So, it happened. I started counting my age in years instead of months (though still with the 'three quarters' bit). Can you believe it?! [Apologies for missing the last few months writing here - it was a busy time. In this post I am interspersing the monthly photo collages, so be sure to read to the end.]
Who am I today you ask? Well you know my age. But that doesn’t tell you much about me. It doesn’t tell you about the cute looks I do with my eyes when I tilt my head down and then look at you with a coy smile. Or about how I love, really love, to jump. On the big couch, the small couch, on the counter if mom will let me, on the bed. Or that one time when mom went to a party and gave me a few bites of cake and how I jumped and jumped in my crib.
Back in December I had fun getting dressed up nicely for some Christmas parties and Christmas mass (Redstoners especially liked my little tan suit). On the day itself I had fun opening presents, including my fun tricycle which I love a lot even if I can't quite reach the pedals. Another fun toy was the hammer and peg set, which I love hammering down and then flipping over to go again. After Christmas we all took a quick trip to visit some cool canyons in Colorado (something like Black Canyon and a national monument).
I got a new car seat in January (I guess I had outgrown my first one since I am now over 32" tall) - part of this transition was to lose my beloved pacifier in the car. But I guess we all need to grow up little by little.
Snow is pretty cool. You can eat it (well if it is clean). You can play in it. You can watch it fall. You can try to listen to its sound. Sometimes you slip in it when you don't want to. But sometimes you purposefully hop on a plastic thing and slip on purpose down a hill - this is fun!
I like to help out a lot. For example, I can put clothes in the dirty laundry, use the sponge to clean up my tray (especially after making a mess eating), turn lights on and off as requested, or put my high chair back in its corner after eating. Oh and I almost forgot sweeping with a broom - pretty much an awesome thing to do.
In February I started getting many more teeth - incisors and molars, top and bottom. Now my mouth is almost full of teeth! They definitely help out with chomping down during meals.
I also got to go on a plane trip with mom and Karin to New Orleans for a week in February (mom says that's where we went). I liked staying on a high floor to look out the window and check out the buildings and the mighty Mississippi river, loved loved loved the penguins at the aquarium, and had a blast playing at the children's museum. Oh and there was this really fun jazz band that I got to hang out with and dance a little to their music. Overall a great trip (plus mom got to go on a cool trip with work to an off-shore oil rig).
There are all kinds of words I am trying out as I increase my communications. I like trains a whole bunch, and can say ‘choo choo’ (though not quite ‘train’ yet). The Little Engine That Could is a favorite book. As is, of course, the Little Blue Truck (in the country, but more recently in the city). And ‘truck’ is one of the words I can say (which gets said a lot, as well as ‘car’ – when reading books, when hearing a sound go by outside home, when driving around town). I love to try on all kinds of shoes (any left at the front door are fair game in my opinion), and can say shoes clearly. I like to point out all kinds of things and say things as I can, like tree and cracker, cheese and ‘cado’ (for avocado, one of my faves!), socks and my standby ‘ball’! Some things are just sounds, like ‘kaaakaaa’ for bird, ‘maaaww’ for cow, ‘roooom’ for airplane, or ‘wooeee’ for the siren/police car. Sometimes signs are still easiest for things like more or apple. And of course pointing still has its place.
At the end of February my au pair Karin left to go join another family. I miss her, but do get to see her sometimes (like when we do Brazilian play dates). But, this big transition opened up a cool new thing that I do – I hang out with other little kids my age a lot now! I’ve got two little guy friends (L and S) plus sometimes girls too (I and A). The boys and I like to play and jump and run around and sometimes rough house together. It is a ton of fun. The first week was a transition and I was a little upset when mom would leave for the day, but now I know how fun the day is so I am happy and give mom a kiss as she heads to work.
Music is my thing – listening and playing things like flutes and drums and xylophones. And dancing is definitely my thing. Turning around, or shaking my hands, or doing a cute shoulder wiggle (Appa taught me this one). In the morning sometimes we will turn on nursery rhymes and dance around (you know, to classics like hokey pokey, five little monkeys jumping on the bed, shake-shake-shake your jiggles out, or if you’re happy and you know it). Weekly at day care there is a cool lady who comes and plays guitar for us and I get to play a drum, dance around, or work on the moves to wheels on the bus go round and round. And then occasionally I start to sing (like in the car. Mom can’t quite figure out what exactly I am singing, but she loves it).
I like to explore the world and try things out (grandpa likes my curiosity). I like running around. You know I have liked tennis balls for a while – throwing them overhand or underhand. Recently I have really gotten into playing with bigger balls too – like soccer balls. Kicking them and picking them up and chasing after them in the street with my neighbors. Luckily I don’t get too phased when I accidentally fall on the pavement (who puts all those sidewalks around?). I like to climb a bunch too. Up onto chairs and tables. Up the stairs (and down a whole flight on my own!). Up the steps and down the slide in my room (heck even sometimes up the slide). Up the small rock at the playground. Even up the little climbing wall at the playground onto the slide.
I’ve got this one book that I like called My Very Own World Adventure. It is about me traveling around to countries around the world that start with K or A or V or I (you may notice that there are quite a few A’s in my name, so there is one repeat, but mostly they are new places). In the real world, I am working on keeping my adventurous travels going strong. You know about my first trip to India when I was 15 months old. In March (when I was 20 months old) I went on another trip to India with just Appa! We had a good time visiting Ayyamma and uncles and aunties and cousins in Chennai and Madurai. We even stopped in Abu Dhabi along the way. Mom missed us when we were gone (and I missed her too), but overall I grew in a lot of ways and had fun with Appa and family (and mom had some good girl time too).
My next adventure coming up in a few days is going to Japan with mom and Appa. It should be pretty cool. One of my other favorite books is about transportation (thanks Sky!): the first page starts in India, and the last page ends in Tokyo with the bullet train and Mount Fuji in the background. We are going to go there in a ‘roooom’ directly from Denver to Tokyo, then take quick ‘choo choo’s around the country (starting down in Kyushu, checking out volcanoes and castles and temples and the outdoors, and making our way back through Kyoto and Nara and the big busy tall city of Tokyo). I will let you know how it goes!
Who am I today you ask? Well you know my age. But that doesn’t tell you much about me. It doesn’t tell you about the cute looks I do with my eyes when I tilt my head down and then look at you with a coy smile. Or about how I love, really love, to jump. On the big couch, the small couch, on the counter if mom will let me, on the bed. Or that one time when mom went to a party and gave me a few bites of cake and how I jumped and jumped in my crib.
Back in December I had fun getting dressed up nicely for some Christmas parties and Christmas mass (Redstoners especially liked my little tan suit). On the day itself I had fun opening presents, including my fun tricycle which I love a lot even if I can't quite reach the pedals. Another fun toy was the hammer and peg set, which I love hammering down and then flipping over to go again. After Christmas we all took a quick trip to visit some cool canyons in Colorado (something like Black Canyon and a national monument).
I got a new car seat in January (I guess I had outgrown my first one since I am now over 32" tall) - part of this transition was to lose my beloved pacifier in the car. But I guess we all need to grow up little by little.
Snow is pretty cool. You can eat it (well if it is clean). You can play in it. You can watch it fall. You can try to listen to its sound. Sometimes you slip in it when you don't want to. But sometimes you purposefully hop on a plastic thing and slip on purpose down a hill - this is fun!
I like to help out a lot. For example, I can put clothes in the dirty laundry, use the sponge to clean up my tray (especially after making a mess eating), turn lights on and off as requested, or put my high chair back in its corner after eating. Oh and I almost forgot sweeping with a broom - pretty much an awesome thing to do.
In February I started getting many more teeth - incisors and molars, top and bottom. Now my mouth is almost full of teeth! They definitely help out with chomping down during meals.
I also got to go on a plane trip with mom and Karin to New Orleans for a week in February (mom says that's where we went). I liked staying on a high floor to look out the window and check out the buildings and the mighty Mississippi river, loved loved loved the penguins at the aquarium, and had a blast playing at the children's museum. Oh and there was this really fun jazz band that I got to hang out with and dance a little to their music. Overall a great trip (plus mom got to go on a cool trip with work to an off-shore oil rig).
There are all kinds of words I am trying out as I increase my communications. I like trains a whole bunch, and can say ‘choo choo’ (though not quite ‘train’ yet). The Little Engine That Could is a favorite book. As is, of course, the Little Blue Truck (in the country, but more recently in the city). And ‘truck’ is one of the words I can say (which gets said a lot, as well as ‘car’ – when reading books, when hearing a sound go by outside home, when driving around town). I love to try on all kinds of shoes (any left at the front door are fair game in my opinion), and can say shoes clearly. I like to point out all kinds of things and say things as I can, like tree and cracker, cheese and ‘cado’ (for avocado, one of my faves!), socks and my standby ‘ball’! Some things are just sounds, like ‘kaaakaaa’ for bird, ‘maaaww’ for cow, ‘roooom’ for airplane, or ‘wooeee’ for the siren/police car. Sometimes signs are still easiest for things like more or apple. And of course pointing still has its place.
At the end of February my au pair Karin left to go join another family. I miss her, but do get to see her sometimes (like when we do Brazilian play dates). But, this big transition opened up a cool new thing that I do – I hang out with other little kids my age a lot now! I’ve got two little guy friends (L and S) plus sometimes girls too (I and A). The boys and I like to play and jump and run around and sometimes rough house together. It is a ton of fun. The first week was a transition and I was a little upset when mom would leave for the day, but now I know how fun the day is so I am happy and give mom a kiss as she heads to work.
Music is my thing – listening and playing things like flutes and drums and xylophones. And dancing is definitely my thing. Turning around, or shaking my hands, or doing a cute shoulder wiggle (Appa taught me this one). In the morning sometimes we will turn on nursery rhymes and dance around (you know, to classics like hokey pokey, five little monkeys jumping on the bed, shake-shake-shake your jiggles out, or if you’re happy and you know it). Weekly at day care there is a cool lady who comes and plays guitar for us and I get to play a drum, dance around, or work on the moves to wheels on the bus go round and round. And then occasionally I start to sing (like in the car. Mom can’t quite figure out what exactly I am singing, but she loves it).
I like to explore the world and try things out (grandpa likes my curiosity). I like running around. You know I have liked tennis balls for a while – throwing them overhand or underhand. Recently I have really gotten into playing with bigger balls too – like soccer balls. Kicking them and picking them up and chasing after them in the street with my neighbors. Luckily I don’t get too phased when I accidentally fall on the pavement (who puts all those sidewalks around?). I like to climb a bunch too. Up onto chairs and tables. Up the stairs (and down a whole flight on my own!). Up the steps and down the slide in my room (heck even sometimes up the slide). Up the small rock at the playground. Even up the little climbing wall at the playground onto the slide.
I’ve got this one book that I like called My Very Own World Adventure. It is about me traveling around to countries around the world that start with K or A or V or I (you may notice that there are quite a few A’s in my name, so there is one repeat, but mostly they are new places). In the real world, I am working on keeping my adventurous travels going strong. You know about my first trip to India when I was 15 months old. In March (when I was 20 months old) I went on another trip to India with just Appa! We had a good time visiting Ayyamma and uncles and aunties and cousins in Chennai and Madurai. We even stopped in Abu Dhabi along the way. Mom missed us when we were gone (and I missed her too), but overall I grew in a lot of ways and had fun with Appa and family (and mom had some good girl time too).
My next adventure coming up in a few days is going to Japan with mom and Appa. It should be pretty cool. One of my other favorite books is about transportation (thanks Sky!): the first page starts in India, and the last page ends in Tokyo with the bullet train and Mount Fuji in the background. We are going to go there in a ‘roooom’ directly from Denver to Tokyo, then take quick ‘choo choo’s around the country (starting down in Kyushu, checking out volcanoes and castles and temples and the outdoors, and making our way back through Kyoto and Nara and the big busy tall city of Tokyo). I will let you know how it goes!
