Kaelia - 12-15 Months

At Kaelia's 15-month check-up, she measured 21.8 lbs., 29.5 inches tall, and had a head circumference of 17.7 inches. Her little body has been very busy with teeth lately! She got three new teeth in the last few months with more on the way.

Kaelia has also been working on her physical coordination. Now only did she learn to walk at 12.5 months, but she can now "jump" on command by bending her knees to move her body up and down. She especially likes to do this on a trampoline. And she has discovered a new form of dancing where she alternates lifting her feet and legs up and down. She has been pretty proud of herself with this move.

Just within the last couple of weeks, Kaelia's language has really started to take off. She is now saying two word sentences such as "hi mama." We are excited to see where this new development is headed and what words she will pick up next. Kaelia is very verbal for her age with well over 30 words in her spoken vocabulary.

Some of Kaelia's favorite activities over the last three months has been playing with blocks and reading books. She will often go off in to a room by herself to do one of these tasks. She will pull book and book off of her bookshelf and flip through each page. This can actually keep her entertained for quite some time. When we are playing in the kids' playroom, Kaelia will head straight toward her blocks shelves and pull all of the colored shapes off of a rod. Once she has finished, she will then put all of the shapes back on the rod. She goes through this process over and over.

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Conversations from Today

At Breakfast:

Taelyn: Kae-ya, I'm so angry with you. I'm so angry I want to spank your bottom right off!

We have no idea where she got this phrase or idea from.


During Playtime in the Yard:

Justin: No, no Kaelia. Don't throw rocks in the pool.
Taelyn: Just (short for Justin), don't talk like that to Kae-ya. Don't talk like that to big sis. Wait a minute... Kae-ya's itta (little) sis.

It's funny how both conversations show the ups and downs of sisterhood!

Taelyn - 2 1/2 Years

At 2 1/2 years old, Taelyn is now busier than ever. She loves to play - no matter where or what the activity is. The outdoors are always a hit so she can go hiking, swimming, play in a sandbox, climb rocks and trees, and just jump around (a skill that she has officially mastered now without keeping her feet on the ground). Inside, she likes to play in her tent, play with whatever toy is her favorite of the week (Toy Story toys, "dina-suddas" (dinosaurs), Wall-e, and her cars to name a few), make forts out of pillows and furniture, sing and dance to kids' songs, read books, and color and paint. But if anyone were to ask her about what she likes best, she will enthusiastically say that she loves movies. Some of her absolute favorites include Toy Story (any of the three), Shark Tale, Walle, Cars, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., and The Incredibles. She also has discovered the Mickey Mouse Club recently and looks forward to that show quite a bit during the week.

Taelyn's vocabulary and sentence structure has taken off over the last six months. She is incredibly verbal and understands basic reasoning now. This is seen quite often when she applies the lessons that she learns from us to her sister. Any time Kaelia dumps her food on the floor or gets in to the camera drawer, Taelyn is quick and eager to point her finger and say "No, Kae-ya. Don't ever do that again. Now it's time for time-out!" And once we explain that Kaelia is too little to understand time-outs right now, Taelyn will repeat that back to us and say "Kae-ya's too little for time-outs... have time-outs later."

Speaking of time-outs, Taelyn is certainly learning her boundaries these days. She loves to test authority figures to see what she can get away with, while she also lets her excited emotions get the best of her as she performs some sort of act that she knows she shouldn't do. It's a pretty exciting time in her life for us to witness her strong emotions and how she battles with controlling them versus running wild. In the end, though, she is such a sweetheart and wants to be a good girl. She loves to snuggle with us and try to get Kaelia to laugh when she is upset.

Taelyn and Kaelia have been forming a special bond as well. They love to tickle each other and chase one another around the house. Just recently, Taelyn started holding Kaelia's hand while they walk from one room to another.

For the first time in her life, Taelyn is in the 75th percentile in height at 37 inches. Her weight has certainly trimmed down in percentile since she was a baby. Whereas she used to be in the 75th and 80th percentiles, she is now in the 25th-50th percentile at 28 lbs.

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