21 Months: A Girl and her Dog

This Sunday, Kinsley will hit the 21 month mark! And I am not sure that I can begin to explain the massive jump Kins has taken over the past few weeks, development wise. See, for MONTHS now, we have been working with her at home on saying new words - it was as if she had hit a wall since late summer / early Fall...completely understanding words, but not having any desire to repeat them or say them. It was getting frustrating. Our pediatrician kept telling me not to worry, that he wasn't worried one bit, and that she understood words perfectly and could take direction extrememly well. I've had to keep reminding myself that a delay in speech is a common side-effect of premature birth. But with a child who has completely caught up developmentally in height, weight, and sheer physical activity, I easily forgot the other side of things.

But now, all of the sudden, my little chatterbox, who used to chatter in her own made-up jibber-jabber language, is now saying clear words from memory, sight and sound. I believe that it's due to a combo of things: first, a change in her new daycare class at school...recently, they split the school's faculty daycare into two classes, with one being newborn through 1.5, and the other children 1.5 to 3 have moved to the "Early Years Campus" of the school, right alongside the preschoolers and kindergartners. Kinsley is truly in a school environment now, with structure and learning and recess and arts & crafts. The kicker? In one day, she fully transitioned to eating at a preschool table for lunch and sleeping on a mat for naptime. I never thought she would sleep on a mat, not without major transitional issues, but she is sleeping great! No more pack 'n play or high chair for her at school, no sir. She's a BIG girl!

The other attributed success driver in the language department: Philip downloaded THE best Toddler Flash Card app onto our iPad, and to watch Kins literally flick her index finger through the pages of the flash cards (like an adult turning the pages of a book on an iPad) and shout out what she sees on the screen is amazing. The other day in our master bathroom, she picked up a starfish sits along our beach-themed jacuzzi tub area and said "star." Clear as day. I mean, we had previously been working on that shape for months!

Another word that she has gotten very comfortable with saying lately? "No." She shakes her head and says "no" over and over if she has no desire to do something or eat something. Well, I have to look at the bright side - at least she is learning what she likes and doesn't like and can communicate it to us...maybe a little too well.

We have also implemented "time out." We have tried before, but she really didn't get it months ago. Time out is not a chair, it's the "corner" in the family room. If we start to see the beginning signs of a possible temper tantrum looming, all I have to say is "Do you wanna go in timeout?" A few times, she has actually walked over to the corner by herself and sat down. So, I guess it's working??? She has to sit there for 1-2 minutes, and then when it's time to get up, I kneel down by her and hold out my arms and she gets up and come to give mommy a hug to say "I'm sorry." We don't have to punish her often - she's a really good kid - but it's nice to know that this is an option and that she seems to understand what it means.

Kinsley has four new favorites, currently:

1. "Ga-Ga" (pronounced like more like "georgia"...not like lady "gaga") is her stuffed animal Giraffe we bought back in the Spring during our first trip to the Atlanta Zoo. For some reason, Ga-Ga is her new favorite and goes everywhere with us lately.

2. "The Cat in the Hat"...or "Hat, Hat, Hat" as Kinsley refers to it. She loves both the TV show on PBS and the book. In fact, I forgot how much I loved Dr. Seuss. He's her new favorite, by far.

3. "Goodnight Moon"...we have read this book occasionally since she was a little baby. But now, with her new-found capability to ID verbally (not just pointing) to all of the objects in the bunny rabbit's "bedroom," we read this book nightly and make up stories to go along with each page.

4. "Dipping" things...specifically ranch dressing, ketchup, and chips & salsa - which she also asked for by name. Since her first dip at La Parilla a few weeks ago, she is hooked. Yep she is definitely my child...I could eat chips & salsa every single day. It goes right along with my personal theory that everything tastes better when dipped in something. Just wait till I let her discover the yellow Chick-Fil-A Sauce. Yummm.....

Here is the list of animals that have been "heard" around our house from Kinsley over the past few weeks, as she can make their animal sounds, essentially on demand:

• Cow
• Frog
• Lion
• Cat
• Dog
• Horsey
• Bird
• Pig

But really, as we near the end of 2011, draw closer to Christmas, and close in on the end of this year's blog book, I really wanted to post some photos of these two "best buds"... just hanging out together and playing in the backyard...Kinsley and Hunter...just a girl and her dog (and her swing...and her soccer ball)...