Turning one

Hi there.

So Kelsey did finally start walking. Her first solo steps were taken April 7, 2009 at Kindermusik class. She was so focused on musical instruments that other children were playing that she accidentally took two steps. Then when we got home, she took about 6 steps and fell right on the sippy cup she was carrying. So it took a few more days before she walked on her own again. She turned 13 months old today and is walking proficiently and can stand up without pulling up on something.

We celebrated her birthday Easter weekend when Gram, Pop and Grandmama were visiting. We have a video of her cake experience that we will surely post some day. April 26 Kelsey was baptised. Gram and Pop returned for that weekend. Grandma and Grandpa were also present. And Mike's Aunt Maeve and Uncle Bob served as Kelsey's godparents. We have pictures from the baptism that we will surely post some day as well.

So what is the latest with the girls. Lily can write her name. You have to be there watching her do it to really recognize all of the letters, but she is writing them. Addison's drawing abilities now include putting eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, ears and feet on her smiley faces. Lily can spell both her name and Addison's name and is getting quite proficient at matching pictures to their corresponding words. Both Addison and Lily have taken to telling very involved stories. Generally it is very difficult to follow what the story is about. Rather than story we should probably call them a stream of consciousness. Addison's stories today usually involved Beast (from Beauty and the Beast), horses, bees and Madeline. The other day Lily was reciting a story (to no on in particular). She continued talking and walking around our main floor for about 5 minutes. Then she went upstairs, talking the whole way, and we could hear her over the monitor upstairs still talking. One of Addison and Lily's favorite things to do these days is wear their "eee-hee-hee" hats. These are hooded towels that they put on their heads and run around the house saying "eee-hee-hee". They also love watching Beauty and the Beast. Addison and Lily start their mornings by entering our living room and finding a basket of toys and dumping it out. Then they find a bag of Mr PotatoHead parts and dump it out. In a matter of 30 seconds they can totally trash the room.

Kelsey amazes us every day. She is a sponge for information and language. She says phrases like "hold it" and "open it". About 3 weeks ago she started Peoopee's full name...it is one of her favorite things to say. About 2 weeks ago she started participating in Old McDonald. If you sing most of the song, she'll sing E-I-E-I-O in the correct places. In the last week she has started singing the ABCs. She will sing ABD all by herself, but if you sing most of the letters, she'll participate with D, E, F, G, O, P, T, U, V and she's starting to the get the "me" at the very end. Last week she also started pointing to herself and saying "me". We have a box that has the letters A-B-C on it. If you point to the letters she'll say A and B. She still doesn't have C yet. Kelsey started helping with counting this week. If you say "one" she'll say "two" and then you say "three". You can ask her how many feet she has and she'll say "two". She likes to say "Hi" and she follows it up with something that sounds like "How are you?" To which we of course respond, "I'm good. How are you?" She responds, but that response is still unintelligible.

The other day, Mike was helping Kelsey eat her dinner. Here's how the conversation went:
Kelsey: "hold it"
Mike: "hold what?"
Kelsey: "hold it"
Mike: "hold what?" (looking around)
Kelsey: "HOLD IT"
Mike: "what?!"
Kelsey: "HOLD THAT!"
Mike never figured out what she wanted to hold, but good for Kelsey trying to explain it better.

Every night Kelsey gives Mike, Lily and Addison nite nite kisses. The last 2 days Kelsey has been saying nite nite and she will walk over to each of the three and give their kisses and say nite nite.

My guess is that Kelsey's vocabulary is up to about 60 words if you count all of the words she says and signs.

Well, there's our update. Happy Spring everyone.