15 Months of Kinley

I'm not going to do monthly updates anymore, but Kinley is still changing so much all the time, that I thought quarterly updates would be good for her 2nd year.  I know she will change so much between 1 and 2 that it would be one seriously long update at 2 years.

As always, we just can't believe how much she is growing and changing all the time.  I am LOVING being at home with her this summer.  Last summer was priceless - my first as a mommy.  This year, however, we are more in a "groove" and she sleeps all night long!  I am amazed at how much she learns all the time.  It seems like almost every day she is saying a new word, and I'm just amazed at all the little connections she is making.  The teacher in me just loves to see all those synapses firing all the time.  :-)

Now that Kinley is a full-fledged walker, she is go-go-go all the time!  She even says "go go go."  It's too cute!  She definitely has her favorite toys, and her favorite things to get into, even though she knows she's not supposed to.  If we don't close our bathroom door, she will wander out with John's deodorant.  Every single time.  Sometimes it's tiring chasing after her, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I won't lie - there are days where I'm excited for naptime, but I also miss her after she's been sleeping for a couple of hours.

Speaking of sleeping . . . she continues to be a great sleeper at night - usually 11-12 hours, but due to our later summer schedule, she has started dropping a nap pretty consistently.  I guess it's a little bit of a trade off.  She sleeps until at least 8:00 every morning, but it's usually more like 8:30 or 9:00.  Sometimes even 9:30.  If she sleeps that late, it's kind of hard to get a morning nap in, anyway.  Some days, though, she will skip her morning nap, and wants to play in her bed during afternoon nap time.  This leads to a very cranky baby by dinner time.  Kinley is very content to just sit in her bed and amuse herself, and we have kind of gotten into a bad habit of leaving her there a little while to get a few more minutes of sleep, or putting her down for a nap before she's really ready.  This leads to her just sitting and playing.  So, I'm realizing we're going to have to change some habits to make sure she's just going into bed to sleep, not play.  We don't ever have problems at night, but nap time is the issue.

Kinley is still a very laid-back baby.  We have seen hints of a tantrum when she doesn't get something she wants, but at this point, she's still easily distracted, so we can get her interested in something else.  If she has prolonged fussiness, it's almost always because she's tired.  She's just not a very fussy baby.  We've had many people comment to us that she's "so good."  We figure we just lucked out with a really easy baby . . . that may mean we're in for it during the teenage years.  :-)

Here's some highlights of Kinley right now:

**She is mostly wearing 12 month clothes now.  She still has a few 9-12 month things that fit.  She actually still had some 6-9 month stuff that fit, but I finally packed away all of those clothes.
**She is still wearing size 3 diapers, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
**She usually drinks about 16-20 ounces of milk a day, and water in between meals.  Those are the only drinks she has had (other than a sip or 2 of tea out of my cup).  We don't see a need for juice at this time.
**She is still a pretty good eater.  She has gotten a little pickier and doesn't eat some things that she used to, but I know that's how it goes, so I try not to get too worried about it.  She's not as accepting of veggies as she once was, but she is a good fruit eater.  I just try to maintain as good of a balance as I can.
**She is starting to talk a lot.  It seems like she says new words almost every day.  Here are the words she can say right now (at least all the ones I can think of):  daddy, mommy, no, no ma'am (no me), puppy (buppy), Wubba (bubba), go, hi, bye, more, up, oh boy (oh by), snack (nack), nose, eye, night night (ni ni), ball, baby, banana (nana), bath, shoe, sock, yucky, woof and meow
(I didn't include all the gibberish she speaks all the time!)
**She knows how to climb up the stairs, and is learning how to get down (safely)
**She loves the water - bath time is a favorite and she likes going to the pool
**She can point to her eyes, nose, mouth, hair, tummy and toes
**She has really become interested in books.  She will sit down with a book and babble to herself for 5 minutes or more - it's adorable!

We will have her 15 month doctor appointment at the end of the month.  Her 1 year appointment was delayed about a week, because our doctor was on vacation.  She has to have shots again at 15 months, so it had to be spaced right, and our doctor is going to be on vacation again the week we were due to go, so we won't be seeing him until the 31st.  I'm interested to see how much she's grown!

This sweet little girl is the light of our lives right now.  Many nights, we talk in bed before we go to sleep, and we just reminisce about things she did during the day, or just how amazing she is.  We love her so much, and just can't believe how much she has changed our lives for the better!

**On the pictures . . . I had received 2 sets of monthly labels for 1-12 months, so I "doctored" one set to try and make a 15 month sticker.  It's not that great, but at least it helps me keep track!