Vodka and Soda

smarts? my child has it

instead of my usual Adventures in Toddlerhood Series, i'm going to post about kayla's recent development.  those who don't want to read about a mom's brag, i won't be offended if you skip past this (but seriously, you should at least scroll to the bottom of this post to see her family portrait she drew - it's so freaking cute i can hardly stand it).

 

there are hardships as a parent that will be with you forever and the never-ending worry about your child's future is enough to keep you up at night but as a reward for the exhausting newborn stage, the tantrums you have to deal with and the growing pains of child-rearing, i get to watch kayla grow and develop in ways that blows my mind.

one may think that something as simple as coloring or drawing isn't a big deal but when your child does it, it completely blows your mind and tugs at your heart.  we all think our kids are geniuses but mine really is.  for real, she is. 

not too long ago, kayla didn't know how to color.  in fact, this was her way of coloring:

 

coloring seems easy, right?  but for a small child, it can be difficult since coloring involves fine motor skills and control that isn't quite developed and it requires some skill to stay focused enough to sit and do something for longer than 30 seconds. 

so kayla's colouring went from random scribbles to this:

 

how awesome is that?  this shows more control and what's more important - imagination -  as you can see from the multiple colours she's using.  notice that both legs are blue.

why am in awe of this multi-colored frog?  because my child literally picked up her markers and went from random scribbles to this seemingly overnight.  we always sit down with kayla when she does arts and crafts at home and during this time, i didn't see a transition from messy scribbling to more controlled coloring; it was as if a light bulb went off in her head and she thought ohhhh, this is how you colour!

 

and what further confirmed that my child is all kinds of awesome?  she came home with this portrait that she drew at preschool:

 

kayla has never drawn anything as legible as this.  actually, she's never drawn anything other than scribbles or random circles and to come home one day with this?  awesome.

we were so proud of her and this drawing that, after i finished bawling my eyes out, we framed it and hung it up.  

 

Adventures in Toddlerhood: July 2011

 

i can't believe how fast kayla is growing and how much she's developed.  

 

Stats:

• Age:  3 years old
• Height:  3ft, 2.5in
• Weight:  28.6 lbs (after 1 year, she gained about 1.5lbs.  she needs to share her secret pronto)

Developmental Milestones I've hit/working on:

• I'm fully toilet trained!
• I love singing! I love singing Jahpo chinese songs and sometimes I make them up.
• I can recognize and spell my name
• I can count up to 20 and recognize the entire alphabet
• I love talking
• I'm learing how to cut and use (safety) scissors
• I can hold conversations with people (and they actually understand me)
• When I speak, I look for acknowledgement from the other person
• I can dress myself
• I know my left foot from my right foot
• riding my bike

What I'm doing now:

• I listen nicely to mommy and daddy
• Dancing and singing any chance I get
• I can swim with floaties!
• I love doing arts and crafts; painting and stickers are my favorite

My favorite things right now:

• Toopy and Binoo!
• Adele, especially her song "rolling in the deep".  I love to sing along
• playdates
• the park
• taking care of my baby dolls
• sleeping in my own bed.  mommy and daddy keep asking me if i want to sleep at grandma's and pappa's but i don't want to
• Canada's Wonderland; especially the roller-coasters
• books.  I love books and when mommy or daddy reads to me before bed
• riding my bike
• Going to Grandma and Pappa's house so I can play with my cousins

 

Adventures in Toddlerhood: March 2011

It's been a while since I posted my AiT series; things have been crazy at work these days.  Here's the latest edition of how my monkey is growing:

Stats:

• Age:  2.5 years old
• Height:  3ft, 1in
• Weight: Still 27lbs!

Developmental Milestones I've hit/working on:

• The only time I wear a pull-up is during sleep.  I pee and poo in the toilet!
• I love singing! I love singing Jahpo chinese songs and sometimes I make them up.
• I can count a little.  Mommy and daddy use smarties to help me learn.  I like that idea.
• I love imitating what I see.  Pretend play is the best!
• I'm learning all about phonics and the alphabet - I can pick out certain letters
• I can recognize my name
• I know that the letter "K" is the first letter of my name
• I can say my whole name, including my middle name
• I now have all my teeth!  yay!
• I can dress my dollies and put diapers on them
• I can remember every line of my favorite books
• I talk a lot and I'm really interested in everything
• I'm sleeping in a big-girl bed

What I'm doing now:

• Getting better at listening to mommy and daddy.  Sometimes I see how much I can get away with but they still don't give in.  Hmph.
• Helping Ryan feel better when his mommy drops him off at daycare.  When he cries, I give him Lego to make him feel better
• Dancing any chance I get.  I love to dance
• I'm going swimming with daddy!  Hooray!
• Negotiating with mommy and daddy.  They give me choices so I give them choices too

My favorite things right now:

• arts and crafts
• my big-girl bed
• Jahpo
• my big teddy bear that I snuggle up with in bed
• Thomas the Train!  I LOVE Thomas the Train!
• getting water from the water fountain
• playing "baby" with Leigha
• sharing my morning treats with Roland and Marian
• learning all about letters and numbers
• books.  I love books and when mommy or daddy reads to me before bed
• helping mommy clean and vaccum.  She says I'm such a good helper
• Going to Grandma and Pappa's house so I can play with my cousins

Picture update of my lil' monkey

I've been too busy to write up a post for my "Adventures in Toddlerhood" series so here are some pictures of our crazy monkey:

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Her big girl bed is here!  Waiting for the side rails and then our night routine will be out the window when she discovers The Freedom and I'll find her beside my bed at 3am.  Oh joy.

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I brought her into the office one day and she was all work, no play.  See for yourself

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Practicing her dance moves she saw her older cousins doing.  Yes, that's a pair of pants she's wearing on her head as she does the "row boat".  I told you she was nuts.

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Damn, she found the hood.  She can't see the toys on the floor that I ask her to pick up but she can find that hood in the box, under a pile of other stuff wedged between two books.  Talk about Spidey-sense.

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She loves her hats.  And looking awkward for the camera.

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"Mommy, I'm going to work with you.  Let me get my computer"

Adventures in Toddlerhood: December 2010

I totally forgot to post December's edition of my lil' monkey so here goes!

 

Stats:

• Age:  2.5 years old
• Height:  3ft, 1in
• Weight: Last time mommy checked, I was 27lbs although mommy says I feel a lot heavier because I've been eating more

Developmental Milestones I've hit/working on:

• I can pee and poo in the toilet and have been in underwear for over a month.  I'm a big kid now yay!
• I'm able to use words like "otherwise", "multi-colored", "freak-out" in context
• I talk a lot!
• I love singing and I know all the words too
• I do a lot of pretend-play
• I can do thumbs up.  Mommy is trying to teach me to say "ayyyyy!" when I do it.  I don't know why she's making that funny noise
• My molars are coming and they make me crabby sometimes
• I can dress myself and put on my own shoes
• I can dress my dollies and put diapers on them
• I can color in straight lines
• I can say the alphabet,  sing the alphabet song and I recognize all of my numbers
• I know that this month is December and the year is twenty-ten or two-thousand-ten
• I have a good memory.  Mommy thinks that I forget things but I always remind her (mommy's memory is not very good)
• I can read my favorite books to mommy and daddy

What I'm doing now:

• Trying to see what I can get away with.  The crying and tantrums don't seem to work because they still take away my toys if I am not behaving well.   Hmph.
• Trying to watch more TV and play with daddy's iPad
• Still trying to go to bed later.  It doesn't work!
• Singing songs like like Caillou, Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
• Waking the other kids up after I've woken up from my nap.  Mommy says that's not nice
• Putting everyone in time-out
• Rocking and taking care of my babies because they cry for me

My favorite things right now:

• Daddy
• Winnie the Pooh
• My crib
• Princess tattoos
• Thomas the Train
• Harry and his Dinosaurs
• The word "No"
• My favorite color is blue
• Princess Jasmine
• I love Elmo but now he cries a lot - he cries for me so I rock him
• I love going shopping and putting cash-money in my purse
• Cookies.  I love cookies
• Going to Grandma and Pappa's house so I can play with my cousins
• Uncle Mike and Uncle Calvin
• Snow!
• Superheroes
• Eating off of everyone's plate

Adventures in Toddlerhood: October 2010

I decided to chronicle Kayla's development because she's growing so fast and she's so freaking hilarious.  I should have done this long ago so going forward,  these monthly updates will be all about Kayla, how she's growing, what she's up to and how she's making us laugh.

Stats:

• Age:  2 years old
• Height:  I don't know; mommy and daddy haven't taken me for my 2yr check up yet!
• Weight: I think around 25lbs last time daddy weighed me on Pappa's scale (note to Daddy: take me to the doctor for my check-up please!)

Developmental Milestones I've hit/working on:

• I'm wearing pull-ups now
• Potty training.  I can pee in the toilet but I don't like pooping in the toilet.  Mommy and daddy try and bribe me with big stickers to go poop in the toilet but I'm on to them.  Sometimes I won't tell them I'm pooping in my pull-up
• I can do thumbs up.  Mommy is trying to teach me to say "ayyyyy!" when I do it.  I don't know why she's making that funny noise
• One of my molars is coming out now.  Mommy says it's coming out of the gum.  I don't know why she's saying that because she hasn't given me any gum at all.  But my mouth hurts sometimes
• I can say a lot of words, speak in sentences of 8+ words  and I talk to people.  Sometimes I don't think they understand what I'm saying because they look at me funny and say the wrong things
• I can dress myself and put on my own shoes (but sometimes I need help)
• I can wash myself but not my back or my bum because I can't reach that far

What I'm doing now:

• Trying to see what I can get away with.  The crying and tantrums don't seem to work because they still take away my toys if I am not behaving well.   Hmph.
• Learning to play with daddy's new toy (iPad).  I really like the cat game.  It talks back and I can feed it milk
• Trying to go to bed later.  I cry for daddy or tell mommy it's not bedtime yet but they don't seem to listen to me
• I can sing songs and make up my own.  Right now I like singing the "NaNa" song.  Let me sing it for you:  nananananananananananana nanananananananananana nananananananananana
• Helping Marian take care of the other kids at my daycare.  Sometimes they cry and I will help her hush them.  If Marian is sick, I will take care of her and put blankets on her
• Trying to get the other kids to stay up with me during nap time.  I try and talk to them but all they want to do is sleep.  Marian says that I shouldn't do that
• Sticking up for myself, especially when other kids try and take my stuff.  Marian, mommy and daddy says that I should share and then they take it from me and give it to the other person.  I don't like that so I will cry and mommy says that we should take turns but then the other person won't give it back.  What's up with that?
• Helping mommy and daddy be better drivers.  I like saying "come on, dude!", "slow down!", "go dude!".  Mommy says I'm a good backseat driver.  I don't know what that means but I'm so proud of myself!

My favorite things right now:

• Daddy
• Caillou! 
• The word "No"
• My favorite color is purple
• I like pushing the second button to gogogo (our house alarm)
• I love Elmo but sometimes he gets a time-out when he's bad
• I have two babies.  They cry a lot so I put them in the shopping cart and go shopping with my cash-money
• Tomatoes.  I love tomatoes
• Going to Grandma and Pappa's house.  They have a big tomato garden and they let me eat as many tomatoes as I want but mommy and daddy don't like that
• Books
• The cool new vest that Grandma and Pappa bought for me when they were on vacation.  Don't I look pretty?
• Make-ups.  I try and use mommy's make-ups but she won't let me.  She says it's "too expensive".  I don't know what that means
• Bob the Builder song
• My purple gloves
• My yellow rain jacket and boots.  Mommy says that I should only wear them when it rains but I want to wear them all the time
• Eating off of Japo's plate