16 Months Old!

I have been a really bad blogger recently.  (I blame it on the fact that our internet is really slow, and it takes forever to upload pictures, so I always put it off until later.)  But I love reading everyone else's blogs, so I figure I should take the time to write an update.

Kaylie is 16 months old today!  She has grown up so much recently, and it has been fun to watch.  Here are some of the cute things she does now:

1 - Sing!!  Actually, it's just humming since she isn't talking much yet.  But she hums songs almost all day long.  She knows the alphabet song, and will sing it almost every morning when I am getting her breakfast ready.  (She sings it while playing with her alphabet magnets on the fridge.)  She can hum the "Clean Up" song, "On Top of Spaghetti", a "Bell Horses" song, a "Teddy Bear" song, and the "If you're happy and you know it..." song (where she claps and stomps her feet too).  She's pretty cute, and it has been fun teaching her new songs and hear her singing all day
2 - Talking!  I am officially claiming "Dada" as her first word because she says it amidst her babbling and actually understands that it means Dad.  She is soo close to saying these words too:  duck, quack quack, bye bye, down, dry, ball.  I say "so close" because it's more like "duh" for duck, and "wa wa" for quack quack, but she is definitely trying.  Life has been a lot easier recently because I can actually understand what she is trying to say (most of the time), and when I don't, she does a pretty good job at taking my finger to show me, or pushing my leg to make me go where she wants
3 - Waving "bye bye".  She does this so well now.  She is so cute waving bye bye to Dada when he has to go to school, or hi to her cousin Justin or Grandpa Jensen when he comes home from work
4 - Identifying objects in the house or in books.  This is one of my favorite games with Kaylie.  I ask her where different things are in the house (clock, light, her Teddy bear), and she can point to them or go get them.  I love being understood!!
5 - Animal sounds.  She is getting really good at trying to make different animal sounds now too.  She knows what sounds a monkey, duck, cow, cat, lion, donkey (her favorite!), dog, and elephant make.  She doesn't make the sounds exactly right yet, but the inflection is there.  (For donkey, it's "eh ah, eh ah")
6 - Using utensils.  Kaylie is really good at eating with a fork, and even a spoon now.  Yippee!
7 - No more milk!  Kaylie has decided that she doesn't like milk.  (I wonder where she gets that from?)  She went "cold turkey" on milk drinking when she had her allergic reaction a few months ago.  Ever since then, I haven't been able to get her to drink it.  So, she just drinks water.  But she did try milk in her cereal the other day (gross!), and she seemed to like it.  So we'll see if she can atleast get some milk at breakfast
8 - Down to one LONG nap in the afternoon.  Love this too!  Kaylie is such a good sleeper.  She goes to bed at 8pm, sleeps until 8am, and takes a nap for usually around 3 hours in the middle of the day.  So nice!!  I hope this lasts for forever!!

   We love our Kaylie-babe, and I can't wait to see what new thing she will be doing next.  Hope everyone is doing well!