH a slacker when it comes to sharing news and pictures and stats about you. It was so much easier with just one child; now, with 2 active girls, I feel like I never get a chance to just sit and talk about you, even though I would like to so very much!

You love to talk about your socks and shoes and slippers with us. You love to wear sweat shirts and get mad if we try to unzip them and take them off you. In the picture above, you were proud to be wearing a dress, especially one with puppies on them! You kept stopping to lean over and touch the puppies and babble your jargon,to tell us all about the puppies! You also love to tell us when you like your shirt- you hold your chest out, walk up to us and say "shir, shir" to us, as well as hold out your foot to people, while saying "sock" , to make sure nobody misses your cute socks!

You understand so much- if we say "should we take a nap" or "let's go to bed" or "let's take a bath" - you drop whatever you are doing and race to the upstairs, taking them as fast as you can, as you watch behind you to make sure someone comes with you. You love to close the gate at the top of the stairs, and you always know if it's bath time, you rush to the bathroom, and if bedtime, you rush into your bedroom to get ready for bed. Mama is so thankful for you, my sleeper who sleeps through the night *whew*

Right now, you say a lot, but most of it is unintelligible. We're learning "Kyla language", since a lot of it is mushed up inside your mouth. I'm not sure if it's because yours sister talked so much at this age, but your lack of words makes me feel like you are still so much younger than you really are. Your sister had 4 word phrases, and right now, I celebrate when you label or request things with just one word! You say the usual things, like "mama, dada, mommy, daddy, sis, Sage, Treble (weble), pease (please), sock, shirt (shir), bear, ball, baby, wa wa (water)", and other words that we can translate, such as "Corduroy" bear is "roy" or blah blah-roy. I blame your damn ear infections for the speech intelligibility. With 9 or so infections under your belt, and fluid in your ears, of course you won't be sharp and articulate with your words.

One thing we do understand is when you say "up" or "color'. You love to sit in your booster seat (yep, we sold our high chair!), and color and stamp, just like your big sister. You are amazingly very serious about your crafts, and I'm impressed with your patience and the care you take in coloring pictures, or stamping. You are so strong- you can take marker caps off and put them on, with no issues whatsoever.

When you are excited to see someone, or start to be your comedic self, because yes, you are what we call a 'class clown', you do your snicker nose. You love to smile at our family members who don't live with us with your snicker nose, as you flirt with them, and tease them with your eyes and laugh. You have the BEST Laugh in the world. You have this little grumble you do, that makes us know you are aware you are damn cute, and it's the funniest belly laugh we've heard. It gets everybody laughing with you!

You also love to look at books and frequently carry some around with you. You don't love us reading them to you, as much as you do pointing at pictures and turning the pages as fast as your little fingers can. We typically get most of our reading together done before bedtime, just you and Mama. Our routine is about 3-4 books, and we end with The Thank You Prayer book, just like we did with your sister. You are more interested in saying "bird" and labeling flowers (or so I THINK you are saying that), than listening to the actual prayer.
You're really into climbing and running everywhere. Your dance moves consist of shaking your head up and down, moving your bum around, and twirling in circles. You like to twirl until you fall down, which Mama doesn't think is so funny. You love to speedy crawl up the stairs and get so angry when we put the gate up to stop you from your exploring. The other day, we heard typing on the computer and we saw you had (for the first time) climbed into the chair and were typing on the keyboard, all by yourself! You stinker!

You usually eat everything we give to you. We like to say, "give it to Kyla, she'll eat it"; however, lately, you're proving us wrong with that and have started pushing food bowls/plates away, saying "no", and shaking your head. I think you just like to push and test your limits these days.

And of course, you love your Corduroy bear movie. You beg us the minute we get in the door at night to put Corduroy movie on, by following us around, chanting his name, and holding out the movie case for us to take. You even cry big, crocodile tears when we say "not now". The other movie you adore is "cow" - your code for Baby Einstein "A Day on the Farm" movie. You adore the cows and animals, but lose interest when the tractors come on.

Oh, Kyla, how we love you. I feel such a special love for you, my little baby peanut girl. You seem so small compared to how big your sister was at this age, yet you are not small. You are average and I love you. So much. You beautiful blue eyes and your hair is coming in curls in the back of your head; you are destined to be so beautiful.