Well, from months 12-15, Kira has been learning like a sponge! She has developed quite a personality and she has become a lot of fun to interact with, which also comes with some difficulties as well. While she is mostly a very pleasant child, she has started to test more boundaries, and to demonstrate what I believe to be intentional disobedience. Fun!
However...like I said... most of her developments are good and very cute. She now loves to put on her shoes because she seems to understand that this means she can walk around. Kira LOVES to go outside and points to show me that she wants to go in the stroller for a few laps around the neighborhood. She has such a playful demeanor, and a streak of mischief as well! She enjoys hiding my shoes, my keys, my phone, and taking anything out of my purse and wallet. In fact, she likes accessories of any kind, but especially sunglasses. The other day, she didn't take off her blue heart sunglasses the entire time we were in the supermarket, and the other shoppers couldn't help but laugh or smile when they saw her.
She now plays lots of games and throws a darn good fit, complete with belly flopping on the floor. We haven't put any locks on the kitchen cabinets, so one of her newest hobbies is rearranging the bottom two drawers of towels and oven mitts and the cabinet of tupperware. She first started this habit in her bedroom by doing the exact same thing with the clothes from her dresser and the laundry basket. Sometimes she puts the things back in the drawers, and sometimes she doesn't. ;)
At meal time, she enjoys pretending to feed me and then taking the food away at the last second to eat it herself. However, Kira is more than happy to feed me the food she doesn't want, and if I am not close enough, she loves to throw it off her highchair. She understands "clean up" and if I give her a tissue, she will wipe up the table or floor, which is really cute. I think she may have learned this at daycare. She loves to high five and to feed herself with a spoon. She often claps when we have finished a meal and she said "nom nom" or "nummy" if she is eating something she really likes. It's a nice reward for making her food. :)
She says a few words, and understands much more. Seriously, every day she does something new! Between yesterday and today she went from vigorously shaking her head to saying the word "no." Yippee. I knew this day would come. Now I'm sure it will become her favorite word. She now calls her pacifier her "baby" and says "book" and "ball" whole holding or pointing to them even though both words kind of sound like "ba". She enjoys kicking balloons and Lisa's soccer ball around the house. From the looks of it, we might have a little soccer star in our future. A few days ago, I was talking aloud as I was searching for her shoes so that we could play outside. I couldn't find them anywhere! I said aloud, "Kira where are your shoes?" and seconds later she came back into the room holding both of them in her hands. Pretty impressive, I think!
We are working on blowing kisses.. she's got the kiss sound down, but hasn't quite coordinated it with moving her hand. I think we are now down to one 1-2 hour nap during the day, and we are still working on sleeping through the night. She has two top teeth and four bottom teeth, and many molars on the way, which I think are the cause of the latest disruption in sleep! Good times.
It's so much fun to see how quickly Kira's adds new words and foods to her repertoire! I would consider her to be a very interested eater and I can't think of any food that she hasn't been willing to try...I'm really thankful she is so adventurous about food, even though it sometimes makes it difficult for me to enjoy a meal now. She is always curious about anything on my plate and if she had more teeth, I would feel more comfortable letting her try additional table foods. Currently she has 4 teeth (the two top and two bottom) and she is currently cutting two more bottom teeth on either side of the existing ones, which is making for interesting nighttime sleep patterns.
I can't really say that she has a favorite food, but Kira especially enjoys cheerios, goldfish, puffs, pasta, yogurt, and any fruit or vegetable. She is also now showing an interest in trying to eat with a fork and spoon. I've let her try a few times, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to deal with the mess. She accidentally flings more food on her tray and floor than anything else. In this photo, Kira does more than "give peas a chance." She did not want to eat from her own plate; she insisted on eating out of the serving bowl. She seemed especially pleased with herself and the adult-size bowl was a heavy enough that she didn't try to dump out the contents like she has been doing lately with her child dishes. Unfortunately, I think she has had an allergic reaction to banana and some citrusy fruits like pineapple and mandarin oranges. She loves the tastes, but patches of her skin develop redness that seems to be unpleasant and uncomfortable. I hope we will be able to reintroduce these foods at another time because she really does love feeding these foods to herself.
As for words, Kira now says bye bye and uh oh. When she says "uh oh" it's pretty funny that she often says it *before* she drops or throws something. I guess it's kind of a warning for me to duck or watch out for flying objects. Usually she is chucking her pacifier or sippy cup and it is pretty amazing how far she can throw things. We are trying not to laugh when she does this, but it is really hard!I also think she is working on saying "all done" at the end of a meal because she raises her arms and it sounds like "ah dah." I know there are a few more words, but I forget to write them down and when she starts saying them more, I'm sure they will stick in my mind. I keep hoping to catch her talking on video, but she is old enough now that when she sees the camera come out, she often stops what she was doing and is more interested in the device. I feel like I need to set up a hidden camera to catch all of the memorable developments! :) I'm so excited to see what other new things this week holds. Literally, every week there is something else to record and it is so much fun! :)
So... Jon and I are having a hard time deciding whether Kira has intentionally said her first words yet, but she consistently makes the following sounds the last few months:DadaMamaBabaHiHeyYeahYay!Uh oh Dah (and points)Hi dada (with wave)Bye dada (with wave)Mah (and signs "more" while eating)
She definitely seems to understand that waving means hello and goodbye. When she is very happy with herself (or us) she loves to clap. I'm still trying to get it on camera, but ever since November, she likes to dance and clap to "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands."
In the photo above, Jon is wearing his Christmas present from Kira. :)
However...like I said... most of her developments are good and very cute. She now loves to put on her shoes because she seems to understand that this means she can walk around. Kira LOVES to go outside and points to show me that she wants to go in the stroller for a few laps around the neighborhood. She has such a playful demeanor, and a streak of mischief as well! She enjoys hiding my shoes, my keys, my phone, and taking anything out of my purse and wallet. In fact, she likes accessories of any kind, but especially sunglasses. The other day, she didn't take off her blue heart sunglasses the entire time we were in the supermarket, and the other shoppers couldn't help but laugh or smile when they saw her. 
