Andrej, Jessica, Kaiya and Tobi

At Kaiya's 12 month well-baby check-up, she weighed in at 23 pounds and 2 ounces. That is with her clothes on and a clean diaper. At all of her other check-ups we had to strip her down and put her on a little baby scale, but at her 12 month check-up, Miss Kaiya got to stand on the big person digital scale and get weighed just like mommy and daddy. She stood there so patiently until the nurse announced her weight. We forgot to ask what percentile she is in, but I'm sure she is still topping the charts. Kaiya measured 30 and ½ inches tall, and since I'm dropping numbers she also has ten little pearly white teeth. She got a great report from the doctor and the go ahead to wean her to cow's milk as soon as we are ready.

The appointment ended with two shots containing five different vaccinations. She started screaming the moment we made her lay down on the table. The screams escalated as the nurses simultaneously stuck her, but as soon as I scooped her up she stopped crying and started babbling away at the nurses. They were relieved as I'm sure they HATE that part of their job. Thankfully we haven't seen any side effects from the shots as we were warned that she could possibly run a fever and break out from the "live" chickenpox and MMR vaccines. She will receive a few more shots at her 15-month check-up, and then no more until she starts school at age 5!

In the milestone department, we have experienced some GREAT ones. Kaiya must have received the memo that crawling is SO for babies, because the day before her birthday she decided to officially join the toddler world and started walking! She took what Andrej and I consider her first official steps on July 4, when she walked about 6 steps from me to Andrej. We were stunned, but cheered and clapped and she was almost drunk with excitement. She was so excited that every time she tried to walk after that, she stumbled and swayed and could barely even stand up straight, but the smile on her face showed that she knew she had accomplished something big. She continued to practice here and there throughout the month gaining confidence, but the day before her birthday was different. She started walking everywhere and hasn't gone back to her knees since. It is the absolute cutest thing ever. She tucks her elbows back and sticks her big ole belly out and waddles all over the house.

On one hand this incredible milestone in Kaiya's life is so fun, but on the other it is a little sad. She no longer wants to be held and carried places as walking on her own two feet is so much more interesting. She squirms and wiggles until we put her down and then she's off running, well walking, but full-steam ahead. She makes circles around our house from the time she gets up until she goes to sleep, minus naps and eating. She waddles into one room collects something, then waddles into the next exchanging that thing for something else. I keep finding the most random things in the most random places. We've had to start closing doors on the rooms we don't won't her in, otherwise her feet will most definitely take her there. It will make you dizzy just watching her play as she cannot sit still for very long. I really cherish the times she does waddle over for a quick cuddle in my arms or when she climbs into my lap with a book for a story or two.

As if walking isn't a big enough milestone in itself, Kaiya has deciding talking is also for toddlers and finally extended her vocabulary beyond dada and mama. Her first official word was bear, pronounced beh. This is quite appropriate as her green bear is her most prized possession. She says beh and points to it many many times throughout the day and sleeps snuggled ever so close to him at night. She can also say ball (baw), baby (bebe), bye-bye, and book (buh). Does anyone else notice a pattern with "B" words here? Her only non-"B" words so far are duck (duh), up (puh), which can also be used for puppy (puh) and no, no, which is so adorably pronounced nay, nay. Also, while my parents were here Ba (Babka) and Pa (Poppa) were said quite a lot. She tends to leave off the endings of words, but I guess you have to start somewhere. The other day she put two words together as we were playing with her new bear-in-the-box. As I was stuffing him inside the box she repeated after me saying, "Bye-Bye bear," and waving her little hands as he disappeared.

Kaiya has also picked up the sign for "again" and used it over and over and over again so that Poppa would continue the "If I were a bumble bee, and you were a tree" game during their visit. She uses "more" all the time and occasionally uses "hungry" and "all done". However one of her cutest, and most frustrating, forms of communication is her little head shaking from side to side saying no. It started as a response to my head shaking and saying "no, no" when she would do something she is not supposed to. Then she started doing it before I could even remind her not to do something. For example, she will pick up the remote control, shake her head no and hand it directly to me. Yea, Kaiya! On the other hand, she will hold a piece of food over the side of her high chair tray and shake her head no, then proceed to drop it on the floor. This is definitely one of the more frustrating sides to the head shaking.

This head shaking is really funny to watch and is encouraging that she has learned, for the most part, what she can and can't do, but it has also opened a whole new world of her own ability to express no. For example, if I try to feed her something she doesn't want to eat she seals those lips up tight and shakes that head back and forth telling me no way will that piece of food pass her lips. Sometimes if I ask her a question like, "Should we go and change your diaper?" She looks straight at me and shakes that little head no as if she really understood my question. It makes us laugh now, but I'm sure it won't always be this funny.

Lately she has started saying, "nay, nay," as she shakes her head from side to side. I LOVE IT! The cutest is when I call out to her from one room as she is playing in another, just to make sure she is still there and alright. I guess the way I call her name reminds her of when I am scolding her for doing something she isn't supposed to because almost always when I call out, "Kaiya! What are you doing?" She answers back with, "Nay, Nay." Precious!