Andrej, Jessica, Kaiya and Tobi

Since my Kaiya updates tend to be a wee bit on the long side, I decided to write Kaiya at 21 Months number style. To keep my points to a minimum, I'm writing only 12 facts about our sweet little 21 month old. It will still probably be long, as are all my posts, but hopefully this will keep my thoughts on track.

1. Kaiya has successfully transitioned into her big girl bed and loves it! She still asks every once in a while to sleep (or get into) the crib and our response is always the same. We tell her no in a playful way and then ask her who sleeps in cribs. She smiles and says, "Babies seep in criby." Then we ask her where she sleeps and she replies, "Kaiya seep in big bedy."

2. Little Miss Communication is an understatement. Kaiya talks non-stop. She loves to rattle off what everyone is doing, including herself, and will repeat it over and over until someone responds or agrees with her statements. Her sentences have grown in length (four to five words), but can be difficult to follow if you don't know the context. It's also fun to have little conversations with her as she gives us some insight into what she is thinking.

3 . She is very particular. Many parenting books say that toddlers crave routines and it couldn't be more true for Kaiya. She likes things to happen the same way everyday. If I forget to wash her hands after she is done with her main meal but before giving her fruit she reminds me to "ash handsies (wash hands) ash handsies." If Andrej forgets to let her sit on the potty after her bath (even though she doesn't "go" and just sits there) then she quickly reminds him to, "Get potty seat. Kaiya go potty." If our babysitter, Marianne, takes Kaiya to the backyard to play, Kaiya reminds her of exactly how the backyard is supposed to be set up. "Top off sandbox. Turn soggy (froggy) top over (after Marianne laid the frog lid upside down). Get chairs in ga-ash (garage). Need bear chair." These are just a few of the things we do regularly that Kaiya has come to expect every time we play in the backyard. One nice thing is she doesn't freak out if we don't do what she thinks we should do. We just have to explain why we aren't going to get the chairs out of the garage that day.

4. Kaiya's favorite foods (in no particular order) are any type of fruit, pasta w/ veggies and sauce, peanut butter and jam sandwiches, eggs, cheese, sweet potatoes, waffles and yogurt. She still will not eat meat, unless it's hidden in her pasta or mashed potatoes. Kaiya is also getting pretty good with using a fork or spoon. She always requests one or the other, even if she is eating a sandwich. Andrej also introduced Kaiya to one of his favorites and unfortunately she can't get enough. Ketchup. She asks for it all the time. It drives me crazy, but she is his daughter and he too puts ketchup on everything.

5. I really believe Kaiya is going to be a great big sister in a few weeks. She loves on Baby Braylen the entire time she's here and asks about her when she isn't. She talks non-stop about Baby Tobi, one of the names we are considering that she picked up on and refuses to call the baby anything else. We almost feel obligated to name him Tobi since Kaiya already has. When asked where her baby brother is, she answers in the sweetest voice, "In mama's tummy." She tells my "tummy" often, "Baby Tobi come out!" She also talks about giving the baby a bath and washing his hair with "shammy" (shampoo). When she comes across a toy that is clearly for a baby she will exclaim, "Dis is Baby Tobi toy."

6. Kaiya continues to love books and can now request by name which books she wants to read. She refers to them either by their title or if she doesn't know it, then with a description of the book. I'll ask her which three books she wants to read before bedtime and her response goes something like this: "Ittle (little) bunny's bedtime, Ni-Ni Moon and New Baby." I will usually repeat her options and ask if she is sure. Kaiya usually responds with an, "Oh yeah!" Too cute. Also, when we read her favorite books, I can read a few words and then stop and Kaiya will finish off the sentence or fill in a word or two in the middle of the sentence. I think she'll have her favorite books memorized before too long. Also, when left to look at books alone she will rattle off to herself what she sees on each page. It is so precious to listen to her tell herself what each page contains.

7. Kaiya knows most of her letters and can say some of them in order. If I sing the "Abc song" (which she requests often) and stop every few letters, she can fill in the letter that I'm waiting to hear before continuing the song. She also knows certain letters are for certain words. If she sees a "D" she excitedly starts saying, "D - Dada, D-Dada!" In the same way if she sees a "K" she says, "K - Kaiya, K - Kaiya!"

8. Kaiya is pretty good with her numbers as well. She will count up to three objects perfectly (one, two, three blocks), but then needs a little help after three. Usually if I say a number she will say the number that comes after it. She can do this all the way up to the number 13, which is how many stairs we have from our basement to our main floor and we count them out loud every time we climb up.

9. Kaiya is beginning to realize there is a difference between letters and numbers. She has this Leapfrog toy attached to our refrigerator along with each letter of the alphabet and numbers 1 - 10. The toy allows you to plug in either a number or letter and it then tells you what it is and sings a little song about each one. She loves this toy and plays with it often. She will stand at the fridge saying, "Take letter "A" out. Put nummer (number) "8" in." She will go through many combinations before getting bored and moving on to a different toy.

10. Kaiya continues to have a sweet personality and sensitive spirit. Most of the time she is very obedient and only needs to be reminded in a strong voice that she isn't allowed to do something. We have yet to see a true toddler tantrum and will probably be shocked when she throws her first. However, she is starting to test our rules and push a little further each time. As Kaiya gets closer to 2, Andrej and I find ourselves discussing and tweaking our discipline strategy more often. I know it is all a part of parenting and will continue to be for a long time, but it is hard to see our sweet obedient Kaiya look directly into our eyes with a little smirk on her face, and do exactly what we just told her not to do.

11. Kaiya is the true definition of a Daddy's girl. She talks about "Dada" all day and has a hard time containing her excitement when she hears him pull into the driveway. Throughout the day I hear such phrases as, "Ont (want) see dada. Dada come home, pay (play) Kaiya. Kaiya go bye-bye. Go see dada. Meet dada." Then when Andrej pulls into the drive she almost cries she is so happy. She has to remind herself of what he is doing to remain calm. "Dada park tuck (truck). Dada come inside. Dada get Kaiya." She loves playing ball, building blocks and playing outside with Andrej, and when he plays guitar or piano for her, she is in heaven. We also added one more step into our bedtime routine since she moved into her new room that has become one of Kaiya's favorite parts of her day. After she is in her jammies and ready for bed, Kaiya and Andrej crawl into the small tent in her new room and play before we read books. I really believe adding in this new tradition has helped make the "new big girl room" so much more fun.

12. Our Kaiya continues to grow grow grow! At 21 months, she wears size 5 diapers, size 7 shoes and size 3T clothes. She has 16 teeth and is working on another set of molars. She chews her poor fingers until they are wrinkled and have teeth imprints on each one. She doesn't seem to be in pain, but won't take her fingers out of her mouth and is usually covered in drool. The only thing we've found that helps and keeps her fingers out of her mouth is to give her a frozen washcloth to chew on. It works like a charm. Her hair is also getting longer and it has been fun to try out different accessories. She loves pig tails, bit unfortunately they won't stay in very long because her hair is still very fine. We keep waiting for her hair to darken up, but so far she remains a little blondy.

Last but not least, Kaiya continues to be the light of our lives. She brings us so much joy and happiness that it is hard to believe God has blessed us this much. We know her little world is about to change drastically in the next few weeks, but we look forward to watching her adapt and grow into her new role as big sister.