On the phoneIn honor of Kaiya turning eleven months, I decided to finally finish and add her name story to our website. You'll find it by clicking here or clicking on the link named, Naming Kaiya, on the side bar under About Us. Andrej wanted to add this new section to the side bar for "special" posts like this one. Kaiya's birth story will hopefully make its way there soon.

I cannot believe my baby is about to celebrate her first birthday! Where has this first year gone? Kaiya is looking and acting more and more each day like a toddler and less and less like a baby. I feel sad that my baby is growing up, but at the same time excited for all the new things she is learning and experiencing.

There are so many things I want to share about Kaiya's development over the last month, but I'm afraid it would mean another really LONG post. I could go on and on about how she has started to imitate us in various ways. She puts her toy phone up to her ear, well in the general ear vicinity, and nods her head as if she is listening to the most interesting conversation. She also picked up my comb the other day and I asked her if she knew what to do with a comb. She immediately tried to comb her hair, as much as her little hand could do with such a large comb.

I could also write and write and write about how she can stand up all by herself without pulling up on anything. She gets up on her hands and her feet then sticks her little booty high in the air, and then up she goes without any assistance. She is so proud as she stands tall. She will occasionally take a step or two, but always ends up lunging forward into crawl position.

I could also tell you how independent she has become. She no longer needs me to turn her walker around when she runs into something. Instead she takes a step back and slides the walker to the side and continues along her path. She can make an entire circle around our house with only a little help getting into the kitchen. Kaiya also enjoys playing in her room, alone! At first, Andrej and I would go in and sit and watch her to make sure she didn't get into any trouble, but have been slowly giving her space. Now we only have to check in on her every once in a while and almost always find her looking at books or playing with her stuffed animals or standing at the rocking chair sliding it back and forth.

But instead of telling you all about those fun things, I desperately want to tell you about the greatest achievement of all! Kaiya has started communicating with us by using sign language!!! For the last few months I've been using signs with her during meal times. I was sure I was doing it all wrong since she would either stare at me with a blank face or laugh at me as I was asking her if she wanted more or if she was all done as I waved my hands accordingly. After talking to friends that taught their babies to sign I was encouraged to keep trying. Then last week, out of the blue, Kaiya decided to join in on the signing game.

Kaiya was playing in the floor and I was sitting in the rocking chair reading a book. She was talking and carrying on and I looked up just as she was clapping and waving her hands. Then, as she watched her hands waving at each other she clasped her fingers and thumbs together and moved her hands together until they were touching. She did this a few times before she looked up and caught me staring at her in amazement as I joyfully explained that she was signing, "More, More!" She smiled and did it again, and again and again. Each time I cheered. Granted it wasn't in the right context, but we were making progress.

Later that day I asked her if she was hungry as I signed, "Hungry." She crawled over and instead of her normal whiny response of, "Uh, Uh, Uh." She brought her little hand up to her mouth and signed, "Hungry, Hungry." I scooped her up, showered her with kisses and just for fun asked her again if she was hungry. She signed "hungry" again and just to make sure I understood she followed with, "More! More!"

Since then she almost always signs "hungry" and "more" often together, but won't even attempt, "All done." You can see a short video of her telling Andrej that she wants more banana by clicking here. It really is the cutest thing ever and I look forward to what she will learn next.

Andrej and I find ourselves saying often how fun life is with Kaiya. I couldn't imagine it any other way.