Here it is, almost time for Christmas. All the Christmas presents are wrapped and under the tree (except the ones from Santa). I got a Christmas present (and birthday.. and I'll go ahead and throw in next Christmas too) present pretty early, though, and it was the best present I could imagine. My little girl, who is now 2 years and (almost) 5 months is now walking. Walking like a champ, at that. Practically running (with the occational topple overs). She started really trying hard I'd say about October. She tried and tried, and would make more and more steps each time. There were somedays that she didn't even try and resorted to crawling again, which made me believe she just wasn't ready yet. Then the next day she'd be on her feet trying again. She's now, as I said, walking and sometimes running, especially when her Daddy walks in the room. Her walk turns into an insta-run and she just dead weights in his arms. She is most definitely a Daddy's girl, but Mommy gets her snuggles in too. She is also standing in the middle of the floor and walking off. No more pulling to stand on furniture for this girl. She still needs her AFO's as her ankles haven't really improved, but that's a small thing. Whatever helps my girl reach her dreams is okay by me. We're beyond thrilled in this household, and that's nothing compared to how happy it's making her.
She sees speech therapy on a weekly basis now as she is behind, but that's also something that has blossomed all the sudden for her. She's not speaking as much as a "typical" 2 year old, but each day it seems she says something new. Lets see, a collection of words and phrases: "I did it!" "Hello (she likes to use this one on any stranger in her vicinity)" "Shhh! (not really a word, but I'm counting it)", "Bye bye" "yes (or yeah)" "Nah nah! (her version of no way, Jose)" "thank you" "uh oh" "Dino Dan (her favorite show on earth. We really don't understand the appeal. She either has a serious crush on Dan or she's really into dinosaurs)". As well as the normal words like Mama, Dada, Papa (her grandpa). She also surprises us and says a lot more when she thinks we're not listening. I sneakily listened to her repeat all her animals on Peek-a-boo Barn the other night (an app on the iPad). Yesterday we took her to Toys-R-Us to get some last minute ideas on Christmas gifts and she snuggled one of her favorite characters on one of her favorite cartoons -- Team Umizoomi. His name is "Bot" and she said "Bot Bot!". She also loves Bubble Guppies and when she saw one of the characters on the shelf said "Bubble Bubble!".
It's near impossible to remember every word I've heard her say. I really should have been writing them down. But that's generally what she's doing. We could not be more proud of her.
Kalen started 1st grade in August, and had a good few months. We're having an issue with a mean kid in his class who likes to exclude him in activities and tries to encourage other children to do the same. It all started when Kalen announced that he got to go to Universal Studios and a water park for his birthday this year. Since then, his classmate has not been so nice. I assume it's jealousy. They use to be best friends. We're fighting that right now, and if it doesn't improve I will be requesting a conference with his teacher. I can't stand the thought of someone being mean to my boy. He's too nice of a kid for that. Other than that he has been getting straight A's and is reading like a champ! I will be updating again soon so I can include pictures from our Universal trip. It was a blast and something that I know he will never forget. I'm so happy we were able to make his birthday so special.
I'll be updating soon. There's more I'd like to add, but that'd make this post way too long. I'll be back!
