Kaelia's 1st Swim

We took Kaelia swimming for the first time today. Taelyn loves to swim in our little pool across the street, and Kaelia loves to participate in anything that Taelyn does. So we got the girls dressed in their little bathing suits and decided to go for a swim since it was a pretty hot day.

Kaelia loved the water! I started her off by sitting her on my lap and dangling her feet in the water. She kept inching forward and trying to lunge right off my lap, so I put her entire body in the cold water (pools are not heated here), and she loved it. I think she especially liked "standing" next to Taelyn while I held her so she could feel like she was just like her big sister. Taelyn loved having Kaelia in the water too. She came over to pat Kaelia's belly from time to time and tried to impress Kaelia by showing her all her "big kid" swim moves. This entailed jumping up in down in the water and splashing. Taelyn even got a little carried away and went under water a couple of times. She is really good at holding her breath when this happens and then thinks it is funny to blow the water out of her mouth and off her face.

Taelyn - 18-21 Months

Taelyn has been growing as usual over the last three months, both physically and intellectually. She is now 25.6 lbs., and 32 inches tall. She has continued to slim down in baby fat while growing in length.

Taelyn's interest in the alphabet has certainly not decreased. She now knows all of the letters while only a few of them are still difficult for her to say (S, V, and W). Whenever capital letters are visible (on TV, road signs, books, building signs, etc.), Taelyn will shout out some of the letters with enthusiasm. She also understands that letters come together to make words and has been working on writing her letters. This actually means that she scribbles some lines on her paper and says "T" to show that she just drew a "T." It's pretty cute!

Two and three word sentences are now a regular part of Taelyn's vocabulary while she will attempt to also say more than three words if she is repeating a phrase that we say. And Taelyn likes to sing songs as well. Her favorites are the Winnie the Pooh song and the Elmo song. For the Winnie the Pooh song, she will sing "ah na ah na Pooh, ah na ah na, stu uh uh" which translates to "Winnie the Pooh all stuffed with fluff."

Taelyn has recently started saying the word "no" as well. As of right now, she says it to be cute or funny - not to be difficult. Sometimes when I ask her if she wants to get her diaper changed, she will smile at me, blush, and say "Oh" (that's her way of saying "no") so that she can get a response out of me. I of course act like I am shocked that she said "no" and she thinks that she did something really funny.

Aside from the verbal growth, Taelyn has also become very affectionate over the last few months. She loves to gives hugs and kisses and tell us that she loves us. Whenever she talks about love, she gives herself a hug and says "oh oo, mama" or "oh oo, dada" for "love you mama, love you dada." And she loves to give Kaelia hugs and kisses too. This also extends to her favorite toys (Elmo, dog, any Pooh character, pig) and the pictures inside of her books.

Taelyn is going through a very exciting time in life as she learns to communicate and do things on her own, and we are enjoying every minute of it! Here is a little slideshow to capture some of her best moments these last three months.

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Kaelia - 5 Months

This past month has gone by fast, and I can't believe Kaelia is already 5 months. She has grown significantly this month, now weighing 15.7 lbs with a length of 25.8 inches and a head circumference of 15.8 inches. She barely gained any weight last month, but she certainly made up for this month by packing on two extra pounds - and it shows!

Kaelia started off the month with a big fascination with her toes. She loves to grab them and study them - especially when she is wearing pajamas with objects on the feet. She has one pair with bees on the feet that she (and her sister) love to play with. About half way through this month, Kaelia also rolled over for the first time. We were playing Nintendo Wii while we were on vacation in Hermanus. Kaelia was on her stomach just under the TV, and I think she wanted to see what all of the commotion was about. (She doesn't usually fuss much, but always want to be included in what we are doing.) As Kaelia turned her head to get a better view of our crazy Wii antics, she gradually kept moving and moving until she made a complete roll on to her back. Since then, she has rolled over a few more times, but not consistently yet. Kaelia found her voice this month too. She likes to scream from the top of her little lungs just because she can. Whenever she does this, she is in a great mood and smiles along as she screams.

Kaelia continues to admire her sister every day. She often will reach out and try to touch Taelyn's arm or pull her hair. During bath time, Kaelia loves to kick her sister over and over again, and Taelyn doesn't mind at all; we are rather surprised too because Kaelia has a pretty powerful kick!